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Exploration has never been more important, with dungeons granting permanent buffs in the form of magazines and invaluable Junk. Junk is the backbone of everything in Fallout 4, ranging from guns to settlements. You will need as much Junk as you can get to appreciate most of Fallout 4’s systems, but this can be rather tedious. Thankfully, there are things you can do to make the grind less aggravating. Here are 10 tips for gathering scrap and building materials in Fallout 4.
Updated on September 11th, 2021 by Anastasia Maillot: While there are no major changes to how scrapping junk and gathering materials in Fallout 4 works, players have managed to perfect the process over the years with various little strategies and tips. As a result, settlement-building doesn’t get easier than this.
Players still struggling with this gameplay feature even years after will greatly benefit from these five additional tips, which will make gathering and scrapping junk in the wasteland of Fallout 4 ten times more efficient. For one special method, the Automatron DLC is required.
15 Gather And Scrap All Weapons
Combat is a massive part of surviving in Fallout 4, and those who mostly play the game just for that and despise gathering resources can kill two birds with one stone by focusing more on combat. Enemies will typically drop their weapons, which can actually be scrapped into parts. This is a fantastic way to get junk without having to just walk around gathering random items.
This is only really possible if the player has the Scrapper perk unlocked, which should be a given. Each level of the perk, up until level 3, provides more materials. From a simple Pipe Pistol, one of the most common weapons in the game, it’s possible to get even nuclear material at level 3, as well as screws, springs, copper, and gears.
14 Use The Resource Duplication Glitch
Bethesda’s open-world games are often known for their bugs and glitches that sometimes make for actual viable strategies. Such is also the case with Fallout 4, where it’s possible to use an item duplication glitch to one’s advantage when gathering more items just feels like a chore overall.
Of course, this is a very cheaty method of dealing with one of the game’s major challenges, but sometimes the end justifies the means. To know exactly how this works, YouTuber Eris showcases it perfectly in their video, which also proves this method works as of 2021.
13 Establish Supply Lines
This tip has more to do with managing junk rather than gathering it, but it will be a huge quality of life upgrade when it comes to sharing resources between multiple Fallout 4 settlements. Players will need to unlock the Local Leader perk to gain access to settlement supply lines.
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Basically, this feature allows players to share the inventory of workshop stations between all their settlements. This means any junk or items scrapped in one settlement can be used in building in another. It’s an essential perk to have when it comes to managing the resources the player gains, but also allows players to gather junk into a shared storage on various settlements, with no need to travel around.
12 Build Scavenging Stations
Some players might not know this, but settlers without an assigned job will actually produce one piece of random junk every day, which will be stored in the workshop. To boost these numbers, it’s possible to build something called Scavenging Stations, which will bump this to two pieces of junk once a settler is assigned to it.
To build a Scavenging Station, players will need to three pieces of steel and five pieces of wood. Make sure to assign settlers to the station after placing it down. It’s not the most efficient way of generating junk, but it’s a nice side business to have to take some of the pressure off the player’s shoulders to get all materials. Note that after the workshop inventory is considered “full” by the game, these stations no longer generate junk. As such, it’s best to use it early game.
11 Build The Eyebot Pod
Those with the Automatron DLC actually get access to a very convenient machine called the Eyebot Pod. It’s another settlement build that can be plopped down anywhere and will dispense a robot to go and look for a specific item the player has requested. Once found, a quest marker will appear at its location.
To make the Eyebot Pod, quite a few resources are needed, but it’s well worth the price if finding rare resources is starting to become a headache. Players will need six pieces of aluminum, four pieces of circuitry, two pieces of copper, two pieces of fiber optics, and two pieces of nuclear material. Make sure to also have the Eyebot Pod schematics at hand, found at the new Mechanist’s lair settlement.
10 Max Out Strong Back
Carrying as much Junk as possible is critical to getting the most out of every dungeon. Strong Back is a fantastic perk for this, granting extra carry weight as you upgrade it.
When it’s fully upgraded, being over-encumbered doesn’t prevent you from fast traveling. This is fantastic for grabbing everything in a level and traveling back to a settlement to scrap it all. If being over-encumbered bothers you, maximize your Strength stat and invest in Deep Pocket armor mods for some more breathing room.
9 You Can “Grow” Adhesive
Adhesive is an uncommon resource in Fallout 4 that is needed in virtually every weapon, armor, or settlement build. Since it comes in short supply, it is a good idea to farm for this item specifically.
Thankfully, you can craft Adhesive from your own virtual backyard! At any cooking station, combining 3 Corn, 3 Mutfruit, 3 Tato, and 1 Purified Water will create Vegetable Starch. This starch is the equivalent of 5 Adhesive, making it the best method of farming Adhesive in the game. Literally, you have to grow the crops and harvest water to make it.
8 Use Companions As Pack Mules
This wouldn’t be a Bethesda game if a companion wasn’t sworn to carry your burdens. Companions are just as well-suited to carry your items as you are, so use that to your advantage!
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Equip your companions with Deep Pocket armor and let them carry all of your items. This grants an extra 200-300 pounds to your overall loot haul from every expedition. Strong and Paladin Danse are the best for this since they have high Strength stats.
7 Tag Items
Tagging things is essential if you plan to create anything in Fallout 4. Without tagging, it is much more likely you will miss core items you’ll need later on to make amazing gear.
Tag resources you need or know are uncommon enough to warrant seeing. When an item is tagged, objects containing that item will glow a vibrant green color to notify you of a good item you should grab. Do this for Aluminium, Nuclear Material, Ballistic Weave, Screws, or anything else that you have a hard time scavenging.
6 Grab Everything
It sounds simple but many people forget to do this. Unlike other Fallout titles, clutter has a purpose now. If you have the carry weight for it (or not with Strong Back), you should always grab Junk. There is rarely a time where it isn’t worth it.
Weight is the only thing driving players back from stealing bucket loads worth of supplies, but there are ways around this limit. Maximize your Strength stat, use Power Armor, or use any tips mentioned in the guide to help mitigate this issue. The number of resources you skip by not grabbing everything is dramatic. Yields from each dungeon double or sometimes triple when you can afford to grab and store everything in sight.
5 Purchase Shipments Of Resources
Sometimes a particular item you need will not spawn. Certain zones that are known for high quantities of resources can be farmed, but this can be a pain for certain characters.
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Like most things in Fallout 4, you can buy resources from vendors! Look out for Shipment items that vendors frequently sell. These are bundles of resources that have a moderate fee attached to them. If you have the money, these vendors can save hours worth of farming and let you focus on crafting your next item or settlement.
4 Cranberry Island Supply Room Farm
Those who own the Far Harbour DLC for Fallout 4 have a phenomenal farming spot that grants lots of materials. Head to Cranberry Island and look for a particular shed.
Head to Cranberry Island Bog and explore the island, killing any enemies as you go. The dormant generators on the island need to be activated. After all 3 are on, head to a nearby bunker and kill the ghouls to obtain the key to this shed. This shed contains dozens of uncommon and rare materials, and this area resets every couple of days. Head to a new location, wait a few days, then return to obtain a fresh batch of supplies for crafting.
3 Scrapper Works On Workshop Items
While this won’t circumvent farming junk and crafting materials altogether, there is a neat trick to preserving some of the materials spent on making items.
Scrapper grants more items from salvaging, mainly meant for earning uncommon and rare materials from armor and guns. However, the perk omits the fact that it grants extra materials from scrapped workshop items as well. If you made an intricate settlement that you don’t like, get all 3 ranks in Scrapper and tear the place down to get most of your uncommon materials back.
2 Deposit All Junk To Workbenches
Some players drop their items in a ring around them when returning to a settlement to manually scrap their materials since scrapping items through the workshop doesn’t grant all materials.
Don’t do this. Instead, head to the Junk tab in the workshop UI and press the “store all Junk” button. This will store all items in your Junk tab without disassembling them. Any crafting options that require built items such as Abraxo Cleaner can be built, and materials needed will be scraped as needed for their full worth. This can save dozens of minutes or even hours manually scrapping items you find.
1 Turn Water Into Resources
How your character knows how to create water purifiers at the start of Fallout 4 doesn’t make any sense, but you can capitalize on this knowledge to create virtually infinite income.
Creating more water than a settlement needs will result in Purified Water being made. This water is worth a decent amount of caps on its own, but creating dozens of water purifiers can result in hundreds of water bottles daily. Sell these to vendors for massive income, and then use your newly found wealth to buy Shipments of whatever you need. You can effectively turn water into any resource you want with this strategy.
Fallout 4 was released on November 10, 2015, and is available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
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