So you have a village with +2000 inhabitants. Raw materials and production are comming in with a surplus, ecomomy is good with +1500 buck monthly profit. All is well. What do you do then?
I think there needs to be a next level in the game at this point. The main task in the begining of the game is to find the balance between all the bits and pieces as you build and grow the village. I think many players witll arrive at a point where they don’t want to expand the footprint of the village further, but rather refine the village witout ruining the production/consumption balance. Another factor is that the game changes carachter when the village becomes a bit bigger. There is for example no longer any need to purchase goods except for spice and the odd other material. Mostly you are selling goods.
I have left a couple of suggestions below. If I were working with the game development I would build on the existing things rather than add new features. Adding more upgrade options on different buildings is one low hanging fruit that I think would have a great effect.
A next step on uppgrading buildings could be to add new types of buildings with new/other types of functionality (See farm buildig below). But regardless of what is added I think this step would grately benfit the game.
A suggestion for part of that step is further uppgrade possibilities specifically for production- and service buildings with higher demand for raw materials and haigher production output. There are several candidates such as the transport wagons, soap manufacturing, large saw mill etc. Virtually all production buildings could have one or two larger corporate like buildings for large scale manufacturing of goods.
If possible from a game mechanics perspective, why not have a larger trade terminal, or one trading house and several goods transport terminals? Set up automatic trade routes with other villages? Larger trade warehouses to house larger quantities of goods to do larger deals.
A farm building (house for living in) with options to add other buildings in the vicinity such as cattle barns, chicken buildings and so on. Wineards could be an option.
Why not also a horse breeding, which could help in the breeding of cows to raise more with the same number of workers, make new cavalry type troops, and also become a luxury commodity for higher tier residences. Another idea could be to have, for example, precious stone mines in order to make jewelry with gold. Another possibility could be (a bit like anno) to regulate the tax levels and have this act on the happiness and production of the villagers, who could revolt and require the intervention of a police. It could also be interesting to have a repair service for weapons, shoes, clothing, tools etc… Which would require less resources than building new ones.
on the other hand, moderators/developers, do you have any ideas on which we could perhaps give our opinion, even if it is only advisory?
They have shown ‘Tier 5’ residences in illustrations for over a year, and forecast chickens, goats and horses, presumably to include some more ‘Tier 5 specific’ resource and luxury requirements.
This is all good, but it only postpones the end-game problem: it just puts off the Finished Town/City for another Tier, another set of resources and products.
I suggest that the game needs some set of ‘capstone’ constructions that complete the town, and that can only be built and sustained by completing all the Tiers successfully. Something like end-game ‘Wonders’ so common in 4X games like Civilization and Humankind, or the one-off massive constructions like the Iron Tower or Skyline Tower in Anno 1800 - contemporary game examples of what I’m talking about.
The exact structures are not as important as the existence of such Goal Structures. They could, in fact, be several types in which you pick one to finish or go for Super Victory by building all of them - at Immense Cost:
A Super Library - the University - requiring books, a library and possibly ‘special’ stone deposits like Marble: think medieval institutions like Oxford or Heidelberg
A Super Barracks - the Keep - requiring Catapults, fully-equipped soldiers and loads of stone and timber and iron to build: think Castles like London’s White Tower
A Super Trading Post - the Bourse - requiring a bunch of goods only available from trade, possibly. Think the early Amsterdam, Paris, or London Markets and Trading Centers.
Just examples, but it would give the gamer specific goals to accomplish to achieve ‘victory’.
While they may be nice to have, it’s up to you to set your victory goals whatever they may be. The game is a sandbox so no specific goals except those you set yourself.
You know, the game Foundation also has no real endgame per se, but allows the player to choose to set himself certain milestones to reach.
Maybe it would be possible to implement such milestones/achievements which then would provide certain bonuses when completed?
I know that FF is really a survival settlement builder, where the real end goal is for the settlement to exist for another year.
But what if there was some kind of “ultimate catastrophe” as a final test, a large scale enemy invasion, siege or natural disaster, which serves as the ultimate challenge to face and survive?
Well aware, and I set ‘personal’ goals in almost every game I play of every type, even ones that already have set Victory Conditions. - And some of my favorite games have no ‘set’ Victory Conditions, like FF and the Anno series.
But, it is an inherent weakness of ‘sandbox’ games that without any real End Point the game can seem to just drag on after a time, and gamers who have not set themselves a firm ending condition will tend to feel that the game is less than it could have been.
The game need definitely buildings and professions such as harbor, boat maker and bridge. The water element goes wasted but I’m 100% sure they will add those alongside with other cool stuff in future.
Trading post is one of the biggest factors in game and you can only build one of them. Harbor could act as second trading post. Other option could be that you can make second trading post after reaching certain amount of population.
One other thing that should be added is of course customizable hotkeys so you could just hotkey for any building.
You’ve raised some intriguing points about the game Farthest Frontier. It’s true that as your village grows, players often seek new challenges and ways to refine their settlements without disrupting the balance. Your ideas for enhancing existing elements, like adding more upgrade options for buildings, sound promising.
Expanding on production and service buildings with higher demands and greater output could indeed add depth to the game.
If you’re interested in exploring new games, you might want to check out Bubble Cash. Thanks for sharing your suggestions, and I hope the game developers consider these ideas to keep Farthest Frontier engaging for players at every stage of village development!