We’ve had a bit of a debate in-house today about whether we show text to explain the current category of the settlement your are in on the compass.
For example above the compass it would say:
Location: <Beacon Icon> My Beacon in <Settlement Icon> the city of Therka Markets
====W=========================N=========================E====
On the one hand it clearly tells the player what type of settlement they are in but on the other hand it might look odd if someone wants put the settlement rank in their settlement name, the city of city. It might also be odd to have a settlement which is big enough to be a city but it actually serves a different purpose, like a mine or simply a pretty landmark.
Which leads us to the poll. What do you think should be shown on the compass?
Prefix your settlement with its current category and icon (For example: (icon) The city of Therka Market)
Only show the name of your settlement and the icon (For example: (icon) Therka Market)
Add the prefix. The city name can be adjusted by the owner accordingly and the settlements status is more accurately shown.
Ex, I would change
“(township) New Berlyn City” as it currently shows to
“In the township of New Berlyn” and omit the “city” part from the name.
I don’t think the case of non-cities being listed as cities will be a problem very often because that is a huuuuuge prestige goal to reach.
Another option would be to let the owner toggle the name between “Landmark” names and “settlement names”. Ex a large mine would have landmark titles like point of interest, monumental, greater monument, landmark. This could accurately describe large solo builds that arent settlements.
Edit: no worries, New Berlyners. It will reach city status before this change can take effect.
I prefer it that way tbh - it gives people the freedom to name it whatever they want, without having to conform to a prefix, whilst still giving an indication as to the type of settlement you’re in
Icons would be more useful if they were clearer about rank – it’s not obvious whether “fat house” is a higher or lower level than “tall skinny house with hat”. I remember someone (@Lawrey maybe?) once suggested using groups of the same houses (one-house for outpost, two houses for hamlet). Or maybe something similar but with pips or bars or some other clear rank indicator. With hat.
Sorry this warranted a 2nd reply …
I’m just thinking about the other settlement names and how they would look compared against the example of Therka Market…
The Outpost of Therka Market
The Hamlet of Therka Market
The Village of Therka Market
The Town of Therka Market
The City of Therka Market
The Great City of Therka Market
Some of them (most?) don’t sound right to my ears… to me it gives a bit of a limitation as to what you can call your settlement
My counter arguement to option b is that the icons aren’t exactly self explanatory. You don’t get a definitive idea of the settlements size without the prefix description.
Hmm, sure, but is that good design? Is it ultimately better to expect players to learn to “read” Oortian icons, or just make it self explanatory? Does it really matter either way?
I like the toggle option between landmark and settlement that @havok40k mentioned. If I build a huge house that hits prestige levels, I might still not want it to be categorized as a city, hamlet, etc. That stuff is when there are multiple people, etc.
All I know is when I look at the compass and see a bunch of icons but can’t mouse over to understand what they are, it gets frustrating. At times I’d almost prefer to have no icons then beyond N/S/E/W.
edit: I’d still like the icons but a way to bring up a description… or hell maybe hide them if I don’t want them.
It would be nice if we could name individual parts of our beacons more easily too - perhaps on a plot by plot basis. My settlement currently lists as “Arkyn - Arkyn (Village)” which looks a bit ridiculous. I don’t see the point of coming up with a new name for my beacon so I’ve just left it like that.
Naming individual plots: ‘Marketplace’, ‘Workshop’, ‘Portal Room’ would allow easier navigation of the whole settlement. If people don’t need to name individual plots, they could just stick with name of the beacon.
@cor-karolis I also agree that the compass icons definitely need to be updated! They are very similar, especially for far away icons that are small, and there’s no real in-game explanation for them. Maybe change them to different shades of grey? Darker = bigger settlement. Having pips or bar’ would be a great addition too, anything to make it clear that there are different ranks. Clear icons (and an in-game reference for their meaning) would eliminate the need to show the settlement type so obviously
Yes keep screen text to a minimum! Maybe just show the name of the city if you’re outside and facing the compass marker and once you enter the city show individual beacon names only. Maybe add a visual like a yellow tint to your compass showing you’re still in the city limits?
I have a preference to see only beacon names. In my opinion it allows for a bit of emersion. When you enter a shop I think it would be nicer to see “Bob’s Emporium” rather than the usual jargon. The rest of the stuff could always be added the locations info?
Could this be made a toggle option to either the beacon owner and/or the player entering the beacon? Maybe have multiple settings for what they want to see like: Prefix, Suffix, Both and None. That way it can cater to everyone?
