Building Overview
Pax Dei is planning to have a building system which allows players to express themselves and create what they want, how they want it, and create accessories that give their buildings personal character. They want players to tear down and rebuild as opportunities, needs, and skills change. A house is never finished. Players will need to mine, chop down trees, and forage for materials in addition to hunting and harvesting the land.
Players can claim a plot (one per player) where they can build their house. The claims are all in Heartland valleys, and building is not allowed outside of those valleys. What sort of buildings are available to be built outside of the Heartland Valleys (ie the PVP zones) Mainframe is not ready to discuss at this time. Since the plots are in the Heartland Valley, only those people who you’ve given permission to can access your things.
Multiple players can join their plots together to have more space to build. What happens if a player joins a plot and then removes their plot? Well, the remaining building owners will have to find someone to fill that space, or they will have to reorganize their buildings before the buildings decay.
There are some restrictions on the building. You cannot build anywhere that would break gameplay. This includes building on pre-made road network, at the entrances to dungeons, and you cannot build underground. You are allowed to build on water, and you can build bridges.
The building system is piece based (not block like 7 Days to Die or Minecraft) and players will be familiar with these mechanics if they’ve played games with similar building systems (Valheim). Additionally, there is a physics system that forces structural integrity on the buildings, so the buildings will have to make sense from structural perspective. Example: You can build a house that is big, but you cannot build a house that is infinitely high. Additionally, they do aim to have the system be fairly forgiving in terms of resources in case you change your mind about what you have built and what you want to build in the future.
Abandoned structures with no plots are free for all, and the items left behind can be claimed by other players. In an attempt to keep the game shares feeling alive, once a player stops playing, the plot would eventually be freed up so it can be claimed by other players.
Paid Accounts
In the most recent Q&A it was said that each player will get one plot per land as part of a paid account. They also intend to add mechanisms that allow players to acquire additional plots. While I do not want to jump the gun and start indicating this is going to lead to a F2P/Freemium model, this statement in conjunction with the Sub Token statement , makes it seem like they are leaning towards a F2P/Freemium model with sub time being purchasable in game. Additionally, the ability to acquire additional plots might be leading to some level of “Pay to…” mechanics.
Player Made Towns
It was asked if Players can make their own towns and the developers responded with “Yes, absolutely”. In fact, it isn’t just something that the players have permission to do, it is the expectation of the developers that players will band together, joining plots together and building towns. The more people that share their plots, the larger the builds you will be able to build.
It was asked what would happen if someone dropped a plot to block a clan from building larger structures like a castle. As these plots are dropped in the safe zone, there really isn’t a game mechanic that can force a person to move. You’d have to talk to the person and convince them to move. While Mainframe Industries has said someone who dedicates their plot to blocking a clan instead of working with them, will have a hard time playing the game. I would like to add as an editorial, that this seems sort of short sighted on the part of Mainframe. We all know there are toxic and trolling players, and I can see this becoming a major issue. I would be in favor of a system that temporarily grants the plot entitlement to a clan that touches one or more sides of the plot for a short period of time to stop this sort of mechanic. In my video to the right about the building system, I talk about this, and if you would, leave your opinion on this particular mechanic.
