Alright, this is going to be a large topic, hope you don't mind. I've got a lot of things on my mind, and not a lot of time to look through all the different threads here in this forum, so, if I overlooked anything that someone else has already posted, just lemme know and I'll edit it out.
First off, I'd like to talk about a few things that I have noticed with game mechanics. To begin with, the topic of stamina, how it is used, and how it is restored. I'd very much like to see stamina restored in a more efficient manner; for example, the longer that you don't do anything, the more stamina is restored because you are "resting", or perhaps a "resting" command in the Adventure tab of the UI where the character stands/sits there and can't do anything. I also dislike that fact that you can still have plenty of stamina, but can't accomplish certain tasks until you have a good 45% of it or more, like demolishing buildings. I don't really mind that stamina drains the way it does, and I think that it's pretty fair in a lot of aspects, but rather, a better and more reliable way to restore stamina quickly other than drinking water would be great. Even if it's something like eating food, anything would help out.
I'd also like to discuss swimming. I know that this has been brought up countless times, but, I feel I have to put in my two cents. The way that swimming works now, most players will be confined within the areas around the RoB if they are new, and those areas are going to be quickly swarmed with hearthstones and people chopping down trees without planting new ones, just like last time. As such, perhaps a slight decrease in the amount of stamina required to swim, or even the ability to construct bridges, would be a tremendous help in getting people away from over-crowded areas that are being confined by rivers and lakes.
As the final point for game mechanics, I'm bringing up the topic of finding herbs with foraging. I cannot stress how totally impossible this seems to people who are just starting out a fresh character, and how the current skills needed makes it a lot harder on them to become self-sufficient. I'd also like to integrate it together with the lack of crops that I have seen available to help said newbies out, such as the random wheat fields that I encountered before the map reset, but I digress. Perhaps just by lowering the required skills by five to ten points would be enough. I know that rustroot can be found a lot earlier on now, and that's a great start! ...but by the time that new characters get the skills needed to forage as they travel, they will have spent well over 30k in points just to raise Exploration to skill level 20, which really hinters their ability to concentrate on finding enough resources to start crafting a variety of items. On the new character that I've made to test out the new map, I have Exp 12 and Perc 11, I've yet to find any available crops to harvest or items to forage, and I've been forced to build Pal walls and make roads in order to get the LP needed to increase my stats.
Now that my complaining is done, I'd like to bring forward a few ideas that I had for new items. A few are just for useless fun, a few are intertwined with other ideas put forward in the forums, and a few I think could really help bring some flavor to the game. To start with, I have a few new ideas for crops...
Specifically, Sugar Canes, Rice, Potatoes, Cabbage, Watermelon, Corn, Tobacco, and Celery. For trees, I'd like to see some trees that provide nuts of some kind, possibly even banana trees, berry bushes/trees, Lime trees, and some kind of cactus or other tree which yields water after using an axe to make a hole in it. Not a lot of water, and just drinking water, but perhaps even a coconut tree will suffice. All of these will be explained in greater detail later, since they all have to do with the new ideas that I'm putting forward.
New items
Buildings: NOTE - many of these are meant to be community projects, where friends or villages get together to help build them, which is the reason behind their insane size and costs.
Cabin Extension - costs 50 boards, 120 logs, 30 bricks, and 50 stone, this adds a stone kitchen to a Log Cabin, allowing a person to cook using a chimney, store items in a storage bin that comes with the extension, and gives the cabin more room. It does not extend basements. Purpose: not having to go running around back and forth just to collect all the items from storage areas to go to an oven just to make more food. Downside: not nearly as much room to bake as an oven, can't hold as much fuel material, possibly requires something like a basement or an advanced Masonry skill or Carpentry attribute of at least 30.
Bridges - two types, stone and wood. Wood costs an initial 50 boards and 100 logs, and is four spaces wide (however, it allows only two spaces to walk on, the other spaces are the right and left railings/support which take up one space each), and it will cost 15 boards and 25 logs to extend it one space further. Plus-side, they are cheaper to build. Down-side, they deteriorate faster than stone bridges and will require repairs after the span of about four days in-game. Stone bridges costs 75 boards, 30 logs, and 500 stone, and in order to extend the bridge further you will need 5 boards, 10 logs, and 75 stone. Stone bridges have the same rules as wooden ones, however, they will take a good two to three weeks before they need repairs, and they will need a lot of materials to repair themselves. Bridges can only be built in one direction, and you chose that direction when you make the base of the bridge; wooden bridge bases take up two spaces forward in the direction you chose, stone ones take up three. NOTE - you can feesh offa breedjis.
Boats - DEWD SEE TEH BOAT THREAD. I highly support the idea of fishing boats. Perhaps if we included ropes, which will be explained later, we could include that in the cost of boats. Really, I think that for now, fishing boats of some kind and a transport boat of some kind would be great.
Barn - costs 250 boards, 500 logs, 150 stone. Barns are self-explanatory, they will hold animals. In order to capture a critter, you must first have 3 ropes, and must wrangle either a cow/bull, sheep, or somehow collect a rabbit or a rat. From there on out, it is a test of strength and stamina - perhaps even the animal's HP could somehow come into play? - and you must outlast and outperform the creature you are dragging behind you. Certain foraged herbs or food could be use to coax the animal to put up less of a fight. Each animal will eat plant fiber or straw when back in the barn, and if you fail to feed them at least once over an IRL 24-hour period, they will die. You can keep up to 5 animals in the barn. To prevent animals dying when away for too long, is the next building...
Barn Extension - costs 75 boards, 200 logs, and 50 stone. Not really an extension per se, but this will add a feeding troth and silo to the barn. The silo will only hold crops, plant fibers, foraged goods, dried meats, and fur/leather; it also happens to hold 96 slots worth of said items. The feeding troth will act like a kiln or any other device that requires fuel; place the item into the troth and wait. With 5 animals in the barn, when full, it can give them 3 IRL days worth of food. However, filling it up will require quite a bit of plant fiber or straw, about 50. NOTE: barns are meant to be shared in a village. They take a shit-ton of time to upkeep. You can add three barn extensions to one barn, but after the first extension, you are just adding more silos, not troths.
Storehouse - costs 300 boards, 300 logs, 300 stone, 20 ropes, 300 bridges, 50 Wrought Iron, 50 Steel. These giant buildings which will take up most of the screen are built ONLY on village-owned land; meaning, you cannot build them on claimed land, and you cannot build them on land that does not belong to a village claim. They are massive and they serve one purpose - putting shit inside. Like a community chest, they are perfect for storing large items that can be carried around, containers, and other materials. It comes with four silos, one in each corner, and a large chest in the middle that can hold any object so long as it can fit within an eight-space by eight-space container; said chest holds up to 160 slots. This particular building requires Masonry, Carpentry, Metal Working, Locksmithing, and requires that the person who builds it to have Yeomanry and Lawspeaking. Anyone can deposit items at the stake thingy, but only people with Lawspeaking will be able to actually build with those items.