Ah, yes, I wanted to make a thread yesterday, but was too tired to form my thoughts coherently.
I have a slightly bigger map. but i really like your solution of a map, as it shows off the actual topology of the region.
http://imgur.com/a/axhLsSo, before I answer your ideas, I will summarize what i have thought initially for Zen's development:
District 1 (Unnamed as of yet):
Region of relative flat land and a bit out of the direct view,with a quiet scenic route to get to. Ideal for smaller free plots for new players to start out. And that was the reason, why the farm area was initially planned there, so it would be convenient for those that need it most.
District 2: Sheepbarrow (Name up to change)
The northern part less ideal to build, but to the west a nice river and spawn view and to the left a more or less nice ocean view (once the ugly cut off cliffs are a bit fixed).
In the south / south-east some nice flat area.
District 3: Pineplains
Biom changes into pinewoods, very nice building place, I agree a medival type town could look very pretty indeed, especially if including the southern Pinehills (seperatly circled).
District 4: Oceanside
Very flat land, closed off by a steep cliff to Pinehills in the east, a less ideal hilly area to the west and the ocean in the south. The closeness to the market in the north would make it the perfect candidate for a shopping district where people can build their own shops with more space than the market would allow. Shops could be optically pleasing while also holding more storage and could be a good alternative for people not interested in moving full into the town. Building a harbor in the south could bring a nice trading athmosphere and could harmonize well with the medieval theme from the pinehills (think of rickard's eketorp)
District 5: Horsehill
close to spawn, with a nice view. Good for smaller plots or prestige projects.
District 6: Westvale
Loads of flat area, good for bigger bases/houses/estates. could easily expand, but then will also get away from spawn further. I'd not pre-suggest plots but let people request an adequate area?
District 7: Spring Lake
Not a lot of space at all, but could do with some holiday looking cabins, maybe 1 or 2 established players would like to build something pretty?
The south side could actually have a few more plots, if people would be interested in that.
Then there is the area marked with ?? It is very hilly, and while some would probably love to build there, it is hard to assign plots, so a request basis would be needed.
And south-east of District 4 would be a lot of open space for even more bigger open areas, if people want to have that.
These Districts would be for Residential (or in District 4, Commercial) Use only. Any communal builds or decoration would be build/organized by Zedkins.
Btw, in addition of smoothing the red marked cliffs, I would also like to make the Winter River and actual river again (between district 1 and "??" ) , but keep most of the natural regenerated land, as I think it will look more natural and has a bigger challenge than just boring flat land.
To your ideas, colo:
I like the idea to have a kind of medieval style for the district 3 and general pinewoods area! It could fit well.
While I am not a big fan of paying for plots, the idea just came to me, that the payment doesn't have to be in diamond or iron. It could be in resources or help in building community areas or making the center more pretty. So in that way, we could make sure that the people who build there care about making it fit into the town and look nice.
I am not so sure about reselling the plots. I'd rather have people give them back to the Zedkins to give them out again, similar to how a LVS mayor would redistribute the area in one of their towns.
While I do get your reasoning about plot and land value, I do not think that it would actually work and be beneficial in your intended way.
I understand that the placing of the "Farm" may not be ideal, but I'd like to say that it is supposed to be half of the communal center, I just shortened it to "Farm" to differnciate it from the market.
To be honest, I am not sure what else the community would need as a shared building than a place for more extensive notice boards (everything non-trading related) the shared auto farms (chicken burner, maybe a auto tree farm? any more ideas?) and normal farms with food ect (underground, I'd love to refer to a building of BM, in the region next to Brightside, just go over the long bridge).
The idea could be that the North East part of the town, including District 2 and the Farm, could be more modern in design and that the south part a bit more traditional. That could make a interesting contrast of building styles, while the districts in themselves would have a more fluid feel to them.
That way, people could choose different districts depending on what style they want to build in: modern, historical, country estate, maybe even skyscrapper? Or just something mellow when starting out.
So, I hope this presentation of my concept was not too confusing and you could follow my thoughts.
Keep in mind, that this is mostly the actual structure of the land, how to govern it is mostly unclear yet ( The basic idea would be a LVS Town similar structure, but the whole Zedkins instead of 2 Mayors)
What do you think?
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