Guide/All In One

Last updated for version `1.8.0-BETA-7`

*Main article:* Horizon Wiki

Horizon is a large balancing & overhaul mod. It touches just about every aspect of the game: equipment, enemies, settlements, and more. It's like 50 mods in one, however, mods can still be installed but almost always require patching. Because of that you should always place Horizon, Mods and Patches in the right places of your Load Order or you will destroy your playthrough in no time (texture flickering, CTD, broken cells, unscrappable structures, lag, etc.) and you should avoid mods that try to do some sort of overhauling themselves, sometimes even if they have an unofficial patch available. For a list of mods that work and don't work well with Horizon, please refer to the Modding Horizon article. Last but not least, a sensible Mod Manager like Mod Organizer 2 should definitely be used.

Horizon was designed around Survival Mode (where you're required to eat, drink, and sleep) and Desolation Mode (drastically reduces loot available and generally makes your life harder) so the player has to stay focused and not just wander around randomly.

## Setup

🌀 *The content below is transcluded from Troubleshooting#Setup.*

### Hardware

* **FPS**: The engine is build around 60 FPS. It's recommended to cap to 60 FPS. Higher frame rates interfer with the game engine and cause physics to behave weird.
* **Memory Data Bus**: The game was designed to run on consoles using GDDR5 and a 256-bit memory data bus.
* **Clock Speed**: The game will scale with clock speed not thread count or bandwidth.
* **Cache**: More L1/L2/L3 cache will result in more performance. L3 cache is likely the biggest factor. Anything that doesn't fit into cache will get pushed to the system memory. 20-25 MB of L3 cache is recommended on Intel CPUs to avoid bottlenecks but even then the bottleneck still exists.
* **RAM**: The sweetspot for RAM is DDR4 at around 3000 MHz. More RAM, currently doesn't have a significant performance increase.
* **Memory Bandwidth**: With more memory bandwith on modern systems the game is back to be being thread limited.
* **Latency**: Latency can have an impact as well as (L3) cache.
* **Core Affinity**: The game is single thread bound. Set the game to just run on set cores with no Hyper Threading (HT). This will stop game swapping cores and tends to smooth things out.

### Installation

Clean your game folder of other mods and make a clean installation of Vanilla FO4 first.

* There is nothing wrong with reinstalling the game, so possible artifacts from other mods are be deleted.
* In addition to an inappropriate load order (LO), a game folder full of leftover mods is a common cause of problems (crashes) too.
* Don't forget to start a new game, based on the current version of Horizon (1.8.0-BETA-7). Non-horizon save files are not supported!
* Set your game difficulty to Survival Mode, even if you don't want to play with Desolation Mode (According to Zawinul, Desolation Mode is the mode that Horizon is built on.)

### Mod Manager

A Mod Manager, like Mod Organizer 2 (MO2), which does not overwrite the game folder, is preferrable.

* MO2 allows the player to quickly switch between mods or whole mod series without having to clean the game folder in case of problems with incompatible mods.

### Load Order

If you want to mod Horizon, a proper load order is essential.

### Modding

It is not advisable to install mods next to Horizon for the first time.

* Many mods need a patch and many mods might be obsolete due to Horizon changing a lot of game mechanics and systems.
* Additional mods often lead to instabilities and change the balance of Horizon.
* After you know what Horizon does actually change by itself, you can have a better idea of what other mods do you have to use.
* Good modlist = grebHorizonEssential. Generally, all other mods need a patch.
* Modding help and help for load order odysseys can be found here: #mod-compatibility (Discord)

### INI Setting

INI Settings can be changed as usual with a text editor and/or BethINI. Don't forget to make a backup copy of your INI file!

* Relevant: `Fallout4Prefs.ini` and `Fallout4Custom.ini`
* `Fallout4Custom.ini`: requires to enable "loose files" and thus to enable modding. Loose files can be enabled by injecting the following data:

```
[Archive]
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1
sResourceDataDirsFinal=

```

### Save Options

The game can be saved quickly and easily at any time in Survival Mode in Horizon.

* Game menu
* Via auto-save every X minutes (Field Kit), items (Portable Memory Device), bed or console commands.

Rule of thumb: Do not rely on an auto-saves, make a manual save (hard save) often. Auto-saving can lead to spontaneous crashes sooner or later corrupting your save file.

### Settings

A lot can be turned On/Off in-game via settings menus, but there are many options hidden behind submenus which, if you don't know them, are easily overlooked. Essentially, you can make changes using the

* Field Kit and
* Weapon Kit.

## Character Creation

### SPECIALs

🌀 *The content below is transcluded from Guide/Character Creation.*
The player starts with 29 points in Horizon and almost all SPECIAL or attribute bonuses are removed from the equipment in the game. On the other hand, Horizon allows the use of a special perk VANS to unlock 5 perk points every 5 Levels plus the one spent so 6 in total. The catch is, however, that you have to forego the hidden perk Primal Instincts which increase the damage +5% every 5 levels. For a pure damage build, Primal Instincts might be the way to go.

📝 **Note:** You always have the possibility to adapt to the situation if you really don't know what to do next, so save the points and decide later, there is no *my character is wrongly skilled* because, in the end you will need a variety of skill trees anyway.

One of the most innovative features is the introduction of the Dynamic Skill Gain mechanic. You are able to gain 50 skill points per skill by performing activities and 90 skill points per combat skill (similar to the skilling experience in Skyrim). Dynamic skill gain works independently to the normal skilling through perks. That means you can bring these to a maximum of 50 or 90 at any time. However, this doesn't mean that your skills are being maxed at 50 or 90 points, these are credited to your skill and are shown as blue numbers in the skills menu. Each skill has a specific maximum which is usually around 200 points.

📝 **Note:** When crafting there are certain recipes that show [+Skill] or [+Skill/15]. [+Skill], means you can skill up to 50 without any limitation, [+Skill/15] means that you can only skill this activity up to +15. However, this does not mean that the skill maxes at 15 only that you don't get more than 15 skill points through this specific *crafting* activity.

In addition, it is possible to raise your skill from "reading" Magazines and Guides. These can also increase the respective skill by 50 points. Reading books counts as normal skilling and is not shown as a blue number.

With a skillful way of playing you can raise a skill by 50 points through reading magazines and 50 points by active skill gains, so 100 in total, without ever having invested a single perk point. However, all of this takes time, not every skill can be increased at the same speed.

For every 20 skill points the player unlocks a new perk rank, in some cases one rank/perk can unlock new hardcoded features like Disarming traps. It is therefore not absolutely necessary to select certain perks at all, if you use the active skill gain mechanic and/or read books.

### Specialization

At level 15 and 30, you will be able to choose a 1st and 2nd Specialization which greatly enhance certain play-styles. To enable specialization(s) build a Training Desk and use it to open its menu. It is recommended to take a quick look at the list of specializations when initially building your character so you have an end goal in mind. For example:

* If you want to focus on Sniper Weapons and ranged sneak attacks you will want to plan out at least 8 PER for the Sniper perk which is required to unlock the Sharpshooter Specialization which gives +20% damage to scoped sniper weapons and Deadeye Perk which gives major bonuses to ranged Sneak Attack Damage. Lastly, if you wanted your main sniper weapon to be a Gauss rilfe, remember to take 5 STR or else you wont even be able to equip it.
* If you want to higher close range Sneak Attack Damage go for Assassin which requires Stealth 3 and Ninja 2 so Agility 7 is preferable. This means that you are as good as undetectable for the AI, the Blitz perk can no longer be used though, which is less of a hurdle, as you can sneak right in front of the enemy without them seeing you. In order to achieve an absolutely high damage value here, it is advisable to choose a 2-hand weapon, especially the new super mutant Weapons are very good for this.

Last words on this one, Horizon adds difficulty by itself even more though with Desolation Mode! That means you have to adapt to the situation and can no longer run blindly like in Vanilla Fo4. It is advisable to get experience by exploring locations, so hold down `W`, spam `Space` here and there and move your mouse. Most fights can be avoided, many enemies can be lured into other enemies and whoever pushes it to the top can reach level 15 by just exploring and solving quests without ever having fought. From here you change the strategy and invest in perks that influence damage and hide yourself from the AI.

### Skills And Perks Overview

🌀 *The content below is transcluded from Skill.*
## Surviving

### Leaving Vault 111

🌀 *The content below is transcluded from Guide/Early Game.*The first thing you should do in *Horizon* (especially Desolation Mode) is in general to **explore** and **loot** everything and try to stick to melee fight most of the time for weaker enemies like animals. Its not a shame to avoid combat most of the time. The loot tables of enemies have been changed, and valuable loot can be found via locations at the beginning. Caps are easier to get from Charisma 10. If the player explores and solves quests, he quickly has enough caps to get equipment that is good enough for self-defense.

In Vault 111, you can find Antibiotics - Basic, a Bandage, a Bobby Pin, two Combat Stimpaks, 5x Portable Memory Device (allow to Save Game), Purified Water, RadAway, a Shoulder Bag, a Trauma Kit, and more. After leaving Vault 111 the player should receive a field kit as well as a weapon kit. Both items are consumeable items, bind these items to a `key` of your choice, as soon as possible. The Field Kit offer a variety of options, watch your basic needs of hunger & thirst, scrap various items in the field, track your skill points, change special horizon game options and read the documentation. The field kit also lets you craft energy ammunition, lock breaching devices and various healing items. The Weapon Kit allows changing ammo types in the field, this means you can use different calibers for a specific weapon. In addition to the kits, there is also the Horizon Holotape which holds more options ready, most importantly Auto-Save, change to stagger off and save ever X minutes. If you ever lose one of the kits (which technically should never happen though), they can be crafted in the Tech Lab, the holotape should respawn automatically in your inventar when dropping it. After familiarizing yourself with the kits and the holotape head over to Sanctuary Hills.

To help you get started, loot everything in Sanctuary Hills: 2x Magazines: *Grognak the Barbarian #3* and *You're Special* (+1 Perk Point) inside your house. Don't miss the Root Cellar (see picture). There you'll find an advanced safe, which you can unlock using an Explosive Charge a new item used for Lock Breaching. The Root Cellar will lead to ~3x Purified Water, 1x Supply Kit (used to fast travel and Settler Missions), 1x Vault-Tec Training Manual (another +1 Perk Point), 1x Custom SMG (new very versatile weapon), and other misc items.

💡 **Tip:** The Scrap Cleanup Station in Workshop>Architect>Utilities can help you scrapping the whole settlement in seconds fully automatic (see below).

You can also find some good stuff directly surrounding Sanctuary. To the south, the dead man and dog by the bridge, the duffle bag by the Minuteman statue. In Red Rocket Truck Stop you can and kill several mole rats here, both in the station itself and in the cave underneath it. To the north across the river, you can kill a raider and an attack dog and loot four Noodle Cups from their cabin (which satisfy both hunger and thirst). To the southwest, there's 4x purified water at a water tower, and also loot a half-buried steamer trunk just to the south of the tower. Don't forget Abernathy Farm there you can harvest and buy Crops and if your lucky trade for a powerful 2-handed weapon. To the west in the swamp, you can loot an armored vehicle wher you'll find an army helmet and to the east, you can loot a Revolver and some Bobby Pins at a water pump close to a raider camp fire.

After every major loot action, it is a good idea to deport the things you have found to a workbench of your choice and familiarize yourself with the workbenches. Browse through all the recipes at each crafting station to learn what *Horizon* has to offer for crafting. Essentially, it is advisable to follow the advices from the Settlement Building guide. Important: always use the Workshop>Architect buildings and not the vanilla buildings, with the exception of some crafting, power and water buildings. In summary, the following utility buildings are worth to consider building:

* Workshop/Crafting: Armor Workbench, Chemistry Station, Tech Lab, Weapons Lab, Weapons Workbench, ZX-1 Experimentation Lab
* Architect/Equipment Workstation: is an all-in-one crafting station for less workspace and movement hassle but tied to workshop progression mode called Workshop Technology.
	+ Architect/Command Workstation: later on, can help you too combining the last important crafting stations.
* Architect/Mailbox: to receive trading items and send Magazines, nuka colas, etc. the mailbox is absolutely essential to get many Vendor Credits ...
* Architect/Farming Workbench: for composting of your waste food items. Compost will be automatically be converted into Fertilizer which in turn is needed for a variety of item crafting etc.
* Architect/Resource Station: the most important workbench to build supply chains using Cargo Bots and in general to link your settlements!
* Architect/Recruitment Station: if you want to recruit settlers
* Architect/Scrap Cleanup Station: to quickly scrap your whole settlement. Note: some settlements offer Control Panels for more scrapping and hiding options.
* Architect/Caravan Travel Hub: exchange a Supply Kit against Caravan Supplies to fast travel to a conquered settlement of your choice.
* Architect/Shredder: if you lack Salvaging skill 20 you can scrap all your items using this building.

💡 **Tip:** Use Wilson to revolutionize looting which you can craft in the Tech Lab (Devices section).

Health: Whenever you are injured, bandages are ideal. In case of severe injuries such as limb damage, trauma kits but also glowing blood packs are required. For special cases do not hesitate to use combat stimpaks. These are the vanilla stimpaks and can heal you in an instant. Unwanted Chems can be converted into Pharmaceuticals which are used for some medical treatments. Hard liquor can be convert into Antiseptic. Increasing your Survival Skill and Medical Skill will give you more options for healing/curing. Most importantly medical skill will make your healing more effective at around 40 points, because its very hard to raise in the field you should raise medical skill by choosing perk points into Medic instead. Most of the skills in *Horizon* are tied to perks and vice versa so don't be confused here; medical is the skill and medic is the perk.

Be sure to save your caps early on for Doctors and/or items part of ammo crafting recipes. Don't be tempted to buy junk you don't need try to collect more than you buy and try to get an overview of what you really need. If you're short on caps, look for quests you can do that might earn some income. Any items you don't need that are worth decent caps you might want to sell, sell clothing items and various bottles.. However, you should also consider the benefits of scrapping these items for materials.

Dogmeat and your Companions will start off dealing weak damage in the early levels, however they are still useful. Companions will gain experience as they travel and fight with you, and will grow stronger over time (damage and defenses).

💡 **Tip:** *Horizon* is partially balanced using the mod "Everyone's Best Friend" which allows you to have Dogmeat and 1 Companion at the same time.

Try to use melee against easier targets to save ammo (molerats, dogs, etc.). Headshots are a big deal. Even a .38 can often kill a simple unarmored Raider in 2 headshots. Range matters so turn on your Range Finder to get used to the system! If you hit an enemy outside of the weapon's range, it deals weaker damage, up to -50%. Enemies wearing armor will always take more hits (including headshots), use tactics on armored targets. Save your explosives for really tough enemies, or large groups of enemies in a small area. Early game molotov cocktails are your best friend for crowd control (CC). Collect mobs, light mobs, lure mobs into mobs.

📝 **Note:** *Horizon's* combat is balanced very close to being realistic for the most part, however there's many factors to consider if you think your damage feels too low. As long as you use good weapons and keep them upgraded, you should be able to take down unarmored enemies quickly. If you are seeing different, you should check out the FAQ regarding troubleshooting.

### Hunger & Thirst

🌀 *The content below is transcluded from Guide/Hunger & Thirst Management.*One day in Horizon challenges the player to quench 96 nutrition points (NP) hunger and thirst each. Since the points are also measured in caps, exactly 192 caps per in-game day. Don't forget that 1 hour (in-game) equals 3 minutes (real-time). It is important to know that you can track the exact amount of hunger and thirst at any time using the Field Kit. The needs can be satisfied in different ways, hunting, gathering, fishing, farming, trading, etc. which initially sounds easier than done.

The Timescale addon has an impact on your NP/day (instead of 4 pts/tick it scales hunger/thirst by 6 pts/tick now). Watch out for diseases such as Parasites . Parasites decrease your food value intake by 50%, so you have to eat more. Depending on timescale parasites last for 168 or 84 in-game hours which equals around 8.4 hours real-time.

* If you like to hunt, it should be said that the higher the Hunting skill is, the more edible food items per enemy you can get, up to the point that you gain twice the food items per roll.
* Gathering and looting places is also a nice strategy when your aware of many locations already, many Purified Water is scattered around the commonwealth especially when following the main quest line
* Fishing, a new mechanic, is also an option at the beginning of the game, by the way, the activity increases the Survival skill too.
* However, none of this can be topped by pure Trading, trading is the easiest way at the beginning if you know where the Vendors are located to get tons of food items.

**Rule of Thumbs:**

1. Avoid the yellow hunger/thirst debuff, the debuff only disappears when neutralizing **all** NP. Obviously watch your field kit and current NP. The icons turns yellow approx. 70+ points.
2. Thirst should always be quenched because the higher the thirst, less XP is distributed per action, after 2 days the player takes damage at the latest, which can lead to death!
3. Hunger can be neglected because the disadvantages are not that serious, however, the same applies here: the player can die of hunger, takes periodic damage after 3 days.

The following is a summary of the points that you should pay attention to in order to gain a foothold as quickly as possible. From left to right there are; notes, the icons for the corresponding disease ranks in hunger/thirst and the corresponding debuff effects (diseases).

* Steal mirelurk eggs, this is by far the fastest way to get a lot of food safely!
* Try to upgrade your settlement to a Successful Settlement and unlock Settler Mission: Hunter.
* Trade your Chems and food items at Diamond City to Takahashi, located at the inner circle, against noodle cups (42 NP).
* Charisma/rank ↓
* Luck/rank ↓
 Thirst - periodic damage after 48h/2days* In general craft soups and stews (these count both for hunger and thirst).
* Craft a Purifier Module, build a Water Purification Unit and setup a Work Order in the Production Manager (Active Services) to gain purified water bottles at the end of a production cycle (1 cycle is measured in real-time = 90 minutes).
* Follow the main quest line, many purified water bottles are available there.
* Trade for Purified Water:
	+ Sheng Kawolski sells purified water.
	+ Vendor Stalls (general, bar & doctor) sell purified water.
* Craft Rad Treatment Remedies or *Mutated Hound Chops* and drink Dirty Water till there is no tomorrow but know, drinking dirty water triggers a disease roll, which sooner or later, results in getting a disease.
* Craft Beverages like Melon Juice which grant additional bonuses.
* Save Purified Water to craft Juices and/or Soup's and Stew's both neutralize hunger AND thirst!
* Intelligence/rank ↓
* Luck/rank ↓
* periodic damage

### Health Management

🌀 *The content below is transcluded from Guide/Health Management.*Endurance (END) doesn't raise health while leveling anymore instead the player receive a fixed amount of 190 base HP + points in END and Perk ranks. +20 points per attribute point, i.e. 200 health with endurance 10 (10\*20=200). In addition, Life Giver (+30 per perk, +120 max) and Adamantium Skeleton (+10 per perk, +30 max) help too. Its possible to gain as much as 540 health points at maximum (190+200+120+30). High END is absolutely essential to ensure survival, especially in Difficulty Outcast.

The biggest contribution to **maintaining health**, is to make one unrecognizable to the AI and this is best done by investing all of the perk points in Stealth. Those who are not hit do not have to heal themselves. The biggest tip here is to save with the fight until you are absolutely able to defend yourself.

Some are good at FPS and some are not and have to rely more on VATS. In order to gain combat strength, it is advisable to avoid fighting for awhile and get XP through pure Exploration. Each location provides XP, Intelligence 10 and Awareness 2 offer even more XP as well as Well Rested buff and Piper's Perk.

Your Radiation bar has 1000 points, and every point into radiation decreases your overall health. Radiation is far more severe than in *Vanilla Fo4* so take care when going for a swim.

* With Survival 30 you can create Rad-Off (-100 rads) in the Chemistry Station.
* Take a couple Rad-Off before bed because they increase tiredness very fast to stay on top of small levels of radiation before they become a problem.
	+ Consume food and heal yourself from radiation after sleeping, to and make use of the well rested buff or,
	+ apply radiation treatment before going to sleep, to completely avoid the debuff granted by rad remedies.
* Seek for a Doctor (see below) to cure yourself from radiation.

Protect yourself against radiation by avoiding certain locations first! And later use item mods or specific items to drastically reduce radiation exposure. Good candidates for this are:

* Rad Filters
* Rad Defender System +300 Rad resist, but lower AP regen drastically
* keep a Hazmat Suit around
* upgrade your Power Armor
* make use of certain Perks ...

Deseases, Radiation exposure and health decrease all can lead to the need for a Doctor. The following options are available for this:

* You heal yourself, but this often times need a lot of Medical skill
* You seek for a doctor either
	+ in a settlement, using the Medical Service (quick link medical vendor stalls) and/or a Vendor Stall Doctor (Medical Center, Medical Station) which requires a Vendor Contract and a Settler
	+ in a location in which one is located (Diamond City, Covenant, traveling merchants, ...)

### Hunting & Gathering

🌀 *The content below is transcluded from Guide/Hunting & Gathering.*You can trade, produce and you can **hunt** for food. Every time you go hunting, your hunting skill increases and you get meat that is both edible and inedible. Both depend on your knowledge which is defined by Hunting skill. An inexperienced hunter gets next to nothing in the game, while someone with a lot of experience gets everything. Chances of getting food from animals 1-100 = 10-100% and creatures 1-200 = 5-100%. So higher skill means more food, up to twice the loot of food! Investing in hunting is also good to increase your Workshop Trading level, at least to 1 point..

💡 **Tip:** Increase your Hunting skill via active Skill Gain and/or through some points in Hunter perk and you gain more food items per enemy (animals, creatures, insects ...).

Radstags and Brahmin are great animals to hunt for food early game since they are easy to kill and dont fight back oftentimes. Also mole rats around Red Rocket Truck Stop and its More Rat Den, Starlight Drive-In, Robotics Disposal Ground offer even more mole rats.

Super Mutant locations are great too if you gain access to their meat bags, which will supply you with lots of random meat. With high hunting skill later, basically all animals offer high food loot and every hunt becomes a profitable business.. because you chop up the meat and sell it.

**Gathering** for food is much more easier, for this you don't need any skill except a little Jump 'n' Run skill. Worth mentioning are the eggs of Mirelurks, which can be found in very large quantities, especially on coasts and some caves. Mirelurk Eggs are of all food items the ones that can be acquired whole without fighting, so become an *egg thief*. Especially at the beginning of the game you can easily walk around the Boston Orbit and collect all the eggs you encounter. More than 100 eggs per run are possible, Omelette until you drop. Early game, run to the eggs, bring the hatchlings to hatch, collect them and throw a molotov cocktail or run away for a moment, run back and grab the eggs and keep running without fighting the mirelurk crabs. It doesn't matter if mirelurk are in the vicinity. If you do it skillfully, you can get to food very easily.

### Farming

🌀 *The content below is transcluded from Guide/Farming.*Before you can start planting crops you have to find or domesticate them (go to section: Plant Nursery in your production manager). Harvest Wild Plants, put them into a workbench of your choice and create a Work Order using the Production Manager menu (Resource Station).

Another possibility is to visit vendors who sell crops. Vendors such as "Farmers", "Food and Water" as well as "General" vendors, all can sell crop bundles.

Composting, Domestication, and Fertilizing. You can manually grow and pick your own crops or you can use your Settlers to farm for you with the Horizon Architect Crop Rows (with increased crop ratings). Automated Planter can also be built with increased Workshop Technology level. These work autonomously and are only dependent on rare components and power.

For every 20 Crop Rating 1 Crop is stored into your Production Storage (which you might change to your prefered Master Workbench). Additionally, you can use the Farming Workbench to create Compost (put rotten, waste or fresh food items into the farming workbench) which also automatically turns Compost into Fertilizer. Production is passive at a rate of 20:1, thus for every 20 compost you will receive 1 fertilizer at the end of a production cycle (90 min real-time). Fertilizer in turn is used for...

* Wild Plant Domestication (Plant Nursery)
* Crop Fertilizing to boost crop yield

On average you need 3x6 crop rows to increase production by 1 crop or 2x automated planter. If crop stability/fertilization[*citation needed*] is optimal, then the crop rate of 3 and 6 rows is doubled, i.e. to 6 and 12, respectively, so a 6x row can have the same crop rate as an automated planter.

The table shows the ratio of crops (crop-) to crop rating (f=fertilized), food rating, water rating and supply kits.

Keep an eye on your maximum crop production (Production Limit). 1 crop counts for all types of crops (1x carrot, 1x corn, etc.). The limit can easily be increased through Successful Settlements and the like. But to a certain extent it also depends on whether or not desolation mode has been installed.

It is also important to know that the amount of food in a settlement is always covered locally with the same amount of water. The amount that arises through water + food should then be covered by defense so that the settlement is optimally secured. When a settlement is in balance (Food/Water = 20 Crop Rating and 20 Water Rating), the production of Supply Kits is raised by 1 (but here, too, the production limits, amount of successful settlements must be observed).

### Fishing

Fishing in Horizon is possible:

1. manually: using a Fishing Rod and Fishing Bait
2. automatically: using Fishing Traps or Settler Mission: Hunter (Fish) (with higher Settler Skill: Survival)

Although it is a very boring job, it can be helpful, especially at the beginning, to actively improve your Survival skill and get a little more food. *Your success chance is boosted by your Survival Skill*. Fishing Rod can often be found at lakes (lying on the pier or boats), for example around Sanctuary Hill's, you can of course also buy these and find them at other locations by chance.

In order to be able to finally fish you only have to craft Fishing Bait (*Cooking Station > Ingredients & Tools*) and then select it once in the Pip-boy. It is advisable to always save certain "Rotten Food" items (Gristly Meat) precisely for this, because later fish can be produced with the help of Fishing Traps. Unfortunately, for this, you also need fishing rods which can be found and purchased less often.

Fish production is one possibility to get a lot of money by exchanging and selling Ground Meat (Meat Scraps), especially later with more game progress.

### Trading

🌀 *The content below is transcluded from Guide/Trading.*Trading in Horizon has undergone major changes. It's important to know that you can't buff charisma with items and that every trade is influenced by skill that you first have to get by unlocking more character levels. Furthermore, vendors, merchants, traders or whatever you like to call them have been designed for certain categories of items such as junk, food, weapons etc. Thus not every vendor accepts every item:

* Crops: Farmers and occasionally e.g. Trudy and others.
* Food: Takahashi, Polly, bar keepers, etc.
* Junk: Carla, Trudy, DC surplus and many more (general) vendors

It is also possible to reach vendors through settlement objects:

* Mailbox: Nuka Colas, Gwinnett Beers and Magazines for Vendor Credits
* Resource Station > Courier Trading Service: merchants that are reached by cargo bots (invisible eyebots) and depending on the Workshop Trading level more merchants can be reached.
* Market Trading Terminal: unique vendors only available in there, who all accept a new, special currency "Vendor Credits".

Bottlecaps might be a problem right at the beginning. Here are a few ways to neutralize it;

1. Craft/call Wilson which can automatically grab all items in the area (which is some kind of revolution in FO4). Make sure you unlock Area Scavenging (Workshop Technology Level 3) first. With the help of Wilson you get tons of items that are worth 1 bottlecap no matter trading skill. By the amount of these items you get rich! Make sure you turn Off "Auto-Transport" when trading or your inventory can disappear occasionally.
2. Very important: Mark components and allow for better junk management in your inventory. This will also highlight any junk item in the world. You should do this at soon as possible.

Sell unused junk items, these are usually all items that are exclusively and predominantly made of concrete, glass, leather, rubber, steel, wood, etc. Later, when your able to produce certain items, you can also sell junk items that consist of Basic Circuitry, Ceramic, Fertilizer, etc. It is just as easy to get money by hoarding clothes; bandanas, hats, caps, etc. are particularly suitable for this. In addition to selling junk and clothing, there is also:

* sell Weapons and (keep and) repair them if needed. Don't throw away a broken gatling laser or minigun, also hunting rifles (+scopes) are very profitable. The repair costs are extremely low.
* The trade for Food items such as noodle cups and purified water bottles is just as practical. Especially at the beginning this is a common practice in order to get on your feet quickly and to take up the game without stress.
* The sale of Wild Plants and Chems. Some food vendors accept the sale with no problem.
* Crafting specific items like Alloy Platings and/or Lock Breaching devices (Tech Lab) is also a very profitable action.
* With a lot of progress in the game you can even sell Gems, these items are particularly valuable but require huge amounts of resources until the trade or sale is worthwhile!

As soon as it is clear which items are profitable in terms of quantity and quality, Bottlecaps are absolutely relative and the process is always the same. You force a cell respawn either intentionally or unintentionally in order to enjoy an absolutely fresh vendor inventory every 5 or 7 days (depending on your Timescale setting). Then you exchange all the junk and scrap for ammo and on you go. Gather, loot, trade, fight, repeat..

With the amount of possibilities you can quickly see that bottlecaps and vendor credits are absolutely not a rarity. With the Courier Trading Service you can sell anywhere, with a lot of trading skill every vendor will practically give you all of their belongings and with the mailbox, nuka colas and magazines can easily be converted into vendor credits. Trading in the Market Trading Terminal is also interesting, but oftentimes the requirements for many items are so absurdly high, however it hols some very nice trades such as for liquid fuel and various crop bundles. The possibility of exchanging various items for vendor credits is good and with a precise tenant management you gain absurdly high amount of vendor credits which you can exchange to caps in the market trading terminal with trading skill 200.

Trading is extremely powerful, probably unbalanced and can quickly lead to boredom, especially with the tips presented here. Since tons of caps can be traded per respawn cycle this gives you an advantage over the AI in the first respawn cycle, i.e. the first 5 to 7 days, which influences the entire playthrough of the game no matter the difficulty and is especially powerful in Desolation Mode. Eventhough vendors have been redesigned and may not have a big inventar, like so often, visiting many vendors puts the vendor overhaul into perspective because you can still sell a lot. Thus, the player easily becomes very rich and breaks the game balance in just a few days.

## Items & Loot

### Components

🌀 *The content below is transcluded from Guide/Component Management.*
By highlighting components, junk items that contain them, are also highlighted in the world. Important components can be marked in the Pip-Boy by selecting **Component View** (Pip-boy > INV > Junk). If the Scrapper perk, rank 2 is unlocked, every junk item lying around in the world, is highlighted.

A Master Workbench, to manage items quickly, is always recommended. It allows to store items in a settlement of choice by transporting items of any workbench into one single workbench. This can be setup in the Resource Station anytime. In this regard, a Supply Line is almost essential, to keep performance high, Horizon uses its own supply line system called: Cargo Bot Supply Line. It is also advisable to change the default Cargo Destiation, from both, Wilson and the Production Storage to a master workbench (settlement) of choice in order to concentrate items even better.

Before each crafting and/or trading action it recommended to check "Component View". Horizon has added so many new items and components that some might not be tagged with the magnifying glass symbol 🔍 yet. That often reveals new junk items better kept for crafting, building or trading.

Proper inventory management makes trading, sorting and finding junk more effective. Junk can be sorted by valued (VAL) while trading or in any other inventory. Not all vendors in Horizon buy all junk items and some might even buy "no value" junk items, which obviously shouldn't be sold. When trading, Wilson's Auto-Transport option might be disabled before hand. Otherwise Wilson may transport items and thus an invetory category might be blank at some point.

The Field Kit allows for "Junk Scrapping", to reduce weight and decrease inventory bloat, thus less micro-management and better inventar overview will be the consequence.

Time can be saved by picking the entire inventory of a corpse, by pressing the "R" key twice, and inspecting loot whenever the player character is overloaded. High carrying capacity from strength, Personal Cargo Bot, various item mods and/or backpacks will greatly influence inventar management intervals in this regard. If Wilson's auto-transport option is not available, the Strong Back and/or Lone Wanderer perk may help.

### Create Wilson

🌀 *The content below is transcluded from Guide/Create Wilson.*Wilson is the practical answer to Codsworth, stepping in where others are labeled pack rats. However, in order to end the tiresome junk runs, the player must have a number of rare junk items ready in order to ultimately be able to craft Wilson in the Tech Lab. Wilson requires approx. ~80x Nuclear Material, 1x Stealth Boy, 2x Cargo Bots, various other components and of course appropriate skill to increase the Workshop Technology level.

* Cargo Bot 1
* Gold 4
* Nuclear Material 20
* Stealth Boy 1
* Workshop Technology 2
* Recipe: Call Cargo Bot (granted when building a Resource Station)
* Workshop Technology 3 | Area Scavenging
* Workshop Technology 4 | Auto-Transport

Unfortunately, that's not all. Crafting Wilson is one thing, but raising the workshop level is another. It is a bit of a hassle, especially at the beginning but theoretically feasible with level 1! Theoretically, in spite of all this, you still need skill and can't avoid choosing some perks. You are free to choose which ones though. The goal is Workshop Technology 3:

* Pistol Weapon Parts 10
* Shotgun Weapon Parts 10
* Copper 15
* Gear 15
* Steel 400
* Educational Material 20
* Copper 10
 * Liquid Fuel 15
* Nuclear Material 20
* Nuclear Material 40
* Nuclear Material 40
* Nuclear Material 20

The most efficient way is INT 10, science and engineering both have the most straightforward requirements. Leadership needs educational material and ballistics, specific weapon parts. The latter two skills also unlock +1 tech level, but the requirements can be a little more difficult to achieve at the beginning.

**Execution:**

1) We need nuclear material and a stealth boy both are hard limiter at the beginning. Start by running towards Wicked Shipping Fleet Lockup. There we will gain the key to open the Wicked Shipping trailers (blue trailer). Don't fight the feral ghouls there, we just need the key so in, out and on.

Before we run south of Boston nuclear material and other rare junk, at least 1 more cargo bot and 1 stealth boy is required. Nuclear material can easily be obtained in very large quantities from the Gorski Cabin (Desk = +60 Nuclear Material) and by scrapping the vehicles in Starlight Drive-In.

2) To enter the Gorski Cabin without risking health, however, you have to pass the Feral Ghouls that are around the cabin. Provoke them and lure them to the raider camp close to Trashcan Carl. You run towards Carla and climb up the billboard. Once you open one of the containers there, 3 raiders will spawn, walk away from the campfire. With the right timing they fight against the feral ghouls and loose quickly if not they take up the fight against Carla. Carla is immortal and sooner or later, of course you can intervene, the fight is over. When the ferals and raiders are under earth, we will negotiate Cargo Bot number 2 with Carla. It may be that Carla does not have a Cargo Bot with her, then there is still the chance to buy one at Cricket in front of DC or Myrna within DC. Now back to the Gorski Cabin there is exactly 1 Feral Ghoul next to the trap door, this shouldn't be a problem especially if Dogmeat is available, just like Gorski himself who is in front of his desk in his hideout.

3) Afterwards run to Starlight Drive-In, scrap the cars, deposit the items in the workbench and obtain them later using a Cargo Bot Supply Line. At this point it should be mentioned that you can lure the feral ghouls southwest to starlight to play them off against the molerats.

4) Now we only need at least 1 more stealth boy. So on to the South Boston Military Checkpoint next to the Andrew Station. The Wicked Shipping Trailer (blue) next to the Andrew Station is one of the most defense ways to get 2 Stealth Boys.

**Summary:** We have 60x Nuclear Material from Gorski +X from Starlight Drive-In (which is usually already enough), 2 Stealth Boys, 2x Cargo Bot (Root Cellar, Carla, (or any other vendor). The remaining components should already be available in sufficient quantities, if not scrap more settlements on the path outlined here. As soon as you have Wilson, everything changes.

About wrist inflammation and the painful search for junk. Wilson allows you to automatically take junk anywhere at no cost and an unlimited amount of it. You don't have to clear every location from enemies at the beginning; it is enough if you just sneak into the vicinity or just enter a building. Wilson start immediately to horde all the junk there (depending on the setting). That can be done until you have what you need, sell it or invest it in expanding the settlements. Especially high value junk items such as adhesive (medical supplies) are no longer a rarity.

### Weapons & Armor

🌀 *The content below is transcluded from Guide/Weapons & Armor.***Weapons can be found** randomly and at fixed locations. Almost every enemy has a weapon with them. The weapons are either destroyed or in a usable condition, gunner always drop weapons that are in very good condition. You can fix the weapons by yourself (Weapons Workbench). All weapons can scrapped to save weight and analyzed later, using the ZX-1 Experimentation Lab, the technical term for this is: Reverse Engineering. It also brings a little Experience points.

The **ZX-1 Experimentation Lab ...** allows to construct and unlock customized Weapons by reverse engineer regular weapons. These weapons can surpass anything available and add legendary properties, with improved range, damage, and more.... You'll need a "Weapon Craft Skill" gained either by crafting weapons, reverse engineering (you gain Experience for that also) or crafting "Weapon Tinker Kits". To finish the quality of your weapon and thus its damage modifiers, add certain alloys to it (either by crafting or from loot of mutated Enemies). The more Experimentation and Calibration Points, the more options you gain to modify your weapon. The crafting menu is an entirely new customized menu-driven system (computer terminal).

While your in the field the Weapon Kit allows you to switch the firing mode of your weapon, you can also change the Ammunition being used. This handy kit is a consumeable item which you gain automatically after leaving Vault 111 and can be added to your favorites (Pip-boy). Later you can upgrade the Weapons kit to an Advanced Conversion Kit. This allows for even more barrel swap options. The Advanced Conversion Kit can be built at the Tech Lab.

**Armor** in Horizon still uses the damage reduction formula of vanilla FO4 i.e. maintaining a resistance to physical damage is almost impossible thanks to the formula. In short, more damage reduction leads to diminishing returns for high damage resistance. As a rule of thumb, you should have about as much armor as damage. After that, the damage reduction due to more armor drops drastically!

The main innovation is that Armor and Clothing items can now be combined and a large number of new colors are also available. In addition, the player can increase carry weight via backpacks.

**Ballistic Weave in Horizon** is a little different than the vanilla game. "Crafted Ballistic Weaves" can be crafted via 4 different methods (any):

1. Unlocking the recipe the standard way via the RR, which allows you to craft it with raw materials
2. Converting an existing Mk1 loose mod item into 1 Crafted Ballistic Weave
3. Obtaining rank 6 of "Recipe: Ballistic Weaponry" (which is from collecting magazines and guides)
4. Obtaining "Settler Skill: Craftmanship 2", which is having your settlers help you craft it

When crafting and modding Weapons and Armor, you'll need lots of special metallic alloys, called "Prototypes". You'll find these alloys in a variety of places. Prototype devices are primarily found on legendary Enemies (humanoids/robots/synths), but can also exist in certain containers and some NPCs. Rare components that Technologist rank 5 can salvage, can sometimes roll prototype parts as well as Settler Mission Assault (Militia) have a random chance of getting prototype parts. Tier 3 and 5 Vendors offer a box for sale containing a random prototype part There are currently 50+ different types of prototype devices and animal parts, each with a different mixture of components.

## Combat Tactics

🌀 *The content below is transcluded from Guide/Combat Tactics.*If you start combat, then consistently! Every fight brings Experience (XP) and every opponent takes you one step further to a new level. Even if you are not the one who kills the enemy in the end, you can still get the XP if you have done approx. 50% of the damage to the AI. This is important to know especially if you outsmart the AI. i.e. playing them off against each other by bringing a mob of enemies from location X to location Y and then watching how two mobs fight each other. Throw an explosive item (molotov, grenade) in, weaken them while they fight each other, gain the XP, problems can be solved all by themselves very easily ...

### Jump 'n' Run

Rule of thumb: If certain enemies are too strong then avoid them, if they are doable but the risk is high that they will significantly deplete your health bar then lure them to other enemies, if neither works then explore the Fo4 map and try to get XP through locations and at solving quests first.

* Fitness: Quick legs and a large lung at the beginning of the game help immensely, group enemies and use high area of effect (AoE) weapons, so you save ammunition and time.
* Always study AI patrol routes (the animations are always the same as soon as you know their pattern ...) and start combat afterwards.
	+ Take advantage of a Target Scanner to receive enemy status information.
	+ Sighting mods such as the "S.M.R.T. Targeting HUD" can help spotting enemies.
* Many if not all enemies are looking for close range, try to catch you, make use of it, let them follow you!
	+ Lure them into minefields (which you have to set up in advance), also works very well (regardless of player level) with behemoths and mirelurk queens.
	+ Lure them to other locations and study their speed and attack phases while you are fleeing from them (high Fitness Skill and/or AP bar doesnt hurt...),
		- Example 1: it is utterly practically to sprint through a city full of feral ghouls and attract as many of them as possible to then lead them to other locations, to other enemies. the feral ghouls AI ALWAYS attack another faction if it has become aware of it the only thing you still have to do is start the fire, molotov cocktail time.
		- Example 2: Murkwater Construction Site is difficult to take over by yourself but can usually be taken over by using the environment. Lure the Mirelurk Queen to Mr. Gutsy first and secondly both to the Sentry Bot that shows up after you "open" the door. Use pre-placed mines, Bottlecap Mines to weaken the Mirelurk Queen and Standard Mines for both robots. If all are weaken, fight each other, you gain the XP too and the settlement will be yours without taking any scratch.

### Explosives

* It is good to invest early in Demolition Expert and maybe aim for Demolitionist specialization to increase overall damage and arae of effect (AoE) damage.
* All explosive weapons are useful. Rocket Launcher, Grenade Launchers and Mines of all kinds.. There is no better crowd control.
* In Horizon, large enemies are especially susceptible to explosive weapons (Incendiary Weapons), and these enemies bring a lot of XP in a very short time if you do a lot of damage.
* Mines work wonders in all interior combat scenarios e.g. Gunners Plaza combined with high Sneak skill, if you make a mistake, you have to withdraw, a good mine layout can make up for the mistake.
* Use Molotov Cocktails, especially against animals, insects and amphibians, they can kill or greatly weaken them over time.
* Mini Nukes are best kept for very special scenarios or big game of any kind, or simply scrap them (Weapons Lab) and thus obtain large amounts of Explosive Material.

### Companions

* Companions are very useful as a distraction and to group enemies and then decimate them with a grenade.
	+ All companions need time to get better, they get XP just like you
	+ It can be problematic in tight situations, it is helpful to keep your companions in position.
* Combat Pets like Attack Dogs are extremely helpful in combat if you can conjure up many of them.
* Engineering Device (Turrets) on higher points are great as an additional source of damage or distraction.
* Mount dual auto-laser turrets on your robot's arms, very powerful in eliminating many enemies in a very short time.
* If one of your companions dies revive him with an Adrenaline Injector or wait until he is automatically resurrected.

### Melee Combat

In general, a fast weapon (combat knife, switchblade) is recommended for quickly attacking enemies and a two-handed weapon (sledge hammer, super sledge, super mutant melee) for strong enemies like super mutants up to deathclaws which can be killed with proper buffs in one hit.

Important: first strike > critical hit chance and damage > sneak attack damage > bleeding damage > stagger chance etc. All chances and damage multipliers are added to the base damage or multiplied depending on the damage mechanics. Various chems can bring the damage to unimagined heights. Example: Deathclaws can be catapulted back to the Mesozoic Era with a single hit, especially at night. If the lizard survives the blow instead, knock down or stagger chances help immensely, chems like Jet or chill effects from the cryolator can also help here from greater evil.

* Stealth: Use high Melee Combat (+Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Damage) combined with high Stealth skill.
	+ Detection Meter: Caution is easily manageable if stealth skill is kept as high as possible, for best results strike at night-time to save ammunition.
* It is advisable to maximize damage, critical hit chance/damage very well suited for this, so to speak a bank for high melee damage: Assassin, Ninja, Marauder and/or Master Commando just to name a few.
* High First Strike, Knock Down and/or Limb Damage doesnt hurt either together with Better Criticals and Critical Banker.
* Protection: try to invest in Strength perks and raise Tailoring and Metalworking skill.
	+ Defense values (Armor) have been revised and differ from Vanilla Fo4.
	+ If you want a good mix of hi highest physical and energy protection go for synth armor (late game). Raider and combat armor is good as alternative (early game). For clandestine mission go for leather armor, because this kind of armor allows for item mods that let you sneak better.
* A very interesting way to save ammo in Desolation Mode is to skill up Metalworking and Science and thus strengthen the Power Armor as much as possible. At the same time, focus on Tesla Bracers, which give 2x30 damage + regular fist damage and stun/stagger the enemy.
	+ While beating the enemies, which works especially well against super mutants in tight spaces, they will be stunned, while they are stunned while punching, run in a circle around the enemy, thus the NPC is loosing the ability to use its aimbot.
	+ Sometimes the AI tries to switch to close combat, which also saves time because the NPC then doesn't attack.

### Ranged Combat

Ranged Combat and holding breath can make the game a lot easier in Desolation Mode.

Since Horizon only affects aiming via scope (holding breath) when the player is crippled (limb damage) and not via any skill any time, the battlefield can still be ruled with what is probably the most overpowered tactic of all together with using Stealth. It should be added that, even if stealth skill is very low, but the distance to your enemy is appropiatly high, Sneak Attack Damage will easily kick in, as multiplier in the absolute damage calculation. Almost all enemies can be one-shot right from the start and with some knowledge throughout the whole game.

* Sniper Weapons always overkill no matter which firearm + scope, if you want to go overkill mode use Energy Weapons because these greatly increase Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Damage.
	+ Deadeye, First Strike, Hitman, Sniper and some skills and perks mentioned for sneak strats ..
	+ Sneak Attack Damage together with first strike and high critical hit and damage potential, even the strongest opponents can be eliminated with one shot. If you really want to overdo it, use a Laser Musket with maximum cranks and MX+ (AP) ammunition.
	+ Early game a simple 4x scope mounted on a Custom SMG either with .38 or 9mm ammo clears almost every encounter. Even with Desolation Mode On swapping ammo neutralizes any ammo reduction in an instant.
	+ Mid to late-game weapon swap and ammo swap ensures ammo is never a rarity.
* If the enemy shoots back, don't be confused, the AI is programmed to shoot in your direction once it's in Caution mode.
	+ To avoid beeing hit, quickly change position and fire again or wait a moment.
	+ Again try to max Fitess and Stealth skill in this regard.

	+ They attack very quickly, it is advisable to attack just as quickly.
	+ Run backwards and wait for them to jump at you, stab them during the jump, this their animation will be interrupted, the ghoul is stunned for a second and in the best case the second attack is enough.
		- This is also possible with n+1 ferals who attack you, just keep running backwards.
		- Any bleeding item mod on your knife will profit the whole situation.
* A fast attacking knife is always preferable for both sneak attacks and direct combat, because you don't risk getting stuck in slow attack animations.
	+ For sneak attacks you have about 2 to 3 attacks free until the ghoul strikes back, occasionally he is stunned so that the attack sequence takes place unhindered.
* Always aim at the legs, these can be separated and thus the ghoul is rendered harmless.
	+ .50 cal or 2mm/MX are no brainers later.
* Lure as many as possible from one area to another area with differen NPCs, light them up.
	+ If they follow you collectively, one molotov cocktail is enough for a whole horde!
 Bloatfly,Bloodbug,Stingwing | * Except Bloatflies, Bloodbugs and Stingwinger can cause high damage (+poison damage) if you miss to kill them instantly..
	+ Melee combat is not very recommendable if you are not sure to process them all in one sequence.
		- Poison damage can quickly cause a lot of damage.
* .38 are already sufficient (1-2 bullets), aim for the head.
 Super Mutant | * Very resistant to almost everything, the head can tolerate less than any other part of the body.
 Mirelurk | * Aim at the head when they are peaceful.
	+ Energy weapons work great, early on a laser musket 2-3-crank or MX ammo can instant kill them around torso.
	+ If aiming at the torso and head is difficult, one shot at the legs is often enough to significantly reduce combat strength.
* Here, too, it is best to draw attention to yourself until everyone is chasing you, then you lure them into mines or use grenades.
* In melee combat don't run away, stop and wait for the attack (mirelurks attack less quickly when they stand still). as soon as the attack occurs, take a step back and counter.
Yao Guais are absolute XP balloons. Hits result in a 100% stagger chance. It is advisable to keep moving.
* One to two molotov cocktails will bring down any Yao Guai.
* Close combat should be avoided Stagger chance is 100%. The player can die few hits, while stuck in place.
 Robots |     * Legs, arms and/or eyes (mr. gutsy/handy) are very good targets.
* In addition, they all have another special weak spot called something like Combat Inhibitor, Thruster, Fusion Core, etc.
* Pulse ammo or explosives is just as helpful as it is wonderful.
	+ A Grenade Launcher with pulse grenades is the first choice against whole packs of rust devils, these type of grenades are very cheap to craft.
 Synth | In addition to the general points about robots:
* Can quickly become very dangerous, especially eradicators, here it is recommended to use Pulse, 2mm EC +AP or FC and MX+ ammunition, +damage bonus through skills of course.
	+ This means that a targeted shot at sensitive parts of the body is sufficient.
 Deathclaw | * Very fragile against explosive weapons, especially mini nukes and rockets with AP warheads are also very suitable.
* Any gauss weapon work wonders.
 Mirelurk Queen | * Very fragile against explosive weapons, especially mini nukes and rockets with AP warheads are also very suitable.
* An absolute long-runner is a pimped energy weapon (EC or FCMX), Queens can only tolerate a few hits in the face.
* With a very high Hunting skill, queens throw off a lot of meat which the player can craft into a "Mirelurk Queen Steak". Mirelurk Queen Steaks require Survival 60 to craft. The effective cap gain on sale is 144 caps in regard to its ingredient costs.

## Settlements

### Settlement Building

*See: Guide/Architect • Guide/Settlement Building*

### Settlement Take Over

🌀 *The content below is transcluded from Guide/Settlement Take Over.*The following table shows certain ways to take over a settlement in Horizon. Since playstyle varies based on player preference, an extremely simplified presentation is offered here. In order to make standardization possible, the settlements are divided into two categories. Quest dependent and takeover possible with level 1.

Some settlements can only be taken over by completing a quest. It is important to pay attention to how high the player level is, as the requirements of the quest can depend on the level. Settlements that can only be taken over by completing a quest are marked with a ☑️.

Many settlements can be taken over by skillful play. It's not required fight, often times crowds of enemies can be lured into other crowds, can be lured into another location to watch how the AI annihilate itself. Settlements that can be taken over from level 1 are marked with a 1️⃣.

Settlements marked with a Ⓜ️ are part of the "Clearing the Way" quest.

Approx. 15 settlements can be taken over very easily. More than enough to enable a stable production of a whole range of resources, especially in the beginning of a game.

### Water Purification

🌀 *The content below is transcluded from Water#Water Purification Cascade.*
The table shows all Work Order that are responsible for producing purified water. Like every production, this one also needs a whole series of components. Every work order is dependent on this. If the components remain out of step 1-3, step 4 will not start.

Even though you own all the components. No production that is active starts automatically. So one is forced to define a work order manually. Each work order draws resources according to the number of orders.

Seawater and salt extraction is dependent on a Seawater Extractor, both must be defined in a work order. Salt conversion can be done manually (Chemistry Station) or automatically via work order (Chemical Factory). Purified water itself must again be defined by a work order and ultimately build-up on all 3 steps.

If all of this is too complicated, one can leave out step 1-3 and jump directly to step 4 and thus, to craft purified water.

## Campaign

🌀 *The content below is transcluded from Guide/DLC.*
This is a general opinion about modified DLC difficulty, suggestions and issues.

### Automatron

Available at level 10, not possible to activate earlier. You might want to do it once you have a stable source of robot damage and Salvaging, for all the sweet robot loot.

### Far Harbor

Advertised once you rescue Nick, but can be started manually. Level 15 recommended, especially main quest.

### Nuka-World

Can be started manually. No settlements until you finish the main questline one way or another. Then you can build one at Nuka-World Red Rocket. Caravan Travel Hub is available at the DLC entry area. Very hard enemies. Level recommended: 20+.

## Videos

The following guides are recommended to watch especially when playing Horizon for the first time.

## See Also

* FAQ & Troubleshooting
* Guide/Architect
* Guide/Settlement Building
* Guide/Settlement Building Limitations
* Guide/Useful Locations

## References

1. ↑ https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/fallout-4-9700k-5-1-ghz-32-gib-ddr4000-only-a-slight-fps-diff-between-1080ti-and-4090.307375/page-3#post-4998792
2. ↑ https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/fallout-4-9700k-5-1-ghz-32-gib-ddr4000-only-a-slight-fps-diff-between-1080ti-and-4090.307375/post-4999524
3. ↑ https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/916373-pc/73133469#9
4. ↑ https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Leveling
5. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/fo4/comments/3s9zjm/stealth\_gameplay\_helpful\_info/