[Ancient Rome] Forum Iulium

[Gono]

Hi there fellow Exiles,

Today I was working on a project in Unreal Engine, and while placing objects in the editor all of the sudden I remembered an epic building I made with 2 friends here on Conan some years ago: The Forum Iulium.
Maybe some of you remember it from the 2019 Building Contest, but in that occasion only one image was shown, so here comes a full post about it!

The Forum Iulium (or Forum of Caesar) was named after the great Gaius Julius Caesar, and it originally consisted of the forum, the arcade, the tabernae, the Curia Julia and the Temple of Venus Genetrix (that means Venus foundress of the family), it was built by Romans around 46BC.

Forum Reference Plans

Here is how it probably looked back in the day:

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And here is how it looked inside the game:

Intermediate

From top of Venus temple

Entrance

Entrance from outside

Forum Iulium and Temple of Venus Genetrix

Temple

Temple inside

Forum

Some informations about the making:

• Forum and Temple’s shapes have been reproduced as accurately as possible in the game with a 1:1 scale ratio, meaning that size and proportions were real.

• Aquilonian tiles have been used to make everything look as much close as possible to the Romans architectural style.

• I’ve planned everything and placed all the tiles (still have a WIP video to make with all the material I have) but without the help of the 2 Eye Of the Lamer clan mates Bemxgm, and (occasionally) Evilfaby, it would have taken an enormous amount of time because everything was done on a 1X Official Server, without mods, or admin powers.

• It took us 2 months to plan, gather materials, process them and build the Forum Iulium.

• It was located in C7 sector of the Official Server #1038 PvE Conflict

[stelagel]

It’s definitely beautiful work but since you play on official server please notice the link…

Official Servers - Terms of conduct, guidelines and procedures

Official servers' guidelines Introduction Conan Exiles has thousands of official servers across several platforms and regions. These come with certain rules and strict enforcement. By playing on an official server you are expected to follow the guidelines below. Support will do their best to honor these guidelines. Please read through and consider the spirit of the guidelines, not the specific wording. We reserve the right to modify these rules. We will notify players in advance of any …

In this particular guideline, written from our precious @Dana, it warn us not to build something that will create server client issues.
I am not an expert but regarding your decoration, an population it seems that it might create server client issues.
I am not telling you to hold back your plan, but maybe keep your build less decorated and populated that you wish it to be. Don’t forget that official servers are for a standard experience of the game, if you wish more than the standard single player or private servers exist.

But keep building from me, it’s beautiful .

[Tephra]

Those guidelines are not relevant, since this is

@Gono

from the 2019 Building Contest,

which was 6 years ago and pre-dates those rules.

It also pre-dates the Architects of Argos DLC, which probably could have made the build even better, like with more accurate pillars.

[Gono]

Heya @stelagel thank you
Concerning the new server rules, I was just looking at them yesterday, but it’s not clear where the limits are.
Maybe @Dana can shed some light about it? Something like this is acceptable or will result in in a violation of the official server rules?
Keep in mind that the building didn’t block any POI or player base.

[Kanza1]

@stelagel

but maybe keep your build less decorated and populated

Are we looking at the same screenshots shared ? There is barely any thralls visible , and the amount of decoration shown is very low , maybe you think the goal is to populate it as the images shown. Also it’s a pc server , not console , so this amount of building / decoration ratio wouldn’t produce any lag , except if you run the game on a potato pc that doesn’t meet the requirements.

It’s sad for me to see a game where I encountered so many beautiful builds on official become a report any castle that I see meta and a pro sandstone cube relayed by it’s players. I get that official are a public space and that your build should respect the others , but why does everyone left on this game sees build like this one as a negative , when I first started playing this game I’m glad I arrived on the #1038 pve-c server with incredible builds , I was amazed by them and it sparked my creativity to build something nice for myself and my clanmates. And I really pity those people that get jealous and want to tear it down cause they can’t fathom the fact that other people like those.

As I said I get that some people want the server empty of “big” builds , but why not let some servers with people that want to see marvelous castle be and go to another server instead of reporting every build they see as they freshly arrive on a server. ( yeah yeah , all servers are overbuilt I know the usual complaint , well for me that means there is more people that want to see those buildings than people that are anoyed by them , but yet funcom gives too much credit to a vocal minority then )

I know you are not saying this out of spite like some others can , but at the same time relaying this like if the build showed here was a problem is part of the problem for me.

As I showed multiple times the game was sold with the idea that people would populate the servers ( officials and not ) and build a community together , bridges to cross lava river or ease the access to content ect… “survive BUILD dominate” is the slogan of the game , people went on the forum asking for some rules not because of the helping bridges or the nice castles , but because some people would wall off content , whole areas , or build a castle that goes from the highlands to the vulcano , and instead funcom gave us poorly implemented guidlines that ruins the creativity and community aspect of officials. I cannot count how many people thanked a certain clan for their strategic builds that would help access the volcano dungeon with a thrall back in the days where lava would insta kill them and other builds. Countless of people over a 4 years time period and they been banned for preventing access to resources or building spot … what a shame , there was a strong community on this server that sparked a lot of friendships and it has now lost it’s place as one of the most played EU pve-c server to become the generic 4 to 6 people online at prime time… what a shame

I hear a lot of people say if you want to build something nice go on private or solo. and I get it. but I want to say that if you don’t want to see any build and you rage anytime you see a new neighbour that built too close to your taste , then maybe go private or solo , since there you’ll have all the land clear of any “annoying” builds .

sorry I have nothing against you mate , but at the same time I had to let it out, as it’s the only thing we can see on this forums nowadays ( because many have been worn off by those same rules you linked and the plethora of bugs of course )

[stelagel]

@Kanza1

sorry I have nothing against you mate , but at the same time I had to let it out,

Totally get you and yes you assumed right. You know, @AndersonKain is correct, the last rule set does not speak at all about big builds, just builds that may cause server client issues.
The only reason i tried to warn our fellow exile here is because i don’t want his joy and pride to end up in a Zendesk multiple report sequence and ban. I hate bans for these reasons @Kanza1 that’s all and i like what he and his pall try to build, shoot me .
Plus i don’t know what may cause server client issues on pc, you are correct, i only tried to replicate issues that my console generates.
Multiple thralls however doing animations, multiple torches, etc, it’s common said in here that they create server client issues but again, i don’t know what causes server client issues.
No offense taken!

[Gono]

Yeah @Kanza1 , in the build there weren’t many thralls, something like 4-5, there were braziers though, but not a crazy number of them. I would like to attempt to build another project in #1038 (since I still have my lev60 character, even if without resources ) but the fact that the rules are so vague actually scares me a bit, a reply from the mods would be great but I don’t think it will happen

[Kanza1]

@Gono

a reply from the mods would be great but I don’t think it will happen

You are right this won’t happen.

@Gono

I would like to attempt to build another project in #1038 (since I still have my lev60 character, even if without resources ) but the fact that the rules are so vague actually scares me a bit

It all depends on what you want to achieve and if you care about keeping it for a long time , or not. You can do it, but indeed depending of if your build “annoys” someone , then it might be actionned upon, because as rules are unclear there is always a way to interpret it as a bad build and report it , then it all depends on the person that will review that report and on the tenacity of the person reporting it.

So my real advice would be , if you don’t care losing it at some point go for it , if you do care though then making it on a private or in solo/coop mode depending on if you want to do it with friends or alone. ( also normally you just get temp banned for 10 days ( the time that decay timmer let’s everything you own disappear) if it’s your first offense and that doesn’t prevent you from playing the game in solo or private servers either )

[Vahlok]

Damn…
That is too civilized for a barbarian!

[jmk1999]

Pretty nice, but I recommend mixing up some of your build sets for a more authentic take on the look. The Argossean set has better pillars and roofs, and I don’t really recommend the need to use those tiles for all of the surfaces. I have a Greek style build and I use pieces like Stable for the floors. Also, the Bazaar’s winery set has a really nice cobblestone foundation. Don’t be afraid to work with other sets to really give a more authentic experience.

[stelagel]

@Kanza1

So my real advice would be , if you don’t care losing it at some point go for it , if you do care though then making it on a private or in solo/coop mode depending on if you want to do it with friends or alone.

This .

But i would go for it lol!
Yet after i was fixing it, i would call a purge on it , that’s just me .

[Kapoteeni]

@Vahlok

That is too civilized for a barbarian!

Especially for the Roman definition of “barbarian”.

[Gono]

@jmk1999

The Argossean set has better pillars and roofs

Hey @jmk1999 , good call on Argossean (even if that’s even more Greek style than Aquilonian but it could have add some interesting variations), but Architects of Argos DLC came out quite after the completion of the Forum Iulium.
Since I’m pondering the idea to go for another Ancient Rome project build on #1038, probably I’ll get that DLC.

[Gono]

@Kanza1

So my real advice would be , if you don’t care losing it at some point go for it , if you do care though then making it on a private or in solo/coop mode depending on if you want to do it with friends or alone.

Yeah, I get what you’re saying, but the point to have it on public server is to let people (server inhabitants or invited players) see its progress, eventually partecipating in the build by providing materials, and enjoy it when finished, since I see this type of buildings like in-game monuments.

[Kanza1]

I understand exactly what you are feeling about it , It’s what kept me going for 4 years on #1038 as we had a good community where trades for T4 thralls against hardened bricks or steel reinforcement was a common interaction and we made a lot of friends by helping them defend their first purge , or hard volcano purges , giving pets to newcommers that had a hard time surviving ect … untill then …

So as I said do what you want but just know that potentially you can loose it all if it somewhat breaks the ToC ( or that someone think it does enough to report you )

[jmk1999]

The winery pack just came out again on the Bazaar as well. It may be worth a look. I’ll try and post my own (smaller) villa to show what I did with the theme. At work now, so it’ll have to wait.

[stelagel]

@Gono just in case you don’t know, some harvesting tips.

1. 20 points in expertise, efficient harvest and beast of burden. You’ll save a huge amount of durability on your tools, you’ll harvest twice as fast more of the double amount of materials.
2. star metal pickaxe is repaired with way less materials that the other tools and it gives you both resin and bark while harvesting wood.
3. Don’t create steel in the furnace, take the iron bars on your improved blacksmith bench, make it iron reinforcement and then if you have a tier 3 blacksmith you can make it steel reinforcement with steel fire on blacksmith bench. For this reason i always place 2 blacksmith benches so the one will create iron reinforcement and the other steel reinforcement, it saves lots of time.
4. use the fast furnace, coal on exile lands is extremely easy, one fast tour on the first floor of the silver mine every day will give you all fast and easy fuel iron and stones.
5. Use the Darfari lands for stone farming, start behind the summoning place take the street over the sinner’s refuge, turn right to harvest under the mountain, then harvest over the mountain and repeat, by crossing the 3 rock noses before the summoning place. A double round there will give you over 100k stones, plenty iron and plenty coal. Do it for three days 2,5 hours per day and you’ll have all the bricks and iron you’ll need to build it.
   Getting materials now it’s not like back then!

Just in case you didn’t knew my friend, don’t misunderstand my intentions, thank you!

[jmk1999]

@stelagel

Use the Darfari lands for stone farming

Personally, I’m a fan of the Mounds for stone, between the village and Stargazer’s Crest. Unfortunately, that depends on if the area is available. There’s a big build right there on my server.

[Kanza1]

isn’t the silver mine the best spot anymore ? (scorpion queen dungeon ) there was a good spot that would give quite the amount for the time spent harvesting.

I always liked the valley leading to dragons mouth for stone and wood , maybe because it’s far from everything and there are few to no people that build over there generally ( at least on the server I was in ) and has no mobs apart for a few king elks. Once I was finished there were no rocks or tree left from the bear ghost ( cave entrance) to over the dragonsmouth entrance ( as it has a few bonus black ice on the left side and a lot of iron on the cliff side where some starmetal metorite can also be present )

[jmk1999]

Everyone has their own preferences pretty much. They’re all good options, just depends on what you wanna deal with.