Possible solution would be instead of nerfing it’s base prestige score, simply remove it’s exotic bonus. That way, builds that use gleam tastefully are not affected at all, but builds that abuse gleam will have a notably lower score. I think it’s as much as 30%? I don’t recall the exotic score cap.
9 Likes
Swore I’d stay away from these Prestige topics… ah well…
Prestige is a throw away mechanic for me due to how it was implemented. I’ve already beaten that dead horse ad nauseam though, so I’ll touch on a newer concern of mine; and that’s the effect it’s having on builds.
If building a gleam tower is a great way to get Prestige, and people want to get Prestige, they’re going to build a gleam tower - it’s as simple as that. Love them or hate them, the system doesn’t promote variety.
I don’t have a solution though - perhaps what @Havok40k just suggested, or drastically reduce the score from gleam blocks.
3 Likes
I completely agree with this prestige should have some sort of human factor. I have yet to see a giant gleam build that i like. an above ground parking lot is still an above ground parking lot, even if it sparkles.
1 Like
I can understand that. I’ve yet to build my pretty outpost but when I do if a nice lake view gets a big monotower I will be sad.
I thought people were talking about builds that feature gleam heavily. I’ve never seen a pure gleam tower to max altitude so didn’t realise it was that kind of problem. Something like Havok40k’s suggestion would be nice. I don’t use a lot of it - only for lighting and small sculptures - but it’s a big enough build that a block value nerf would push me back a bit.
1 Like
I’ve built a 400 plot statue out of gleam with 20-25 hours of time invested into it so far. I would be very sad if it lost all prestige value because some players choose to build towers from gleam that other players don’t like.
1 Like
I brought this up in a past topic. What looks good and what doesn’t will always be subjective, so I felt as though we needed a subjective element to the scoring.
@luke-turbulenz responded with;
Even if that were the case, as it most likely would be, I’d personally prefer that over the current ‘let’s game the algorithm’ approach.
@james also mentioned that the system wasn’t designed to judge aesthetic value. His post is below. It’s a long post to quote, and it’s best to read the previous discussion for full context: Prestige for each block/prop - #33 by james
3 Likes
100% agree. Nerf gleam. I feel like I am missing out because I don’t friggin WANT to make a glowing abomination (or even bury a glowing abomination), but to be competitive, I would have to. It is simply not feasible to compete with bricks, etc. I can’t make enough aesthetic materials to keep up.
Also bump.
1 Like
I can understand why they dont want to make it based purely on aesthetic value. I would never want to discourage someone from playing just because they arent the best builder.
While I dont LOVE box houses if it is all someone is capable of fine.
That being said I feel like a mix of the two systems would discourage people from just dumping a massive pile of the brightest blocks possible into the biggest plot they can get.
I guess what I am saying is it would nice to see a system that rewards effort.
3 Likes
I agree entirely. More variables means more variety. They could continue to tweak the current system, while also adding a human element.
Some of the measures taken to stop groups of people gaming the footfall could also be applied to build appraisals.
1 Like
My idea about the subject is basically this, is not merely about what gives and what doesn’t give prestige, and what ends up being the best copy-paste method to gaining prestige (currently it’s gleam towers). Many of the different topics circulating around it devolve in that, due to the actual benefits prestige currently give (I’m not questioning prestige giving a benefit, it should considering how much time and dedication some people put into it), prestige currently helps these:
- Name settlement.
- Extra footfall value.
- Visibility once you reach capital status.
That’s about all I can come up with, now, do I think something of the above needs to be changed for something else? Not really, I think the benefits are fine as it’s. What needs to change is the Settlement merging Once that’s changed, I expect to see more prestige focused posts than now.
Now on the topic of how to calculate prestige, I consider there’s never gonna be a perfect method, it’s impossible given the wide variety of taste and visions each member here has. There’s always gonna be outliers; while building gleam towers is really something I don’t like, there’s people who can do magic with big quantities of gleam and produce great builds to look at (but that’s not the norm, that’s the exception).
I think a mix of subjective factors and objective factors would be the best fit, a purely subjective or purely objective metric will never be perfect, nor will the mixed variant, but at least it comes best to a middle ground.
What I propose is the following:
-
Keep the system: Rewarding prestige for time investment (making the more difficult to craft blocks) & the other factors such as: variety, exotic, etc.
-
Introduce a human aspect to the prestige system: Votes, likes, etc. Make the points be a modifier of the actual base value.
I think there’s always people who’re gonna try and game the system, some individuals like that game style and will pursue it, but with a better prestige system, at least those who don’t won’t be so left behind, biting the dust.
TLDR Prestige is discussed due to the benefits it provides. People will always look for the next thing to gain prestige. Mixing subjective and objective factors is the best system. You will never make it perfect, but there’s more we can do to make it fairer and a better mechanic than it currently is.
1 Like
I’m glad to see the opinions ! I think the last reply give some good points. I really hope that at least bricks will have a higher prestige value (skill+spark cost+material+multiple step craft) since right now it is lower than refined gleam.
Prestige matters for the above points but also it kind off sucks when you’ve been building for 3 weeks with your community, making bricks, wood and stones buildings to gain capital and then 1 person comes with gleam, regardless of what they build and how it looks, and beats your prestige value in merely 2 to 3 days. That means either something is undervalued or something is overvalued?
Also in that point a human factor with some kind of limitation per planet would work great, upvoting or rating or something similair in a kind of way.
1 Like
This seems to be the main issue for most people in the thread right now, and introducing new elements to the current system certainly isn’t something that can be done overnight - and whatever suggestions people come up with here wouldn’t be put into action by the development team for weeks - if we’re being optimistic - but more likely months if we’re being realistic.
For the time being a simple decrease in gleam value would be enough, and it really needs to happen sooner rather than later. Regardless how we all feel about gleam towers, some people have put a lot of time into them, and they deserve not to have their builds severely nerfed months from now.
Right now if you’re not using copious amounts of gleam, you’ll fall behind; at least in terms of Prestige. This will inevitably result in all capital cities eventually becoming neon gleam cities - and again, love them or hate them; the system doesn’t promote variety.
5 Likes
Oops. Seems like I missed something while writing my comment. I might’ve accidently quoted something while typing on my phone. Corrected my statement.
I think there’s two ways to go about gleam prestige.
1. Reduce gleam prestige value
2. Make a maximun amount gleam can contribute to prestige: gleam contribution limits will depend on a matter of plots (more plots means that you can use more gleam to increase prestige). In all honesty this would help increase variance of blocks used, which is already considered in the current prestige calculation. You won’t be punishing players that use gleam tastefully (totally subjective) and making it so people are less inclined towards feeling plots with gleam.
2 Likes
For the record, Kada I is a T2, not a T1 as advertised here…and as my recently deceased builder can attest.
Ooo my bad. Ill edit my post.
Still the best place to get it though.
1 Like
They need to up the prestige on certain blocks that resemble realistic builds such as wood paths, stone floors, foliage as vines on sides of buildings, and so forth. It just seems too low for me. I’ve pumped out 9 thousand refined wood and my settlement has only reached 120k prestige.
Very disappointing to the builders out there that are genuine with their builds. Creative and idealistic. Not just blocks of gleam which takes 30 minutes to harvest a full smart stack.
I’d love to see them up the prestige on decorative wood and rocks, even refined wood and rocks. It takes a lot of time, material, and fuel to pump out these materials. So people who just harvest and don’t even bother investing in the building part of the game… such as refining blocks and placing them, chiseling them to a certain degree. OR refining blocks and then dump them into the workbench and turn them into decorative.
It just seems lucrative that something such as gleam is so easy to get and so easy to beat other settlements in a landslide by dumping dump trucks of gleam on your property. Rather than farming and spending time refining wood and rocks and making your settlement look beautiful.
I will mention that yes,some of these people do refine the gleam they get, but then even some of them don’t. Normal gleam, I’m pretty sure has more prestige than a decorative rock/wood. Correct me if I’m wrong. Maybe I looked at an out of date prestige values on blocks list.
Although I will admit that this might anger other players that are actually dumping gleam on their property… Say if the developers lowered the prestige value on gleam, it would affect all settlements and some will probably even lose their capital status. It’s a lot to think about.
This, people dumping gleam on their property, brutally punishes the creative builders that use actual decorative realistic blocks for builds.
1 Like
No worries. I grabbed my hunter and went back. I now have fat stacks of white gleam.
They actually don’t need to reduce gleam if they implement a human element to the prestige system.
Another issue is leaves, and trees - beautiful hand made trees are in my opinion one of the hardest things to create in Boundless, and I’ve seen people spend huge amount of time on them. Not only that, but they can look absolutely stunning. The prestige system won’t recognise their work though.
2 Likes
Exactly. Prestige doesn’t recognize beauty, it’s only numbers. It blows. I’m making a settlement out on Tana VII, and its on a beach cliff with a ton of palm trees. I’ve made the center of my settlement have a huge palm tree, and it’s gonna be a big project. Considering the way they are built, very complex. (Will have to run back and forth to a close-by palm tree to view dimensions and angles on the palm tree.)
When its complete, it’ll be “Papa Palm” of Palm Springs. 
1 Like
Please don’t compromise. Forgot about the prestige system. I don’t want all the good builders to start compromising on their builds. I want to see some beautiful settlements, landmarks and world wonders.
3 Likes