Player built roads

So there was a thread some time ago that I posted in and figured I would make a different thread that would go a bit more specific on an idea.

The idea is making players able to construct roads between established locations (2 towns, hubs, and other locations). Making the cost based on distance and adding a multiplier for the distance that goes over water and a higher multiplier if over ocean.

Could also be 3 types of roads that would cost time based on number of builders compared to length.

Dirt roads being cheapest and overall price much cheaper though speed boost is far less.
Cobblestone is a bit more expensive but gives a better boost.
Possibly even corduroy roads if you wanted to use wood primarily over stone (for some of you elf lovers D:).

This could eventually add other factors into the game like making tolls for roads you own and people going between different roads to arrive at its final destination.

Lets say if I wanted to build a road between a hub and an allies city. Now if a 3rd person wanted to travel to the allies city they could accept a route that allows for toll roads as part of its travels which may cut it down. Lets say their caravan would move to the hub first it could then use my road from the hub to my ally which would allow it to pass through the hub and my town in the process.

If instead you built your own road to the location it would cost far more than the toll would. We could say *50-200 the cost making roads in general an expensive route but if you do a lot of commerce it can make itself back by the travel time reduction.

This idea would also add another element to the game. Militarily one that has a lot more roads between their members towns can also mobilize much faster as well. What may of taken a week before could take a few days to defend ally towns if the alliance wanted to drop the funds into building roads earlier on between its members.

Another element being people that would like to simply link up a lot of people across illyriad. Perhaps you want to be the town that all roads go to and build roads to a large portion of cities across the map. In turn you could charge tolls for the large amount of commerce that passes across your roads as well.

A basic idea of it can be explained on this image



In the image the normal route would be the direct line between locations. If you selected roads that don't include tolls you would take the southern route which would make things a tad faster. If you wanted pure speed and was willing to pay tolls (a pop up would come up detailing how much in tolls) and you can possibly drop some of the tolls for regular roads to decrease toll price.

In this scenario for ease of explaining 2 cities go to your destination and start point which were built at player expense. The northern player may of decided that it was more ideal to get reward for some of the costs he had from building the roads in the north and had higher quality roads. The southern one used a lower grade road and in turn decided that this road would be free for anyone.

This also can go on the political side of possibly even limiting the roads you build to alliance only or people off of your friends list. Maybe just tolls for non alliance members...

Construction can also be broken down over time. I imagined that a road going from 1 corner of the map to the other should exhaust the max amount of stone so as a safety measure perhaps the stone is either deducted through your hourly stone as its built.


Any input is great and hope some like the idea.

geofrey wrote: I like the idea of roads, and I think the devs are working on something similar. This all requires path finding, the ability for moving units to choose the most efficient path to their destination as opposed to a straight line.  With pathfinding I suspect we will see roads, walls, and bridges.  I think anyone with NAP should be able to use your road. BUt maybe you require a 10 million escrow for all NAPs....

Lots of people would have different views on how it should be used. Just the same though it would add to the political side of things. Some agreements may come to be just because a certain alliance has access to tons of roads and may be worth a strong agreement because of it. Others may make them as a future source of income. Others may do it as a means to coordinate a stronger military response by linking together player hubs in their guild.

Though as mentioned it would need to be expensive to actually get done. Enough so that making a road itself involves a great deal of investment and that tolls may be a cheaper route to go for some. Something like 5-10k stone per square might not be completely bad meaning the 2 hour trip of 88 squares approx to my main hub may run an entire warehouse full of stone and a little more. Undertaking a road that is 700-900 squares would need to likely be a guild wide effort then a certain fee for builder expenses and initial cost. Going through a toll of say 1000 per trip may be change compared to an investment of a few million stone and however many million gold to get it built.

Hadus wrote: While I won't get my hopes up for this soon, I think it would add an exciting dynamic to the game. I think some ideas to add to this would be:   - Roads between two different player's cities would require both players' permission. The player making the request would include how the cost for building would be split. - Roads should (realistically) require upkeep costs, which can be offset with tolls. - Building roads should be managed through the Architect building. - Players should have to map out caravan paths manually. Pathfinding could get troublesome if tolls are involved. - Players should be able to station armies on roads (this should be mandatory in order to enforce tolls and travel restrictions).

Some of it I agree with.

1. Ya I can see how that would be somewhat ideal.

2. Upkeep is a possibility also to keep it well maintained.

3. I am sure there are a few options here. Its a somewhat minor point but would suffice.

4. I think when you have to move greater distances it may help to have a limited version of path finding. Trying to move across the map over possibly 5-10 different roads may be a bit of work on player side so I can see pathfinding being quite useful.

5. I half expected that since all roads would start or end at one of your towns that you have influence over with said idea then it also means that they would ultimately have to pass through your town at the start or end of the trip. That being said you would not entirely need an army out and about that would deal with tolls but rather the city itself could collect upon arrival at it whether it arrives at the city that controls it or departs from it.

I would think roads would only be built on squares you have sov. over. And you can only use someone elses road if you have a NAP with them. 

I will be very surprised to see pathfinding and roads developed. But may be computers are now very powerful, enough to be able to manage the complexity of that...