IMO the plotters are already programmed in such a way that this type of function would overlap with what they already do. By this I mean that they’d place or remove a plot at the same time as allowing/barring flow of fluids.
Even then, there’s a ton of potential for someone to place 2-4 blocks of lava on strategic hills/mountains around a location and block anyone inside with a surrounding ocean of lava.
I don’t know how possible this would be. Let’s say you need a tool, that tool would be used to coat any surface with a special coating, that allows water to be placed inside it. That tool can only be used inside your plots or the plots you’re villager in. The water used for this, would be a special kind of water, that would only work over the special coating, and would not flow to other areas.
The current water, would stay as it is, and while you can use it to do builds. It wouldn’t be able to be moved except for its current flow mechanics.
The idea of the water applicable surface is pretty cool actually. It would also add much more control to water in builds
Hey @Jeffrotheswell - thanks for creating this thread.
We would really like to expose the fluids for all players but we’re concerned that they could be the weapon of choice for unfriendly players. Below are a few thoughts - but at the moment we don’t have the perfect answer.
Only allow placing fluids in your own beacon: the problem would be that the fluid could flow out of your beacon and into another player’s beacon. Maybe (as suggested) the fluid would need to stop flowing at the border, but what if you extend the beacon after this - does the fluid automatically start flowing again? What happens if you remove your beacon?
Fluids can’t be placed manually and players need to manipulate them from a natural source. But again what is to stop an unfriendly player manipulating the fluid into a near beacon?
Make the ability to harvest and place fluids hard to unlock. Are players who have invested considerable time into Boundless are more likely to be good citizens?
Any other ideas? We don’t have a safe solution yet…
I think that DZ’s idea for the water flowable surface, make a sort of paint that has to be down before water will flow there, and it won’t flow until it can on that.
But that does bring up the “will it just continue flowing” thing you said about when someone adds plots, does it automatically start flowing again, would you be able to set up a trigger point to check for when a block is placed inside a beacon, if it should re-simulate the flow in order to continue flowing.
Either way, with a water bucket method, if you did accidentally ruin your flow, you could just try again to “resimulate” the flow
The water witching stick
You place your source block within your plot. In order to advance your flow you need to whack the ground with the water Witcher and if it’s a space that the water would normally flow than it dose so one space. You can never advance the flow out of your plot if you remove the plot the water is subject to world regeneration and can no longer be advanced. Any adjacent plot would need to use there own stick to invite the water into there plot.
Water would be a mid tir skill and lava an advanced skill.
A simple solution would be to remove the physics from the water and lava blocks players have access to.
This would make them the same as any other block.
The main downside is fountains, waterfalls and @Jeffrotheswell aqueducts would have to be placed manually - instead of having that cool moment where you break a block and start the flow.
A potential upside is this could create some unique builds, like floating lakes - or a stream that flows along the ceiling.
or take your idea with a tweak, a placeable water or lava block, only placeable inside a beacon, that can simulate downwards flow, so if there’s nothing underneath it, it could flow straight down.
this would prevent greifing, cuz when the thing falls down, it won’t flow outwards from that.
I can’t be the only person who’s thought about creating upside-down land? Houses and trees on the underside of a cave, the wrong way up.
Without downwards physics my dream would be realised. I could have the towns river run across the ceiling too.
There was a cave in the Witcher where gravity was distorted, and water ran along top of the cave, then randomly switched at points.
mix it, a block that’s can’t flow unless it’s activated by the witching totem (make it a skill that you can make the totem upgrade to witching totem, maybe like the warp location picker upgrade) and when it is activated, it flows down. but otherwise it doesn’t
your upside down idea is interesting
placing water only inside beacon would be necessary, but it should naturally flow outside. this indeed would create opportunity to ruin your neighbor beacon but would be easily countered by making wall or dig a hole where the water stops. i dont think this should be something that needs harder control since it would make things just too complicated or unnatural.
I’ve been idly following the various discussions about this, and personally I think that trying to find a way to prevent fluid griefing is getting to the point where the potential for griefing is becoming the more appealing option than the negative consequences and un-intuitive ‘workaround’ gameplay that would ensue from trying to implement a solution.
I feel that unless a future system for farming gets implemented that requires water to be moved by pipes/machines to be used to hydrate land, you’re severely limiting people’s creativity and ability to enjoy the game by NOT allowing them to use liquids in their builds in a ‘normal’ fashion. This seems very un-boundless. I think the most you should do is lock that ability behind skill points as a ‘builder’ type skill (that doesn’t make any less sense than having the ability to sprint be skill locked).
Hell, you could even keep water as a post-launch feature, and release it as an aquatic skill tree dealing with fishing, water collection, sailing/boats.
I don’t know how it works because havn’t time for check. But what if somebody make portal in lake then was water flow through portal in another place?
Hi guys,
These are just a few ideas.
What I suggest is:
1 - Lava/water shouldn’t be allowed to enter another players plot space.
2 - Lava/water doesn’t travel far, horizontally, and should be named by the player who placed it so that if there is an intentional hazard, the player can be reported, Lava/water placement inspected by a GM, penalized, eg: All lava/water in the players possession gets removed from land and inventory, and player cannot use water and lava for 1 week.
I know there are some complications in this like:
-If a player wants lava to run down a mountainside that has claimed plots at the bottom, then maybe there can be a craft-able “lava/water” barrier to stop the movement?
-If a player places a plot inside another players lava stream which will make them seem guilty.
-Having a GM check and penalize a TON of people a day would be a lot of work.
Some other ideas:
I’ll come up with a few more days as I ponder on it. I hope some of these ideas help.
I really like the Griefing Report player idea because at the end of the day, it’s a player intentionally ruining another players gameplay, like in MMO’s “Coining”.
AND sometimes a player likes the way larva flows from another players plot near theirs and does not WANT to report, but build around it to their liking.
Coining is when a bot is created to farm in-game coin and sold to players for real money. They normally spam the all-chat so that players click on the links to send money. The spamming player can then be reported because it is not part of the game and its natural mechanics. The GM’s check the complaint and penalize however necessary.
Thank you all for reading I hope it helped 
!
You know, the long-term solution for lava griefing would be to allow players to craft lava resist potions and such.
But yeah: your flow stops at your boundary. You already technically have that, you know. Build your plot in a lava lake, bury it, then come back and look at what happens.
The lava literally sits on the boundary. Flat against it.
I hate to be that Minecraft guy. But. Minecraft allows it, and for the most part it is community dependant 
On the otherside, don’t forget Minecraft water only travels 7 blocks from the source block, or 7 blocks from the last full water block (like the bottom of a waterfall/step down).
So to continue a stream of water every 7 blocks you have to do a step down, or have each block a full block.
Lava effectively works the same, but I think it only spreads 5 blocks before stopping.
Now, what if Boundless had that setting to a max of 5 spread for water (for example) and maybe it just can’t be placed within 2 blocks of the edge of a plot? (If that’s even a possible thing in this engine @james?)
Maybe handle water and lava the way the Minecraft plugin Grief-Prevention does that.
I have been running a MC Server with the Grief-Prevention plugin for almost 5 years now and it really works !
What it does:
It allows you to place water/lava ONLY in your own landclaim/plot.
It won’t allow water/lava to flow out of the landclaim/plot.
It won’t allow water/lava to flow into somebody else his/her landclaim/plot.
And when making a landclaim/plot where you have water in it and then remove your landclaim/plot, it not only removes the landclaim/plot, but also all fluids in that removed landclaim/plot.
This way you can stop griefing with fluids, and again, it work perfectly that way.
I don’t like the idea of a potion because if someone is griefing you badly, like your plots are completely surrounded by lava, you’ll have to use a potion EVERY time you enter or exit your plot just to walk around.
The “2 blocks of the edge of a plot” idea I like but that removes the idea of plots being the “Players space”, limiting what you can do in your own plot?
Yeah but, I wanna make a mountain of lava 
without having to claim the ENTIRE mountain.