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Benevolent Leader achievement in Fallout 4

Benevolent Leader

Reach Maximum Happiness in a Large Settlement

Benevolent Leader0
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How to unlock the Benevolent Leader achievement

  • marchedrampagemarchedrampage
    29 Nov 2015 29 Nov 2015 08 Dec 2015
    By far the best place to do this is the red rocket just outside sanctuary hills, you dont need to buy anywhere near as much stuff for the achievement than the other solutions posted here,

    You will need 6 settlers, 7 beds ( one for you), 5 tier 3 clinics, 6 mutfruit plants, 3 water pumps, 10 heavy machinegun turrets, a bell, a chair, a load of wooden crates, and a few decorations just to be on the safe side.

    Start off by building your beds, making sure they are all under cover, water pumps, mutfruit plants, clinics and heavy machinegun turrets wherever you want them round the gas station, put a couple of bar stools at the front of the shop, tv set in the corner and the odd picture here and there, i put a statue outside just for good measure, build a bell and chair near your clinics then go round the back of the building and build a load of wooden crates until the size meter turns from green to yellow, you can find wooden crates under furniture/containers, once you have set this up go to a larger settlement and send 6 settlers to the red rocket by clicking X on them to move them, once your 6 settlers arrive assign 5 of them a clinic each and the other one to the mutfruit plants.

    Now all you need to do is wait, i personally did this without a companion, not sure if this makes a difference or not but anyway sleep 2-3 days, ring the bell, sit on the chair for 12 hours then go for a little wander about, keep repeating this until the achievement pops.

    P.S. i think people have said this already on other solutions but do not leave the settlement for any reason as your happiness will go down.

    Good luck guys, hope this helps some of you get this annoying achievement popped!

    Guide not helping? View 25 more guides for this achievement.

    Showing most recent comments. View all comments.
    The GlobalizerIt's worth 73 TA (as of today), which is the whole point of this site, amirite 😉
    Posted by The Globalizer on 17 Jan 23 at 18:31
    Mack StardustOnly took like an hour, great guide and thank you!
    Posted by Mack Stardust on 07 Oct 23 at 00:38
    ElectPlayer2644I can only get 76 max and I have everything that would provide happiness
    Posted by ElectPlayer2644 on 08 Oct 23 at 11:42
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  • DURDENS WRATHDURDENS WRATH
    17 Dec 2015 17 Dec 2015 17 Dec 2015
    I found this solution on reddit:
    https://www.reddit.com/r/fo4/comments/3wyn21/psa_benevolent_...

    The author, https://www.reddit.com/user/lunamoonraker, gave me permission to post this solution here.

    If this helps you, go there and give lunamoonraker some love, because this simplifies an arduous task.

    I'll post the full details, but here are some summary items.
    Requirements:

    1 x Settler (moved from other settlement)
    1 x Sleeping Bag (or any bed, must be under cover)
    1 x Machinegun Turret (5 Defense)
    1 x Bar* (20 Bonus Happiness)
    Local Leader Rank 2 (min. level 14) No other perk required.

    That's it. No super huge amount of settlers, no need of caps in excess of 30k. Basically just level 14.

    It will be slow the first day, but then you'll notice progression. It should occur like this:
    80>84>88>91>93>95>97>98>99>99>100, I used a Level 3 (Restaurant) to get those numbers, but it can be done with level 2.

    Here is the text of the method (and the end of my actual contributions). I did this just last night at Starlight Drive-In, and I can confirm that it works.

    The Basic Method


    You can of course add more than these basics but be aware that the more resources you have the more likely an attack which is just distracting really for the purposes of this method. The Settler is Protected so will never die from hostile attacks (only by the player or their companion) therefore is not really a concern for possible attacks.

    What you will need;

    1 x Settler (moved from other settlement)
    1 x Sleeping Bag (or any bed, must be under cover)
    1 x Machine-gun Turret (5 Defense)
    1 x Bar* (20 Bonus Happiness)
    Local Leader Rank 2 (min. level 14) No other perk required.

    Note; * Depending on the game localization it can also be called Shop but basically the Food & Drink Rank 2 store.

    Supply line is OK but not necessary. No crops planted. No water pumps constructed etc. All Water & Food required for the 1 Settler placed in the Workshop storage, sufficient for around 10-15 in-game days (1 Food/ 1 Water per day) The Settler is assigned from another settlement. You do need the ability to use the Workshop.

    I strongly suggest using the Red Rocket Truck Stop settlement. (see reasons in General Notes below) But only if it has not been used already. if so, use another smaller settlement or clear Red Rocket back to no resources or settlers.

    Method

    Go to the settlement and craft a Sleeping Bag (3 Cloth) and place it under cover (i.e. indoors/ under the canopy or you get a penalty)

    Craft the basic Machinegun Turret (8 Steel, 1 Circuitry, 2 Gear, 2 Oil) and place it on the roof (out of reach from attack helps)

    Build a Stores > Food and Drink > Bar (Rank 2)* (5 Wood, 3 Steel, 500 Caps,)

    Place sufficient Purified Water and Food (i.e. Mutfruit) in the Workshop storage. Allow for one of each per day for the Settler.Around 10 in-game days minimum. Better allow for 15-20 of each to be safe (if it runs out Happiness will drop) Remember Mutfruit = 1 Food. All other crops = 0.5 Food so double amounts if using these.

    For the achievement the Size bar must move from green to orange colour which signifies a large settlement. The simplest way to do this if you have not done any scraping here is to spam craft 91 x Wooden Crate (3 Wood, 273 total. Can scrap after) Otherwise just craft these until Size turns orange.

    Before proceeding confirm via the Workshop interface that all values are 0 (Green not Red) except Defense should be 5, Beds 1, Happiness 50 (base value) and the Size bar is orange. See this screenshot.

    Once confirmed Move an existing Settler to the prepared settlement from another settlement via the Workshop interface to the prepared settlement and assign to the Bar store. If all went as planned you now have a settlement already with Happiness 80 which appears to be the maximum level with no Bonus Happiness. See this screenshot.

    The process has now started. The Happiness should have reached the maximum 80 without the bonuses and there should be the green Up Arrow next to Happiness indicating it will increase.

    Progressing from Happiness 80 > 100 for the Achievement

    Now we have the pretty tedious part which is unavoidable because the rate at which Happiness will rise is governed, at least partly, by time played and not just in-game time. So you can't simply Sleep for 10 days and have the Settlement reach 100 in a matter of minutes.

    After checking various reports of how to do this I found the most reliable way (never 100% sire but seems the better way) was a mix of waiting a bit each in-game day and also Waiting and Sleeping to progress faster than simply leaving the game running (works but some possible pitfalls, see below)

    Suggested Daily (In-game) Routine


    Once the settler is assigned I used the following daily (in-game) routine;

    First day it wont rise so sit in a chair and Wait until 8:00PM then:

    8:00PM > 8:00AM

    Sleep (make another Sleeping Bag for this is easiest. or just Wait)

    8:00AM > 12:00AM

    Just open the Workshop window and idle in-game and watch for the Happiness to tick upwards. Often it will happen literally within 1-2 actual minutes,if so then move to next stage. If not wait for around 10-15 real minutes then move to next stage regardless if it ticked up or not.

    12:00 > 8:00PM

    Use a chair and Wait, then repeat cycle and sleep until the next in-game day.

    Repeat until Happiness 100 and the achievement pops up. Around 10 in-game days
    Congratulations!

    This is the most difficult achievement and only a very small percentage of players get it when checking Steam for example. Not made any easier by the way it currently works.

    Hopefully this method at least removes some of the uncertainties and provides a reliable and fairly straight forward way to gain it.

    General Notes & Further Details

    Which Settlement

    I strongly suggest the Red Rocket Truck Stop as the settlement to use for this exercise.

    It has a small footprint so requires less building to reach the large (orange bar) stage required for the achievement. It is close to Sanctuary Hill for the Settler (not companion. I have not checked if that works yet) and any materials you may still need. Also, it is available without any quests etc. Just use the Workshop.

    If you have used it already then the Happiness may be altered, so best to remove all added items (crops, pumps etc.
    A bit more on the Waiting Stage

    I tested this three times fully with varying numbers of settlers (yes, I am a masochist!) and it hit Happiness 100 around Day 10.

    Some times you can wait 30-60 minutes real time and it just doesn't want to tick up for some reason. Probably just the scripts. I found just keeping to the routine if this happened then the next day it would tick soon after waking as normal. Not sure why this happens. Maybe some variable in the script? or just happens.

    I also tried saving, reloading and even restarting the game just to see if it helped but there was not regular pattern and it's mostly just a case of grinding the time out and ensuring the green Up Arrow is still there.

    Because it only takes 5-10 real time minutes to do a daily cycle, for around 10 in-game days it still takes time but is faster than simply waiting I found.

    it's quite possible that simply Waiting rather than Sleeping works also but it just made the time pass a little quicker to roleplay at least the sleeping...
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    Springbok NLMy size bar stays yellow. 100% happiness and no achievement for me
    Posted by Springbok NL on 06 Jun 23 at 21:59
    Aca Elic 1Still works in 2024! Everything went perfectly but (as someone said before) when you reach 95 you need to change the bar for a medical store and that's it. Great guide, should be in first place
    Posted by Aca Elic 1 on 25 Jan at 16:08
    Glowblue1I followed this guide, and it did work, but the achievement bugged out. I got Red Rocket to 100% happiness with one resident and a level 3 bar, and nothing happened.

    I tried taking all of the food and water out of the workshop, went to do something else, came back with happiness at 94%, put the food and water back, and waited around for it to go back up to 100%. Nothing happened.

    I tried sending a few residents back to Red Rocket. Happiness was still at 100%, with the red down arrow. Nothing happened.

    I tried deleting everything non-essential in the town: The water pump, the windmill, extra beds, a turret, etc. Nothing happened.

    Googled a bunch of stuff. Nobody seemed to have this same problem. Most of the problems with this achievement are people not able to make it to 100% in the first place.

    Then, about 5-6 hours later when I wasn't even playing, the achievement popped all on its own.

    G** f**king dammit I hate Bethesda's buggy-ass games so much.
    Posted by Glowblue1 on 26 Jan at 15:13
  • KevVinexKevVinex
    30 Nov 2015 01 Dec 2015 01 Dec 2015
    I made a video guide on how to get this achievement and all you need are 6 settlers and 5 shops!


    Good luck! :)
    Showing most recent comments. View all comments.
    stuffmixerThis still works!! Thanks for the guide man!
    Did it in 6 hours!
    Posted by stuffmixer on 14 May 16 at 21:33
    TA ChaosSettlement says I am stuck with 8 people but I only have 6 in my settlement at the moment, Suggestions?
    Posted by TA Chaos on 14 Jun 16 at 04:22
    z RagnaroK zExcellent guide. Still works well as of Oct 21, 2020.

    I wanted to share a bit of information that others might find useful when attempting to get their settlement to maximum happiness.

    - I'm not sure where the idea came from that you need to stand around for hours (game hours not actual hours) in order to progress the happiness meter. Once I had everything set up I rested for 24 hours and then watched until the happiness number went up (usually takes approx 5 mins). Once it did, I slept for another 24 hours and waited for the happiness number to rise again. I did this all the way to level 100 and never lost the green arrow next to the happiness level. So don't waste time by wandering around during the day or waiting in a chair for 12 hours. That's silly. This method only took me about 3 1/2 hours to do from start to achievement.

    - It's obvious, but DONT FORGET TO SAVE! I got to a happiness level of 92 and my game froze so I had to start all over. So make sure you save often just in case.

    - The only modification I made to the guide was I placed steel walls all the way around the settlement and then placed my turrets outside those. I read somewhere that if your settlement gets attacked, and the vendors take damage, it can't prevent you from reaching maximum happiness unless you find and repair that. So for piece of mind I walled myself and the 6 others inside to shield everything from any attacks while the turrets dealt with them.

    Hope this helps! Cheers.
    Posted by z RagnaroK z on 22 Oct 20 at 00:21
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