Farm Animals In Game For Purchase

Lol That would awesome. Cute little buggers those frogs are. How about a few poisonous species to use to make poisonous arrows maybe? Extract the poison from their
skin in some way to apply to arrowheads.

 

Hello,
Created a quick diagram of the Buffs for Cattle. Just my vision on what they should do and how they should effect your Dairy cows. Feel free to comment and make suggestions. You may note some may be powerful than others but don't last as long. One full season is equivalent to about one year (real-life). These three buffs will become available about the halfway point. The Buff Item with "Everlasting" underneath will be yours to keep it will never dissapear from your inventory like the other two more powerful Buffs.
The Buffs will become available again the following year. So if you don't pick the Bale of "Cow-Comfy" straw, you will have another chance to get it again the following season. The Buffs that are "Everlasting" and yours to keep permanently usually have a low Buff number. If you need some quick gold though and want your cows to crank it up quickly, then you may want to pick the other buffs.
Then of course the ultimate reward at the end of the season for outstanding production from farm animals is a choice maybe of a rideable horse, Farm Dog (will guard animals) or something.

 

It would be cool to have farm animals on my property. I was thinking something along the lines of a Chicken Coop, Pig Sty, and Sheep Pen. Or, hey, maybe even just keep it simple and have just the animals on my property without the holding area for them. Animals could respawn fairly infrequently, and only be killed / harvested by property owner.

 

I like the idea of buying the structure. But I don't think it should respawn anything. We'd need to supply that livestock and it would be great if the game has real farming mechanics to support this, but it would come at a cost (e.g. feeding them, maintaining the structure, other upkeep costs, etc).

 

Smack, I like that idea!

 

"Spawning" could be done seasonally; if you have a certain number of animals, you get a baby animal to spawn, but it can't be harvested until its grown. But buying the animals (or structures really, unless they want to add to the structures stretch goal) in the Add-On Store is a double edged sword. Items in the store are uniques; if they create them, then they need to create a different version of them to exist in the world for purchase with in-game gold. If its just a unique skin, great. If the animals are better than you can get in-game, then its probably not worth the hassle.

 

A true farm would have male and female animals which could populate the farm. You could have pens to separate animals to avoid fights and problems. I hope to see some great stuff to build on the farming tree in the ways of animal control and structure. I am a huge fan of farming and agriculture and support as complex of a system as possible

 

I support the idea of animal husbandry within the game, with some provisos. Maybe a capped number of animals per lot size (mostly so if I happen upon a player-owned town that's been converted into a feed lot, my video card doesn't take a dump). Also they should have some sort of upkeep cost, either food or tax or whatever, and if you can't pay then they go away, etc.

 

I love the idea!

 

Fantastic Ideas all! I'll simply add in that I would like to see the pens implemented rather then wandering animals everywhere on the lot. I'm also fine the player option. if you place a pen, and the animal inside, it stays inside. If you place it outside it just wanders your lot. This way if players want to buy land just for farm animals they can.

 

I think they might have something similar (*points to flexible placement*) to this as a stretch goal...

 

This sounds like a great idea. Would love to be able to purchase "breeding stock" which, if kept up, produce young which can be harvested. Then, in the add on store, can have a special "breeding stock" i.e. lowline black angus, which is only a cosmetic, (though maybe a player might be able to sell at a lightly high price). while in game, a breeding line just called black angus can be purchased using in-game currency.

Only the breeding stock can produce young, and that could be set on a time table, feeding, and care of the breeding stock. All one would have to do is purchase a special male and female breeder (could come as a package).

The only question, in case of purchase of add-on special, can the breeding stock die eventually, or can it be assumed that once purchase, that you always manage to maintain a pair for breeding purposes.

 

Thought up another idea that would be cool. Crossing breeding stock to try and produce something cooler, i.e. Eventually being able to cross a pig with a chicken which can lay bacon infused eggs.

 

I would agree the system of seasonal spawning or timer based off of the number of animals you owned. 50 chickens would lay more eggs and spawn more chicks then 10 chickens, thus the timer would be shorter. This could be a mini profession to sell animals for cooking or maybe even part of the animal taming profession. The higher your taming skill, the more animals spawn, the healthier they are, the bigger they are kind of deal. Bigger animals have a potential to yield more meat by he butcher. This would be a nice random roll for butchery. Say a 10 pound chicken has a 1-10 roll chance for meat while a 5 pound has a 1-5 chance kind of deal.

 

This is one of those very important threads for our future!
..." It's a feedback always needed subject"...


SotA Cattle Barons?
Every play style needs to be greatly included as well as become a viable way to earn a living, which means that (for instance) beef and other crops and farm animals need to have an income that can match their rent space, so that this play style can be achieved <---<<< That's no easy task when we think of having a "hands off economy", where Portalarium can simply allow market forces to drive such an economy, yet as long as those farming products are valued because they have a greater value than just eating Deer or Bear meat, then it will become what Farmville always wanted to become... "which is better, for our better gaming enjoyment!"

The American Bison vs Home on the Range?
Because Americans had a great number of Bison, and because the meat of Cattle was/is so much better tasting, America in it's early days began a meat eating culture which allowed that industry to take hold in a meaningful way, which fueled the grain and other farming product's need. We have seen only the first usage of eating in our game, which is regenerating our health bars more swiftly, and I know that our farming products need to have even more meaning and need, so the food market can become a stand alone $ viable industry

The NPC Market Place and the Need of a Stock Exchange... (or as we farm boys call it, a local stock show and auction house)
Our NPC market places could and should be a key force in helping drive such a hands off economy. We need a place to sell such things with NPC's governing of the price where the location of the available product could then be NPC locally known, which could set the local market price.... "Yet product demand is the key needed to have such an economy"...
Such a thing as this suggests that our own NPC vendors is not what could better serve such a need, yet a local stock show and auction house could, and thus place the meat, grain and other farming goods sale, back into the hands of the common NPCs. "Need a beef steak or bundle of grain? Then buy it from the NPC market place or local NPC grocery store, who bought them from the player at fluctuating local auction house prices"
Yet this brings up another subject of supply and demand, and knowing which local markets have the highest prices, thus bringing the possible need to transport over distances to obtain a better price.

Is This Our SotA Farming Future?... and how are we going to do that?
~Time Lord~

 

Farm animals really could add to the 'live' feel of a lot and town.

It would be cool if they could have some minimal programmable AI behavior. Things like: Move in pack within specified range. Move randomly. Follow the leader. Etc. Things like this might enable thing like Sheep Herding through the streets of a major city. There question is what would happen if they were left there......umm...

 

In Search of Rawhide... which was not only popular in the USA...

Our Common Gaming Farmer
When we think of such an industry, there comes the need for grazing land and the small single village lot owner's economy and play style. Sure, there will be those that will yearn for an industrial size operation, but the back bone of our game will be the common player who can only afford a single village lot when we consider farming life. This brings the question of, "how many cattle should a village lot be able to handle"... yet further, if that player wishes to have more cattle than the space he owns, then there could be the possibility of moving many cattle once a day through an open field. When we consider this possibility, it opens up the possibility to make that trip through the range land and adventure all it's own, where wolves and other creatures could wish to eat the animals the player came there with. This should not be as simple a task as killing off all the wolves, yes some will die, yet driving them off would become a better more viable game play while keeping your heard all together while on the trip <---<<< Thus would open the possibility of a fun game style, but also provide the ambitious farmer a way of accommodating more cattle on their property.
I'm thinking that a village lot with a large house on it, should accommodate 3 cows, 2 for breeders and 1 for sale, thus providing the lot owner some form of marketing ability. Yet the small house owner, could accommodate as many as 8 cows, because of the greater space available. But if you were an ambitious farmer and took your heard to the wild grazing land each day, these numbers could double in size.
Different breeds for different needs...

We may all know of the Angus cow and it's promotions, but the encouragement of this breed, is the lack of the needs of the farmer to be there when it's having a calf. This breed is really no different than any other cow's beef, yet it has much easier birthing, which in turn means easier care and obligations to the farmer.
When we see such things as this, we could imagine a SotA cow (sheep or whatever), having been bred for the ability to fight off things such as wolves, yet it's beef would become tougher and therefore less valued at market, yet perfect for the ambitious farmer to have range fed them by taking them outside of town to graze while they attend them on their journey together. But with the lower meat price of these animals, we could see that the average village lot owner that never takes their cattle to the wild fields, their cattle demanding a higher price because the cows didn't move around allot and were kept on the lot and thus a more quality product. Our prized animals could be born with such special abilities through the way we feed and train them, thus providing the farmer with a "very prized breeding pair" from which to sell it's offspring for their special abilities, whether or not it's for toughness or for their tenderness.
Of course the farmer could also buy the cow's needed hay and grain at the market auction house, which would provide a way to accommodate more cattle on their property. So, buying another lot from our add-on store or purchasing it in-game could provide and interesting prospect, yet a prospect unknown until we do see and hear more about all our farming products. The ability to move our cattle (or whatever grazing animal) from field to field is and could be a game all of it's own
Just some things to think about and comment on
~Time Lord~

 

Great ideas! How about farm hexes or player owned farm hexes. We could get pasture lots, grazing lots, muddy lots (for pigs), crop lots. As TL mentions it will need to be economically viable. How about a reagent producing farm, or make the regs area specific so you cannot grow them all in 1 hex. I want to be the next Ginseng Baron!

 

Would be cool to have the same with plants to produce new unique plant seeds. Perhaps plant inventors could then sell single-use seeds but not the 'recipe' to produce new seeds. I'll buy all inventors seed recipes to monopolize the market a la the Monsanto company. At which point SotA will definitely need some in-game provisions for a legal system, so role playing lawyers can file suit against my monopoly. I'm only half joking with that last part. I mean, except for maybe @Budner, who wouldn't want to try out role playing a lawyer?

 

Great Question Aquila...

So Let's Talk About Our P.O.T. Farms !
(Player Owned Town Farming Communities ...for now... Lord British and the Team do have a plan for other illegal things to be grown, but that's not what this post addresses )

The Extra Lot's and Our POTs...
It's only natural to have farming communities between large towns. This is how natural our SotA world could be, yet we don't know much about how our extra lots could be handled.
But lets open up this subject to see what it could be and how it could actually help our game as well as helping all it's people's play style

Let's start off with what's available "right now" in our add-on store...
Right now there are available;
992 row lots
450 village lots
88 town lots
46 city lots
Totaling $246,470.00 (on sale now at discount prices)
or, $365,040 in land available at regular pricing

Our SotA world is constantly changing and the amount of each of these lot sizes can change, just as many of our POT owners have had to change their available lot sizes to accommodate their own populations and we also know that our Portalarium could increase our projected world's size at any time to allow for their own vision to match what will be finally needed. Yet we all also know that our world is a work in progress and will forever be this way. "So, Yes", there are limits to home or lot ownership for placement, yet that limit will always be subject to change to fit demand.

Farming Subsidies Through Taxed Land Usage?...
If you owned an extra lot and didn't place anything on it... no shed, nothing laying on the ground or basement... could that land then be taxed at a much lower rate as farm land, because all you could do on it is plant something in the ground or raise some farm animals on it? Such a lot could even turn an outside profit by way of land lease for anyone wishing to rent it out as farm land to another player by way of just clicking the sign to see if the lot is offered for temporary rent as farmland with a set time to vacate it's use.
Such an easy thing as this could help spring up many farming communities and also help our SotA with all those Buck$ mentioned above, "while also discouraging there being so much stuff in the world" in each town instance, to lighten the load of the server as well as those connected to it. "Less Lag in the World Anyone?" Such a thing could relieve some of that dreaded outcome, which our game is now encountering because of all our stuff ...

"Our Farming Future?"
On the other hand of Farming or Temporary Placement Subsidy, maybe placing down a lot, using it for farm land, and then picking back up, or releasing the lot for sale before it's taxes are due... "Has this been on anyone's mind to do?"
Farming Subsidies and Farming Communities are a natural thing in life, and I'd like for our world to have a bit of the natural in it
Any thoughts deeper or more shallow, this subject of farming is what is up in the air right now that needs more comment on...
~Time Lord~