City Design

[Darius_Rechtak]

Alright this may sound suck or may sound awesome but untill recently i would have thought the main city in sundren was perfeclty designed... then i played assasins creed. City's should be massive.

I dont mean have bigger tile areas, have more city areas. perhaps multiple market districts, a bazaar for food and fancy clothing, factory district for exigo stuff and gnomish inventions... a Smithy and tanning district etc, then make residential areas, yes they dont serve a purpose other than visual gratification, but that counts for so much.

Maybe a city hub area with an opening space for gathering so that its not always around a campfire

These are just ideas servers are limited to what they can have but since so much needles travel areas are removed with the world map system you can put more into each of the areas that we do have

and use the same sized areas as to prevent lag, and the new server should run well on it

[Rhifox]

As much as I would like this, people don't visit the few city areas we already have nearly enough to warrant more effort on them. I prefer taverns myself but most people tend to congregate around Exigo or Crossroads and I doubt adding more city areas will change that, unfortunately.

[Ethelo]

I wish that the "hub" was a city instead of the trading post, but I guess it would be alot more laggy.

EDIT: there's at least 1 server with the kind of city you talk about Darius. I gotta say, it feels more immersive at times.

Also, is the lack of npc's actually walking around the cities very small due to lag issues?

[Darius_Rechtak]

NPC count really doesnt matter... it does cause lag.. and im determined to make cities the new campfire, no matter what any super-eliete ive been playing forever player says :-P its strictly better for RP but the city needs a hub.. some big open gathering space

[Xanderleo]

There was a thread about where people congregate a while back:

As you can see there are many varying opinions.

Also remember, that while your charcater may prefer spending time in a dank smelly tavern, other characters may prefer the outdoors. I don't believe it's a universal issue that all the charcaters should be drawn to the city.

In short, people go to where other players gather. Try to round up some people and bring them there, maybe it'll catch on.

[Machiavelli]

As much as I would like this, people don't visit the few city areas we already have nearly enough to warrant more effort on them. I prefer taverns myself but most people tend to congregate around Exigo or Crossroads and I doubt adding more city areas will change that, unfortunately.

What Rhifox said *shudders in pain at agreeing with her*. The city areas we do have in Sundren are by far the best looking NWN2 areas I've seen, and there are far more of them than actually get used on a regular basis.

[Xanderleo]

*shudders in pain at agreeing with her*.

/cower

That's exactly what I pictured.


Another issue is transistions. Areas like the trading post are accessable through a single transistion. You don't need to risk transistion crashes four times to see who is gathered there. The trading post is also a desitnation for adventurers who are restocking after exploring or adventuring, so it's rather a catch-all.

However, if you're looking to pull more people somehwere in the city ... the Four Lanterns in the City Gates district has alot of room and is easily accessable. Then there is also Jimmy's Dice Den in the Entertainment District.

I don't won't to offer too much information (Saulus can answer with details if he wants) but I've been tapped to do some work on Sundren city.

[Scavar]

Personally, I would like to hang outside the city, like out by the gates to the city. But that damn farmer is always arguing with that commoner, and they give me the evil eye

I know what he means about Assassin's Creed and cities though. As awesome as it would be, the server seems to have more outdoorish type people than city people....But I am seriously getting tired of Exigo, to te point where I am soon going to try and find a reason to avoid it....

[Rhifox]

What Rhifox said *shudders in pain at agreeing with her*.

Oh fuck, you're a DM now.

*flees in terror, imaging a Malaclypse-clone with bloodied dagger following her around invisible for revenge to the sound of Frontier Psychiatrist*

[Xanderleo]

Hey, congrats on that Machiavelli!

[sparkeh]

@Machiavelli

Gratz on the DMship sir!

[wangxiuming]

Huzzah Machiavelli!

Back on topic - I too would love to see people gather somewhere new. The post is wonderfully designed, but I think I need a change of pace every once in a while. Plus, I'm actually starting to get depressed at seeing how much it rains outside. I'm not even joking. I log on - I'm in a middle of a thunderstorm - sadness. That's how it goes :P

So yeah, a nice tavern would be nice. Four Lanterns. Yes. Let's all agree to head there and never get rained on again!

[Stormlord]

First point: The Rain and Thunderstorms are fine. Talos approves.

Topic: I really loved how Baldurs Gate City Districts where designed, especially the Bridge though Sigil in PS:Torment was either a blast. Though I like the idea of REALLY huge cities with more than three sectors, we have to face that we're not in sp mode here. Large Cities require more memory, catch up more ressources on the already less stable server and are offering no real benefit regarding daily gameplay.

With few districts, there is a good chance that you run into other players from time to time. With more and larger sectors, you will more often walk the streets of i.e. Sundren alone and players won't naturally concentrate on one tavern / area / whatever.

Because the more variety to choose of, the more de-central a pw becomes. If the server would've able to handle like 200 players or so, a larger Sundren would be a good choice.. but so..

Not really.

[Ash]

Alright this may sound suck or may sound awesome but untill recently i would have thought the main city in sundren was perfeclty designed... then i played assasins creed. City's should be massive.

I dont mean have bigger tile areas, have more city areas. perhaps multiple market districts, a bazaar for food and fancy clothing, factory district for exigo stuff and gnomish inventions... a Smithy and tanning district etc, then make residential areas, yes they dont serve a purpose other than visual gratification, but that counts for so much.

Maybe a city hub area with an opening space for gathering so that its not always around a campfire

These are just ideas servers are limited to what they can have but since so much needles travel areas are removed with the world map system you can put more into each of the areas that we do have

and use the same sized areas as to prevent lag, and the new server should run well on it

You have absolutely no clue about designing or making a persistent world for NWN2.

Thanks for your input. Sorry, no.

[Ash]

NPC count really doesnt matter...

Yes it does. As does active AI.