"Filler" houses

@DarkStarr,

Many dynamic PoT owners who are just putting their towns together for the first time use row houses to flesh out an area to make it look like it already has homes there. Other lot types in dynamic towns that we could use are big and empty until moved in... This is not a terrible thing, but it may not be what all of us are going for and in fact may actually make it a bit harder to tell where open areas of towns (particularly dynamic PoTs)

I understand many wanting this to be empty until filled by a player.... (IE PAxLair, building from the very start of release) but some may also want to have buildings there as default "Filler' because they want their cities to look a certain way (IE built up or "urban") from the outset. This kind of goes back to the discussion on having variants of templates without the cobble to choose from too...options!

So my proposition / request if doable...: Would we, in dynamic PoT's, be able to have the option to have a building act as a temporary "filler" for unclaimed lots the way row houses do now? Maybe even eventually choose which one?

I know you are trying to control the scope for EP1, so thats why i just put it up as a proposition. But anything to add to options for players being able to take things and make content themselves is a good thing i think. And dynamic towns have certainly become a pretty large contributor to those player ran pieces of content.

That is all *bow*

 

You could completely build your town with the look you want. Houses (lots) would remain inaccessible until purchased. Sounds like a good idea to me.

 

I'll again agree with this idea. "Model homes" are great for everyone. Towns look lived in and help people see what the town is supposed to look like. And "complete" towns are better for pitching the game.

At least that's what I'm going with.

 

Village lots and higher very soooo drastically though. What would the default houses be?

 

Could choose a town "style" i.e. Blank, desert, forest, urban etc and the defaults change based on your style.

 

Or POT owner could put whatever houses they want on all the lots. This would allow them to establish the town character. People could move into whatever house/lot they desire, but lose the right to change the house. If later they wanted a different house, then they could petition the town owner, or move to another lot/house in the town, or leave altogether to find a suitable lot for their desired house/location.

 

I agree with the OP. I originally thought this would be how it worked, as a POT owner I thought I'd have the option to use any extra homes I had as placeholders, much like what occurs in NPC towns. For example, on day one of a release after a wipe, there are very few empty lots used in Owl's Head. Because it looks nicer, Owl's Head begins with placeholder housing and then the players that claim those lots decide if they wish to change what's there. It seems like much of this functionality is already in the game.

I would also enjoy it if I could place excess homes that I have in my inventory on a lot, and then allow someone that claims that lot to choose that as an option. The ownership of the home would stay with me as the POT owner, but it would be temporarily available to the person claiming the lot as a usable home choice.

 

I definitely like that idea.

 

It would really help a POT owner while they were laying out/ testing their town.

The row lots already work like this for a reason but if the other lots worked like this it would be great.

 

Given how nice that NW corner of PaxLair looks with all the default row houses in place, I think some sort of default houses for unclaimed lots would be a good thing. I don't think it needs to be occupyable like the default row houses, but a tiny village house (even on castle size lots) would be better than nothing, especially in a PoT.

If the default was distinctive enough, it could even make it easier to find unclaimed lots. (easier than looking for that tiny claim stone) But restricted lots might be trickier. I think it would be okay if the PoT owner had to manually go to each lot and could set the default house to one of a few standard choices.

 

Yes.

I believe earlier in pre alpha we could go to a house sign click on it and "scroll" through a list of homes that would be available with that lot size. This would be the mechanism we would need as POT owners to get this job done.

 

You want to make a player town look lively, get players in. If you don't have players,. what would you need a town for?

Player towns should start as one instance with one house and one garden and a free plot and grow when new players buy homes. Then you'd have organic growth.

What I've seen so far was more depressing than pretty - players being kilometers apart in a gigantic scene where nothing at all was going on.