Under new rules, we need 10k prestige to be able to get footfall from a beacon within a settlement. Great that someone’s beacon with nothing in it can’t get footfall anymore (even if scaled down). However, some settlements offer small spaces to take for settlers or shop owners. They can be really used to build something nice and inspiring, but because of restricted size of such beacon it’s going to be hard to reach 10k prestige, unless high end blocks are used (and that’s not good if players are pushed to use prestige-heavy blocks to get footfall or risk to miss on footfall if they build beautiful and useful spots without using high-prestige materials).
Suggestion: please lower prestige requirement for footfall to 5k - only for beacons within settlements of course. It can be scaled down from 10k. So: no footfall for beacons inside settlements that are below 5k >> scaled down footfall for beacons between 5k and 9.999 >> full footfall for 10k+ beacons.
Guild aligned beacons become separate settlements within larger ones to protect their identity. Also nice idea. However, when visiting large towns/cities, the on-screen info is incomplete and doesn’t inform visitors where they are. Can be confusing if they need to find certain settlements.
At the moment the compass info goes like this: beacon name - settlement name - region - world. Example - my Red Roof Shops @ Finata beacon is part of Ultima Empire settlement. So, before the guild update it read Red Roof… - Ultima Empire - Region Name - Finata. After last update and aligning my beacon there to a different guild than Ultima, I got this: Red Roof… - Unnamed Settlement - Region - Finata. I named my new settlement part to give it identity, so it reads Red Roof Shop - Red Roof Franchise - Region - Finata. It doesnt show what city I’m in anymore, unless I interact with my beacon, where it says it’s located in Ultima Empire and that means I’m still getting footfall based on the size of the entire city. That’s cool, but the compass is just not informative enough, I feel.
Suggestion: add additional part to compass location info, so it reads Beacon Name - Guild Aligned Settlement Name (if applicable) - ENTIRE SETTLEMENT (the “located in” part of beacon info) - Region - World.
If this happened my shop beacon in Finata would give a visitor this info: Red Roof Shop - Red Roof Franchise - Ultima Empire - Region - World, where the Ultima Empire part allows players to constantly see where they are (part of what bigger settlement he is visiting).
I disagree with the 5k requirement, 10k really isn’t hard to get with the right blocks and build tactics on single plots. Players should be required to actually build something to get the benefits of footfall, I don’t think that randomly abandoned or undeveloped beacons blocking settlement expansion or just making your town look ugly should be rewarded or encouraged, which is what this patch does nicely.
I only wish they had a total reset of all beacon footfall to so the long term abandoned beacons some of us have had to put up with get nothing at all if they hadn’t bothered to check their beacon recently.
That’s exactly my point. In order to get to 10k I need to deploy high end blocks and special tactics instead of building what I really want.
If I want certain effect I might chose lower rank materials and create sth cool. And if I can’t get 10k be because of that, I am punished with lack of footfall. I really dislike burying high prestige blocks underground to pump up overall beacon prestige.
So you know the solution, burying some blocks out of side, but don’t like it.
You still need to bury some mats for 5k prestige.
Is 10k prestige arbitrary, yes it is. Is 5k better? No clue.
But then why stop at 5k. You can repeat the argument you made to lower the prestige to 5k to lower it to 2.5k, and so on. So unless you have a solid argument why 5k is superior cut off than 10k, I see no reason to change the limit.
If you want the prestige you have to build smart with high end blocks, that’s part of the game and is nothing new with this patch, the only difference is that to discourage random undeveloped beacons farming footfall and generally being a thorn in most towns sides, the prestige level has increased and rightly so, this was a good move on the devs part.
Nothing is stopping you building with low end blocks, if you want to go for a low end prestige build you will just have to expand your beacon until you get what you want, so plan ahead or redesign what you currently have.
we are talking about limited-size beacons that are part of cities - not free developement of own settlement; sth like a 1-2 plot spots offered for players to settle in bigger settlements; this actually used to be 5k as far as I remember in the beta times, while there was 10k for own settlement (I owned a shop in Therka market that was called Funky Corner and was made a lot from natural blocks and I didnt have to hit 10k for footfall)
sandbox freedom is supposedly part of game, so why not try to balance the threshold for footfall the way that allows those who care what they build to build below 10k spots in cities and still enjoy some footfall for their artistic work? 5k is just an idea and yes any number must be arbitrary by definition, but why not find a number that allows to build nice natural looking thing (timber, stone, some gleam, natural blocks); I have enough practice to know that 2-plot small house built that way can hit 5k but 10k requires using decorative and refined blocks a lot and if that’s not what the builder wants?
not everyone plays for efficiency - some people really build with certain idea and they want specific effect (for example - I prefer the look of metamorphic stone than refined metamorphic rock when building medieval style, or would go for trunk instead of timber or refined timber for rustic effect etc. etc.); so I don’t like the idea of being told - you have to build from THAT or no footfall; where is sandbox in there? where is creativity freedom not being in disadvantage?
people brag about it, so yeah I know that some even bury a lot of machines under floors for that; it used to be gleam in old beta days when it was high on prestige;
I could even do that if I didnt have a choice and wanted to get to 10k on a single or two plots (still talking that scenario of being a small-scale settler or shop owner in a city), but then when there is little space its also hard to fit a layer of stuff for prestige and then hide it with another layer of blocks that I really want to be seen outside
Nothing is stopping you building what you want though, you seem to be saying that footfall is your right no matter what you build? I don’t agree, if you want to have the gains of increased footfall you should rightly be building to a level that encourages nice builds with higher tier blocks i.e more time and effort is being rewarded. I think you are confusing equality of opportunity vs equality of outcome with your argument.
I’m saying good and mindful builds of good artistic value deserve footfall.
10k limit for a small beacon inside a city encourages use of high end blocks, not nice building - someone can simply thrash their single plot with randomly placed marble blocks - 200 of them and you hit 10k and footfall flows in
I can build something next to it that ads to city architecture and not hit 10k due to carefully chosen style that doesn’t go with high prestige blocks and I will see no footfall.
LONG STORY SHORT: I like the idea of footfall threshold and I understand there is need for it. But my feeling is it could be lower.
How is it hard? Are you building your one or two plots set up all the way to the core?
Again your argument can be extended to any number that is lower. If you say 5k is better than 10k, why and how.
I can easily achieve 10k in a single plot/column build that you won’t see the high prestige mats from the outside. It is called a basement.
I like to build with empty space and natural looking material, looks better in my eyes. Yes it is not high in prestige. A well, make a trapdoor (which I tend to make anyway cause I like to hide my beacons for smaller builds, don’t like the look) and build myself a basement, I’m true since storage in there for the shop upstairs. And build with some high prestige mats and get 10k easily.
I suggested a number that was there before. It doesnt matter to me if its 4k or 6k instead, or 5.372
It’s just my feeling is, that 10k is too much.
It’s based on a fact that I built a lot of small structures putting a lot of mind to it if it comes to what materials I use and what style I want - and simply around 5k is what can be achieved with simple blocks like timber and stone, while 10k not so much (still talking 1-2 plots, maybe even 3 and 4, where some space is left and some natural blocks are in play etc.).
It seems fair to me to let people create beautiful things of limited size and prestige around 5k and still enjoy some footfall. It can even be scaled down from 10k (10k would still be threshold for full footfall), just award basic/natural material artists with something.
At the end of the day it’s impossible to avoid people trashing their beacons or leaving them unfinished and still hitting 10k and getting footfall. Introducing threshold only eliminates the really worst ones in terms of prestige (sometime connected with horrible look but its not the rule). At the same time if the threshold is too high then some genuine builds that don’t get there are omitted and don’t create footfall for their genuinely active owners.
PS. Gotta go and mine some sapphires. thanks for all the input and discussion!
The old limit was 5k; I’m neither for or against the change to 10k really - does 10k solve some problem I don’t know about…? What does 10k do…? It’s kinda rare to have such a small (10k) build anyway.
It disincentivizes undeveloped, single-beacon plots, which are typically viewed as a multi-part problem where 1.) they remain undeveloped and in the way of a growing city but also 2.) gain footfall simply by being there, without contributing to the settlement. Previously, people would place beacons down for warp locations since the location list was only 50. This factor didn’t help. haha
I absolutely agree. But it is hard for computers to differentiate a good looking creative build from simply random blocks thrown together…
Thats why I’ve suggested adding a voting system to what we already have, but I immediately get shot down by the vocal masses.
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