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Fallout 4: Benevolent Leader guide — build maximum happiness in a settlement

It has taken me the better part of 12-15 hours to get a single achievement in Fallout 4. Benevolent Leader requires you to max out happiness in a settlement, but it’s far harder than it sounds.

Here’s what we did to nail it:

  • You need at least 21 people in your settlement. You can grab them by setting up a radio beacon in your chosen location, but you can also reassign settlers from other locations by hovering over them and hitting the X button (on Xbox One). To get 21 settlers, you need at least 10 Charisma in the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system — assign points and find that Bobblehead! You can also increase your Charisma through wearable items like the Trilby Hat and Minuteman-painted Power Armor.
  • You’ll need at least 16 Level 3 shops — General Trader, Clinic, Bar and Clothing stalls are the only ones that increase happiness, though Clinics seem to work the best. You also need to assign your settlers to the stalls. To get the stalls, you’ll also need the Cap Collector rank 2 and Local Leader rank 2 Perks.
  • Your food and water must individually be equal or greater than the amount of settlers you have. Mutfruits are the best food to use, as they produce 1 food item per tree. Other things like corn, etc only produce .5.
  • Your defense should at least equal your food and water amounts, but it’s best to overdo it — I had around 190 defense just to keep attackers away and my settlers safe.
  • Your settlement needs to be BIIIIIG, meaning the Size meter in the top-right has to be yellow in colour. Build prefab buildings and furnish them with beds, tables, televisions and the like. Add to that with decorations and statues of every kind. Seriously, go nuts with the paintings.
  • Once you’ve everything built up, just hang around the settlement. Resist the urge to leave. Sleep for 24 hours, walk around your joint, and ring the settlement bell occasionally to gather your congregation.

We’ve explained the achievement in the video below (though, somehow the narrative track’s been removed — we’ll update as soon as we can):

https://youtu.be/U9XTkO1o-8U

Most of all — good luck!

Have you had trouble with the achievement? Do you have tips? Share them in the comments below.

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About the author

Steve Wright

Steve's the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Stevivor.com, the country’s leading independent video games outlet. Steve arrived in Australia back in 2001 on what was meant to be a three-month working holiday before deciding to emigrate and, eventually, becoming a citizen.

Stevivor is a combination of ‘Steve’ and ‘Survivor’, which made more sense back in 2001 when Jeff Probst was up in Queensland. The site started as Steve’s travel blog before transitioning over into video games.

Aside from video games, Steve has interests in hockey and Star Trek, playing the former and helping to cover video games about the latter on TrekMovie.com. By day, Steve works as the communications manager of the peak body representing Victorians as they age.