In the recent two minute video, we saw a lot of a settlement really up close and personal for the first time, which I thought was fantastic.
It made me think a bit about the games sandbox elements, and gave rise to a couple of important questions, namely:
1) We see in the settlements a lot of houses, and they look somewhat homogeneous, and relatively the same size... we did see a couple that were a bit bigger and made of stone, but mostly wooden ones of approx. the same size. So my question is: Can these "plots" be merged together in order to create a larger structure, out of 4, 16, 25 plots etc?
Also...
2) What about landscaping? I'm talking about things like leveling and raising ground, planting trees, perhaps creating a labyrinth, etc. Basically what can we do to the land itself, or on top of it?
Goblin Squad Member
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2) No terraforming. It's conceivable in the future Unity could have use of voxel tech and there could be small areas where if warranted it could be inserted. But atm buidings, farms etc are all graphical visual symbols of systems ie small cogs that all fit in the larger cogs of settlements that inter-act and that players manipulate these systems. I think that's fair way of describing the sandbox side that PFO is going for. Manipulating objects is not one of them.
1) There has been discussion about plots, but I can find it atm. Each building upgrades ie really simple (whattle and dorb!) to wooden to stone to refined etc. And there are finite plots so planning is a good idea. I don't think plots amalgamate iirc. I'll try to dig back that info if I can... or if the devs don't chip in... but I think the key idea is that each building can upgrade impressively so both functionally and correspondingly visually too.
So if that's true then the only way to have a "castle" is to have it in a really big plot... which limits the player-choice of places in which you could put such a large structure. :(
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Goblin Squad Member
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@Urman: Yes I think you're right, I'm probably thinking of the blog details and "embellishing my memory":
Settlements in Pathfinder Online are essentially groups of plots into which buildings are designed to fit. These plots are grouped into several large districts, each with its own potential building sites for buildings of various sizes. Some structures gain a benefit from sharing a district with other structures of similar or linked purpose. Settlement layouts aren't grid puzzles like the game Cathedral; they're more like planned subdivisions with curving roads, some predefined open spaces and lots of various sizes. The largest and most important buildings can't all be crammed into the same district, but deciding which buildings you want, which districts to put them in, and which plots in the districts to build on will provide settlement leaders with plenty of customization options.
Buildings come in four major sizes, based on the size of plot they require in the settlement district layout. [Cont'd...]
So if that's true then the only way to have a "castle" is to have it in a really big plot... which limits the player-choice of places in which you could put such a large structure.
:(
This is the rationale for restricted locations for building sites and plots:
The restriction on building types and locations exists for two reasons. First, we want to make building sites a constrained resource, as that makes them worth fighting over, and that conflict helps drive player interaction. Second, we want to ensure that the density of the structures added to the world and the places where they are built makes sense and isn't used as a way to artificially segment the game world or to create terrain advantages—a big problem in many other MMOs that allow player-created buildings.
For a castle, the current nearest thing to that is either:
Forts—The penultimate expression of power. Forts provide a significant strategic advantage to their owners. Forts are large and complex buildings and require substantial time and resources to construct. Forts have extensive local storage and allow characters to be logged out of the game safely. Like watchtowers, forts have a detection radius. Forts also have public spaces where characters can directly interact to conduct business or to socialize. Forts also have a limited number of private spaces where small groups can gather for private consultations.
Typically, a given hex will contain only one location suitable for a fort.
Advancing a fort can improve its structural integrity, increase its local storage, increase its detection radius, add facilities for smithing and repair of weapons and armor, and add offensive weapons that can be used to automatically attack approaching hostile forces.
Forts can only be destroyed by siege engines. If a fort is destroyed, any objects in its local storage are destroyed as well.
Typically it's 1 suitable site only, as above but they may consider 1-3 for eg it seems for some hexes? But generally these would be centrally located in a hex to form the idea that the hex is controlled/captured.
And I imagine a big upgrade for a settlement's "hall" might be a "Keep"? But that is speculation.
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CEO, Goblinworks
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Meta Rule of Pathfinder Online: Start with the simplest feature, and iterate.
The simplest feature is stock buildings, in stock locations.
Iteration, under the influence of Crowdforging, could take us in all sorts of interesting future directions. There's no reason that design space can't be explored if that is a good use of time, money and resources.
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Goblin Squad Member
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So if that's true then the only way to have a "castle" is to have it in a really big plot... which limits the player-choice of places in which you could put such a large structure. :(
The way I have interpreted the blogs and previous comments on any player housing type arrangements is players may get a shack in town (possibly later optional better housing arrangements could be crowdforged), but large structures like castles are the domain of settlements built as a settlement structure. the settlement management tolls will determine where structures can be placed, and that decision will be made depending on the political structure and voting system of the settlement. As far as a private owned castle, if you can form your own settlement, hold it, gather the resources alone and build the thing, you can have your own castle. That's a tall order.