and there is me (meaning supposedly there are some others like that)
can afford large portal or even a few, but prefer to have 1x2 portals cause large portals mean refueling too often 
I also don’t mind going through 3-4 or more portals to get to my destination. Always some views and people to meet by chance.
It’s so interesting to see how people use different portals. For me, the main TNT portal hub is only the lower ring with planets, sovereigns, creatives, etc. I am only ever vaguely aware of the upper levels. If I am using BUTT and looking for a specific shop, I sometimes try to use TNT or another hub network to find it, but I don’t waste too much time looking for a portal. I just run to my destination. I have a page just for speed–it takes very little time to travel even 2000m with max speed! Portals and portal networks are convenient, sure, but they aren’t meant to completely replace running, swimming, and swinging around the Oortiverse. Get those movement and exploration achievements!
Frankly the best two portal hubs in the game are the Compass Hub(s) and FUTURE’s XP hub.
Never has a hub had a more specific purpose than that hub. It’s literally a portal to the centre of each region on the planet. 
I still think any hunts that operate on sovreigns should have portals to the edge of each region from a central hub. Not necessarily to use the hubs as a jump for every meteor … but to enable folks to just jump in a portal to catch up.
But, equally, I know that would be costly as all ■■■■.
I like TNT, but only because I understand it now … A month or so ago, I literally had no idea. But a portal can have more than one sign around / over it … fwiw.
But, yeah.
Personally, I like the idea of keeping my house rather remote, on Sochaltin I. Then having my own portal that goes near to a bigger hub or outpost. Keeps me nice and far away from civilisation … 
Where I should be!
Anyway, yes … COMPASS is a great idea. GO THIS FAR IN THIS DIRECTION.
BRILLIANT!
Once you’re on the planet, search for the item in the Knowledge Base, Buy From tab; selecting the store you want gives you the direction/distance – I often just try a few random local portals till I’m <1000 distance and jog/swim/etc from there.
Yeah I think the idea was OP wanted to avoid that 1000m swim.
I’m with him 1000%
I love compass hubs they are a great idea.
IMO malls are currently the most efficient setup (and I say that as someone who would love to see a new idea). Kind of boring and restrictive in terms of architecture, since everything has to fit in a small rectangular space, but efficient. Kind of like an IRL mall, really 
just like in real malls though, people still find ways to be creative
Pretty much. I don’t mind grappling/swimming 1000m to the shop, but finding a portal at your destination to somewhere you didn’t look cause it’s on a different network (and often, on a different planet’s hub) when you knew it had to be somewhere makes the whole trip a lot more frustrating.
This is only really true when shops in the mall specialize so you can tell what they sell via the beacon name. Other wise its like trying to guess if i should go to harbor freight, Walmart or home depot to buy a hammer when their website just says “hammer: in stock” Is that diamond hammer a AoE tool or is the owner just greedy? Who knows holding down the button to run is half the fun…
I would wager that DK’s mini-compass(ish) portal hub in that mall is one of the better portal hubs (that only go east ) …
The compass is pretty useful for getting around out of the hub but at a certain point away from the hub i just warp to sanctum cause its a little confusing.
the biggest issue i run into at a mall is… is this hammer forged or that hammer forged… i cant tell based on price alone. At least if the beacon was called “Greedy bobs” and another was called “forged tools” i would know which one to pick over the other.
Yeah forge searches would be nice.
I spend a lot of time trying to find liquid breakers and solidifiers in particular (PS Fantasy Tree sells all that stuff). Same for +45 speed hammers for T7, back when people cared about exos 
call me crazy… but at my local mall the subway isnt selling jeans from the gap… nor are they selling games from gamestop… nor are they selling me gas…
You would think… a mall would have its stores organized into… sections or that stores would actually specialized in selling one thing or one type of thing instead of this whole “i have to dump all my junk on the market.”
it seems to have gotten a little better now that the plot sizes are smaller but i would still like to see people let go of trying to be another whatevermart right next door to yet another whatever mart. Heck its not like beacons and plots dont grow on trees. people need to start sub beaconing plots so that they have actual sections. maybe put the whole settlement/greater settlement stuff to us.
Maybe at least come up with better beacon names when you are in a mall so you arent just “bobs horribly named beacon”
Those are both good shops.
It’s a game.
Also Woolworths…
With forged goods, I think you have to build up your reputation and make a name for yourself with the knowledge search not showing them.
I find myself going to only a few shops that i know that sells forged goods, and don’t bother looking for them in other places knowing it’s going to be a long painful search.
There probably are more shops dealing forged goods, but i’m not hearing their names from other people, and that probably means it’s not worth my time. looking for it.
The few i do go to, i hear them being recommended by others when people ask for forged goods. They have a reputation for being reliable, they get known by more people, more people uses them, and it repeats.
I mean it’s kind of like shopping IRL. You’re looking for a specific store or brand and you have to find those shops by word of mouth, unless you Google (BUTT) ahead of time
Miss the good ole days when u just went out and looked for the items and shops urself. They were build so much bigger back then too the old dk tower all portals loved that place. @DKPuncherello
malls in Boundless often resemble urban centers; dkmall being like NE usa city and the ones with each shop surrounded on all sides by road being like SW usa city; that density also puts everyone there close to lots of services like downtowns before suburban sprawl won
where did fantasy tree go? i miss having the big tree nearby
TNT circ has portals to ultima & PS in the center of the hub and there’s a local to Tigg’s Tunnels in the bottom floor hall that runs behind behind the tall planet-labeled portals with the keeper of the other side of each planet portal on the label on the floor in front of it (and atlases too!)
wrt consolidation, I’ve many times decided I’m going to switch to Tigg’s being connected to a larger more consistent hub on each planet, but i didn’t think of it until after i took over and was treading water and chirping deleriously about my determination to meet the challenge almost immediately–Tiggerness was a force of nature.
Integrating the tunnels with other networks for the longer hops in order to have the whole network connected again (coz I want to use them!) and not be a redundant mass-oort consumer even if I get to that skill level is my plan so it’ll happen or something else will.
I do think there are strong reasons for there being many networks; until I was managing Tigg’s I didn’t know how attached to keeping my fave configuration out there running I would end up.
Boundless isn’t just a sandbox I play in and with; it exercises and expands the problem-solving sandbox in my head like in that Turkish story: She changes everything she touches and everything she touches changes.
Fantasy tree move to Ceph. But there is a portal lower lvl outta in tnt hub