[crossfire] Buildable Land Plots

[Todd Mitchell]

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     An easier method than blueprints, that is being suggested, is to have
     
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     a building shop sell the occassional 'house in a box' which would be a
     
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     container with 36 walls (the plots would be 11x11 with the outside row
     
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     not directly buildable, to allow space for entrance and exit) a door,
     
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     and a bed to reality.
     
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     What is the difference here? - a 'house in a box' would be a blueprint 
too, no?  The point being made is that the store would sell a 'token' 
representing a building template the player would like to be built on 
site - the templates tells the apply invocation which maps to create and 
link to the exit it creates. You could call it a 'house kit' a 
'blueprint' or even a 'doggydoo' if you like - you would need an arch to 
implement it in any case.
Also I am not sure what a 'global unique map' is but I was under the 
impression that to instantiate a building from a blueprint you should 
write a copy of the appropriate map (a committed "template" in the maps 
module) to the *var/maps* directory.  I believe this is how/where the 
weather code generates and stores the modified world maps with the 
weather effects.  Building a house from a template should be as simple 
as grabbing the slaying field from the blueprint object to find the 
templates directory (e.g. /templates/house1) containing the maps in the 
template, replacing the return exit coordinates and perhaps some 
inventory checkers (set slaying to match a marker in the player's 
inventory so they can access their vault and trophy rooms) and then 
writing the new maps to the var/maps folder and poping a unique exit 
object on the world map on the zoned tile(s) the blueprint was invoked 
on.  Naturally the map templates contain buildable areas, however even 
an 'empty' entirely buildable map would require a template since they 
would need a map size and return exit in the very least.
Also most of the template maps I have worked on contain a few maps 
linked together (the basic house template I made has a basemement, a 
main floor and a upstairs.)

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     I do like the idea of quested items though (rather than blueprints as
     
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     such), something like a buildable chessboard would probably be a
     
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     suitable quest reward.
     
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     A good mixture of buildable areas and quest linked 'perks' like the 
guilds have (new floors, altars, trophy rooms...) would be best I believe.