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What the heck is this all about?
I wanted to provide some thoughts on why I'm designing things the way I am, so maybe this helps you decide if these city plans are up your alley or not. Here goes...

Originally, doing this series stemmed from having a potato for a machine, and not wanting to wreck my performance with hugely decorated, overbuilt settlements. Especially in areas where you already have overlapping areas of influence (Triangle of Death, et al). My stance has changed a bit over the years of doing this, and here are my guidelines now:

Overall Style:

  • I do still want to limit the decorative style of the settlement to something minimal. I will decorate a bit, especially areas like player homes, or where I want to make a plot fit in with an overall theme. But not just the for the sake of makings things pretty. But I will always leave room for players to do more decorating if that is desired.
  • Things will not be pretty. You're a scavenger and salvager of a wasteland. Stuff is going to be worn out and dirty. If you want pretty city plans, there are plenty of others out there making them that way.
  • I will clean up the settlement and include a scrap profile. All scrappable items will be scrapped. I don't use mods for this, only the default WSFW/SS2 tools. If you want ultra-cleaned-up settlements, feel free to do so.
  • I pick particular plots for a reason. They are intended to be used with the "Designer's Choice" on. I will provide a listing of the plot packs I've used in the requirements (and also below). If you elect to leave some of those out of your load list, SS2 will just give you a random plot of the same type if possible. I can't guarantee ANY resource or settler needs being met once you go "off plan". You're on your own there :)
  • I try to always leave room for your own growth and/or decorating. Especially in larger settlements where space is abundant. I will try to be at least somewhat efficient in space usage to leave room for your own ideas, plots and expansion.
  • I like plans to be well lit at night. I probably use more lights than I need to.
  • I often augment with vanilla power generators and water pumps if I just need a small bump instead of making a new plot. Its quick, easy and... well, why not.


SS2 Settings and/or Requirements:
  • Some of the decisions arounds plots have to do with the settings I use in my games. I am NOT suggesting that my way is better, or that you have to use these settings in your games to use the city plans. Quite the contrary, actually. You'll probably find your games will be simpler and easier if you leave some of these settings OFF. But the plot selections might make more sense to you if you understand the following:
    • I play with "Agricultural Water Requirement" on. That means if I'm doing a bit of AGR, there are going to need to be more water plots.
    • I play with "Junk Storage Requires Defense" on. That means if I have a large build, I'm going to need more junk storage, which means I'm going to need advanced defenses.
    • I play with Resource Complexity set to "Categories". That means I'm going to have to pay attention to at least that level of available junk and stuff. Its not just going to be random. That may mean some specialist plots for particular resources as the game winds on.
    • I play with the Max Settlers being set by # Beds, not CHA. So bear that in mind when looking at the number of beds, where that will cap. At the time of this writing, city plans where there is a comm plot will recruit all the way up to bed count before they stop.


Populations, Beds, Limits:
  • I struggle with populations in every game. Where to put people, where do I need resources, how large should I let settlements get, moving people around and all of that. In my most recent playthroughs, I'm now limiting growth at bed count, and only turning on more growth when I need to expand or to populate HQ, etc.
  • I generally won't plan for more than about ... say, 20 or so settlers in a single settlement. There are a couple notable exceptions. I usually do the Jake quest in Sanctuary, so that inherently will have a larger population early on. And also Starlight Drive-In, which is where I send Stodge. I expect both of those to be larger, maybe as high as about 30 settlers.


Chapter 3 and Outposts:
  • I don't do outposts. If you want to convert a settlement into an outpost, have at it. Wait until it hits L3, and then make the requisite changes to the plots, add/subtract what you need, and convert. Have a blast. This is partially due to what I want out of the game at this point, and partially because (from what I've gathered) you don't actually want ALL your settlements to be outposts, just a select few. Far be it for me to prescribe which ones you convert and which you don't.


City Plan Levelling Strategy:
  • I level plans manually. This is partially because I love watching a new level come into being, and partially because it lets me limit the amount of script lag that is occurring at any given time. This doesn't necessarily affect the city plan design. You can certainly play with these options turned on and let it all level for you as soon as the requirements are met. However, the several thousand hours of game time has led me to believe this to be best practice.
  • Here are my thoughts on the levelling of city plans:
    • I already mentioned including a scrap profile above. If stuff in your location just vanishes or re-appears after you've dutifully done your own settlement cleaning/scrapping, that is why. You've been warned. This include ALL scrappable items, including workbenches, etc.
    • L0 or at worst, L1 will always include a caravan plot. In my games, I want all resources shared across all settlements as quickly as possible. I hate being limited in what I can build based on what I'm carrying around or what I can scrap in that particular spot. I want a fully linked mesh of settlements. 
    • L1 will do its best with a limited number of settlers and meeting basic needs
    • L2 will start to build up the settler count, add more resources, and plan for "training" plots to make sure any advanced plots that come in at L3 will have an available settler whose SPECIAL meets those needs. This won't always be true, you may need to get some specialists moved to a settlement to help out, but I'll make an effort to have each settlement be able to train up its own skill dependencies.
    • L3 will fix up any major broken buildings, add in advanced plots to meet settler needs, and try to get all the essential status meters to full. This also generally means adding junk storage, defense, etc to get everything where it ought to be. If I'm going to do ANY decorating, it'll generally be at L3.
    • I try to leave a visual indicator in each level where there is --going to be-- future building going on. A pile of junk, branches, refuse or garbage is a good indicator that in the next level, there will be a plot there. This way if you are going to decorate or put down your own plots, you'll know where NOT to put them since I will be placing stuff there on the next city plan level up.


Power
  • Ugh. Power management just sucks. Despite my best efforts to simplify and reduce complexity, power just always seems to be a problem. I don't pretend to have answers on how to keep things from going sideways. I do things a certain way because I find it easier to fix things when they invariably break. Here are my thoughts:
    • I use wires. A lot of them. Probably more than I need. I try to make sure any plot (especially power plots) have multiple connections to the grid for redundancy's sake. If I accidentally delete a power line, there is usually another one snaking around a different path that prevents breakage.
    • One "cpg" grid. All nodes attached to that grid. I won't save a plan that has grid errors. If there are any, something happened after the city plan built that caused it.
    • When something happens that causes the power grid to fail or a plot to lose power, it is either that you actually do not have enough power currently connected, or a power line connected to that plot is no longer doing what it ought to. In 99% of cases, deleting ANY power line to the plot and reconnecting it will restore it. Hover the plot after you've reconnected and you'll see it goes back to being powered again. Don't forget that the AR indicators of status may take a little bit to "catch up" after such corrections.
    • I generally --don't-- use much radiant power. Power is so tricky that I want to have wires I can remove and add back in if things flake out. I do sometimes use it on flat roofs to ensure interior plots get what they need. 
    • I try not to "hide" conduits or power generating items so you can fix problems you might encounter. I won't put them underground or inside other objects. I try to pay attention to power lines that intersect solid objects as that sometimes causes breakage. 
    • I try not to cheat on power. Until I get to L3 that is. Up to that point, I want to have a power plot to meet any power needs. At L3, I loosen up a bit, and sometimes use power-generating conduits and stuff to make sure power needs are met adequately. I figure by that point, they've sorted out their power needs and I don't mind "cheating" a bit.


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zhinjio