I bought the game during the Steam Summer Sale and I love it so far! What caught my eye and prompted me to buy it was how beautiful and bucolic the art style and visuals are. I have so far been experimenting with creating rambling organically evolving towns and I can already see that some game design choices make this harder. Namely, the desirability system. I like the concept but due to how the circles work for markets and other amenities it punishes people for not designing their town in a grid pattern.
It’s a shame to have such lovely naturalistic game aesthetics only for most towns to end up looking rigid and mathematical just so we can progress past certain tiers.
The game’s visuals would also benefit from the ability to place fences and walls diagonally or even better to curve them as we do roads. I’d settle for the former, though. As they are right now, stone walls can unfortunately be somewhat ugly. Their straight unyielding lines and overly clean texture clash with the otherwise rustic aesthetic of the game, especially when trying to create a non-grid reliant town.
Please, do not forget players who want to build villages and towns with an emphasis on beautiful rural and naturally evolving aesthetics. We shouldn’t be discouraged or punished for preferring that play style. I want to build The Shire, not New York…
Have seen this request crop up several times, and I understand it well: one of my major beefs with the Anno games set in the earlier periods (1404, 1602, 1701, etc) was that they were all rigid right-angle grids in building and road placement. They just did not look right compared to ‘real’ European medieval and post-medieval cities.
But, while the buildings in FF have to be set at right angles, the roads don’t, and more importantly: Roads are not required for residences.
Within the walls medieval towns were cramped as everybody bunched together inside the defenses for protection - look at pictures of Rothenburg in Germany for a surviving example of Medieval street and structure layout - unless it was a capital where the King demanded wide open avenues, the streets are stifling little alleys and the buildings are solid blocks with very little spacing except around big public buildings like churches or the Town Hall.
A lot of that can be replicated already in FF, even with the grid requirement for individual buildings. I’ve seen examples of this in several screenshots from other players: you can bunch your homes, group them around a shrine or plaza or garden as you like, build a solid market/home Block and come very close to reproducing the ‘look’ of a medieval town within the walls.
Yes exactly, you are speaking from my heart! The game would greatly benefit from curvy fences and walls.
Right now, nearly every building looks in tune with its environment / neighbouring buildings. Only the walls and fences look out of place, wich is a shame becaus they have such a great impact on the overall appearance of the city.
I put hours into a small village that naturally grew into a city, still retaining its irregular rural atmosphere. But when in comes to walls and fences they frame the city into a right angled grid wich kind of ruins the appearance of the whole.
I really hope the devs will try to make curvy walls and fences a reality. I know its difficult with pathing etc. and i dont expect it to be finished until release. But i really hope that it will be put on the longterm goals list.
Concerning the desirability system: Maybe the devs could add that having free space/grass or trees around the house also adds to its desirability. Its a concept that is not so far away from reality.
Even if curved walls are too difficult to implement, diagonal walls would be a great alternative. A lot of medieval towns had straight walls, but they could be placed at any angle or direction, and therefore form an approximate of curvature in the landscape and amongst buildings. Even looking at the game’s concept art (in the loading screen), I’m not sure those walls are curved. They look straight, but are placed with such a multitude of angles that in the sum of things, the wall structure has a rounded appearance.
Right now we are only able to design walls at hard 90 degree angles, which is completely at odds with the aesthetic ethos of the rest of the game and encourages weird and ugly looking designs. We should be able to place walls at any angle we want: simply click on a tile and drag in a direction.
Concerning the desirability system: Maybe the devs could add that having free space/grass or trees around the house also adds to its desirability. Its a concept that is not so far away from reality.
I love this idea. They probably wanted this to come through with the use of parks, but it’d be nice if it applied to planted trees and grassy areas. In fact, it’d be super cool if we could designate our own residential parklands or ‘commons’. Perhaps we could even get a ‘gardener’ profession to tend these areas (using the area circle) which affects with their desirability while allowing us more freedom to craft unique naturalistic spaces between houses. Maybe having a gardener oversee a patch of land means certain trees, grass and bushes will grow in it faster, leading to organic growth of natural features. There could be several grass types that grow under the care of a gardener, like well-tended lawns and more rustic grasses (probably affected by housing tier). They could introduce aesthetic flowering plants as a new resource with a desirability boost like roses, lavender, daffodils, etc. These flowers cultivated in residential commons by a gardener could then be sold to the market as a niche and ephemeral luxury item (floristry industry?), but not too many or it affects desirability (don’t strip all the flowering plants bare). And if they made the small garden plots (that look like they have vegetables or herbs in them) harvestable resources then the gardener could tend those too. The gardener could either be a resident at one of the houses or have their own hut. Damn, I’m kind of excited by my own idea now…
My understanding of manor houses in the past was that having well-tended parks and open space around you was a mark of distinction and luxury, since it meant you owned the land. It’d be great if the developers could find a way to link desirability with natural environmental features, and these natural features with already existing parklands.
Ah your are right, i was only thinking about 90° and 45° like in AOE . If we could build walls and fences like a straight line between any two tiles that would be awesome
I hope something like this is possible, without any fixed angles.
Yeah i like your idea, but maybe it’s a little too complex to be put in before release.
Maybe there will be a advanced gardening dlc after release I would buy it!
But I would love a little tweak to the desirability system. That building green spaces in cities would be a bit more rewarding
I would buy it!