How to build a post-apocalyptic cat army in 'Fallout 4' on Xbox One
Have you ever fired up Fallout 4 and immediately observed a noticeable anti-feline bias? Do you wish you could interact with more cats in the game? Or even just hoard a colony of them for your personal amusement?
Thanks to newly launched Xbox One support for mods -- free add-ons created by amateur programmers -- you can do all of that and more. The feature is coming soon to PlayStation 4 as well, but Xbox got it first.
Not all of the Xbox One mods available are cat-related, but the feline-friendly ones that do exist go a long way toward amping up the meow factor in Fallout 4.
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Here's a step-by-step guide (based on the mods available as of June 2) for spreading your love of these cold, emotionless pseudo-pets across the post-nuclear Boston wasteland.
Cat outfit
It's the clothes that make the cat-lover.
Your first mod pickup should be "Overpowered Atomic Cats Jacket plus guns." Just look for "cats" using the mod section's search function and you'll find it.
To be fair, the Atom Cats aren't technically all about felines. They're actually a gang that loves power armor. But their logo is a mean-looking cat face with a mushroom cloud coming out the top of its head. This outfit is very fashion-conscious for our specific purposes.
There's more to it than that, however. Some trials lie ahead as you gather materials for your little cat compound, and this modded Atom Cats outfit beefs up your survivability significantly, especially when you pair it with the guns packaged into the mod.
Once the mod is installed, you can find the Atom Cats outfit, guns and a huge pile of ammo in storage boxes placed outside the Vault 111 entrance (where you start the game).
Cat companion
Now that you've got the threads taken care of it's time to get yourself a feline companion to tag along as you explore the scorched wasteland.
First, find the "CatMeat mod" and download it. Using the mod replaces Dogmeat -- Fallout 4's German Shepherd companion -- with a grey cat.
Note this is really just a visual change; even Dogmeat's panting audio remains. "Catmeat" works the same as Dogmeat and other Fallout 4 companions. You can tell it where to go, use it as a secondary backpack and count on it to back you up in battle.
If you want to have a cat follow you around but still bring along a more talkative companion, look for the "Everyone's Best Friend" mod, which lets you do just that. Just note that this one won't show up in your "cats" search, but you should find it easily enough if you look for "Dogmeat."
Cat army
You've got two options for building up a small army of cats: the easier way, which relies on a mod; and the tougher way, which doesn't.
To go the easy route, find the "Craftable Cats" mod, whose name pretty much says it all. Once the mod is active, you can use the Workshop to turn any Empty Milk Bottle you possess into a cat. There are eight breeds in total, all listed under the "Decorations/Miscellaneous" sub-menu.
Before going any further with Craftable Cats, it's helpful to understand a few quirks. For starters, the cats themselves won't be visible in the Workshop (meaning you need to pick the one you want by name).
You can also build two types of Cat Bowl, each of which triggers a different animation when the cat interacts with it: one for drinking and one for sunning. These are also helpful for keeping your cats in one place, since they tend to gravitate to their dishes.
There's no reason why you can't craft cats and capture them.
The cool thing about craftable cats is you can move them around in the Workshop just like you can with any of the inanimate objects you craft. So if one wanders off, you can easily bring it back instead of killing it and replacing it (which wouldn't be very nice).
The trickiest part to making cats in this way is finding those milk bottles. There are some scattered around in the houses of Sanctuary Hills and some more in the milk dispensing machine at the Red Rocket truck stop (very close to Sanctuary). Beyond that, you'll have to explore.
Your other option requires the officially released (i.e. you have to pay for it) Wasteland Workshop add-on. Simply build a bunch of cat cages and wait for your new friends to show up.
This method isn't as ideal in a number of ways. The cats you catch in cages are just creatures in the world rather than living furniture, so you can move them using the Workshop. Crafting the necessary cages also requires Softshell Mirelurk Meat, which means you need to kill a bunch of those annoyingly armored water monsters. That where your Atom Cats cheat gear comes in handy.
If you want to be efficient about building your cat army, do both. There's no reason why you can't craft cats and capture them. Hunt for bottles while you shoot up mirelurks and reap the benefits of both in half the time.
Cat house
There's just one thing missing to make your kitty friends happy: A home to live in.
This last bit doesn't require any mods; just some space in one of your settlements and the materials you need to build a feline dream home. Everything else -- including the paintings you see in the above screenshot -- is available in unmodded Fallout 4.
Start by building a fence around wherever you want to keep the kitties. Leave space for capture cages (if you're going that route), cat bowls and any other goodies you want to give your feline army. Don't forget to include a gate, so you can get in and out.
The fence isn't strictly necessary if you're just crafting cats, but it does help to keep them contained. Inside the fence, you'll definitely want to craft cat bowls of either type. One bowl for each cat is a good rule to go by.
Outside of that, get creative. What kind of existence do you want your Fallout 4 cat army to have? Are they going to live strictly outdoors? Do you want to give them any kind of shelter from the elements? Will you taunt them with an empty milk dispenser machine (the correct answer is yes), or be super on-the-nose and hang up a bunch of cat paintings (also yes)?
The selection of Fallout 4 mods -- cat-related and otherwise -- is sure to grow as more people grow accustomed to using the game's mod tools. But here we have a great start for turning the nuke-scorched Earth around Boston into a cat-lover's paradise.
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Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
