Building
Do you have a video that shows the Building part of the game?
Yes! Even Two!
Building short clip 1/2 - Daytime
Building short clip 2/2 - Nightime
Can I build anywhere on the map?
No. Building happens in the Heartland valleys and is disallowed outside of them. Additionally, some areas in the Heartlands that would break gameplay are restricted. For example, the Heartlands feature a pre-made road network and you cannot build on top of roads. You cannot build underground either. However, we do allow building on water, and indeed, waterfront buildings look amazing. In some cases, this does allow for building a bridge.
Can I set up my plot on a dungeon entrance?
No. We want to guarantee that PvE areas that should be accessible to all, are accessible to all. And it is unlikely that you will find dungeons' entrance in the Heartlands.
Can I build in PvP areas and, if yes, in a permanent way?
We don't want to go into any details on PvP right now, sorry! This should be covered in a FAQ dedicated to PvP. Please be patient :)
Do I absolutely need a plot to build a house?
Building only happens on plots, but the plots have a permission system that allows them to be shared between players. So yes, you will need a plot to build, but this doesn't necessarily mean it is your plot. If you have a group of friends and form a clan together, you can have multiple shared houses in multiple locations and work on those together.
Can I take resources from abandoned structures?
Yes, if a player tears down a plot, the items left behind become available to other players.
If yes, does this mean that I could potentially claim larger, more complex buildings with my plot? And if so, are they/can they be larger than you'd normally be allowed to build in your single plot size?
You can't claim the pre-made buildings, but you will be able to build extremely large buildings using the plot permission sharing inside clans.
What could be some reasons to visit other players' settlements? Could we get access to rare materials or recipes? Could we get access to their books or other discoveries?
We don't want to go into specifics on this right now, but let's just say trading will be a large part of Pax Dei. There might also be additional reasons you want to visit other people, like politics.
Is there a mechanic that limits the number of structures that I can build?
The amount of land available is the only constraint. Each player will get one plot of land you can build on as part of a paid account, and we intend to add mechanisms that allow players to acquire additional plots.
As an aside, note we've noticed during playtests that clans often appoint a player to be the master builder, so if you're really into building, try to find a guild that wants to make you this person.
Are the houses premade, or can I build whatever I want?
You can build almost whatever you want from the building pieces in the game - see the next answer!
Can I go crazy in terms of structure, or do I need to respect some architectural rules?
The building system features a physics system that forces structural integrity on the buildings, so your buildings will have to make sense from a structural perspective. As an example, while houses can be pretty big, you cannot build a house that's infinitely high.
In the long term, will all buildings look more or less the same?
We have multiple building piece sets and are looking to add more customization options to the houses. We'd love to eventually have a system that allows you to make a very diverse set of houses that can all look unique. We definitely won't have all these features done by the time the game goes to general availability, and plan to keep adding features in the updates.
When we go to build on our plots, how forgiving is the building system if we want to change our minds and start over completely, or if we mess up? Can we recoup supplies equally, or are they lost once placed?
We're still debating exactly how much you'll recoup when tearing down the houses. But we do want the system to be fairly forgiving.
Can I craft furniture and decorative items?
Yes! There are a number of items you can build in addition to just buildings, crafters, and chests. For example, you can craft rugs, chairs, tables, etc. The selection of items in the game right now is not extensive as we haven't gone into full production on this content set, and we're looking to add more.
Do they have value in the gameplay, or are those just for decorating purposes?
Some are usable and we do want to support full RP gameplay where you can nicely decorate your house also with usable furniture. Lights are especially helpful, with the dark nights you'll experience in the game. We don't currently know how extensive this prop set will be by the time you get to play the game, but we will be continuing to develop the game for a very long time, including adding more content over time.
Can I design my own ones, or are those pre-set?
They will be provided by the game.
Can I customize them to the colors of my clan?
The systems have many features to customize the items you can craft and we have the tech in place to enable features such as the type of wood used to craft an item changes the look of items made of the wood. We additionally have a system for clans to create their own heraldic symbol, which appears on some of the gear worn by the clan, and we are planning to support this in some items you can craft on your plot. We don't currently know the extent to which we'll support all of these features by the time the game comes out, so we'll share more details on this later.
How big are the Heartlands we're building in?
We're creating a separate FAQ about the world and will cover this question in detail. The Heartlands are pretty big, and there are many.
There are no doors or signs in the videos?
The current game build doesn't have doors and signs, but yes, we want to have these as much as you do.
Is there a height cap to how tall buildings I can make?
Yes, but the structural integrity system will block you from making buildings tall enough to hit the cap. We want to enable you to make large multi-story houses, but at the same time, we don't want the game to feature skyscrapers, so the tallest buildings will be somewhere around what you'd expect to see in the Middle Ages.
Are the building pieces in the video final?
The video we posted doesn't show all the blocks we have in the game, and we're still iterating on exactly what blocks we have, so please assume anything you saw in the video is subject to change.
Can I build on water?
Yes, we currently allow the plots to overlap water and probably will want to have this be the case long term. As you saw in the video we posted, lakeside properties are pretty awesome. In the current game build, you can place building foundation pieces underwater, as long as the bottom of the lake is close to the surface, so effectively you can build on the shore with slight overlap with water, but you cannot build let's say a bridge over a lake.
I can't build outside of Heartlands, right? But what about PvP?
You can't build outside of Heartlands in the current game version. We want to have this eventually, but PvP building destruction that works in an MMO is highly challenging to have work in a way that creates a good gameplay experience, so we haven't made this yet. We're working toward having a solid core game at launch, and we planned PvP building for a game update. Having said that, we absolutely want to have high-stakes PvP in the game launch version - it's just the stakes are not related to building. The reason not to have the houses you're building in Heartlands be part of PvP is that we want the base game to be enjoyable to even those who don't want to participate in PvP directly. We believe even the hardcore PvPers deserve a resting place in the world to regroup and gather forces in preparation for the next battle.
Does the game have roads? How do those work?
Yes, we have a pre-made road network, and we'll also cover this in more detail in the World FAQ. The short of it is: roads are intended for traveling the world, and you can't build on pre-made roads.
Plot
You mention "plot" several times. What is a plot exactly?
Good question! A plot is a portion of land that belongs to a character and that you can "claim" in the areas open for building. This portion of land is circular and vast enough to build a house of reasonable size and a couple of smaller structures. When you're placing a plot, you'll be able to pick the plot location in the Heartlands pretty freely and see a preview of precisely what the area you're getting is like.
Can I build a house on someone else's plot?
Yes, if they've given you permission to do this.
Can I block access to my plot? To everyone? To part of my clan?
You cannot restrict access to your plot per se, but you can restrict who can access anything you build on the plot.
Can people come to my plot and steal what's in my house? Can they destroy it?
Only the players you've given permission to access your constructions on your plot can access your things. And yes, they can destroy it but also help you build more.
How do sharing permissions play out?
We don't want to talk about this level of detail right now - we're aiming to make the system flexible so you can do pretty much anything you want with the permissions.
If I link my plot to the plots of my clan and we build a huge castle, what happens if someone decides to leave? Is a part of the castle lost?
We're well aware of this and we want to develop mechanisms that allow you to retain that plot of land for the clan.
Can I decide to move my plot at any point? In that case: what happens to the building/props already on it?
Right now, you can move the plot at any time but would need to move all the things on the plot by carrying them from one place to another. We intend to offer tools to make this a bit easier but don't have an ETA for this.
What if someone claims a plot in the area we started to populate with my clan - to block us - and doesn't want to move? Is there any way we can push them out or prevent this from happening?
There is no game mechanism at this point to force someone to move; you'd have to talk to the person and convince them to move. Note that the game very much favors cooperation, so there's very little in the game itself that would motivate someone to do this - someone who dedicates their plot to blocking a clan instead of working with them will have a hard time playing the game.
How long does a player have to stay idle to lose their buildings, or what has to happen?
We want the game shards to always feel alive, and to ensure this, it doesn't make sense to keep inactive plots forever. Once a player stops playing the game, we'd therefore want to free the plot (or plots) of land the player has been maintaining, so that other players can occupy the space.
We're thinking about setting up a grace period to make sure people don't lose their house by accident, along with ways to allow a returning player to easily rebuild a plot so they don't have to start from scratch. We haven't made final decisions around this yet, and we are looking forward to experimenting on this during the Alpha test.
Can I take resources from abandoned players' structures?
Yes, if they are truly abandoned.
How much can I build on a plot?
We haven't yet determined how large the plots are, so it's impossible to answer this precisely. The balance we're looking for could be described as "You can build quite a lot on your plot, but you will also want to work with your clan to use the combined land in your clan's plots as smartly as possible."
Are there access controls in the plots?
We have an access control system that's being integrated into the items, and it will give you reasonably granular control over who can access things in your plot. We don't have a feature to restrict people from walking on your land, but you _can_ build walls, so theoretically, your clan could wall up the village - as people did in the Middle Ages.
Can I build on other players' plots?
Yes - depending on who allows you to do so. We're expecting most clans will set up their plots so all clan members can build on all clan plots.
What if a griefer builds a plot next to mine or my clan's plots?
We understand that players may encounter issues with plot placement, and we want to ensure that our players can resolve these conflicts. Our team has extensive experience working on multiple MMOs, and we are well-versed in the challenges that players can face.
Can I modify the ground in the plot?
We don't support this feature, but you can build the foundations to flatten the land.
Can I get more plots somehow?
In the current game, each player has just one plot, but we will eventually add ways in which you can get additional land.