I wanted to ask whether anyone on the team is familiar with The Settlers: Heritage of Kings.
I know Heritage of Kings is much more RTS-focused, while Farthest Frontier is more of a survival city builder. What I am suggesting is less about the mechanics directly and more about the atmosphere, visual style, and the kind of scenario ideas that HoKs campaign could inspire.
Both games share a similar appeal: starting with a vulnerable settlement, building up production, raising defenses, training soldiers, and gradually turning the place into something fortified and self-sufficient.
One thing I think Heritage of Kings does especially well is the visual identity of fortified settlements. The walls, towers, keeps, and banners make towns feel more distinct and give them a stronger sense of character. I think Farthest Frontier could benefit from leaning further into that kind of presentation, especially with stronger castle or keep visuals and more distinct wall aesthetics.
I would also like to see a proper castle or keep system in Farthest Frontier. Castles could be late-game buildings that garrison soldiers, protect gold and high-value goods, and store weapons and armor. Basically a stronger endgame version of the vault, but as a central fortified structure.
Another option could be letting players choose a settlement style at the start of the game. For example, one style could use the normal Town Center, while another could start with a Keep instead. It could behave mostly the same mechanically, but change the visual tone of the settlement from the beginning. Wall and tower styles could follow the same idea: one style could look cleaner and more civic, while another could look rougher, harsher, and more aggressive. The Settlers: Rise of an Empire also has some castle designs that could be worth looking at for visual inspiration.
HoK-inspired scenarios could also fit Farthest Frontier very well, especially scenarios built around establishing, fortifying, and defending a frontier settlement under pressure.
Banners and flags give towns more identity during the game itself. A global banner customization option would be a nice way to make each settlement feel more personal.
I also wanted to ask about towers and walls. Why can towers not be placed directly into walls, with the walls connecting to them properly? A lot of preview images make it look like towers and walls are meant to form one continuous defensive line, but in-game they still feel separate from each other. Being able to integrate towers into walls would make fortifications look much stronger and more natural.
I am not asking for Farthest Frontier to become Heritage of Kings. I just think that kind of fortified settlement fantasy, visual identity, and scenario structure would fit extremely well with what the game already does.