Prestige for each block/prop

Since I made my museum, I tought about looking for the prestige value for each thing in the game.

Results (base prestige without any bonuses):

  • Soil (silty/clay/peaty): 0
  • Compact soil (silt/clay/peat): 5
  • Trunk (lustrous/twisted/ancient): 0
  • Timber (lustrous/twisted/ancient): 2
  • Rock (sedimentary/metamorphic/igneous): 0
  • Stones (sedimentary/metamorphic/igneous): 2
  • Refined rock (sedimentary/metamorphic/igneous): 5
  • Decorative refined rock (sedimentary/metamorphic/igneous, 1/2): 8
  • Brick (sedimentary/metamorphic/igneous): 10
  • Plinth: 5
  • Compact copper/iron: 30
  • Compact silver/gold: 40
  • Compact titanium: 60
  • Refined copper/iron: 40
  • Refined silver/gold: 50
  • Refined titanium: 70
  • Machined copper/iron: 50
  • Machined silver/gold: 60
  • Machined titanium: 80
  • Gleam: 20
  • Refined gleam: 30
  • Gleam lantern: 40
  • Basic torch: 2
  • Torch: 5
  • Lantern: 15
  • Gem torch: 10
  • Compact soft coal: 15
  • Compact coal: 30
  • Compact hard coal: 45
  • Compact gem: 80
  • Crafting table: 20
  • Stone fire pit/crucible: 30 /furnace: 60
  • Iron fire pit/crucible: 40 /furnace: 80
  • Titanium fire pit/crucible: 50 /furnace: 100
  • Workbench: 30 (for 1 block), 120 (for the full 4 block)
  • Extractor: 50 (for 1 block), 200 (for the full 4 block)
  • Compactor: 50 (for 1 block), 200 (for the full 4 block)
  • Refinery: 50 (for 1 block), 200 (for the full 4 block)
  • Mixer: 50 (for 1 block), 200 (for the full 4 block)
  • Spark core: 80
  • Spark cord: 5
  • Campfire/Beacon control: 0
  • Warp conduit: 5
  • Portal conduit: 30
  • Storage shelf/block: 15
  • Shop stand/Request basket: 8
  • Glass: 10
  • Door piece/Trapdoor piece: 0
  • Lock: 5
  • Trampoline: 10
  • Slide: 10
  • Leaves (lush/waxy/exotic): 0
  • Sand/Gravel/Growth/Mould/Sponge/Ice/Glacier: 0
  • Grass (verdant/gnarled/barbed): 0
  • Flower (1/2/3/4): 5
  • Natural crystal: 10
  • ‘from other planet’: same as the same planet ones, but gives exotic bonus
  • ‘wall/step/slab and chiseled’: same as the base block, but gives chiseled bonus
10 Likes

And an opinion/suggestion for this:

Well I think this is close to it, but still not balanced, and the machines prestige value is just too high! I think you should make machines because you need them to craft, not because you want to get a lot more prestige.

If the machine prestige will remain the same high as now, we will see more from these:



And before you judge the guy, I already met him, and he is a nice guy. He just want to use up all the things he get, so he turned all the rocks into furnaces, but in the future there will be real exploiters, whose will do the same, but with the goal to get the most prestige the easiest way. Like you can turn 8 stones into 2 refined rocks for 10 prestige, or 10 into a stone fire pit for 30 prestige.

Well I could write down a very VERY long list about my balance suggestions, but I will write down only two:

  • Machines should give far less prestige, at least 10 times less, or even 0, OR their prestige given by each from the same machine should drop significantly (for example for your first workbench you get that 120 prestige, but after the second, only 60, third only 30, etc)
  • The normal natural blocks and props (soil/trunk/rock/leaves/sand/gravel/growth/mould/sponge/ice/glacier/grass), campfires, beacon controls and doors should give at least 1 prestige too

Oh and its already seen by others too:

2 Likes

Nice work @Kawwak! @Spoygg compiled a list of the prestige values post patch - here were his results;

Sorted highest to lowest:

Decorative Blink 180
Decorative Dark Matter 180
Decorative Oort Stone 180
Decorative Rift 180
Compact Blink 160
Compact Dark Matter 160
Compact Oort Stone 160
Compact Rift 160
Advanced Compactor Power Coil 150
Advanced Extractor Power Coil 150
Advanced Forge Power Coil 150
Advanced Mixer Power Coil 150
Advanced Refinery Power Coil 150
Advanced Workbench Power Coil 150
Decorative Amethyst 120
Decorative Diamond 120
Decorative Emerald 120
Decorative Ruby 120
Decorative Sapphire 120
Decorative Topaz 120
Compactor Power Coil 100
Extractor Power Coil 100
Forge Power Coil 100
Location Signal 100
Mixer Power Coil 100
Refinery Power Coil 100
Workbench Power Coil 100
Compact Amethyst 80
Compact Diamond 80
Compact Emerald 80
Compact Ruby 80
Compact Sapphire 80
Compact Topaz 80
Machined Titanium Alloy 80
Spark Core 80
Refined Titanium Alloy 70
Refined Titanium Alloy 70
Titanium Crucible 70
Compact Titanium Alloy 60
Compact Titanium Alloy 60
Machined Gold Alloy 60
Machined Silver Alloy 60
Compactor 50
Extractor 50
Forge 50
Iron Crucible 50
Machined Copper 50
Machined Iron 50
Mixer 50
Refined Gold Alloy 50
Refined Gold Alloy 50
Refined Silver Alloy 50
Refined Silver Alloy 50
Refinery 50
Titanium Fire Pit 50
Compact Hard Coal 45
Compact Gold Alloy 40
Compact Gold Alloy 40
Compact Silver Alloy 40
Compact Silver Alloy 40
Gleam Lantern 40
Iron Fire Pit 40
Refined Copper 40
Refined Copper 40
Refined Iron 40
Refined Iron 40
Compact Coal 30
Compact Copper 30
Compact Copper 30
Compact Iron 30
Compact Iron 30
Guild Crest 30
Portal Conduit 30
Portal Conduit 30
Refined Gleam 30
Refined Gleam 30
Stone Crucible 30
Stone Fire Pit 30
Workbench 30
Crafting Table 20
Gleam 20
Mannequin 20
Compact Soft Coal 15
Lantern 15
Storage Block 15
Storage Shelf 15
Amethyst Torch 10
Dark Glass 10
Dark Glass 10
Diamond Torch 10
Emerald Torch 10
Glass 10
Igneous Brick 10
Metamorphic Brick 10
Natural Crystal 10
Pay Lock 10
Ruby Torch 10
Sapphire Torch 10
Sedimentary Brick 10
Slide 10
Topaz Torch 10
Trampoline 10
Decorative Igneous Rock 1 8
Decorative Igneous Rock 2 8
Decorative Metamorphic Rock 1 8
Decorative Metamorphic Rock 2 8
Decorative Sedimentary Rock 1 8
Decorative Sedimentary Rock 2 8
Request Basket 8
Shop Stand 8
Chair 5
Compact Clay 5
Compact Peat 5
Compact Silt 5
Donation Box 5
Flower 1 5
Flower 2 5
Flower 3 5
Flower 4 5
Lock 5
Plinth 5
Refined Igneous Rock 5
Refined Igneous Rock 5
Refined Metamorphic Rock 5
Refined Metamorphic Rock 5
Refined Sedimentary Rock 5
Refined Sedimentary Rock 5
Sign 5
Spark Cord 5
Table 5
Torch 5
Warp Conduit 5
Ladder 3
Ancient Wood Timber 2
Ancient Wood Timber 2
Basic Torch 2
Igneous Stones 2
Igneous Stones 2
Lustrous Wood Timber 2
Lustrous Wood Timber 2
Metamorphic Stones 2
Metamorphic Stones 2
Sedimentary Stones 2
Sedimentary Stones 2
Twisted Wood Timber 2
Twisted Wood Timber 2

I think in order to reduce lag, and the exploitation of spamming machines, they should have their prestige values either lowered, or have it so they have high diminishing returns - ie; 1 Spark Core is 80, 2 will give an additional 40, 20, 10, 5…

The system is going through many changes though, as mentioned by @james;

5 Likes

If I knew about this list I never make mine. :sob:

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All in the name of science!

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That’s interesting, how does that work? How much is it?

1 Like

I’m just going by assumptions here, but if you press . and bring up the debug screen, you can see certain values by the prestige value of the beacon you’re standing in.

There are things such as ‘exotic bonus’, ‘build ratio’, and ‘chisel ratio’, I’m paraphrasing seeing as I’m not in-game right now, but all those values add up to a percentage which is displayed at the end - such as 127%

The only thing I’m certain of is that the percentage increases the ‘base value’ of your prestige by said amount.

I understand we won’t have the debug screen on launch, and that there will be further complexity and nuance added to the current prestige system, but it’ll be figured out eventually. The internet always finds a way, and someone will be stamping out optimal templates before long.

@luke-turbulenz mentioned making blocks upgradable, essentially making all blocks equal;

I am curious however, and maybe either @luke-turbulenz or someone else in the know can fill me in here, but will this crafting upgrade also apply to mud, dirt, leaves, ice, and so on?

I suppose I could look past the fact that crafters are upgrading mud.

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My view on the whole prestige thing is that all blocks should be almost equal, i.e. differences should be minimal. Like lowest value and highest value have be something like 80 and 100, so putting 100 of each would make difference of only 2000 (8000 against 10000) All other values would be something between 80 and 100. That would give a bit of reward to players to invest in acquiring high value mats, but still wouldn’t make that much of a difference. And if you decide to make a build of 10000 blocks you would be greatly rewarded, 800k against 1m, that would give 200k additional prestige, but not double of triple or quadruple :slight_smile:

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I can potentially see some groups just opting out of the prestige system all together, and building their cities to simply look beautiful and prestigious. If I feel restricted in any way, I may be tempted to go that route myself. Let other cities wage a prestige war against one another while I simply try to create something worth visiting.

Even the block upgrading is a little odd. Why would I want to upgrade a block to look exactly the same as the block before it? For some arbitrary prestige value?

I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m not a fan of algorithms deciding ‘prestige’ :joy:

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To be honest I really can’t imagine prestige system that would work based on block value. If you build something beautiful from only natural blocks you’re basically at 0 level with prestige (I’ve seem some awesome walls/floors made out of rock).
I think that if anything prestige should be decided by the number/activity of players in a settlement. So, if you have good market, beautiful, properly organized settlement infrastructure, people will join and be active. Also that would motivate people to work more closely together, it wouldn’t be possible for 1 (or small group of) player(s) to figure out algorithm and spam valuable blocks. I have experimented with that (even before alien nest made of furnaces case) with firepits and managed to get prestige to over 200k for a relatively small effort and time. Now that I’m changing the design to something reasonable, I have removed 2 rows of 8 of firepits and prestige dropped for ~20k. I felt a bit sad, you just can’t not feel anything if you want to respect prestige system as it is, but immediately realized that I don’t want to look at it anymore, I want to build what I want how I want :smiley:

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I would be fine if they would delete the prestige system completely !

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And that’s pretty much what it comes down to for me;

Neither can I. I just have strong doubts about any programmer - not just someone at Wonderstuck - coming up with an algorithm that understands creativity, aesthetic value, beauty, and so forth. If they manage to capture that in Boundless, I won’t just be astonished, I’ll be questioning why they haven’t sold the algorithm onto Google for a fortune.

At least until super machine AI rule the planet, we have to rely on actual people to decide what they deem prestigious, beautiful - worth visiting.

My proposed idea below;

It has flaws, as mentioned by @luke-turbulenz, that players could potentially lobby for votes. Though I believe the current proposal (without player interaction) has a whole plethora of flaws of it’s own. I don’t think you’ll find a perfect solution to this problem - there will be flaws in any system you put in place, but I still strongly believe that subjectivity is the answer (or at least part of the answer)

Marry the two systems together. Have the algorithm make up 50% (for example) of the value, and the player ‘thumbs up’ account for the other 50%. That way players can make up their own mind about where they want to visit;


Block Prestige; 5,000,000
Likes; 800

‘Oh, that looks like a build worth visiting’


Block Prestige; 500
Likes; 8,000

‘That’s either some famous YouTuber setting up his plot, something funny, or someone who ‘bought’ their votes.’


Block Prestige; 10,000,000
Likes; 0

‘That’s definitely a stamped out template, or just a bunch of high prestige blocks stacked on-top of each other.’

7 Likes

Yeah, that is a good direction to follow. What I wanted to say, prestige is actually important as a value to determine what city will be the capital of the planet. So, beside those values, I’d add player activity, trades made, something in that direction. Maybe those 3 (existing block value, likes that you proposed, values I have proposed) would have better success determining what is actually candidate for planet capital :smiley:

1 Like

The Prestige system isn’t supposed to restrict building, but rather reward the efforts. If the system does pervert players actions then we’ve not got the right solution. I agree with @Spoygg that the value ranges are too great at the moment. The ranges should be much flatter.

But the algorithm doesn’t attempt to do this.

The algorithm is setup to encourage some block variation, some usage of chiseling, some colour variation, etc. Just some. It’s not absolute.

The prestige system attempts to give Builds a level in the same way player Characters have a level. It’s up to a player how they level, likewise it’s up to the builder how they design their build. But the game doesn’t say one character build is better than another, likewise for similar level builds.

5 Likes

Yeah, also natural blocks should add value too, maybe have a steeper fall off, so that player couldn’t just beacon some terrain and instantly get high prestige :smiley: (if you track placed vs generated blocks, than that’s another story)

3 Likes

Thanks for replying @james;

You say some variation, but how would this be determined? By a percentage or a flat value? Either way that’s still exploitable and restricting.

For instance, if I want a build a certain way, but there isn’t enough chiseling, do I have to go around chiseling stuff in order to hit that peak value? Should I make a section under the ground where I hide chiseled blocks in order to capitalise on the most prestige?

The same goes for block and colour variation. ‘Ah, I need 200 more red blocks to get the maximum amount of prestige out of this build, I better add more red’, or ‘I’ve used too many of the same block, I should use a variation’.

Maybe it’s just the phrasing of the term prestige? Maybe what you’re after instead is variation? I don’t necessarily put those two things together. I know many great builds with few chisels, and many great builds with little block variation.

You say it’s up to the player, but it’s really up to you guys - the developers. You’re designing the algorithm, so players that are interested in chasing prestige are going to follow the algorithm. Then it just comes down to if or not your algorithm always produces worthwhile results - and this is where I’m skeptical.

Like I said though, it might just be semantics; you say prestige, when what you really mean is variation. I wouldn’t at all mind this, if ‘variation’ wasn’t accountable for the classification of settlements.

Maybe I’m missing something. I keep going over old posts of yours to glean a deeper understanding of the proposed system, but I keep getting the sense that it’ll either be restricting or unimportant.

I doesnt remember the values of it, but as @Pseudonym84 said, its variation. We have a size, a variation, an exotic, a chiseled, and a build bonus. Like my museum have a lot exotic and size bonus, but variation is 1%, cause mostly all of it built by 3 different blocks (refined rock, stones, sand) and 1 prop (torch).

Nowadays I think the main problem is prestige given by machines, especially stone furnaces, given that how much effort is needed to make them and still how much prestige they give. So its an exploitable thing now.

Well, there could be an algorithm determining how good your build are, that would be just so complex, not even Google can afford enough computers for it. :smile:

Anyway I think the prestige system is a good idea, just need reconsidering the values (always determined by the effort to make/get that block/prop), the % bonuses, and adding some like/visitor number bonuses too. Its impossible to make a perfect system for this (yet?), there will be always min-maxers, exploiters etc, but fortunately (as cheaters and trolls) most of them dont play too long, so the system could be designed for normal players, whose want to build useful (roads) and/or pretty (statues) things.

As I already wrote, prestige given by machines should be minimal, or their value should drop significantly with each machine from the same kind, and natural blocks should give prestige too. Maybe the solution is: if you broke a natural block, it will be a different block after that. Like when you mine out an iron seam, you get an iron ore, not an iron seam. For example, you dig out a sand block, you will get that sand block, and you can place it, but after you dig it out, in the code, from the computer side, its a different block! It looks the same, works the same, but from the code side, it is detected as a different (non-natural) block. It would prevent players to get prestige from plotting big chunks from the world, but still give prestige for those, whose want to build with natural (looking) blocks. It will reward the effort too, cause you gather that natural block, and place it somewhere else!

1 Like

For example, an scoring algorithm could give you:

  • -20% multiplier if 0% of blocks throughout the beacon are variations (slopped, steps, slabs, steps), ie. a penalty.
  • -10% if 4% of blocks are variations.
  • 0% if 8% of blocks are variations.
  • +10% if 12% of blocks are variations.
  • +20% if 16% or more blocks are variations.

(The values in the above example are just as an example.)

The scoring algorithm would be penalising and rewarding some variation, but no additional value is gained if a beacon only contains block variations.

This is a good question.

  1. Can we balance the algorithm so that it’s asking for a minimum fair amount?

  2. Hiding them underground or in a “prestige” room would be a valid work around.

Ignore aesthetics (because this isn’t attempting to evaluate aesthetics) surely we would want to reward builds that do contain some block variation?

Again the algorithm could be configured as:

  • -20% multiplier if 0% of blocks are from another world.
  • -10% if 4% of blocks are from another world.
  • 0% if 8%.
  • +10% if 12%.
  • +20% if 16% or more.

This is simply rewarding you to use blocks from another world. It says nothing about which colours, or in which blocks. It also doesn’t penalise you for using too many of a single colour or from a single world.

[quote=“Pseudonym84, post:16, topic:8534”]
Maybe it’s just the phrasing of the term prestige? Maybe what you’re after instead is variation? I don’t necessarily put those two things together.[/quote]

We used the term Prestige, because the reward for a high score is for your build to receive a title leading up to the Capital. The result is prestige.

The aim is to encourage and reward players using everything the game and engine has to offer. Q: “Why should I chisel?”, A: “1. because it’s fun and you can make cool looking stuff, and 2. the game rewards it.”

Great - show us some builds that we think are incorrectly scored and we will iterate the scoring algorithm. (It’s a new feature and still a work-in-progress!! I think it’s a pretty cool feature - we just need to get it right.)

It’s up to the player - because there are many ways to get a high score. Many. We need to make sure the algorithm doesn’t pervert the creative process. I think we can achieve this.

Absolutely - and these values need to be fixed.

6 Likes

Bleeergh @james, look at all the running around you’re making me do!

I did some running around in Elop Portas first, and one of the best builds there, aside from @Jeffrotheswell’s temple, is @Scratchnwiff’s dragon turtle; Jade, which most people will agree on. It’s unique, well crafted, and a lot of work went into it. It took @Scratchnwiff many redesigns to get the final result, which I hope most people can appreciate?

Total Prestige Value; 29,497

That’s a good benchmark. A mastercrafted statue that - even with the blocks - would be incredibly hard to emulate. I might also add that most of the prestige from this build comes from the gleam underlighting and interior lighting. Take those away and the build is still fantastic, but worth next to nothing.

Next I took a quick run inside Jade into the Cuttlecombs, which is one of mine and @Spoygg’s builds. I just want to say right off the bat that this is the single biggest and most arduous build I’ve worked on to date. It took longer to gather for, to excavate, and to build than all my other projects combined.

To be fair, the Cuttlecombs are broken up into multiple beacons. I think 3 or 4? But they’re all around the same value;

Total Prestige Value; 23,326

Next I went over to the bathhouse I made;

Total Prestige Value; 73,850

I’m sheepish about judging my own builds, but the bathhouse has had positive feedback. Is it twice as prestigious as @Scratchnwiff’s dragon though? I don’t think so. Is it more than three times as prestigious as the Cuttlecombs? I sure as hell hope not. I’d be dissuaded from ever building something on that scale again if that were the case.

I ran over to Therka to get the values on @Naxie’s garden (one of my favourite builds in Boundless);

Total Prestige Value; 148,562

I’m glad to see this has a rather high value, because I checked back on a regular basis as this was being built, and @Naxie put a lot of time and effort into this place. Sadly I know the reason the prestige is so high, not because of the time and effort that went into it, or the creativity of the creator, but simply because there’s lots of gleam.

Case and point;

This is @SWProzee1’s gleam tower. He doesn’t mind me trashing his build, and already knows I dislike it, but like it or not it’s incredibly simple. I could gather the materials and make one of these in a day, and it’s worth;

764,629

To put that into context, that’s more than twice as ‘prestigious’ as all those other builds combined (275,235)

If I were to play the prestige game starting from today, using the current system, I’d just stack refined gleam (which is actually easier to get a load of than regular gleam)

In fact on day one of the new update I did some prestige tests with @Spoygg and @Dzchan94. I made a single plot just to see what I could do with it;

Single plot. Took me less than 5 minutes; 24,231 prestige (more than the two month Cuttlecombs myself and @Spoygg worked on)

Here’s my beacon list for some more data I hope is useful;

You’ve no doubt seen most of those builds. They’ve been featured in @DanBeforeTime, @Scratchnwiff and @Steggs101 videos.

7 Likes

This…Helps…So much!

Thanks for giving this list

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