Static Player Owned Town Policy Statement

Greetings Player-Owned Town Owners (and other interested parties),

We are still working on a few remaining Player-Owned Town (POT) Templates (like the Swamp Island) but as soon as we have what we consider adequate coverage across biomes, we can begin Static POT construction. We hope to start as soon as Q4. As part of this we wanted to update everyone on our policies regarding Static POTs.

1. Order: Construction order will be based on size and purchase date (i.e. the oldest and biggest will be built first).
2. Contact: When we are ready to begin construction, we will contact the owner with any questions we have about customization requests.
3. Templates: All construction will be done off of the base templates. Requests for other maps (ex. Kingsport) as base templates can be submitted, but it is very unlikely they are suitable for POT construction due to size and/or space limitations. This is because all POTs have to be built with the maximum size in mind of a Metropolis.
4. Customization: We will make every attempt to get as close as we can to your customization requests as constrained by Item 3.
5. Permanence: Once you choose Static and we begin construction of your POT, you can never convert that Custom Static town to Dynamic. It will be permanently Static. Property Lots work completely differently in Static scenes (NPC towns, PRTs, etc) versus Dynamic scenes and now that we are persistent we cannot change existing static lots into dynamic lots.
6. Change Requests: If you want to make changes to your town after it is in the game you will need to either upgrade to a larger town size or pay for those changes (charges will be determined based on scale of the change requests). Some requests cannot be made at all because of persistence (example: changing or deleting existing lots).
7. Courtesy Unlock: If you wish to switch to Dynamic after reviewing these policies, we will provide you one courtesy unlock of your Player-Owned Towns Submission Form to convert to Dynamic.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to working with those of you who choose Static as your option.

 

Just curious, do we get to pick which world builder we want to work with?

 

Unfortunately not.

 

For anyone still on the fence about this...

This is one of the main reasons I chose dynamic. The other reason was that I felt like looking at some of the Static POTs, the level of customization involved in a Static POT simply wasn't enough to justify the lack of flexibility that I would be giving up by not going dynamic. With all the cool stuff that is developed on a monthly basis here, I didn't want to miss out on having the equivalent of a "bell tower" or a new statue or whatever simply because my POT was static and it would require months of waiting to get changes implemented, not to mention additional funds to cover the costs of making those changes.

I kept thinking, what if they create an Observatory or a Amphitheater POT decoration and I'm not in a position to provide that to my residents? What if "player dungeons" are developed but they can't be connected to static POTs without jumping through hoops?

That's why I went dynamic, because it felt like I could have more control over my towns ability to roll with the changes.


EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot that I also didn't want to make everyone that joined the town during the land rush and thereafter pack up and move back in after the town went Static. That seemed like a lot to ask from people that were nice enough to live in my town.

 

Could not agree more.

 

@DarkStarr
If a P.O.T. is currently in-game, and the Governor chooses to change from current Dynamic setting to Static would the P.O.T. be removed from the game as soon as the Submission Form is unlocked and the request for the new custom layout is submitted, or would it remain "as-is" until such time as Devs begin work on it? For a new P.O.T. Governor, the list of those ahead may be lengthy, so wondering if the town would stay in it's current status until it works it's way to the top of the Dev's "to-do" list.

Thank you for your time and assistance.

 

@DarkStarr thanks for update. Any idea when we'll be seeing the new pot tools? Thinking I may not be the only one waiting for those before setting up

 

We would leave the POT in game until the Static town would be delivered most likely. However you would really need to be informing your residents about the change because they will need to rebuild everything.

 

Beginning of Q4 they should begin coming online starting with things like choosing entrance/exit locations.

 

Thank you, and agree re: communication is paramount.

 

Ok, lots can't change, got that.
Now let's say I Upgrade my already customized Holdfast to a village... Will it be rebuild from scratch? Or will the new things get added like a growing City?
That would be awesome.

What kind of changes can I request?
Changes like: I need one more lot? Or changes like I need an additional npc?

Edit:
The more I think about it the more I belive you should unlock all static PoTs and not just those that want to go dynamic again.
We get some vital informations here that might change the whole Concept of our static towns.

 

It will not be rebuilt.
We will add more lots, NPCs, and NPC buildings to fit the new size

 

Thanks for the info.
Let's say I had a wall. And now I upgrade and think a second wall around the new part of the town would be nice?

 

@DarkStarr I am considering about going static because:

• I am interesting in getting some land flattened, or have lots placed on uneven terrain with microscopic dents.
• Like to have castle wall with gates placed in small valleys (so the sides of the wall goes into the terrain)
• Like to have custom huge tree (1 tree with 4 seasonal variations, switchable).
• Like to have additional weather effects depending on the condition on the huge tree (like leaves falling in wide area).
  
• Like to have central city area turned into large farmland, since I'd like to have lots placed on extremities.

Do they sound like things possible with static PoTs ? If so, I will definitely go for static.

 

Depending on how big an area the wall encompasses that might be free with the upgrade but we have to evaluate on a case by case basis.

 

Unique interactive functionality is never something we have intended on providing but the terrain and wall requests you list are certainly in line.

Weather and seasonal effects are system driven with the rest of the game and not configurable by the user.

 

I am really hoping that there are more than just "a few" more dynamic templates to go. Right now - in my opinion - we have 4 real templates. Grasslands, Mountain, Island, and Pax Lair. Minor changes like rotating it 90', 180', 270', or changing the biome to snow, sand, swamp, etc. doesn't change it from being a Pax-Lair clone. It isn't really a new template to me. It's just a minor rotation or a change of skin/theme. I would REALLY like to have more options than these few so that there will be a little more diversity around the world.

 

Would this be a "Buy the Yew Tree and hope for the best?"

 

psst... underground.

...but yes. that's what i count as a template too.

 

Thanks @DarkStarr for the update! Good info

---> @Baron Drocis Fondorlatos, I agree with you 100%.

@Tazar, I do share your view:

---> The rotated templates are not really *new* IMO. More like *recycled*. New would be a different configuration of the landmass. I agree that for the most part, all the templates ARE Paxlair clones. Island and Underground excluded.

On the plus side, once the tools start coming out, the utter sameness of Dynamic PoTs might be ameliorated just with being able to choose the entrance/exit locations.