Hi guys! I, like many of you are cautiously optimistic about the upcoming improvements that will hopefully revitalize Exploration and, as a consequence pump some much needed interest back into Ylands. The following post is a compendium of both my own expectations as well as some suggestions that I myself would like to see in 1.5 and beyond. The potential of this update is not just a better exploration experience, but it could be one of raw community creativity. Hopefully you'll understand that last sentence as you read through my suggestions and observations. Lets dive in!   Make 'all' catalogue assets craftable As the title suggests, Ylands has hundreds of objects, assets and entities available within its catalogue. Many of which are uncraftable or simply unobtainable. I understand that the Conquistador armourset can be obtained from a random encounter but I want to craft it for myself and my fellow adventurers!  ....and why must I be limited to just 2 scruffy signs to label my mansion? The catalogue has at least 3 smarter looking signs reserved for editor only. This should be a pretty achievable suggestion that would do so much for expanding Exploration without too much back-breaking work. We have a beautiful set of bronze equipment that most of us haven't even seen yet! And where are my guns!? I want to craft guns that aren't zirconium again!   Planned Voyages - Public trading hubs With the newly announced importance of owning a ship, the idea of visiting 'other' islands to trade, conquer or exploit is now a tantalizing prospect and one that I look forward to greatly! One day I would like to sit down with my 'Lieutenants-Cough!-Friends' and plan draw up trade routes with other players. The idea of operating a busy trading port, visited by players from all over the world is a very exciting prospect! This brings me on to my next subject.... -Plan trade routes, buy cheap, sell high!     Player/Ylands-Run Community Hubs Lets say that you've ran out of coal on your local island archipelago. Time to plan a trading voyage! You stock your ship up with cloth and other surplus goods from your plantation and set sail! You go to visit the biggest port you know! A place where players across Ylands meet to trade, socialize and sometimes, to live! -Trade your surplus goods for something you need with other players in one of the many larger ports!     But what if you wanted to turn your little place into the hub of all trade? This will encourage players to think commercially, produce a resource that others will need and sell it for the best value. Maybe you could advertise it on a global map? Encourage visitors, let them set up a shop/stall in your town. Become a trading baron! For this to work there would need to be considerable changes to the barrier system and anti-grief safegards. The trading system itself is robust enough but to ensure that players don't need to physically run their stalls 24/7 I would suggest the idea of purchasable NPC store clerks to trade on your behalf. I would also suggest bringing back Bohemia-Run exploration servers to host and administrate over a large 'central' port. This would be my solution to the crumbling Playlands hub.   Expanding Ylands Culture Ylands is a game that encompasses many people across the world. I can't think of any better way to honour this than to promote it via online exploration. The concept of meeting and trading with other people across the world is an exciting prospect. I would like to see this reflected more in upcoming entities and asset design. I would love to see ship designs from the renaissance-era orient. I also would like to see an expanded amount of beneficial flora/fauna that can only be grown in a certain biome. This would encourage traveling and trade across maps (eg. Tea plantations, grain, Sisal, Whale oil? Animal domestication is on the right track but more mechanics are needed. Breeding animals appears to occur over an undetermined period after I've gathered 2 tamed animals in the same vicinity. I would like to have greater control over animal breeding rates. More domestic animals would be great also (eg, cows & chickens. The iconic culture point to Ylands is of course Ylandium which is my next subject... -Some biomes and islands should host unique entities and crops that cannot be planted anywhere else. This encourages players to set up trade routes or to plunder!     Ylandium and energy generation & Industry The resource that can propel a rustic farm into an agricultural powerhouse! I like the current method of farming Ylandium from mutated creatures. It works well and can be continued indefinitely providing no overly brave adventurer goes off and slays the alpha! =( What I would like to see is more applications for energy as a whole. I've seen designs for lumber mills and and windmills. Energy powered objects that would increase a processed resource output quantity or speed would be a great addition to the game. Steam power has also got lots of room for improvement. Coal powered energy systems are actually quite fun to build and manage. I often connect steam engines to buildings and rely on a supply of charcoal to keep my buildings powered. -Flintlock Trading Company Ship- 'Dauntless' - Coal deliveries to ensure no bulb goes dark!     My Final Point I may well include more as time progresses so stay tuned for more edits to this post! So far the news on 1.5 looks initially promising. There is much to do and I remain optimistically patient for what is coming. The key to Exploration succeeding is 'Freedom', I mean the freedom to build, destroy and create whatever we can imagine. For this to work I want to create the whole catalogue of entities. I want to build a trade, I want to plunder, I want to craft and I want to Explore! I make regular visits to my friends plantation to buy some Magic Blossoms that I can sell to my other friend so he can make potions to sell to his friends! I want someone to set up a coal selling business in my town to refuel ships as they visit. I want to drink some form of beverage with my friends in a tavern at some distant port! I want to smelt my gold nuggets into coins because that's how most people barter! =P   -Bring back my guns! Let me craft guns again!!!   Thanks for your time reading this everyone! Please feel free to leave your own comments and suggestions to how you want to see 1.5 turn out. If you agree with me please let me know! It would be nice to have some consensus! Thanks guys and thanks Devs. Rob