Cities And Housing Archive
Thread: generic civic structures
General Idea:
The idea is to help mayors of their towns and making them unique. Putting in general structures for a city into game with different abilities than the average civic structure would allow the cities to become more unique and more diverse than all of the other cities. From town to town across all for the severs all the cities have the same feel at least to me. Some of them have more gardens and some are much more organized, but they all have basically the same stuff. The only thing that sets cities apart are the city specializations and this only goes so far because most Cities use the research center, stronghold, or improved job market. This idea will allow cites to grow differently and thus giving cities more of a dynamic feel.
About the physical buildings:
I think there should be 3 different styles to each of the buildings for each of the construction styles. (So 3 new buildings for Naboo style cities, 3 new buildings for Correllian, and 3 new ones for Tatoonie.) All 3 of the buildings will be different sizes and thus have a difference in price on the city budget. I would recommended for city cost that the buildings run for 15k-25k because that fits in with the costs of the city and are like the current charges for the city structures. I also think the building should be able to hold 400-600 items depending on the size of the building Now in my city we have extra civic buildings but they are just large house and are kind of an eye sore cause the building types are all over and they take up valuable lots for a single player.
Abilities for the Buildings:
Now to give complete control to the Mayor and developers of any given city, everyone in the city should be able to be added to admin of the place (unlike the City Hall and Cloner). Reason being is this way the building will not have to rely on the mayor take time to decorate and to also give it more uses. I would also like to see the ability to add whole guilds to the admin and/or the whole city if you chose, but leave the ability open for single players to be added. The other thing I would like to see is the ability for the building to make boxes or crates for the mayor that fit the style of the building. The ability to change the names on the boxes would be great too.
Possible uses:
Post Office:
This has started going on the forums lately and is a terrific idea. I have had one of these running in my city for about 1 year and it has saved many guild mates a many headaches from having to wait and find some one in order to give something to them. I have found making it easier to give items to other people makes the people more generous and a much closer group as a whole. With the buildings it will still take a little bit of work, but in the long run it will be worth it having it not take valuable lots of a player. Using the generated boxes form the building will stop that dread full I need more boxes for the post office which is currently backpacks sitting along a wall. Plus there is a cap on how many people can be on admin so with the ability to just put whole guilds on there would allow the larger guilds to use the buildings.
Armory:
This is something I also have had in my city for a long time and being that the mayor of the city is a part time Weaponsmith only making weapons for his guild mates. This helps out a lot cause I cant always log in for periods of time but when I can I make a large amount of weapons and store them there and when my friends need a new one to get them by until I can make them that uber weapon it works out great. Or they just need some thing to grind with for a while to get up in levels. All you would have to do is make up a bunch of boxes and rename them appropriately to the weapon going inside, add the guild to the admin and you are ready to go.
Resource Center:
This is a cool idea that one of my old buddies had a long time ago. I would give him credit but I can’t remember who it was. There is a lot of loot out there that people can use for armor, weapons, food, clothes, and many others. This place gives the regular person a place to drop them. Also those people that go out and just collect hide/meat/bone for nothing or don’t collect it cause they have no use for it, can just drop it in here and when a crafter needs something they might not have to look as far they used to. Also what I used to do when I was heavy into mining stuff I would donate 10% of my recourses to this for later use or for some one else to use it too.
Mall:
Every one has seen those big malls in cities in the guild halls or large houses. This gives the mayor the ability to help their market with a lot free alternative so they can continue to use all the harvesters they need.
Museum/Show room:
A place to have people show off there items they have collected and just a place to show a person decorating skills and even possible charging admin to the building to possibly knock down the cost of the building.
Zoo:
An idea, first brought to me by Vossarian, to make your city unique and show the creativity of you or your members, just think you would be able to go to the Sheltered Haven Zoo for a day trip. Stuff like this can give the RP a bit of a twist. Heck I would want to take my in-game wife to the Zoo just for the RP factor.
I am sure there are many other ideas you guys can come up with but I will let you come up with those. I think these buildings would help out the players and give us some new things to look at in the cities. Sorry for the long port I got bored at work.
These are some nice ideas. I don't think the post office, armory, or resource center have much chance of getting in as they could be viewed as ways to get around storage limits. I like them, but you know how the devs thinks. Zoos...? I see them from time to time created from other buildings. Frankly, I don't stop to look, but it would be something diferent, so I'm all for it. Now for the other two:
MALLS: This could be a great idea. There are so many guildhalls out there that have been converted to "malls," that the demand for this structure is obvious. And if the davs don't want to give some free storage, they could require Master Merchant to place it, but maybe for only two lots. It could be nothing but a large square or rectangle with a bunch of large alcoves lining the walls. Perhaps even each alcove would have an admin terminal in it that would allow the owner to give specific rights to each part? Maybe even for a fee? (Hey... Real store managers in real malls have to pay rent, why not put the function in game?)
MUSEUMS: These could be similar to the malls. Large one or two room structures with smaller places to set up displays. One thing that might be nice would be barriers so that people couldn't just walk into the displays. I can't really see requiring a Master Merchant for a museum; are there any other professions that this might fit? (Other than politician, that is.)
As for other unique buildings? I'd like to see sales booths/equipment added for Creature Handlers, Artisans, and Architects. Somewthing where we could suitably display our wares. So many times I hear customers asking "Which house is that?" Maybe a mall map or something sowing the exterior and interior of each deed? Also (and this might fall into your zoo idea) I would like to see a pen where animals could be displayed. Yes, pet deeds can be dropped for a display, but some of those thigns are way to big to fit in a house or even a guild hall. Something similar for vehicles would be nice. (Did you know that we actually saw a used speeder lot in ANH?)
Jhett, that mall idea is a lot like one I had, more like an open garden variation than an enclosed building. The only downside with an open garden is the inability to decorate, so there is some discussion or variation possible there. The outdoor decoration limitation is an intentional exploit preventer, so it is not going away. Maybe just make it look open from the inside, by way of skylights that are opaque from the outside.
As a master merchant, I would not mind one of these puppies taking up more than 2 lots, as long as I was able to rent at least twice as many lots as alcoves, or the mall enabled consignment sales (preferably both, of course). As a master architect, I would definitely not mind a new building to make.
Saego, Wanderhome