This was my thoughts on the matter. Hoods shouldn’t be an issue, but static capes would look awful. If I recall from my days playing World of Warcraft, Capes & Cloaks we’re static from the neck down to the bottom fringe where the last bits of the edge were dynamic. This resulted in a believable looking model which didn’t break the physics. Either that or make them dynamically as heavy as dark matter! ?. I might be straying into new suggestion territory but what if it added a buff to ranged weapons?

Hi guys! I was toying with the idea of producing customized iconography, which I would use to mark my vessels. Whilst its blatant vanity on my part, I quite enjoyed making it! Here's a screenshot of it. I'm hoping to use it to adorn various buildings & ships it to signify my personal interest in that object or structure. Let me know what you think! Rob

It looks very homely. I like how you used the plant pots on the bamboo ladder.

I like the idea of holding Polls on the overall direction of the game. I’m a forum & Facebook person myself although I do sometimes look on the Steam Discussions for a little extra flavour!

That’s such a revolutionary idea and it’s painful to think I didn’t realise this earlier! I can disembark my car on the polar regions for safer and faster mapping!

Why the hell did I not think about this earlier!!?

Hi guys! To those who haven't heard or read my various posts and suggestions regarding the Ylands Exploration Community, I hope you will indulge and support this project as it kicks off. Currently Ylands has a Multiplayer Lobby Map called Playlands. It functions as a charming gateway zone where players can meet up, socialize and access a number of minigame portals. The zone design was created by a collaboration of exceptional talented individuals -many of whom are still playing today! Now since focus has returned to Exploration I would very much like to see a similar thing occur within this element of the game. I have toyed with the idea of creating a Public Harbor to varying degrees. With the help of the recently established Flintlock Trading Company Community, I would like to make this pipe-dream a reality. So without further ado, I would like to publish my manifesto/specifications for a Player-friendly, community supported harbor/port that can be reached by anyone playing Exploration! PROJECT TOPOGRAPHY Name/Title: Port Neptune Trading Post Unconfirmed Biome: Polar or Temperate Unconfirmed Map Size: Small- Minimal Islands Confirmed Setting: Player Vs Environment (PVE) Confirmed Protections: Visitor Access Only Unconfirmed The Port Neptune Project will be sited on a small map ideally with the smallest number of islands. This will reduce potential performance issues and ensure easy navigation to the port itself. Initial discussion and experience suggests that a Polar region would be best suited due to a vastly reduced amount of entity clutter such as Coral, Shells and other debris that could also drain performance. To guarantee the safety of visiting players and to prevent griefing or harassment, PVE will be enabled with all measures taken to reduce death by Polar Bears! Currently, all arriving players will be granted Visitor permissions only in order to protect the site during construction. SPECIFICATIONS & PURPOSE Purpose: Exploration Community Hub Build Style: Victorian-influenced structures Circa 1800s. Features: NPC Vendor shops, Crafting stations, Social Area. Harbor: Large, stone-laid docking zones to accommodate large visiting ships. The primary purpose of Port Neptune is to function as a safe, and neutral focal point for the Exploration Playerbase. Players can rendezvous at Port Neptune in order to trade, form social groups, or to make use of the various facilities available. The overall design of Port Neptune will reflect that of the late Victorian Era with elements of the Steam-punk (Victorian Science Fiction) genre that is already well embedded into the atmosphere of Ylands. The influence of the Flintlock Trading Company will naturally play an important role in this regard! With Exploration 1.6 well established, there will be NPC Vendors located in their own purpose-built stores. These shops and services will ideally overlook a central Square, which will function as the primary social area. Basic Crafting Stations will also be scattered about the area enabling visitors to craft basic objects. In order to receive visitors, the docks will be constructed to accommodate large vessels of traditional shape. To prevent performance issues however, signposts will politely request that visiting players despawn their ship after disembarking or trading goods. ADITIONAL INFORMATION & KNOWN CHALLENGES Performance Issues Future Update Bugs The goal to achieve a Smooth Performance when navigating Port Neptune is one of the highest priority. Therefore every structure must be carefully designed to maximum efficiency. This includes making some building interiors inaccessible. There has been some positive news regarding the development of the Unity Game Engine which could result in better passive performance anyway, but it is wise to continue in the presumption that it will not. Naturally any upcoming features may have an adverse effect on a map designed prior to an update. All that can be done to reduce this effect is with careful monitoring. There will be a Port Administration office in place which will look to fix any issues reported by players. PORT LAYOUT Finally, it's worth noting that this is just an opening brief and is always subject to change. I hope you guys find this interesting and I will keep you update with my progress. I aim to have the structures and blueprints created or close to competition just after the next update is released. That way I can quickly make any adjustments that may be caused with the latest update. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions or leave some feedback. After all, if we want to centralize Exploration around Port Neptune, we all want to be happy about it! Thanks for your support guys! Rob

All uploaded and ready to download now buddy! It should be on the composition catalogue. I've also left a link to the browser page on a separate thread. If its not available yet, it needs to be ratified by the Ylands catalogue admins. Enjoy!

After requests from our membership I have uploaded a composition of the Flintlock Trading Company Monogram. It is available on the Ylands composition catalogue and can be added to your blueprints and creations. Don't hesitate to let me know if there are any snags. You can find it here: Flintlock Trading Company Monogram If you intend to incorporate the Company Monogram onto your structures and vehicles, please kindly understand the identity you are undertaking. I would like to promote the FTC as a community-friendly group and not a bunch of griefing pirates! ?

I've got a Discord app on my phone but I am a total Luddite (Definition: technophobe, moron, idiot etc.) when it comes to that sort of thing! If someone else in our group wants to run an FTC Discord, I'm happy for them to administrate it in our name! I downloaded it to see what P1 was all about, but I practically never used it.

I agree, regardless, it will take me some time to design blueprints and buildings. I'm going to design 'shell' buildings where only the shop-front interior is accessible. This will cut down on entity placement and should make rendering the port a little faster and easier. Fear not! Caliga Hall will always be my personal home and is an ongoing project. Whilst I want nothing more than for Ylands to have its own community harbor, I don't want any peasant trudging on my land =P My plantation will remain accessible but only to the select few. =D

Oh don’t fear! I’m not intending to build a massive community port on the same map as The plantation. That would weigh very heavily on running the map. What I’m planning is to start a fresh map to site our Community Port. I totally agree with the issues regarding multiple ships. To counter this I think some polite signs around the docks requesting visitors despawn their ships when disembarking would suffice? As for choosing a biome to locate the port, I think that a polar biome would ease loading times due to its reduced entity count (especially underwater!) the drawback to polar of course, is the temperature affecting visitors and the blizzards which would greatly hinder navigation. Ill be back on tomorrow to publish the FTC monogram for people to download. I’ll also scout some maps for potential building sites. I think this will be a very pleasant project if it works out well!

@spiritchaser28 I’ve been busy over the last few days starting up possible layouts for a ‘Central Trading Port’. I’m thinking of something along the lines of a stone-lined Dock able to accommodate at least four large ships. The dock will include an open town square flanked by a few buildings and NPC shops. I’d like to base my architecture on the tried-and-tested Victorian/colonial style incorporating some industrial themes in there too! The thing of concern however is the strain on system resources. Flintlock Plantation (Caliga Hall) takes significant time to render on approach. I estimate that a similar side-effect will occur on this project. In order to limit this effect, I’m toying with the idea of locating the port in the Polar Biome where ambient entities are reduced. What do you guys think?

That looks incredible mate! ive has a couple of requests for the logo. I’ll be uploading it for download as a composition on Monday.

Here here!

I’m in a very lucky position that I have the NPC merchant Artyen on my Island. He sells and supplies pretty much every mineable ore including sulphur and Saltpeter. More importantly however, he bulk-sells coal, which is invaluable for fuelling my steamboats. When I’m out exploring, I tend to ignore Zirconium veins all together! I like the idea of using it for some kind of advanced power source or engine. Maybe some kind of place able battery for power storage?

Hi guys! I was given a whole day off yesterday and what better way to spend it than start a build project! After spending approximately 6 solid hours building, I present to you the fruits of my addicted labor! Many of you may have played Red Dead Redemption 2. So I decided to build my version of Caliga Hall! Caliga Hall as it appears in RDR2 based off of the real 'Shirley Plantation' in Virginia Here's my rendition on Caliga, I've added a few details here and there. So in the space of one working day I have pretty much completed the external structure. The real time-consuming element is fitting in a comfortable, flowing interior. Currently on Exploration 1.5, my Home island lies unused. I intend to build a nice plantation and develop the land to be used as a functioning home and base of operations for my little clan. I also have plans to build other structures such as stables, barns etc. These will be designed to the same architectural standard as Caliga Hall. I appreciate any feedback and upon completion, I will welcome any visitors! Thanks guys! Rob

That’s strange, I’ve not heard of any issues like that happen before.

Thanks guys! I’ve not been on this past week. The Easter holiday encourages me to be more outgoing! But I will be completing the plantation as well as overseeing the club from here!

Hi guys! You have my upmost thanks for joining this little group of mine. With the combined experience, talent and dedication pooled here; I hope we can achieve some great feats here! Please use this space to discuss anything relevant to Ylands. You have access to a player base with a dramatic range of skills spanning across both Editor & Exploration. Whatever you need, don’t hesitate to ask!

Greetings & thank you for taking the time to consider applying for Membership into the Flintlock Trading Company. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the process of membership application! Kindly send myself a Private Message expressing your desire to join the FlintLock Trading Company. Please include a brief description of your experience playing Ylands and what you hope to bring to our little community. If you are a member within another Ylands Clan, Guild or Party such as P1, World Of Dreams Etc. Please include it within your description. You will not have to leave your original Clan and this will not have any effect on your application but could have an effect on in-game communication and map privileges. If you have been encouraged to submit an application by a fellow Company Member, please request that they state this on your application thread as it could increase your chances of a successful result. Whilst I will generally accept the majority of applications, we will not tolerate individuals who have a track-record of being disruptive or abusive. Furthermore, non-participating members will also be reviewed on the basis of keeping the membership fresh and active. Successful applicants will be inducted into the Company Ranks and will be issued the Flintlock Trading Company Uniform to be worn when conducting company business. Henceforth, it will the the duty of all FTC members to provide assistance to their fellow Agents when requested; be it military or mercantile!

It is the vision of the Flintlock Trading Company to create an accessible trading network of ports and harbors across the Exploration map of Ylands. From the Frozen north to the Arid South we want to ensure that every Agent of the Company can find a safe port or plantation to stock up on resources or offload some much needed supplies! Through this strategy, we hope to nurture a closer Ylands player-base which will make the game more enjoyable for all! But we cant do this without your help! If you want to offer the services of your farm, settlement or home please get in touch! Here's what to do! Create a new thread in this section with the name of your Colony as it's title. please populate your application thread with the following details: An annotated screenshot of the Map, detailing the location of your Colony/Port. The Biome and region it is located in. A basic description of what resources your colony can comfortably provide (Flour, Sisal, Timber, Etc.). If your Colony has any additional features that may benefit your application such as Ship-Building facilities or developed Docks, please include them in your description. Screenshots are highly recommended. Should your Colony application be accepted, we require that you, as it's presiding Mayor adhere to the following conditions: Your Colony map should be converted into a Sharegame Format. This will enable free-access to your colony by fellow Company Agents. You can of course limit visitor privileges to protect your property which we encourage. Colony mayors should look to construct adequate docking facilities to allow large vessels to visit. Ideal facilities will allow the loading/off-loading of goods quickly. Whilst it is not mandatory, it is highly encouraged that Company Markings are displayed prominently to promote collective identity and trust. With a well constructed and maintained port, you can begin to produce goods to sell to visitors and even establish trading routes yourself! If you have any further questions relating to this topic, please don't hesitate to drop me a line!

Hi @Nikki Severin I’m Rob! I’ve been a dedicated Ylander since it’s debut on Steam Early Access back in 2017 and it’s still my go-to title of choice in my library! I’ve clocked up a grotesque amount of playtime hours! Sadly, most of my time is gobbled up between working as an aircraft engineer, and family life. After being swept up by the proverbial ‘Minecraft Tidal Wave’ back in 2014 I’ve been a Survival Sandbox fanatic ever since! Ylands drew me in because of the potential it has as a solid survival game and in its current state, it’s slowly fulfilling that promise! I spend most of my playtime exploring but I do dabble on the Editor in order to design and test my catalogue of blueprints! Great to have you join the community! Prepare to be swamped with suggestions and feedback!

I like this direction! A lot of other games have adopted a similar solution to the multi-varied blocks issue with great success (Avorion, Starmade to name a few). Im very intrigued with the paths that players will unlock recipes. It would be interesting to see what types of ‘cultures’ will emerge depending on which way Ylanders unlock new recipes. We could see players who favour wood-based architecture over others who use sandstone or ice blocks! Might I make a bold suggestion and look into the possibility of creating ‘recipe pamphlets’. Players could use blank paper to make physical/tradable recipies that could be traded and consumed?

I’ve thought about this too! Terraria has a set of ‘Vanity Clothing Slots’ that behave exactly as you describe them. I’m all in favour of this quality of life feature being added. I prefer my outfit to the guardian set any day!