Watch Towers

Thoughts on the further development of Haven & Hearth? Feel free to opine!

Watch Towers

Postby LadyGoo » Sat Nov 21, 2015 6:50 pm

There was a proposal about introducing watch/guard towers described in this topic viewtopic.php?f=48&t=44007&hilit=watch+tower. Concisely, a tower should enable shooting from their rooftops, helping to defend one's village. The idea is nice and could be useful if the the siege machines would be protected by a special siege claim for the drying period. Potentially, this would make sieging small and middle-sized villages a way too costly, provided they have a couple of archers (damaged armor, possibility of other villages coming to help and etc.) and encourage more thoughtful politics.

However, I have another proposal. The biggest concern for majority of villages (and J&Lo's pocket) is the safety. A village in a state of a war has all rights to be concerned about the possibility of their crossroads or village borders getting camped by the enemies. Moreover, if Jorb and Loftar will implement barter stands, there will be people who will camp traders on their way to a trading center. Not many would like to visit New Brodgar's trading hub (let's assume it will be the most popular trading center with at least 2-4 people visiting every hour), knowing there is a possibility they might get attacked on their way to the city walls. Therefore, it would be nice to know whether it is safe to travel to a trading center or leave your city walls towards the closest swamp for your daily forage.

New construction: Signal fire
Materials: 1 bar of metal, 80 stones, 80 blocks of wood.
Fuel: 100 blocks of wood is enough to keep it alive for 48 hours. Alternatively, use taar (which is a bit useless) and coal.
It can be built only at the top of towers (any type). When you right click it you will open a menu with a real-time record of non-villagers passing within the vision radius of your towers with an active signal fire. It could also track the rams (making checking walls less painful).
To activate the signal fire you have to give it a name (like crossroads). This is how you can track where exactly people were trespassing.

Building function: Stone tower
Vision radius: 100x100 (subject of re-balancing)
If built on the village territory and it has an active signal fire on top of it, it will track the trespassers and send the message to other signal fires. You can access the signal fire at the top and obtain the information (village members only).
Stone towers are a bit useless at the moment, although it provides a lot of space. Would be nice if it could have more functions (including ability to shoot over the walls).

New building: Wooden watch tower
Materials: 200 stones, 300 blocks of wood, 100 boards
Vision radius: 40x40 (subject of re-balancing)
If built on the village territory and it has an active signal fire on top of it, it will track the trespassers and send the message to other signal fires. You can access the signal fire at the top and obtain the information (village members only).

Pros or cons:
1. Safer village surroundings, travel and trade. More social interaction.
2. Better raids&pvp potential. People would be able to see whether anyone is walking around their towers and make thoughtful decisions over whether to go outside and fight, or sit at home. Travelers should be able to see a tower (on their minimap) and make a decision whether to trespass. This will save noob life as well.
3. Checking walls for rams will be less painful, especially if you have a giant village.
4. Building watch towers and covering them with a village claim will add into a village development game-play. Securing your village lands will add another goal for your village mates for a month or two.
5. Overlaps with the ideas expressed in the Kindoms IP leak (warning you whether a siege machine is moving and etc.)

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Re: Watch Towers

Postby warrri » Sat Nov 21, 2015 6:54 pm

I dont understand how this helps on the travel? What if they waylay a long road that is not bannered?
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Re: Watch Towers

Postby LadyGoo » Sat Nov 21, 2015 7:06 pm

warrri wrote:I dont understand how this helps on the travel? What if they waylay a long road that is not bannered?
The point is not to make it completely safe to travel. The point is to increase the radius of zone which is controlled and watched by your village. People can make direct crossroads to Brodgar's gates, and Brodgar can confirm there is no-one camping it in the middle in 5-6 minimaps away from Brodgar. This will create known trading routes and etc.
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Re: Watch Towers

Postby maze » Sat Nov 21, 2015 7:33 pm

interesting. few things. as i said here
http://www.havenandhearth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=590740#p590740
the house remake/ being able to walk on top of towers & walls. im sure J&L already had the idea of archers being able to shot off such walls and towers.
adding a someone complex warning system- would be interesting but I would like to ask for it to be made way easyer, since bigger factions will need a number of towers.

towers as your idea would force the factions to seek the edges of the world- so that the faction would not need as many towers.
another problem is the amount of trees used to burn such fires- also you dont need blocks to fuel big fires, just throw a log on like old HnH.

what brings me to this
I've had an idea again in my back pocket about a fire system- but this does not touch your overlook system much if at all.
I wanted their to be a spot in citys or kingdom where you can make a fuel object or house. where you put logs, tar or hay in to the object to fuel fires around the town without needed to go to the fire itself. you need to connect each fire with a fuel tag (sorta like CR system)
it can fuel fireplaces, ovens, tarkilns, fire pits more larpy stuff like torches.
what would bring us to ovens need high Q fuel. so you can have more then one fueling area. one that uses low Q fuel and and another high Q.
another one for fueling all your steelsmelters and crap ore smelters. and again another for high Q smelters.
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Re: Watch Towers

Postby LadyV » Sun Nov 22, 2015 2:35 am

I honestly don't mind new towers and defences. I'd even be up for walkable walls, gate houses, and castles. However before all that Id like lockable doors, stronger door types, and door bars. Lets finish inner security before adding new structures. But once that's done sure. :)
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Re: Watch Towers

Postby jorb » Thu Dec 03, 2015 11:08 am

Walking out on the roof level is something we want to do, but it is contingent on loftar's vision for a more developed building/object system in general.

Not sure what I think of the watch towers tracking people thing. I guess I don't hate it, but I'm not sure I see how it is particularly useful either. Some spruce cap passed the village, but so what?
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Re: Watch Towers

Postby ramones » Thu Dec 03, 2015 2:49 pm

Having watch towers enabled makes you have your signal torch or something wherever you build it in town go red/burning/alarming when it notices a ram or something?
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