What determines my outpost "type"?

[dnrob7]

No matter how big we seem to get, no matter how many goods we produce, no matter how high out tech level, my town is still listed as a "village" on the map and a "useless building site" by Koin of the UC.
"No use to us" he says.. Even though I can churn out armor none of them have all day all night.

Is there something in particular that triggers it or just anything and everything?

[Shidan]

Far as I can tell it seems to be some combination of amount and variety of buildings. Never been able to get specifics from the devs, and testing has proven difficult.

But essentially I'd suggest building lots of things, without spamming any one thing. I've never managed to get to a town level outpost though, so my input may not be worth much. :/

[dnrob7]

Originally posted by Shidan:

Far as I can tell it seems to be some combination of amount and variety of buildings. Never been able to get specifics from the devs, and testing has proven difficult.

But essentially I'd suggest building lots of things, without spamming any one thing. I've never managed to get to a town level outpost though, so my input may not be worth much. :/

Aye.. I'm also a lil' worried that it might be something to do with density and maybe population.

The way all other towns are designed, there seems to be little breathing room. Everything is very compact with large buildings occupying small land areas.

I'm thinking that if you made your outpost in the shape of a line, one building thick and 2 miles long, how would the game handle that?

[Shidan]

Unsure if density could be a factor. Could make sense though, as my tests were creating very spread out bases, and I never managed to reach town status.

I doubt population is a factor, as I managed to get to the level just below town with just one character.

Probably would eventually make it a second outpost, and then a third, and so on.

[Radiosity]

I have a major city icon in one of my saves. I've got multiple stormhouses, 3 ore drills, 5 iron plate refineries, 3 steel, half a dozen small shacks, several of the larger buildings (including an outpost building), and 66 people. I 'think' power also affects the calculation, because I got my city icon shortly after building another few windmills, batteries, and adding another house or two.

Here's a screenshot of how big the city is:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2047895512

And the icon on the map:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2047895602

I have 1400 power available, not 100% sure it makes a difference, but if it does, that should give you some idea of where I was when the icon upgraded to a full city.

edit: also, on density, it's quite possible, but I think it's more likely to do with outpost range than density. Keep expanding outwards with new buildings to increase the overall range of your outpost's sphere of influence, that probably has an effect on the type of icon that displays on the map.

[dnrob7]

Originally posted by Shidan:

Unsure if density could be a factor. Could make sense though, as my tests were creating very spread out bases, and I never managed to reach town status.

I doubt population is a factor, as I managed to get to the level just below town with just one character.

Probably would eventually make it a second outpost, and then a third, and so on.

Ok, well, I'm going to leave my town as is but just make sure I have 1 of every building added somewhere. If the town icon updates at any point, I will deconstruct the last thing I made and build something i had already and see the result.

[dnrob7]

Originally posted by Radiosity:

I have a major city icon in one of my saves. I've got multiple stormhouses, 3 ore drills, 5 iron plate refineries, 3 steel, half a dozen small shacks, several of the larger buildings (including an outpost building), and 66 people. I 'think' power also affects the calculation, because I got my city icon shortly after building another few windmills, batteries, and adding another house or two.

Here's a screenshot of how big the city is:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2047895512

And the icon on the map:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2047895602

I have 1400 power available, not 100% sure it makes a difference, but if it does, that should give you some idea of where I was when the icon upgraded to a full city.

That makes me think I will have to have walls.. I don't like walls but I think that's the first thing to test. Wall the place in and see how many "buildings" that took, then get rid of them and build as many of something else.

[Radiosity]

Mm, not sure walls make much of a difference, I've had my little hut icon upgrade to a fort icon even with no wall settlements. But sure, give it a try, it's possible it has an effect on the calculation :)

[dnrob7]

♥♥♥♥ me, I'm good.


Ok. Here we go.. Before building and listed as a shack.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2047957585



Now we just wait for the resu.... Done.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2047957680



Yeh, it's the walls. I skipped a whole class of outpost and went straight to town just by not even having a wall around the place, just a couple bits of it.

I'm sure walls alone won't do it, you're gonna need a certain level of tech and veriety of buildings but this just told me that you can;t do it without walls. Even if it's just some walls for show.

[McMackin]

I didn’t even know this was a thing. Is there somewhere that lists this information, or do I have to check with this NPC each time to see what my town is rated as?

[dnrob7]

Originally posted by Waffle Stacks:

I didn’t even know this was a thing. Is there somewhere that lists this information, or do I have to check with this NPC each time to see what my town is rated as?

I've been checking with the NPC but he seems to just go by what your map says about your outpost so you probably don't even need to ask him.
I'm going to go back to him and see what he says when I start the game up again but I feel like I already know. He will agree to a trade deal alliance.

[Radiosity]

Neat, always good to know some more specifics of how things work. Nice :)

[dnrob7]

Originally posted by Radiosity:

Neat, always good to know some more specifics of how things work. Nice :)

I've got a new insane theory^ If you look at the map icon, it shows a tower, a big done and walls.. I just gotta try it. What if that is all you need?

EDIT: nah.. not the case.. plus I was looking at the idon wrong. it shows an assortment of buildings.

[He11y^]

Outpost level 0 - marked as X (map),outpost level 1 - 1 building (village),level 2 - tower with swords,level 3 - big town.To have level 3 you need walls+gates,no maater what tech level you have or how many buildings + people you have,walls+gates is a mandatory for that condition.
Last time i played i have base without walls,with tech level 6 and everything,it was listed as a level 1 (village type),when i build gates+walls it immidiatly shows level 3 (town).

Level information goes from FCS + it is affects some ingame encounters,for example roaming Lost Drone will never ask for help (join you in vanilla state) if you have outpost level lower than 2 (player outpost level > 1).

[dnrob7]

Originally posted by He11y^:

Outpost level 0 - marked as X (map),outpost level 1 - 1 building (village),level 2 - tower with swords,level 3 - big town.To have level 3 you need walls+gates,no maater what tech level you have or how many buildings + people you have,walls+gates is a mandatory for that condition.
Last time i played i have base without walls,with tech level 6 and everything,it was listed as a level 1 (village type),when i build gates+walls it immidiatly shows level 3 (town).

Level information goes from FCS + it is affects some ingame encounters,for example roaming Lost Drone will never ask for help (join you in vanilla state) if you have outpost level lower than 2 (player outpost level > 1).

Then I guess it counts things that are still under construction (as long as materials have been added) as things you now have.
If you look at my screen shots, none of my gates are ready yet.

[angrytrex]

since we are asking questions about towns:

Has anybody built a sprawling city yet? Does your town eventually split into two towns if you just keep adding buildings?