City Plans and Workshop Framework Layouts provide two different methods for allowing Sim Settlements to automate building your settlements.
City Plans will build over time, and will engage with the settlement economy system while doing so. City Plans are immersive and provide settlements that will have grown between visits.
Layouts are built all at once and do not cost resources. Layouts are fast.
For a settlement to be happy, effectively you need to have 1 food, 1 water, and 1 sheltered bed for each settler and that will eventually get you to 80 happiness. This is a Vanilla game mechanic.
To get higher than that, you need happiness boosters like Relaxation Recreation buildings. The more settlers you have, the more boosters you need, as their effectiveness is reduced the more people you have.
There are also negative impacts on settlement happiness such as failing to defend the settlement from raids, or having settlers die.
Diseases, Pollution and Cleanliness also impact happiness.
For more information, see Pollution Hygiene Sickness Disease Outbreaks
You can assign any settler as Mayor (City Leader) of your settlement, however to take advantage of Leader Traits, the Mayor must have a Leader Card. A Mayor's Leader Traits provide some bonuses for the settlement. In Sim Settlements 2, all Vanilla Companions, DLC Companions and several Unique Settlers have Leader Cards.
To assign a Companion or Unique Settler as Mayor, go to the City Planner's Desk, select Manage. A trade window will open with available NPCs to select as Mayor. Their Leader Traits will display when you select each NPC in the list.
To assign a settler, use Workshop Build Mode to select the settler and assign them to the the City Planner's Desk. Other NPCs may also be assigned this way.
If you cannot, you will need to use the City Manager Holotape to set Leader Requirement OFF.
Select: Options>Gameplay>City Building>Leader Requirement
In order for NPCs to show up as an option in the Leader Select screen, the following must be true:
Codsworth is not actually assigned to Sanctuary, so will not be available until you have used him as a companion and dismissed him to a settlement.
Preston Garvey isn't a companion until you have completed the quest Taking Independence.
For PC Players:
Settlers can have a home, a job and a hobby (Recreation Plot).
Note: A Relaxation Recreation Plot is considered a job plot and only 1 settler is assigned to it. Other Recreation Plots have an owner, and usually when the plot levels, additional settlers can be assigned.
Settlers can be manually assigned to plots by using Workshop Build mode, selecting the settler and then assigning them to the plot.
They can also be auto-assigned, depending on the settings you have selected in the City Manager Holotape and Workshop Framework. The default is Auto-Assignment.
The code creates a list of all NPCs in a settlement that are lacking one or more of the three assignment types (home, job, hobby) and then tries to find them assignment in the following order:
City Manager Holotape has an option to turn Auto-Assignment ON/OFF
Workshop Framework also has an option for Auto-Assignment
A City Plan is a pre-designed arrangement of Plots and/or other Workshop items that can be imported via the City Planner's Desk.
City Plans can be either one-level, that are complete once all the included Plots are assigned and built, or they can be multi-level, and will add more Plots and Workshop items as time passes and the settlement grows.
Sim Settlements 2 comes prepackaged with one-level City Plans for each of the vanilla settlements. One-level City Plans will lay down plots in the settlement for your settlers to build. The plots will level the same way that they will if you place them yourself. The plots start at level 0 (often a foundation, power pole and building materials). Plots are level 1 when they are built and then level up to level 3. The City Plan will not level up.
See what the settlements look like with SS2 Basics City Plans - Coming Soon
A multi-level City Plan will usually add more decorations and more lighting as it levels up. You can find many City Plans including Contest Entries available here: Add-On Packs, or you can search for them on Nexus Mods, Sim Settlements 2.
Many vanilla settlements with quests involved will now warn the player if they attempt to apply a City Plan before City Plans are marked as “unlocked”. Players can expect Unlock pop-ups for settlements when they have completed a quest that gives them workshop bench access.
A City Plan will level up when requirements have been met.
Each upgrade also requires that a number of days have passed and Happiness as listed below:
Tips for when you Select a City Plan for your Settlement
Load order for your installed mods is important.
Some mods cause issues with City Plans building automatically:
For other mods that cause issues with SS2 see Known Issues
A Layout is a pre-designed arrangement of Plots and/or other Workshop items that can be imported via the Workshop.
Building Plans imported via Layouts can be already built at various levels.
Layouts are also referred to as Workshop Framework Layouts and/or WSFW Layouts.
Layouts are also available. See Add-On Packs or Nexus Mods, Sim Settlements 2
Themes can be used to give your settlements a consistent look. Read more about themes here.