Maybe it’s time to collect some threshold values that work for our builds:
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A portion of my area is close enough to land that cuddletrunks have been wandering far into my lake area. To reduce that from happening, i would move some of my areas away from the lands where they spawn. I just been avoiding that task for a while. Now I got some motivation to work on that, cut back on my area.
Thank you James, had a feeling it had to be that this whole time but i couldn’t tell 
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In response to the OP striving to find such a balance is difficult as everyone has their play style. I think this system restricts the boundless nature of the game. There are other possibly more simple adjustments that could likely help. Also I think this will end up causing more blind panic and rage quits along with dev time on assessing beacons.
I think keeping the compactness system for public (infrastructure builds) is likely useful along with further mechanics to allow the infrastructure owner more control over what can be built and being able to disconnect someone from the settlement if for example they take a mall plot and never build their shop or leave their shop empty etc. This way they get no FF so they can’t just park and leech.
This leads into an idea like many before it to have options at the beacon control so i won’t divert this topic but i will make a separate post.
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It didn’t work this way for me.
Although it is close to okay. When I changed the threshold to .24 the yellow went away.
The idea of a different beacon (or perhaps a setting) that would assign a beacon as a road by the player… I wonder how well that would work, since a lot of communities are set up with roads. But the level of balance on what a road-type beacon gets over a non-road… my brain hides under a rock from too much thought.
I personally dont invest much time in footfall or prestige mechanics (other than the mechanics that give me a buffer of protection).
What if there was an option to disable other players from sucking up the prestiege? I vaguely recall the purpose of the surrounding reservations was to prevent other players from taking ownership of a town…
Any chance to give players the option to share prestige, or not share?
To be fair, I think this system is unnecessarily complex and is intrinsically unbalanced towards people that hate roads. Also, it seems to create more problems than it solves. I guess the devs aim to tackle the settlement take-overs / plot reservation abuse at once, but these are two different problems that need different solutions. I suggest to completely get rid of the presented mechanism.
my alternative solutions:
Problem: settlement take-overs
Solution: opt-out beacon
Problem: reservation abuse
Solution: provide 1 reservation plot per 4 plots. players can reserve any area to their own liking.
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After reading through the OP post and all the comments within this thread, in my honest opinion, this system should be held off, until the settlement system as a whole is combed over and redone with underlying subsystems set in place rather than be added on to a already complex system.
The compactness system should be held off for now till it is better refined internally.
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I do really like this idea. could be added into beacon permissions? Assigned to allow all by default. Make it work like the permissions in the current system that gives players permission to plot within the reservation, or not. To give players permission to absorb/merge prestiege, or not.
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We are at 100% capacity right now. All shops are plotted.
The upper left new village is on it’s own beacon and not compact at all, but it’s not yellow.
did you read the op?
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This wont stop octopus settlements.
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Since when are these a problem? The octopus nature of these settlements are not the actual problem. The actual problem is that settlements are blocked from expanding and/or settlements are taken over against peoples will. The proposed system won’t prevent this.
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I wish I had an opinion but ps4, so I guess I just wait and see.
I’m really not worried. If my builds dont fit the definition of compact I would be shocked.
I’ve decided to let go of some roads and have a few main roads, the roads I do have going around the planet are staying. I’m going to tidy up the entire settlement and see where this takes me. since I have multiple settlement locations across the entire Xa Frant planet, the roads are needed! also, I have 2020 plans to have cottages on the roadsides and in-pit stops or rentable homes
all the roads I currently own are connected to settlements owned by me or friends. no one got forced to join and no one will be forced in THE FUTURE,
NOTE: those that attached themself a while back to the future cannot ask me to remove my road it’s your fault so you have to de-attach and everything will be fine!
if you think you got forced into it tell me where?
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Maybe the actual problem is players are reserving more and more of the existing planets without necessarily using space through the use of roads to grab more area than they have plots. Maybe the issue is planet spanning roads acting as barriers to players finding spots to build or stopping expansion. I know it has always been said to plot what you need. Is plotting the roads to a city without filling in the space actually plotting what you need? That seems to be the question.
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@james is it possible to get a small calculation non testers can try and work with it.
For example when does the limit hit when reserved plots are equal to plots plotted or before that.
Can’t use the web tool because sadly I don’t own a operational pc/laptop. Have to work with my phone (and it can’t open the page).
I can imagine there are some more that can’t make use of that resource.
Also I understand there is no point in hasty replotting and adding plots but will those planetary shots be updated or not.
Again if there are some more (not to technical) guidelines so non testers atleast get a small idea of how it will work. Getting more feedback in the process.
No offense but in this topic here is more “unknown” conversation going on than actual tests, questions, suggestions and conversations on the topic. (Please don’t bite me 
)
I did in fact, which is why I stated it should be held off with the settlement system overhauled.
So I fail to see why you think I didn’t read the post when I was stating why I think this system should be held off/combined with an overhaul of the settlement system as a whole. I apologize if I did not make my point more clear in my original comment.
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I am understanding this problems of outside roads.
But i wonder, why they screw down the compactness that much after very short plotting, if 95% of the rest of the beacon is super compact.
That does not make sense for me entirely.
And it goes totally against the snake plot reservertions, that you wanted to prevent.
It punish normal player way more than the snake plotter.
And i do not think the treshold will solve the problem, since some are fine with 0.25 others not even with 0.05. While both did not abuse plotting.
And also i would really like to know, why a 1plot road has more (0.14) compactness than my whole Roadsystem (0.04). (look at my post above 
)
I know “Holes” and therefor much left and right empty space on roads, but it does not make sense for me, that a road with nothing around has more compactness than a predefined roadsystem that has his major place in a high compact area and not even spread out too excessive.
YES, i know… all people will now say: Hey fill the “reserved” areas, then you will be fine.
But what i should say?
I made them for defining my outer place i wanted to “reserve” for Event Horizon.
I did it not for reason to be greedy. I did it exactly, when i noticed, that people start to snake reserve areas, when the beacon reservation came. I did not wanted to have such reservations press on my townboarder that prevents my expanding. With my outer roads i just wanted to show others, that i plan to let the town go till this outer roads.
And i do think, i did it with care for all other surrounding people. Not grabbed to much, just the part that is respectful enough for all and to be save in front of the plot abusing.
Since Circarpous is a very traffic planet, there was a need for.
And YES, people can say now “If you don’t have enough plots, then you can’t reserve this way, your bad luck.” But also it is said here, i used much of my plots at Ultima since around a year and my own town got a bit pending this way. Thats the cause i don’t have had enough plots yet to fill the holes up. Especially, since i do not plot on one high, but entirely on the surface (i have steep hills around) to be able to keep the natural surrounding area.
Well, for me it feels right now to need to get as much plots i can get to fill up this areas, since i want to keep that island to be Event Horizon, even it will take 1-2 more years to get it filled with builds.
Because i do not want to stop the work for Ultima, just to keep my good old town saved.
Probably i just don’t care about the Prestige, since it does not matter at all and leave it as it is, even with the system, till i have time and plots to make it compact in its whole. 
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i get that drift, since i checked mine and the only way to have the place get blue is to set it to 0.00 since the center of my build is like 10k plots and under 1 beacon , yet shows orange . this will have to do with the roads as well that are also part of that same beacon. so i’m cleaning up places that i think i was saving for any future ideas and let go of them.