A general rule is things that happen within a world are much easier than across worlds.
In general, I also like to provide ways for players to solve problems themselves.
Maybe the market elements need to have a bigger impact on Prestige? Then players will know that the most prestigious locations are more likely to have the best market places. This is why we decided to always show the capital on the compass.
Yes, I believe that would help. All blocks/builds with function should probably more prestigious (e.g. Active Portals, Active Shops, etc.). Active so that it’s not exploitable to boost a settlements prestige. These are what make a settlement alive/functional anyway and not just plain pretty.
My main concern though is not finding a settlement with shop but finding my desired item to buy once I’m in a settlement. Once I’m in a major settlement, I have to check every corner of the whole settlement just to look for active shops and more specifically one that offers the one I’m looking for.
Yep I understand this. And to @Havok40k’s comment - maybe signs are sufficient?
"<-- Block Shop", "Weapon Shop -->"
But this would still depend on bringing some order to the chaos.
Yes, I agree as well that signs will definitely change things a lot. It will be practical for us to play around with signs first as it’s already planned and much simpler before investing on more complex and arguable systems.
We’ll yet have to see if “Running around the shops checking each plinths” is more bearable and acceptable than “Running around the settlement looking for shops and checking each of its plinths” 