Bardikens' Compendium of Suggestions Part 3: Towns/Cities
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Now that is has been a few days, let's take a look at a prominent feature of Fractured: towns and cities.
As usual the link to the full document can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qrD2MwlirFeuFF3U88XVUcvPa3yVbbslkbImYow0XJk/edit?usp=drivesdk
Towns and Cities in a Sandbox
What should towns and cities look like in a Sandbox?
Player owned houses, towns and cities have been a fascination for video game players for a very long time. I still remember when I first rented my own house in Tibia and the excitement of having a room in a guild hall. Many different games have offered differing views on what a town or city should look like and many of them have done a pretty good job of making them viable, even if they fail in the customization department or are forced to be instanced. Ideally in a sandbox you would have non-instanced houses, towns, and cities that have a purpose that reflects the goal of your game and encourages players to use them to that end.
What should towns and cities look like in Fractured?
I think Fractured has a very robust housing/city system that incorporates both NPCs and player owned sections.
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Towns and cities should be able to employ people to do jobs with wages that are held in escrow from the treasury until cancellation or completion of the job.
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Guilds and guild towns should be able to delegate nearly every aspect of responsibility to encourage guilds to utilize complex bureaucracies and teamwork to fulfill logistical needs
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Guilds and towns should be allowed to host mercenary guilds, merchant guilds, Etc. so long as they pay rent for the plots they are using. This should count for the population.
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Towns and cities should have laws that are determined by the local guild, government, or people depending on what is being used. These laws can just be a large checklist of options that determine what is and isn't a crime in that sphere of influence.
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Republic cities and towns should not just vote for Governor (who can do all of the things in the town), but also for individual magistrates that make up some of the major power options of the town (city planning, building, laws, etc.). This could be at the discretion of the town.
Why?
Towns and cities are going to be one of the main features in Fractured. The consequences of having cities and towns with in-depth mechanics, then, are obvious. It should be a system that promotes personalities that enjoy bureaucracy or otherwise delegating tasks while also allowing for pretty much anyone who is interested to get a taste of what it will be like.
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Nice post again.
Indeed, more developed town mechanics would most certainly lead to more engagimg gameplay, and differently ruled cities would benefit from different management system.
@Bardikens what do you think about possibility of bribery mechanics when it comes to NPC cities? With player run cities that possibility is already given.
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again
I esp like the idea of a 'laws checklist' that simplifies setting up a town's constitution and enables players to avoid reinventing the wheel - but that checklist would need to be pretty exhaustive AND open to input from player community.
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@Bardikens what do you think about possibility of bribery mechanics when it comes to NPC cities? With player run cities that possibility is already given.
What would you like to see in terms of bribery? I think an Elder Scrolls style persuasion system might be cool, but to what end? What would it do and how would it benefit people or be detrimental if they fail?
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@PeachMcD said in Bardikens' Compendium of Suggestions Part 3: Towns/Cities:
again
I esp like the idea of a 'laws checklist' that simplifies setting up a town's constitution and enables players to avoid reinventing the wheel - but that checklist would need to be pretty exhaustive AND open to input from player community.
Agreed. I was thinking a checklist like you see in most city building games lime SimCity or Cities: Skylines where you can set rates and laws and such. In this case, it would probably be more simplistic, but the list should be quite exhaustive as you said.
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Love all these suggestions (and not just because, if implemented, they would greatly aid Meridian's efforts).
Some sort of city/guild escrow account would be ideal for contracts, employment, and quests. I'm told some other MMORPGs utilize a similar mechanic?
Town management is, as best I can tell, the closest thing to an "endgame ethic" Fractured has. The only way it can remain fresh and fun is if it's complex, customizable, and time-consuming.
It would also go a long way towards investing a group of players into the game and creating an actual community.
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@Bardikens said in Bardikens' Compendium of Suggestions Part 3: Towns/Cities:
What would you like to see in terms of bribery?
I haven't given it a detailed thought, but perhaps some housing locations would be off limits for "regular citizens" and only available for VIPs, and VIP status you can either get by doing stuff for the city and getting rep with the city, or bribing current NPC major (expensive), which may also fail, and you get consequences in that city, your rep getting a drop.
Stuff like that. Something that would have bonuses if done well, or drawbacks if it fails. Perhaps chance of bribe working could also depend on your current city rep.
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@Gothix said in Bardikens' Compendium of Suggestions Part 3: Towns/Cities:
@Bardikens said in Bardikens' Compendium of Suggestions Part 3: Towns/Cities:
What would you like to see in terms of bribery?
I haven't given it a detailed thought, but perhaps some housing locations would be off limits for "regular citizens" and only available for VIPs, and VIP status you can either get by doing stuff for the city and getting rep with the city, or bribing current NPC major (expensive), which may also fail, and you get consequences in that city, your rep getting a drop.
Stuff like that. Something that would have bonuses if done well, or drawbacks if it fails. Perhaps chance of bribe working could also depend on your current city rep.
Hmm that could be interesting for NPC cities. I like the idea of a Star Citizen style rating system for things like requisitions and public quests where you could rate people who do things for your town (non citizens especially), and perhaps you could set minimum ratings to use things such as crafting buildings with lower fees, taxes or what have you.
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@Bardikens said in Bardikens' Compendium of Suggestions Part 3: Towns/Cities:
@Gothix said in Bardikens' Compendium of Suggestions Part 3: Towns/Cities:
@Bardikens said in Bardikens' Compendium of Suggestions Part 3: Towns/Cities:
What would you like to see in terms of bribery?
I haven't given it a detailed thought, but perhaps some housing locations would be off limits for "regular citizens" and only available for VIPs, and VIP status you can either get by doing stuff for the city and getting rep with the city, or bribing current NPC major (expensive), which may also fail, and you get consequences in that city, your rep getting a drop.
Stuff like that. Something that would have bonuses if done well, or drawbacks if it fails. Perhaps chance of bribe working could also depend on your current city rep.
Hmm that could be interesting for NPC cities. I like the idea of a Star Citizen style rating system for things like requisitions and public quests where you could rate people who do things for your town (non citizens especially), and perhaps you could set minimum ratings to use things such as crafting buildings with lower fees, taxes or what have you.
Kinda like an Uber review system?
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@Bardikens - gratz, too, on the drawing win. well deserved.
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Thanks, I appreciate it!
