Player housing

Pre-alpha Empyrean freehold homestead.

Players will have the ability to survey and develop land anywhere in the world. Be a pioneer deep in the wilderness, build the home of your dreams, and work the land to cultivate resources and supplies. Alternatively, stick with civilization and safety in numbers – purchase a home within the confines of a village and watch your investment grow as that village turns into a city. Homeowners in our game will have the ability to develop their plot of land as they see fit. Focus on farming, animal husbandry, or own your very own smithy. You’ll be able to specialize your land to maximize your profits or your comfort – be sure to choose wisely.

Pre-alpha Aela (human) housing by Michael Bacon.

Player housing comes in the form of Static housing, Apartamentos and Consuetudinária.

Player housing	Type.	Availability.	Limit.
Apartamentos	Instanced.	Town stage and higher.	One per server.
Consuetudinária	Open world.	Village stage and higher.	One per account.
Static housing	In-node.	Village stage and higher.	One per server.

Q: Freeholds specifically are locked one per account?

A: Correct. – Steven Sharif

Q: If I put an alt on a different server I could have like in node housing or like at least an instanced house?

A: Correct, yes. – Steven Sharif

Benefits

Player housing offers a number of benefits:

• Ability to claim citizenship to a Node.
• Prized items can be displayed within a house.
• Houses can be used to carry out crafting.
• Social activities.
• Houses provide an amount of storage.
• Realizações and trophies may be displayed.
• May provide proximity based bonuses.

Citizenship

Alpha-1 node citizenship registration.

Player housing grants the ability to claim citizenship of a node.

• Citizenship tickets may also grant citizenship to certain node stages. This mechanic will be decided based on testing.

We want these places to be populated and people to be attracted to them and so right now we think housing is enough for that. But we don't want to design ourselves into a corner where we don't have any other options, so the hope is that yes citizenship will be only gained through housing; with our caveat that if that doesn't work well we'll change it. – Jeffrey Bard

Citizenship can be claimed for Village (level 3) nodes or higher.

• A player can only claim citizenship to one node at a time.
• Only one citizenship may be declared per account, per server.
  • This may have changed to one citizenship per account.

Your account is bound to one declared citizenship per server, which means that if you have two alts and your main character on one server you may only be a citizen of one node between those three... If you have an alt on a different server, it could be a citizen of a node as well. – Steven Sharif

Changing citizenship has a cooldown of two weeks.

• Player housing ownership is not affected by citizenship changes.

You can declare citizenship to only one node and when you declare that citizenship. Let's say for example, one guild perhaps wanting to kind of take all their members and have them all declare the same citizenship to a location. The longer a node exists the higher the prize it is to take and some systems with regards to crafting progression and/or rewards and bonuses or the reliquary that we haven't really touched on a lot, those systems are going to be so enticing that from an incentive standpoint it will compel other groups to either potentially break alliances or siege the city in order to take the goods that are potentially in it. So, from an incentive standpoint we have that at play. Additionally, we don't have a cap per-se that we've announced yet on the citizenship aspect of being in a node, but we do have soft caps. It becomes costlier the higher number of citizens each time one new person wants to join to be part of a node. So, there is sort of a soft cap on how many citizens one node can have and it might be that not all in the guild can participate in that area. So, there's kind of a natural divide: A pseudo faction, so to speak between who is a part of that node and who is not. – Steven Sharif

A player does not need to declare citizenship of any node. These players won't need to pay taxes but will miss out on benefits of citizenship.

Apartamentos

Pre-alpha apartment complex in a metropolis node.

Apartamentos are internal only spaces within a node that offer some housing functionality.

Players can purchase instanced apartments within a Town (stage 4 node) or above, if apartment complexes have been developed within that node.

Apartment options

Apartment options.

• Apartment rentals offer node citizenship.
• Different price points offer different sized apartments.
• Prices for apartments will fluctuate depending on the number of units already sold in the node.
• Apartments are instanced and only limited in number by the increasing price.
• Apartments can be decorated as required.

Consuetudinária

Kaelar and Empyrean freeholds (Pre-alpha).

Pre-alpha freeholds.

Consuetudinária are sizable player housing plots that can be situated within the Zona de influência (ZOI) of a Village (stage 3 node) or higher.

• Freeholds are limited to one per account.
• Freeholds are approximately half an acre in size.
• Expansions and upgrades are available as node progression allows.

The freehold system interacts with multiple other systems in-game.

• Node progression.
• Aulas artesanais.
• Spawn actors.
• Quests.
• Taxation.

Freehold placement

Consuetudinária may be placed anywhere within the ZOI of a stage 3 node (or higher) so long as they are not in close proximity to any of the following:

• Pathing routes (Roadways).
• Masmorras and other points of interest.
• Spawn areas.
• Other freehold plots.
• Hard terrain features, such as mountainsides or cliffs.

Freehold plots will require a certificate from the parent node in order to place the plot.

The more advanced a node is, the more freeholds can be built within its ZOI.

Collections of freeholds placed together are considered part of their parent node and do not become a separate node, other than via roleplay.

Freehold buildings

Velkor's Eye pre-order pack cosmetic Vek freehold skin.

Freehold buildings can be placed on a freehold plot.

• Blacksmiths
• Forges
• Freehold farms
• Salões da guilda
• Homesteads
• Inns
• Lumber yards
• Mills
• Shrines
• Smelters
• Stables
• Taverns
• Warehouses

Buildings will require blueprints and materials.

• Basements in freehold buildings are to be decided.

Players are not locked into any particular race for freehold blueprints.

Players need to manage how items and buildings are arranged on their freehold to maximize adjacency bonuses.

Depending on where your place you're freehold, you're gonna have different environmental tiles available to you and those will kind of enable or buff existing structures that you place in your Freehold... I don't know that we would put like fish farming just for a freehold that's on a river. What we would probably do is give you a buff to fishing in that area. That kind of a thing. So there'll be more buffs for existing things rather than necessarily a special buildings just for that area. But again we're not fully baked in on that system yet, so it's very possible though we end up going down that direction. – Jeffrey Bard

Freehold benefits

Freehold benefits include:

• Because freeholds are built within a Node’s ZOI, they grant citizenship.
• Freeholds allow the owner to sell consumables that are only purchasable for specific buildings.
• A player may store items in their freehold.

Freehold security

Players will be able to lock a freehold.

• Freeholds will have access lists.
• Co-ownership is planned but may not initially be in the game.
  • Access lists can be used to mimic co-ownership.
  • Payment of taxes may be via a "gentleman's agreement".

Players cannot steal from a Freehold under normal circumstances.

• Items stored in a Freehold may become lootable after a successful siege against their parent Node.

Players cannot be killed by other players while inside (the footprint of) their freehold.

• NPC guards that permanently exist on a freehold are not a planned feature.
• Guards may be available for hire to defend freeholds after a successful node siege.

Q: We were discussing in chat earlier about freeholds and whether or not a person would be safe in their home or within the entirety of their freehold from getting player killed?

A: I think our initial testing is going to revolve around the footprint of their freehold and then we'll take into consideration the metrics gleaned from that testing. – Steven Sharif

Static housing

Kaelar static housing concept art.

Mansion stage static housing in a metropolis node.

Empyrean in-node housing, by Michael Bacon.

Static housing provides non-instanced player accommodation within a node, also known as in-node housing.

• Players are able purchase small one room houses starting at the Village stage (Node stage 3).

Static housing development

As a node levels up, its in-node housing levels up with it.

• The architecture of static housing is predetermined by the racial influence of the Node development.
• As the node advances, so does the housing.
• New property becomes available at each stage of advancement, but it will be more akin to what was available at the previous stage.
• Only the houses that existed at the Village stage will become main street mansions at the Metropolis stage.

Housing destructibility

Destructible environments in Ashes of Creation Apocalypse.

Destruction in 45 seconds with Garett Fern.

Destructible environments will be a core element of how players interact with the world, in both Ashes of Creation Apocalypse and Ashes of Creation the MMORPG.

Not just in APOC where we want a completely destructible environment, but also in the MMORPG when it comes to Dungeons and traversing certain areas. We want destruction to be a very core element of how players make their way through the world. – Steven Sharif

Static housing destructibility

Following a node siege, static housing will be scaled back or destroyed based on the advancement of the node.

• If the housing was purchased at a higher advancement than the node currently is then it will be destroyed, otherwise the housing will be scaled back.

Player housing designs and decorations are retained and can be placed again later if the housing is destroyed during a node siege.

• Blueprints are mailed to the player to utilize for future placement.
• Destroyed freeholds are subject to material loss.
• Certificates will track major milestones (such as Furnaces and Homesteads, for example).

Apartment destructibility

Apartamentos may be destroyed in the following circumstances:

• If their building was destroyed during a node siege, even if the siege was not successful.
• If the siege delevels the node below stage 4 (Town).

Player housing designs and decorations are retained and can be placed again later if the housing is destroyed during a node siege.

• Blueprints are mailed to the player to utilize for future placement.
• Destroyed freeholds are subject to material loss.
• Certificates will track major milestones (such as Furnaces and Homesteads, for example).

Freehold destructibility

Consuetudinária may be attacked for a period of two hours following a successful siege against its parent node.

• Players and their allies may defend their freehold for this period of time.
• Structures and guards may be obtained to defend freeholds during this period.

After the two hour period of open combat following a successful node siege, any remaining freeholds will exist under a grace period for roughly 1 week where another node may take over the zone of influence of the freehold.

• If a freehold does not reside within the ZOI of a stage three (Village) node or above, it will be destroyed.

If a siege is successful, then the Node is brought down to Level 0, and anyone who was a citizen of that Node is no longer a citizen. Freeholds within the Zone of Influence are subject to a period of vulnerability. These Freeholds can be destroyed by other players during a period of roughly 2 hours after a successful siege. Destroyed Freeholds are subject to material loss, and blueprints for them are mailed to the player to utilize for future placement in order to allow the player to keep their Freehold’s layout and structure. Once the vulnerability period is complete, any remaining Freeholds will exist under a grace period for roughly 1 week where another Node may take over the Zone of Influence of the Freehold. – Margaret Krohn

Player housing designs and decorations are retained and can be placed again later if the housing is destroyed during a node siege.

• Blueprints are mailed to the player to utilize for future placement.
• Destroyed freeholds are subject to material loss.
• Certificates will track major milestones (such as Furnaces and Homesteads, for example).

Real estate

Players buy the deeds for housing from the node itself. Players can also buy and sell properties from other players.

• In-node housing will be at a premium, and is expected to be hotly contested.
• The more apartments that have been purchased in a node, the higher the price scales.
• Players will not be able to exceed their allotment of housing in the game.

This will allow players to transfer real property goods. This includes freeholds, this includes static housing, this includes apartments that they may own; and they can sell those because those will have a limited and finite quantity. – Steven Sharif

Rental and leasing concepts are currently under consideration.

Some concepts that we have is going to be rental or leases that could be had allowing players to kind of lease a property for a period of time where they will have control rights over utilizing storage based on the area, controlling the furniture or access point; all that kind of stuff. – Steven Sharif

Taxes

When a node reaches stage 3 (Village) and a player run government has formed, all player housing will pay taxes.

• A player's tax charge will be determined by the number of structures built on their plot.

Housing decoration

Gateway mantle PAX East 2018 exclusive cosmetic home decor item.

Players may decorate their player housing and other types of buildings.

• Furniture and artwork may be freely placed within player housing.
• Prized items such as achievements and trophies may be displayed.
• Characters will be able to interact with furniture items such as sit in chairs and lay in beds.

Quality furniture can be crafted in-game based on the skill of the craftsperson.

Your ability to craft more luxurious furniture comes with how much of a master craftsman you've become in the furnishing profession... This isn't like you know, I want my house to look good, I got to fork over 50 bucks in cosmetics... Players can craft in-game based on their dedication and focus in that aspect the artisan tree. – Steven Sharif

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse player housing

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse players can establish Player housing and save Furniture arrangements for use in the full game.

Housing designs/blueprints

Player housing designs and decorations are retained and can be placed again later if the housing is destroyed during a node siege.

• Blueprints are mailed to the player to utilize for future placement.
• Destroyed freeholds are subject to material loss.
• Certificates will track major milestones (such as Furnaces and Homesteads, for example).

Housing decoration cosmetics

• 

  Gateway mantle

• 

  PAX housing decoration

• 

  PAX West Home Decor Trophy

Tavern rooms

Owners of taverns are able to rent out rooms. The quantity and quality of rooms scales with the level of the tavern.

• Bedrooms.
• Jogos de salão.
• Battle map rooms.

Player housing grace period

If a player's subscription runs out, there will be a grace period before player housing is lost.

Mobile/web interface

A mobile application and web interface allows players who are not logged into the game to have authority over certain services and mechanics. Some functionality may come post-launch.

• Crop rotations.
• Barracas do jogador (Kiosks).
• Mayoral duties.
• Pay taxes.
• Fishing (potentially).
• Jogos de salão (Tavern games).
• World event notifications.
• Node citizenship notifications.
• Player housing notifications.

Some of it may come post-launch... but we do want people to interact with the game on their phones when they're away from the computer; and we're going to do as much as we can to make that cool. – Jeffrey Bard

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See also

• Nós
• Cercos nó
• Buildings
• Citizenship