Wish: Please could we have a row house with a market stall antechamber?

What​

We see the need for Business Adapted Row Houses.
Lots of Row lot owners express the desire to have a more vendor oriented architecture. But except for houses with overhang there isn't a lot of options to do so.

Why​

One of the things we see in the comments are that it is unrealistic or that it breaks immersion of seeing all the long rows of identical looking vendors standing in a similar manner outside row house after row house. Which is something that @Lord British has expressed a dislike for as well.
Where for village and above we can see a lot of creativity, but with the row limits the creativity is stifled. But we could give some of that back with a well designed building layout.

We also see vendor owners expressing the need of exposure to improve sales, while also wanting to have something else than the vendor just simply standing there.

Please note that this is not a request to change any existing paradigms. The pre-existing limits on row housing to cull line-of-sight to deco will still be in place. But rather we want the architecture to add to the flavor of having such vendors within the confines of those limits.

This isn't a new problem or even specific to gaming - way back throughout history you'd have the same type of concepts where the shop wants maximum exposure to attract customers. But they want to be out of the weather and still be able to perform work etc.

How​

Since the problem isn't new then lets simply steal something from history that fits the bill. Where the historical solution was often market stalls in combination with the building. So if we take that concept and check out our sources. Then we see something similar all over ancient, medieval and renaissance art and literature.





Here is a live pic of how it could look like



So as we can see in these illustrations and the pic we can fit the requirements given by the devs for row housing. While at the same time fulfilling the desire and needs of the players. Let's list the features/requirements:

• An open antechamber with three walls
• Door at the back to access the house itself
• A counter facing the road/outside, where one can have wares and interact with customers
• Enough space for a workplace/station
• Integrated into the house, where the roof is the floors above
• (No need for windows on the first floor)

Let's break those down

Antechamber with three walls​

The side walls continuing all the way to the front of the lot limit culls the view. This is extremely important for performance, especially in larger communities with lots of row houses next to each other. What that also gives is three walls inside the antechamber for potentially hanging something on.

Door with house access​

Door should open inwards into the house to maximize the antechamber. Also blocking off the inside with a door and no windows means that all the deco in there doesn't affect performance. By placing the counter a bit to the side then one could have the door right in that line meaning that running in and out of the house would be quick.

Counter​

The counter is what makes it stand out as a business and which adds the immersion of the vendor actually making sense in its environment. Also since it is integrated with the house asset it can be optimized and doesn't eat up the deco limit nor the limited space. Some can use their deco limit to put wares on it others can leave it empty and it would still add to the atmosphere.

Workplace/Station​

If there is enough room that you could put any of the crafting stations in the game there, then one could easily advertise what type of business it is in a very immersive way by placing the correct one. It will also make it appear like the vendor isn't just leisurely fiddling the thumbs.

Integrated roof/floor​

By having the roof of the antechamber go all the way to the lot limit it also utilize the space for the upper stories which can have full size floors. This also makes the culling from different angles much more effective and exposes the vendor area to those on the ground level who are supposed to see it, not everyone else.


Suggested layout of the ground level floor, where the upper floors would be the standard row story ones.







Additional inspirational pics courtesy of redfish

Spoiler

 

I know you know this... not a new, Idea... One I support... and one the Devs have expressed support for in the past.

 

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/row-house-with-a-shop-window.14562/
I bring it up once a year since 2014.
But I have adapted it to the times, so injecting it with adapting info/suggestion depending on what the dev requirements have changed.

For instance since it was brought up in a telethon but the devs misunderstood the concept they said it was impossible due to the culling issues. So I've added the layout showing the walls extending to the front effectively blocking as much as if it was a full house. Which should remove any such objection.

Edit:
And while the devs have expressed interest I have seen no concrete plans nor any jira or draft. So I'd bet it is one of those things that get repeatedly lost in the maelstorm of good ideas but never acquire enough momentum to actually make it into the prio list.

 

Carry on.

 

Yes yes yes, oh yes.

 

A wonderful idea... would love to see something like this implemented!

 

And would be nice if this was craftable as well. So Pot owners could put them in without having to buy a ton of them.

 

How would that work? The Governor would need to have deeds for the lots to place a crafted house on it.

I've 72 Row Lots in my town... That would require a Lot of Money even for Taxed deeds ($6120)... and I wouldn't be willing or able to pay the 36,000g per day required to keep up on taxes. Tax free deeds would require nearly $20,000. I love my town, and my residents, and take great delight in being able to provide them with a place to live and play... but not $20K more worth.

 

We offer free housing in our town....the front row of rows are that. They are all tax free row lots

 

Very Generous of you. I've done something similar with Inns. I've 6 of them.

 

Smiles...Not me ...my gov. He is the generous one. But yeah we have one inn. The row green houses are a huge draw. They like them. After a month or two they then are able to get their own lots and vacate to help the town grow more. But those stay full all the time lately.

 

Maybe everyone in the town could throw in on that. Much easier to bear.

 

Won't work for me... I own my town, and don't wish to share ownership with anyone else.
That's asking for Drama.

 

Before I answer the poll question, I have to first know what "fnord" means so I can make an informed choice.

 

23

 

The community has been asking for this since day one.

There really should've been "merchant" bundles.

@DarkStarr It's not too late!

 

29 yes votes. We all agree??

Mark this day on the calendar!!

 

This. ALL of it. I love the idea and agree that row houses are way to identical looking. The merchant-esque style row is perfect!

And, yes, lets make the crafter stall/row houses craftable, people.

 

I still love this idea each time you bring it up Spoon!

 

There are some ideas that don't require justification nor argument. This in one.