Base building is a vital part of Fallout 4 and, for some players, the main draw of the game. Rebuilding the wasteland is a great idea on paper. With a few mods installed, it can easily go from a janky experience to a satisfying one. But not all settlement spots are equal. Some are huge and full of possibilities. Others are small, boring, and not worth anyone's time.

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The Fallout 4 base game has twenty-nine settlement spots. Seven are added by DLCs, for a grand total of thirty-six spots. Of those thirty-six, here are the ten most useful and fun settlement spots in the game.

Updated by James Austin on February 25, 2023: Despite repeat playthroughs falling short in terms of story value, we still find ourselves revisiting Fallout 4. Its excellent survival mode brings longevity to the gameplay, and the breadth of settlement spots can provide hours of wasteland fun, if that's what you're into. After our continued wasteland exploration, we've decided to update this article with a few more of our favorite spots.

13 Warwick Homestead

An aerial view of Warwick Homestead in Fallout 4.

At first glance, this abandoned factory by the water doesn't look like much. The area is gray, utilitarian, and let's be honest, bleak. However, look past these superficial qualities, and you'll find something great about Warwick Homestead — something infuriatingly hard to come by in Fallout 4. That's flat land, and a decent amount of it.

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The flat area outside the factory is a great space for an open-air market, and there's a surprising amount of farmland, too. Inside the factory, there's ample space for workshops and settler beds. Warwick Homestead may never be a bustling metropolis, but it's surprising just how much can be packed into this relatively small space.

12 Taffington Boathouse

An aerial view of Taffington Boathouse in Fallout 4.

For some reason, despite its small size, we keep coming back to Taffington Boathouse. Most players likely already know the settlement thanks to its central position in the Commonwealth, and as such, know that the area's stinky wetness breeds bloodbugs in abundance. Once these disgusting creatures are cleared out, the settlement makes for an amazing water purification plant.

Taffington Boathouse is especially convenient for survival difficulty. It's right near Covenant but has more space for workshops and power armor stations. This means it's not only good for producing water; it's also our preferred staging area for expeditions into North Boston and the surrounding wasteland.

11 Nordhagen Beach

A view of Nordhagen Beach in Fallout 4.

This sprawling sandbar isn't the easiest area to build on, but it has something the wasteland desperately needs: aesthetic. Just picture Nordhagen Beach sporting a glorious boardwalk, packed with shops, scenery, and a little console arcade. Isn't that the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

If the scenic ocean views aren't enough, Nordhagen Beach is still worth visiting thanks to its convenient location, within spitting distance of Boston Airport. It has lots of potential for water production, of course, and players can even get some farming done right on the sand. It's a great little spot to set up artillery if nothing else.

10 Covenant

Covenant in Fallout 4; a sunny pre-war town.

Covenant is a fun location for a player base, obtainable after completing a short quest. It has several pretty pre-war buildings. It's completely surrounded by a wall with an easily defendable choke point. It also has cats and a lemonade-dispensing robot.

Covenant is already built up, and the quarters are fairly tight. There's not much room for additions. Another drawback is that it lacks access to resources like steel, wood, or water. It's an excellent early base but less convenient later on when things like food and water become more important. Despite that, it's a charming spot for players who don't want to take the time to build something big.

9 Egret Tours Marina

Egret Tours Marina in Fallout 4; a dilapidated river boating depot.

Egret Tours Marina is a good spot for a southern base in the Commonwealth. Players in survival mode will find it useful as a supply depot for excursions into the Glowing Sea. The area is filled with traps, so care is needed when exploring it for the first time. It also comes with an NPC, Phyllis, who can be convinced to become a settler at the new outpost.

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Egret Tours Marina has a decent-sized building area, and it's right next to a large body of water. The more water purifiers built, the more money the player can earn. Unfortunately, the rest of the build area is mostly filled with dilapidated buildings, leaving little room to build a proper town.

8 Greygarden

Greygarden in Fallout 4; a small greenhouse run by Mr. Handy robots.

Greygarden is an excellent convenient base to grab early on in the game. Not only is it fully manned by robots (who don't require food or water), it contains a huge number of plants that can be harvested and replanted to grow other settlements. Therefore, there are no real downsides to bringing this little greenhouse into the fold.

Despite these positives, Greygarden is held back by its small build area. Most of the area is already built up, leaving little space for new projects. If the player can build a staircase to the collapsed bridge up above, there is some real estate there, but still not much. As for other drawbacks, there's the uneven terrain at ground level and the lack of resources aside from plants.

7 Kingsport Lighthouse

Kingsport Lighthouse in Fallout 4; a lighthouse on the coast near a small dock.

This coastal area is a great spot for a settlement in the northern Commonwealth. The beautiful lighthouse is a nice perk and makes this one of the more scenic areas in the game. It features a small interior that can be a good workshop and/or bedroom.

Another nice perk of the lighthouse is its natural barriers. It's surrounded by oceans and rocky cliffs, forming a defensible choke point. All in all, the only real drawback of Kingsport Lighthouse is the size of its build area. Although most of the build area is flat, there's only enough room to support a very small town.

6 The Castle

The Castle in Fallout 4; a star-shaped fortress surrounded by water.

The Castle is a well-known location in Fallout 4. After the Minutemen defeat a Mirelurk Queen, they can retake it and convert it into their permanent base of operations. The Castle is generally regarded as one of the best base locations in the game, and it is great, but it's also limiting. It's big, but it's approaching the build limit, meaning there's not much room for expansion. There's also little empty space.

However, The Castle's pros definitely outweigh its cons. First, it's surrounded by water, so water purification is an option. Second, it's surrounded by walls. The walls are partially broken, but the Castle only has two entry points. Settlers can easily defend against invaders from atop its faded walls.

5 Abernathy Farm

Abernathy Farm in Fallout 4; a small farm at the base of a power pylon.

Abernathy Farm is notable for having the highest build limit in the game, allowing for wasteland skyscrapers to be built. As it's positioned at the base of a transmission line, the player can build all the way up to the top of the pylons. This has led to some very cool, unique constructions.

In addition to its high build limit, the farm has a medium-sized build area with some good flat land. It also comes with a few plants and settlers ready to go. It does have a few drawbacks, namely its lack of natural defenses or access to open water. Despite this, it's an ideal spot for a farmable wasteland fortress.

4 Vault 88

Vault 88 in Fallout 4; a heavy vault door, deep underground.

Vault 88 is added by the Vault-Tec Workshop DLC. Building a vault is a fun idea, although the actual building of the vault can be finicky. The quest line where the player works for a ghoulified overseer is a bit drawn out, but the base itself is unique and amazing.

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Vault 88 spans several underground caverns with open water, plenty of resources, and tons of open, flat space. Not only can the player build a bustling underground metropolis, but the huge open spaces make it an ideal spot for factories with the Contraptions Workshop DLC. With a fertilizer supply line, a factory setup can provide the player with a great renewable source of ammunition.

3 Starlight Drive-in

Starlight Drive-in in Fallout 4; broken-down cars in an empty lot.

Starlight Drive-in is one of the most iconic base locations in Fallout 4. As the name obviously implies, it's a drive-in movie theater. It comes with a few smaller buildings, as well as some areas on top of the screen. It even has a mud puddle. This may not sound impressive, but in Fallout 4, hundreds of bottles of clean water can be produced from a single puddle.

In addition to its convenient central location in the Commonwealth, Starlight Drive-in is one of the biggest, flattest areas for settlement building. That can feel like a godsend in a game where hills are everywhere, and you can't destroy any of the terrains.

2 Echo Lake Lumber

Echo Lake Lumber in Fallout 4; an old lumber yard surrounded by pine trees.

In Far Harbor, one of the biggest, most beautiful settlement spots can be found. Echo Lake Lumber sports a very large, relatively flat build area for big towns. It also has a ton of clutter, most of which can be scrapped for wood and iron. The lumber yard even has some premade buildings, though sadly, one of them is sealed off.

Echo Lake Lumber comes complete with a small river where water purifiers can be built. Those who spend a lot of time in the scenic Far Harbor should highly consider setting up a base here. Even those who don't return to the area all that often can benefit from supply lines to the Commonwealth.

1 Spectacle Island

Spectacle Island in Fallout 4; a huge island in the middle of the ocean.

Spectacle Island is a breathtaking spot for any settlement — especially for those looking to set up a powerful home base. It has the largest build area of any settlement in the game, and it's completely surrounded by open water. There's plenty of money to be made here.

Despite its massive size, the island does have a pretty big drawback. It's lodged in the dangerous southern part of the map, in the middle of the ocean. Players in survival mode will find its location extremely impractical. However, in normal mode, Spectacle Island is easily the best spot for big constructions.

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