Suggestions

[Carbon]

Either lock settlement building behind an app process again or HEAVILY increase the cost of making one just so people are forced to actually cultivate a group of PCs with actual interest in building an active community rather than abandoning it within a week because nobody RPs there. (Please for God's sake people give your settlements an actual reason for existing beyond "My friends will all live together :)" give them gimmicks to stand out)

The reason so many settlements are popping up is because there is currently no way to build a house or building standalone without it being a part of one. You want a lonely cabin in the woods? Too bad, you have to put down a settlement first.

So maybe that’s what needs to be looked at first? Allow for standalone buildings but maybe at a price increase or something for being not within a settlement + special rulings applied to such buildings.