Neighborhoods - What should we do?

[Gehn, lord of ages]

Just as a general discussion, what should we do to about neighborhoods?

- explanation: Should we continue calling neighborhoods "Bevins" for an in character reason (either because that was a name for them, a name for a set of them, a recognizable name that the DRC used to put a shorter word in the Nexus, etc.)? Are they instanced, or all in the same instance? If they are all in the same instance, what can we do to make this more apparent and realistic (some kind of random distance generator? Slightly different views of the city [how?]?)?

- customization: What more different things could be put in to make each neighborhood unique? Should these be randomly generated, picked by the 'hood maker when they start the 'hood, or added in later (as rewards, perhaps)?

- functionality: What more could we add to the 'hoods to make them better places to meet together?

[Tweek]

Ok seriously, I'm going to come across as harsh here and I apologize but this Bevin stuff needs to stop.

Bevin is a single hood, called Bevin Neighborhood, like Seret and Kirel (Seret Neighborhood, Kirel Neighborhood).

The hoods are multiple locations within D'ni, not instanced, this is stated by the DRC's early restoration reports which state restoring multiple hoods to hose explorers.

The Hoods all share the same Ki Co-oords, yes, because it was never sorted out to give them unique numbers as they should have.

They were called Bevins in MOUL, yes they were, which we've never had an agreement on as questioning Cyan about it has yielded different opinions. Having asked ResEngs about it I'm personally I'm of the opinion of it was a bug which they didn't bother changing.

So what can we do to fix this? Ki-co-oords. They need to be fixed so they are not all the same.
Different views of the city could be changed by changing the texture you see through the telescope, have it randomly choose 1 out of say 8 different views and get it to stick with that.

[Gehn, lord of ages]

I agree about the whole "bevin" part.

For KI coordinates, is there a certain "region" we know them to be in? If not, can we just take a "chunk" of coordinates solely for 'hoods? How much room would it take up? etc.

[Mac_Fife]

Ok seriously, I'm going to come across as harsh here and I apologize but this Bevin stuff needs to stop.

Nah, it's not harsh. The whole "Bevin" thing was just simply wrong. There's no other way to put it.

Different views of the city could be changed by changing the texture you see through the telescope, have it randomly choose 1 out of say 8 different views and get it to stick with that.

A bit like the other random 'hood features. It wouldn't need to change by much either: A bit of distortion and offsetting so it looks like you're viewing from a different angle would probably do the job.

The hoods are multiple locations within D'ni, not instanced, this is stated by the DRC's early restoration reports which state restoring multiple hoods to hose explorers.

I may have showered in the fountain, but I don't recall ever being hosed in a 'hood

[Gehn, lord of ages]

Anyway, switching from the "bevin" topic (and random thoughts of how did the D'ni deal with fires?)

What could make 'hoods better places to group together?

Perhaps have it place some of the books in a special place in the 'hood instead of having a link in the bookshelf? This would allow easier sharing between members of the same 'hood, but I can see a lot of problems with it (having to link to the 'hood every time you panic link to Relto, for example).

Another idea I had would be to let the 'hood owner choose what books are placed in the book room (no links to other places in D'ni/Earth, of course, and only books that the owner had in his Relto bookshelf - the IC explanation would be that the books where taken from his bookshelf and placed in the 'hood, then replacements were put in his bookshelf [in the same way that books appear in the bookshelf normally]). He (or she) could also maybe choose whether the door to the room opens for anyone (so anyone can just go in and link to the 'hood's private instance), or only for certain KI numbers (of course, people could ask others to open the door for them). This would allow the 'hood to explore together in whatever Ages they wanted, without having to Share books every time (so they could even go explore the Age while all their neighbors were off doing other things, or just so they don't have to hassle with sharing and all each time).

Also, if anyone ever makes the interiors for the houses and all in the 'hood, perhaps these could be set up in various different ways (perhaps with some kind of set template, and then people could submit all kinds of different types of designs). 'Hood leaders would be able to pick what rooms they wanted (for example, one design could have more bookstands so that the 'hood could share more books, another might have a minigame, another might be a good place for private chatting, another could have an imager with recent news and all [IC, these would be based both on how the "original" D'ni homes were (so the 'hood leader could say that he/she just picked "this 'hood because it had the right set" of rooms) and how the explorers set them up when they restored them]).

[The stranger]

What would make a 'hood better?

First, random 'hood maker. Players will get a random 'hood every time they open one. Random building places, random clock place, random bridge place, random random random.

They will be able to choose: the place in the D'ni they want the 'hood in (up high to near the lake), the books they want in the book room (they cannot change Gahreesen and Nexus, but they can choose between Eder Delin, Eder Tsogal, or any other book room linking book), different imagers, turn the lights in the 'hood on and off, different posters and such things, activate fountain water on and off (if they have one), turn the ayo'heek on and off (if they have one), take back or put the "time" paper in the classroom (or any other note which isn't KI notebook or any other important thing), turn archeological insturnment on and off (like cones), stained glass, and maybe some other things.

Only the 'hood manager can change these things.

[Gehn, lord of ages]

What would make a 'hood better?

First, random 'hood maker. Players will get a random 'hood every time they open one. Random building places, random clock place, random bridge place, random random random.

They will be able to choose: the place in the D'ni they want the 'hood in (up high to near the lake), the books they want in the book room (they cannot change Gahreesen and Nexus, but they can choose between Eder Delin, Eder Tsogal, or any other book room linking book), different imagers, turn the lights in the 'hood on and off, different posters and such things, activate fountain water on and off (if they have one), turn the ayo'heek on and off (if they have one), take back or put the "time" paper in the classroom (or any other note which isn't KI notebook or any other important thing), turn archeological insturnment on and off (like cones), stained glass, and maybe some other things.

I can understand the Nexus book, but why not let them switch out Gahreeson? It's useful for newbies, I know, because of the KI. What about 'hoods with experienced players, though? Perhaps have Gahreeson as a default book for a stand, but still let people change it if they want to (and just as easily as they would put in new books for the stands without a default book).

[Tweek]

I'd like to see Gira and Kemo thrown into the mix of garden Ages in the hood, I also think there is a place for fan Ages to be added here, some hoods could link to Fens some to Bimevi etc.

[The stranger]

Gahreesen must be there always. If every descent has a KI dispenser, than Gahreesen is the last stop.

[Gehn, lord of ages]

Gahreesen must be there always. If every descent has a KI dispenser, than Gahreesen is the last stop.

Uh, could you explain more? I'm not sure I'm understanding your reasoning here.