This is because the game has stopped you from making a prohibited beacon shape. As the game stops you then you keep your prestige, etc. If removing a plot or adding a plot would tip the beacon negative it’s not allowed.
If a beacon does have prohibited compactness on Live then the plotting restrictions are lifted to give you free control to correct the beacon. This is because we found that some shapes were extremely difficult to correct if we only allowed changes that improved compactness. So we concluded it was best to give players freedom to correct the beacon at the temporary cost of their prestige.
Prestige is not part of the compactness analysis. The system only cares about shapes that the beacon makes on the map in relation to other beacons.
If the settlement is linked by a beacon that gets 0 prestige then it will be removed from the settlement and your settlement will split into 2. You will still get prestige for the 2 now independent settlement.
Beacons with 0 prestige will not split a Settlement.
You still have the plots. The plots still have their value.
But as my original post about banning reservation abuse stated - this change is attempting to make the process of plotting fairer for everyone. It’s also attempting to put the rules of plotting into the plotting system rather than relying on players being good citizens and accommodating others. Players can’t be expected to just know what considerate rules are. It’s best that the game enforces this. Plots / roads that meander across the landscape have always been a problem and complained about.
The beacon that has a prohibited shape will have its prestige set to 0. Beacons with 0 prestige don’t generate footfall.
All the other beacons in the settlement (assuming the settlement is still connected) will continue to earn footfall.
Understood. But say a player spends real money to buy thousands of plots and then spams them around the world blocking players in - is that ok? Clearly not. Earned plots vs purchased plots need to follow the same rules.
The game wants you and other players having fun. But we’ve learned that there needs to be some additional plotting restrictions so that everyone can inhabit the worlds together. We can’t have the rules only applying to some people.
The vast vast majority of the settlements are compact (including the settlements including the people commenting on this thread). These are clearly playing the game in a considerate way.