This series takes the Developers Journals and gives you all the information with none of the explanation. This part two of the player housing journals, so I promise to do a round up Journal Discussed of the system as a whole at some point this week. I mean it this time.

What a system it is though! Housing is deep. Not just with the multiple uses we saw last time, but also physically deep as we found out today that tunnels, basements, and underground vaults are all a possibility. The images in this Developer Journal are gorgeous so please don’t miss out and do head over to MMORPG.com to have a look at some point. But for now… let’s go!

Land Ownership

• All land is own, either by individuals or by the government (which at launch will be Kingdoms).

• There are two ways to obtain land from the king, both in exchange for taxes or resources.

• Land Purchase
  • You can buy land outright from a local Count (if it is out in the wilds) or from the local Magistrate/Mayor (if it is part of a town or city).
  • This is safe, easy and quick and good for getting large amounts at once. But, expensive.

• Adverse Possession
  • If you build a structure on land owned by someone else which is currently unoccupied or abandoned and defend the structure for a month, you get the land.
  • If the landowner destroys the structure within the month you get nothing!
  • Only the landowner, someone appointed by them, or someone given a bounty token to do so are able to legally attack and destroy your structure.

Leasing Land

• This is to be explained more in a future Developer Journal on townships.

• If you do not want to own land you can lease it from a player who does.

• Leasing binds you to a Lease Agreement rather than a Deed, the Lease Agreement can limit the type of structures you can build on land.

• Leasing will likely cost rent or dues in addition to tax, but the benefit is no initial cost of purchase.

Home Ownership

• In general if you own the land you own the structures on it.

• If you own a building, you own all the rooms in it. However you can rent or lease rooms individually.

• Leasing rooms is done using a Housing UI which displays a floor-plan of the house. This is used to name the rooms or grant or limit access to a different people or groups.

• Once you have updated the floor-plan you can create a Lease Agreement with a copy of the floor-plan in so everyone knows what they have access to.

• Lease Agreements are negotiable contracts. Rent can be negotiated as a fixed about or a percentage of income.

• Typical uses are rooms for your children, inns, or guild halls.

Keys

• Locked doors and keys are the primary way of preventing access to areas or proerties where people should not be.

• Keys are physical items, and can be stolen. Entering someone’s property/room with a stolen key does not mean you are doing so legally.

• You can make copies of a key and distribute them to those who need them. However, entering someone’s property/room with a key you have been given does not mean you are doing so legally! You have to have been given permission, normally through a Lease Agreement.

Other Defence Mechanisms

• A locked door will keep most people out of your home if it is in a civilised area. However in less populated areas or at night break ins are still a risk.

• You can defend your home in other ways though:
  • Hidden Safes – You can design your home to have space for hidden safes and even rooms. It will not stop the more perceptive player finding them, but it helps.
  • Traps – Pit traps, tripwires, pressure plates or mechanical door traps are all available to deter anyone but the bravest or most skilled in disarming traps.
  • Tamed Animals & Body Guards – Having dangerous animals or perhaps a trusted companion or sell sword who can guard your home while you are offline will discourage those who might have focused more on their breaking and entering skills than their combat skills.

Damage & Demolition

• Doors and windows can be destroyed easily, if noisily.

• Damaging buildings with mundane equipment is possible but time consuming. Putting a hole in a wall for instance might take 10 minutes.

• If you really want to damage a building, or a town, siege equipment has been designed as the most efficent way to do so.

Fire

• Fire can only be spread by siege equipment using flaming projectiles.

• Torches, candles etc. can not be used toi set fire to buildings.

• While fire destroys buildings quickly, the downside is there no salvageable materials left and you loose the ability to loot from anything it has destroyed.

Basements & Cellars

• You can build out below your house, soil permitting.

• Anything in a basement or cellar will be protected from fire or other destruction.

• Secret underground areas are less easy to identify from the exterior that an extra room.

• There is virtually no limit as to how far you can tunnel as long as you put up the occasional support and use good resources.

• This means you can tunnel under land you do not own.

The Making of a Dungeons

• This builds on all the systems to show how you can build a dungeon, a labyrinth protected by traps, false chambers, wild beasts, fierce mercenaries, and champions. You get to make the raids!

• Want to get a bit more of a feel for it read our previous post about the Grand Vision you will see what is coming.

Housing is such a complex system in this game, it is amazing. The amount of layers (literally!) that the system has is really interesting. I can not wait to build my wine cellar under my little cottage. The wine cellar with the secret shelf that reveals a passage. If you down the stairs, lit by flickering candles, what might you find? Knowing me it will just be a room of worthless junk I display like it is treasures… I am not worth robbing after all.