HQ is the most advanced system we've ever created for Fallout 4, but just like the rest of Sim Settlements systems, it was designed to be modified and added onto by anyone - no modding experience necessary!
This page will give you an overview of what the HQ system entails and a rought idea of the sorts of things you can do with it - particularly what you can expect to learn to do during this series!
If you're new to Sim Settlements addon creation, and have decided to start with HQ content - that's great! You can absolutely do that, there are two other quick pages I'd ask you to check out first: Intro to Addon Creation - which is basically explaining how I do tutorials, and the Getting Started guide - which will ensure you have all the free tools installed that we'll need.
The core of HQ is like a settlement where the focus is on running an organization rather than creating a town. Instead of building individual items or plots and assigning people to work them, you put the right people in different departments, make use of the excess resources from settlements so those departments can turn a facility into a proper Headquarters, and finally direct your people to do big projects like a true Faction Leader!
For those of you who have played through Chapter 2, you might think HQ is just the part of the story after you take over GNN, but that's just our implementation of it - HQ is actually an entire gameplay system independent of GNN, which means technically - you can make your own facility with whatever projects and options you want!
Now, before you get too excited and try and make your own sprawling HQ location - know that it's a huge task. Plan on creating some content for the GNN HQ first to wrap your head around it all, which will prepare you for a bigger project like that.
The most obvious thing you can add to the GNN HQ, are new room designs. Giving players more options to design their faction visually how they want it, and also to focus on their favorite departments, is going to be a huge part of HQ addon content. With the Upgrades system we have in HQ, you can go pretty crazy with your room designs too - offering players customization options and unlockable additions, and you can choose exactly what sorts of benefits each provides.
After a player has finished cleaning up and building up their facility, then we move into the end-game loop: researching tech trees, sending department members on missions, and providing benefits to the player and their settlements. All of which can be done through the addon system!
You can also tinker with the gameplay systems, adding in new Policies, Trainings, and room functionality! And for those of you who have some scripting chops, you can even alter the gameplay by injecting your own Disasters into the loop!
The system was designed to give you a ton of flexibility, but also provide you a lot of templates to get started with so you aren't left staring at a blank canvas. That's where this tutorial series will come in to play!
This is going to walk you through creating a series of various HQ content so you have the foundational knowledge to either keep creating more on your own, or dive deep and create more complex content. Throughout this series, I'm going to teach you how to make your own room designs and upgrades, how to setup a department mission, and how to make a research project.
After that, you can look for specific Topic Series guides on some of the more complex pieces of HQ content you may want to create, and eventually - for the truly ambitious - a series on making your own HQ from scratch!
Onto HQ tutorial #1!