Settlement Attacks Improved by marcelocastro
v1.0.0 - 2017-09-24

Description
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This mod intends to improve settlement attacks. It turns settlement attacks into a proper Minutemen Quest and allows the player to queue up settlement attacks so that they won't autoresolve if the player doesn't get to it immediately, among many other features.

Premise
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I've been working on a mod for some time now to improve settlement attacks. It's my first mod.
I started this project trying to replicate the settlement attack quests that old DCMS used to have, just to see if I could learn to mod.
But as I learned about the CK and papyrus scripting, the mod grew with it.
I tried different approaches to improve settlement attacks until I realized that editing the vanilla quest (WorkshopXXXAttackNN) and scripts (WorkshopAttackScript and REScript) is a bad idea, so I've built this mod to work around the vanilla quests and I didn't edit anything on those quests and scripts.
A while back I saw a post from Ianwrath saying he was trying to do something similar to what I modding, so I contacted him and we teamed up to develop it.

Why isn't this an overhaul? Because I found the vanilla settlement attack logic to be actually interesting. Don't get me wrong, like all Bethesda games, they half-assed it, it almost seems like an intern did it, there are a lot o problems that I've tried to fix. But the basis for it was there, and, in my opinion, it was good, I didn't wan't to drastically change it, but I wanted to improve upon it.

The mod main features are listed below:

1. Every vanilla settlement attack is turned into a proper Minuteman quest, with quest log and different stages: There are some vanilla quests that originally didn't appear on the miscellaneous quest log, like the animal quests (Yao Guai, Deathclaw, Radscorpions, Mole Rats, etc.), but with SAI they do. Never miss a settlement attack quest warning again (check).

2. Properly named quests indicating the settlement and the type of attacker: Know what you are facing beforehand (check).

3. Put up head markers and count kills/enemies on the quest objectives: Easily find the attackers on large settlements through HUD or minimap and know, beforehand, the number of attackers you need to kill. Track down those missing attackers (check).

4. Create a quest queue: you will always only have a single quest active (you can only defend one settlement at a time), if another settlement attack is triggered, it will enter the quest queue (even if the vanilla miscellaneous quest is logged) and will only be activated when it arrives at the front of the queue. If the quest is queued, you can go to that settlement, build, talk to settlers, trade, and the attackers won't trigger, they will only trigger when the SAI quest is active and pointing at that settlement. Never fail an attack quest again because two quests triggered simultaneously and you didn't have time to get to the settlement (check).

5. Make sure the method works for both fast travel and hardcore and also for low-end and high-end rigs: the way SAI was set up, it works well with all types of users (check).

6. Correct the Synth Quest to turn the synth settlers against the settlement on synth attacks: One of the vanilla synth quests has an error. It should turn the synth settlers against the settlement, but it doesn't. Kill synth settlers on synth quest (check).

7. Holotape to trigger settlement attacks: Use a holotape from a terminal to choose which settlement to attack or from your pip-boy to trigger a "random settlement" attack. The attacks are triggered instantly and enter the quest queue. So you could, possibly, trigger one attack on each settlement of the game and just keep chain-questing settlement attacks. (check).

8. Fix what some people are calling the "fast travel glitch": This "glitch", that's not actually a glitch, but a package attached to the attackers aliases, allows attackers to move inside the settlement walls when the player fast travels to the settlement. SAI doesn't allow the attackers to move from the spawn point unless the player arrives near the settlement. Don't get "ninja" attackers in your settlement. (check)

9. Works with all attack quests from all DLCs (check)

10. Compatibility: Because not one single line of the vanilla was touched, SAI was built to be compatible with most mods available (check)
- It should work with properly built new settlements (modded settlements)
- It should work with modified settlement borders
- It should work with modified spawn points (as long as they are properly referenced ans Edgemarkers on the Workshop), and It allows the use of up to 5 spawn markers on each settlement.

And furthermore... SAI was built to improve settlement attacks, so on the next versions you will see a lot of new features, like a new type of resolution through paying a bribe or offering a tribute to the attackers; more attackers; more difficult attackers (benemoths, glowing ones, mirelurk queens, etc.);


Installation
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With NMM: Download with Manager and activate.

Without NMM: Download the file. Then use your favorite .7z, .zip, .rar program to extract the contents to your game \Data folder. The mod requires 2 files: WENG_SA.esp and WENG_SA - Main.BA2.
ie: C:\Program Files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\fallout 4\Data.
Then activate the .esp the same as you normally activate .esps.


Technical Details/Compatibility
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SAI doesn't alter a single line of the vanilla game, but it does monitor all the vanilla settlement attack quests, so any mod that substantially changes those quests or their scripts would be incompatible.


Credits
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a1a3a6a9 - for his Don't Call Me Settler mod that served as inspiration
matzman666 - for his Settlement Management Software mod that showed how to make a list of settlements on a terminal
Ianwrath - for his ideas on how to make sure the attackers don't spawn inside the settlement