Flare (Fallout 4)

For an overview of flares in the Fallout series, see flare.

The flare is a type of ammunition in Fallout 4.

Characteristics

The flare is an ammo type that is specifically used in the flare gun. The round has a familiar look of a shotgun shell but with red paint on the sides. As this is a type of ammo it has no weight.

Weapons using this ammunition

Flare gun

Locations

Eight at Cutler Bend.
Five inside the Yangtze.
Three in Barney's bunker.
Given to the Sole Survivor by Preston Garvey after completing the Minutemen quest The First Step.
After retaking the Castle and completing Old Guns to gain access to the armory, 10-13 flares will respawn in a crate along with artillery smoke grenades in the shelves that contain turrets and traps on the right side of the wall.
10 can be collected daily from the Sanctuary Hills workshop after completing When Freedom Calls.
Several can be found inside a stranded ship with feral ghouls, to the near north of Far Harbor.

Notes

Needs to be within range of an allied settlement to summon help.^[1]
Maximum range is around 3 grid cells on the in-game map.
It is possible to increase the range to around 4 grid cells by aiming the flare gun at about a 45 degree angle directly towards the nearest settlement. This is because the event trigger appears to be the ignited flare's location and not the Sole Survivor at time of check. The summoned Minutemen will come the player character's location though. This is why sometimes it doesn't appear to work, even within sight of a settlement. Basically the flare travels up to 1 grid cell distance.
Summons between 3-6 Level 1 Minutemen characters.
Can be used unlimited times in any in-game hours.
On firing the flare for aid, if in range, they will send up another flare in response to signal that they are incoming.