Buildings and More Suggestion List

[spyjack]

Hello everyone! After making about 3 towns I have come up with a few building related suggestions.

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• A Cemetery: Similar in function to the crematory, a cemetery would be a placeable building area that would be fairly larger in size. What would be unique is it could only hold X amount of dead people (say, 10) and would list all the deceased members buried there. As for practicality, it requires less workers than the crematory (Or, crematorium workers could deposit bodies in the yard) and it would have a slight morale boost to the town members. If family ties between the AI become a thing, visiting dead family/friends could also be a feature of the cemetery. A visual feature that would be neat for it as well, is that the gravestones appear per person buried there, so a full graveyard looks like a full one, and an empty one looks barren.

• Watchtowers: Functioning more like a police station, if one opted for a more harsh crackdown on criminals they could place watchtowers around town. This would Decrease the amount of crime in a radius at the cost of town happiness. If combat becomes a thing, they would of course be used for that as well.
• Schools: There are several ways I imagine this building being used: It could provide education for children members, which in return provides happiness. It could also make children who go to the school become "Educated" and those who are educated provide small efficiency boosts to their workplace.
  
• Fishing Hut: Although the water is radioactive, I feel some sort of building that allows for utilization of the many lakes would be a great addition. A fishing hut building would provide this utilization by slowly supplying food. It could have the trade off of radiation poison being rampant among fisherman.

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    Powerplant(s): Could be 1 or more options (Car Batteries, Solar panels, Wind turbines) that would be VERY costly to create and require quite a few workers (8?) to function. The electricity provided would probably only reach in a short radius around, and could be extended with power relays, which could be made, or converted from the powerline ruins that can be found around the maps. Once created, electricity themed cosmetic upgrades (lights) could appear on buildings powered by it. Certain advanced buildings/fabrication buildings could require electricity to work. Having electricity in your town would also greatly aid in morale.

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Another quick idea, is some sort of haste mode for people at jobs (scavenging and building mainly) where they run instead of casually walk to their destination. When in haste mode they would get tired faster and could only run so far before having to walk/rest. in small towns founded around where you spawn, this is not really needed. However if you choose to settle your town anywhere on the map not where you spawn it is a pain due to how slow your starting engineers walk compared to your character.

Vehicles for scavengers could be cool too, Allows them to carry more on them on scavenging missions and faster at the cost of fuel, but I am not sure about that one.

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That about wraps up all my ideas for now, let me know what you all think!

Have a good day,
Spyjack

[ScottFarRoad]

Thanks Spyjack for the great suggestions.

We did originally plan to make a graveyard over a crematory but then we realised just how quickly people die in this game! A crematory was the only way to cope with it. But I do like the idea of making it optional. Or at least being able to see a list of the people have died before in some way.

Watchtowers are planned if we go with a combat system (which I know a lot of people want but isn't planned for the time being). We're using the law system to decrease crime though as it's more impactful if it ties into that, being a core feature of the game. In fact we prototyped a watchtower building so much you can actually see it in the banner image at the top of the forum!

Schools are incoming. We need a big patch at some point where we put in breeding/sex/sex crimes etc and schools will come along with that.

We're avoiding a fishing hut as we don't want to go for those conventional medieval buildings. Plenty of other games can offer that.

Power plants are on the list of things to do in this very update we're preparing now (spoilers). Whether we finish them in time for it I don't know but electricity is going to come to the wasteland.

I still want to give the Town Leader a quad bike one day for easy salvaging. It might break the game if we ever do it though!

[spyjack]

May 5, 2017 19:45:51 GMT ScottFarRoad said:

Thanks Spyjack for the great suggestions.

We did originally plan to make a graveyard over a crematory but then we realised just how quickly people die in this game! A crematory was the only way to cope with it. But I do like the idea of making it optional. Or at least being able to see a list of the people have died before in some way.

Watchtowers are planned if we go with a combat system (which I know a lot of people want but isn't planned for the time being). We're using the law system to decrease crime though as it's more impactful if it ties into that, being a core feature of the game. In fact we prototyped a watchtower building so much you can actually see it in the banner image at the top of the forum!

Schools are incoming. We need a big patch at some point where we put in breeding/sex/sex crimes etc and schools will come along with that.

We're avoiding a fishing hut as we don't want to go for those conventional medieval buildings. Plenty of other games can offer that.

Power plants are on the list of things to do in this very update we're preparing now (spoilers). Whether we finish them in time for it I don't know but electricity is going to come to the wasteland.

I still want to give the Town Leader a quad bike one day for easy salvaging. It might break the game if we ever do it though!

Awesome! best of luck with development, I can not wait for the future of this game. Loving everything so far, so surely it will only get better!

[ghostlyhaunt]

I would suggest some way to add-on or build larger storehouses or allow it to hold more then 50 item extra. I build my first town and more than half of the buildings built were storehouses. I only had 1 scavengers hut and they filled up 1850 space. Also some way to empty the leaders inventory, each time I built a new storehouse and tried to empty my inventory then run out and get more it kept telling me I had a full inventory. Rather frustrating. Perhaps adding windmills to the game so you could pump water or achieve electricity. I would change the basic shacks to hold 5 people and the tenement buildings hold 10 with current stats, basic 35 rest and tenement 75 rest, I see the basic shack as a run down building and the tenement as close to apartment style. Just my 2 cents.

[ScottFarRoad]

Jun 4, 2017 5:16:56 GMT ghostlyhaunt said:

I would suggest some way to add-on or build larger storehouses or allow it to hold more then 50 item extra. I build my first town and more than half of the buildings built were storehouses. I only had 1 scavengers hut and they filled up 1850 space. Also some way to empty the leaders inventory, each time I built a new storehouse and tried to empty my inventory then run out and get more it kept telling me I had a full inventory. Rather frustrating. Perhaps adding windmills to the game so you could pump water or achieve electricity. I would change the basic shacks to hold 5 people and the tenement buildings hold 10 with current stats, basic 35 rest and tenement 75 rest, I see the basic shack as a run down building and the tenement as close to apartment style. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for the suggestions!

The amount of resources you get is unbalanced at the moment (as there's still a lot more buildings to come). We're being overly generous. Starting even in the next version your storehouses won't fill up so quickly. Scavengers are way too efficient in the current version. They won't be soon.

The Town Leader's inventory claiming to be full is a known-issue. See this thread: farroadgames.proboards.com/thread/116/issues-version-6-check-first (It will also be fixed in the next version)

Electricity is on the list of upcoming buildings.

[dataforged]

maybe have power plants burn corpses to - or corpse wagon sites - has 1 collector who drops them off at his place to stop (slow) spread of disease and he brings them to the crematorium when he has a full cart

kind of like the stronghold oxen carries stone/ore - he piles them into a hand cart then when done he drags them to the crematorium/power plant for incineration would also let crematoriums spend time dealing with the bodies instead of randomly walking around

also I'd probably bump the crematorium to tier 2 building and a simpler "grave digger" building at low levels - these people would just walk corpses out into the wastelands and dig up dirt and toss it over them in unmarked graves - gives a nice lore touch without need for a actual cemetery I mean this is the wastelands not civilization - at least not yet

as for things I'd like to see - temporary drop off points - scavengers unload at these sites then a person hand carts them to storage locations farther into town - would let players make locations that would later grow into camps / outposts / then towns in there own right and slowly expanding with roads and such till they all connect

[dataforged]

actually was thinking about maps and had this kind of realization - most of the tier 1 structures should be bumped up to tier 2 - ok wait no one panic just keep reading

tier 1 buildings should be tents / junk stacked together that is easily made / moved - I mean you wouldn't want to set up a town only to find out a few days in its a breeding zone for giant snakes

also this would allow players to set up a basic camp near start then once hes scrounged a bit and looked around the map some he can find a permanent base farther into the map

also it solves a few issues - like why would I ever re-purpose a building if all I get is a tier 1 structure? tons and tons of loot for a cheap building? not a good trade off - but a tier 2 storage or housing that I could use and could be tempted by - also would make tier 1 life more nomadic and allow a bit of a smoother learning curve since they would be quicker to build and cheaper allowing people a bit of leway first few mins of the game rather then massive pile of corpses - and cause they wouldn't look for prefect site first they wouldn't lose so many people traveling or be forced to work on area

or if you don't want to make it tier 2 claim the tents are tier 0 - some 1 shot tents you brought with you from the bunker your mayor came from - maybe a medical tent / water collector / scavenger tent / 3 housing tents / and a mess hall tent - would be a quick set up time to allow a place to be made livable but only last say 10-15 days giving people a reason to be following you a bit more - this would also allow for a quick camp then the ability to move farther into the maps

[ghostlyhaunt]

I think what would really be nice addition would be improved A.I. for the citizens. It's almost comical to watch a crematorium rise up, become populated with workers. Then to watch them head out to work and step over all the dead plague corpses to the far side of the area to pick up 1 body then die on the way back to the building. Thus creating more plague corpses. Every time I see this happen I'm like 'come'on' you just left the building, pick up the dead closes to you and work your way out.

[dataforged]

yeah I saw that myself I recommended a few ideas first was bump crematorium to a wasteland burial detail - where people gather up corpses and bury them in unmarked graves outside of town would also be a fitting prison sentence - deal with the fruits of your labor and probably die from plague same time making me not have to deal with you

the pathing definitely could use some work even if its something as simple as a corpse dumping zone that one guy dumps them all in a closed area out of sight till the crematorium guys can pick up a carts load

[ScottFarRoad]

Crematory workers have been coded to pick up the corpse that has been around the longest as older corpses are more likely to be plague-spreaders so it's wise they focus on them. I suppose it's also more "respectful" of them to pick up the corpse that has been lying around the longest as well. I'll add this to the description for the crematory for the next version as I don't think we explain it anywhere and it probably does look odd if they step over a corpse to pick up a corpse, but they're doing you a favour.

Improving pathing is a big old thing on our list of stuff to do. Don't worry, it will get solved before we hit Early Access.

[emynock]

I would like to suggest basic Roads or gravel path.

Not really a building but if i would step out of my shelter in a PA Scenario i would prefer to follow some kind of path instead of assuming.. okay.. when i walk into that direction there COULD be my workplace.

Of course Survivors should be allowed to leave pathes and wander around, especially Scavengers, Law Enforcers and Citizens that just have commited a Murder.

The mentioned Roads could speed the overall movement and players could setup special signs just to mark the beginning or the end of a planed path.

Settlers than could travel in a straight path between the signs and the more this path is used the more it could be "upgraded" from Dirt to Gravel to something else... Stone or Concrete or what ever would fit the scenario.

[rendhark]

I feel that at the moment, there is little practical reason to build a tenement.

The basic shack should be much reduced in size - I'm picturing modern-day shanty-towns - and house only 5 people. They should also have the most structural variety to give the "feel" of something the survivors cobbled together from rocks, bits of tin, and whatever else they could find. This will give them the necessary initial shelters.

Then - to cope with population increase and the influx of refugees - you start building tenements. You should be able to cram 10 people into those.

Finally, your people start getting spoiled, and you start building houses - which can take 5 people.


The following structures should all require a significant investment in time and resources:

Well (which should then provide more water than the rain collector), Hospital, Theatre, Chapel, Tavern. In return, there should only be needed one of each, per 200 people. 

Decorative items - like statues, etc. - should require a dis-proportionally higher investment in time/resources, to reflect that their construction is distracting from the grim battle for survival.

It would also be nice, if the Town Hall evolved into at least two distinct styles - depending on the policies enacted within. Is the Leader someone who wants to save everyone, and dreams of building a new Utopia? Or is he someone who can make the tough decisions and does whatever it takes to ensure the survival of his community? 


The latrines should also be looked at. I find myself digging a ridiculous number of holes, for my (currently) 125 people.

[rendhark]

There should be a tool for locating all the buildings of a type. e.g. You want to see where your 7 repair shacks are - and their area of coverage.

[davem]

Is there any way for the ai to form tracks when the walk, instead of the player building pathways. This would give it an organic feel, as the more the ai walks along a specific pathway the more that pathway is natural created.

[ScottFarRoad]

Sept 6, 2017 0:17:30 GMT davem said:

Is there any way for the ai to form tracks when the walk, instead of the player building pathways. This would give it an organic feel, as the more the ai walks along a specific pathway the more that pathway is natural created.

This is definitely on the list of features to put in at some point.