Easiest thing imo is plot what you need. Becoming a settlement requires both plot owners to agree to join, with the larger of the two always absorbing the smaller settlement. If people can’t force merge, they’re less likely to plot up to someone and take them over just to get extra prestige.
Edit: Both parties should not need to be present for settlements to merge. One can request and the other would accept at any time.
Then they need to simplify the entire system instead of adding to it.
Guilds should not be tied to plots, beacons, or anything. It should be a vanity name/club/association with benefits.
All of the layers of city hierarchy that are automatically created for the settlement system, are creating problems. Those need to be simplified badly. This is a game, not SimCity 7000. (Unless they’re gonna give us a hamburger shop & cars…then it can be SimCity).
If the players can easily understand and work within the plot system, there will be less strife. Seeing players come to the forums seeking help because someone just took over their settlement name, bridged them, etc…unnecessary issues.
Footfall should not be tied to prestige.
You should not receive settlement status just for reaching 10k prestige. Every shop in the mall is considered a settlement. Because they want footfall. This is why I suggested a footfall/bank/coin plot or beacon that can be placed anywhere, but doesn’t create any prestige or anything.
I think anything overall will mostly turn into a land grab whether 1 person gets less or more plots than another.
That is helpful likely. Lower conflict before it starts. That could help a lot. Almost really only making “building by someone” useful in a settlement design. Any other reasons…
Bad idea but something I was just thinking:
I know this can lead to griefing… but how can it be changed to make people only be near people in certain situations and then not want to be near another person in others? I’m not sure yet.
But that is kind of the problem… why is someone building right beside another person out in the middle of no where? Is it always just to protect their own land? footfall? What?
I think a simple way to resolve this is default to off. Then beacons owners can activate if needed.
If already part of a settlement then maybe it defaults to settlement owner to determine if buffer is on or off, not individual beacons. Make it settlement dependent. One becon to rule them all.
This seems right to me.
This will allow the active mall owner or city owner determine settlement wide survey, on or off.
But also would protect others who are not part of settlement.
This would resolve mall issues, because no overlap and the owner has the highest prestige.
Then put a layer on that for opt in or opt out of settlements. But you cant opt out if surrounded by another settlement only if on the border.
The only reason I could fathom that there might be more beacons on higher level planets would be to save resources. I’m not saying remove any planets, just add a great supply of the lower ones since they are high in demand.
I only noticed this because I like to explore all planets and often find myself alone - literally just me - on certain T4/T5 planets and usually on T6 planets.
I feel like the T1 & T2s are choking on themselves right now. Most people seem to want to create beautiful places on the gorgeous, lush, safe planets.
I guarantee you, if they were to generate a few T1 or T2 lush planets right now, people would run to them.
This I think is a good point. Understanding more about why that person is building next to you really helps and kind of what I was getting at with my other comment.
I’m liking the idea right now of really making it beneficial to be near a person for certain reasons and try to keep people wanting to stay farther apart for others. I’m just not sure how to stop the problems that causes.
I agree. The solution to this might be to fix some of the other situations first. Then that lessens the need of people to link together and be near that person for footfall, prestige, land grab, or whatever.
Do a lobotomy and turn them into not-peoples? 
Just kidding. You can’t make people not do people things. Some want to be near others, some don’t. I don’t think either should be punished in any way.
I guess I don’t understand how all that addresses the person that just started the game on a T1 and was building and all of a sudden had 1 or 2 people show up and plot right beside them that results in that person having to complain to the Devs that they are being pushed out of the area or that they were there first and can’t finish their build.
How do you lower that conflict and problem? That really was my question and what I’m focusing on.
Well it starts when they hit 10k, or settlement status. I think for someone just starting out they are just understanding the basics and when they understand more they find a location they like then build up to 10k. It doesnt take long.
I think it will help if they put a disclaimer in the tutorial that your beacon is only protected by a barrier when 10k settlement is reached and until that time people can settle next to you.
I think this would help with beginner preconceived ideas, so when it happens they are not surprised. If we set a base line then it should prevent most issues.
Either don’t have an MMO or don’t allow people to plot freely anywhere.
Otherwise you will always end up with 50% unhappy and 50% ok with it.
10k prestige to reach settlement status is not a good formula. Almost everyone in the game has reached that, that wants ff.
An off world tutorial where players can get a feel for basic mechanics, stone tools, hunting wildstock, building, farming basics would help. As the player goes through the early steps they can relax, but the tutorial can tease the other resources that wait in the larger game while letting them know other players will end up around them possibly. Completing the tutorial could reward 100 plots so they can get a good start.
Sorry, a little off topic.
GREAT IDEAS everyone. Thank you for being willing to have just an honest good discussion on this. I’m sure the info will be valuable and I think we maybe can still figure some things out.
Yeah I don’t like the punishment… but I am thinking of it more from an incentive ultimately. I only build beside a person for certain reasons. If we understand the reasons we can solve make decisions to help the root problem.
In this case we see a game that drives people to be near each other: MMO, footfall, cities, shops, etc. It is more a MMO game. But this complaint seems to be not a MMO complaint as much as a SOLO player complaint… or hermit or someone that just wants a bit more space!
How can we make it work for both people? Let people have their farm land and space for those that like to live in rural USA but still leave space between us, while those that like city life do well there.
Maybe the game just isn’t ready or set up for that… I think there is a way but it isn’t a simple fix obviously. I really am thinking this is more the key issue. Something drives the person to want to build by someone so fast after they lay down ground work on their build.
But the person isn’t bothered as much by the settlement thing as they are with this: I start playing in an area that I reserve. I do some stuff one day. Log out. Come back next day and someone plotted right beside me and now I can’t continue my build.
They have no interest at that point about 10k or settlement or anything. They just wanted to build a house near the lake and now they cannot.
Sorry, I don’t understand the issue in relation to Boundless and our current beacon problems then. This is a game. An MMO.
If we are comparing it to real life…
People that live out in the country (solo players) give up the conveniences that people in the city(community players) get to enjoy.
People in the city have to give up space & privacy and are more controlled by the local entity/ordinances,etc, in order to enjoy conveniences (good sales, good jobs, good transportation, close to resources, etc).
All people/places/things can’t be equal. If that is the goal here, it will be in vain & time will be wasted.
Not off topic. EXACTLY what I was looking for.
So assuming the problem is mostly with “new users” - give them a learning area (T01s not builds or a set 10x10 area with no neighbors) where you can build and learn the game. Once you feel you are good, you are sent out to the real world with some plots to lay your claim and deal with all the junk that X might plot right beside you?
Sorta of cheeky here… but does that really at least help set people up so they won’t be made when the reality of this game’s plotting system and limited land comes into effect?
I don’t think people being next to people is the problem that Boundless is having. It’s an MMO. What other result could have been expected?
If that is the focus now, then I think precious time will be lost. They need to remove the last beacon changes.
If they don’t want people plotting next to people then this can’t be an MMO or they must restrict the spaces that people are allowed to plot in. I’m a little surprised to hear that people being next to people is their main focus?
There are always going to be issues with players thinking other players are too close. My settlement had that issue and the other player was much further than 2 plots from any of ours.
We just need most players to accept that other players WILL build near them. Private planets will help the hermits greatly when they arrive, assuming they don’t cost an arm and a leg.
Yeah you kind of summed up what I was trying to get at. So really is the problem mixing MMO/SOLO? Can we create different areas for each? Or create that tutorial zone for beginners and then the existing game for those that just will have to deal with the mix of solo/mmo.
I think we’ve helped show no easy answer to the problem. You (the devs) are mixing different groups of people. You are mixing different levels of people. You aren’t doing enough to ready people for the harsh reality that X might build beside you if you don’t claim enough land.
We likely need to fix more key issues with the game and then likely the conflict of the land grab will diminish more and not be the issue. Plus I do think the reasons to build near and away from is an interesting idea to dive into. It provides variability… not everything has to be a city!
No, they don’t need to micromanage and try to control that. Let the solo players go off and do their thing. Let the social folks group together to do stuff. Let it be.
If someone has expectations of plotting in the middle of a city then expecting everyone to disappear, then they need to alter their expectations and move on. if you want to be an absolute solo player, then you will have to go live out in the boonies in a possibly undesirable area…that’s a concession that you make.