Ideas to avoid abusive bases on official servers (without compromising the flexibility of the game)

[gravityfalls]

I think Funcom could implement some way for players (who will have their bases banned) to be able to copy their bases to single player mode. But I confess that it is not something that is so simple to implement (the building and item system in Conan Exiles is quite complex).

I am also not against Funcom creating a building block limit on the online server. It could be a setting that is enabled or disabled in the Administrator menu: if enabled, players will have to build without exceeding the building block limit within an area. In other words, let’s say the limit is 300 building pieces. Then I can have two bases that use 300 building pieces, but they must be a certain distance from each other.

In addition, I believe that other strategies can be thought of in the future. One of the ideas that I find interesting is to increase the distance between bases (both those of the same player and those of different players) according to the size of the buildings.

To explain this in a simple way, I will give an example that is just hypothetical (I don’t know what values ​​would be ideal, or if it would be better to let this be configured in the admin panel and ■■■■■■ choose a configuration that brings performance to the official servers).

Example in meters (but we can think of foundation blocks used in the game):

Let’s define the relative size of the base as the amount of foundation blocks used (foundation blocks, foundation walls and pillars) and the actual size of the base as the total amount of building blocks used.

Therefore, we will define that the claimed area around the base grows according to the amount of blocks used and this growth uses a numerical multiplier as a criterion. Let’s use the value 5 in our example.

Therefore, imagine that I placed a foundation block on the ground, floors around it, forming a platform of 3 squares by 3 squares and then I closed this space with walls and a roof: a very simple little house, at the beginning of the game, to survive a sandstorm if there is no shelter nearby. Since I used a foundation block, I create a restricted area of ​​5 squares in all directions around this small house.

If I create a base that uses 10 foundation blocks, then the distance around my base that will prevent other players from building within that area will be 50 squares in all directions (10 * 5 = 50).

If I use 50 foundation blocks, then I create an area of ​​250 squares in all directions.

This does not mean that I will be able to build on the entire area I have claimed, just that no one will be able to build near my base within that distance that increases as my base grows. Also, I have a limit on the number of building blocks I can use, which means I need to plan better how I will use the space I have available to build.

The problem with this method is that one building will prevent another from growing. Suppose today I have a small house with one foundation block, and after 10 squares, someone builds another small house with a single foundation block. This will work because both buildings have the same radius of 5 squares and therefore do not collide with each other. But what if the next day, one of the builders decides to add a building block to his own little house?

This will increase the distance from the other bases to 10 squares and this will cause the placement of the second block to either throw an error or be impossible, due to the fact that there is already a building within the 10 square distance area. In other words, the buildings would limit each other’s growth if they were too close together.

On the other hand, this would cause players to try to move as far away from other players as possible to build, avoiding areas of the map that are overcrowded and experiencing FPS drops. This would make the bases more spread out on the map and also smaller and more manageable (for both players and server admins).

At the same time, on a private server or in single player mode, it would be simple to increase the number of building blocks and decrease or increase the distance between buildings. So this does not prevent PVP between players and between the bases of two players or groups of players (we can say that for two bases to face each other, they need to be closer to each other than the distance I gave in the example, but this is manageable by the distance parameter itself).

In any case, I believe that there are ways to improve this problem of unbridled construction on official online servers without compromising the freedom that the game mechanics already provide, since it would be enough to define the limits in the administration panel.

Of course, we always think that our solutions are simple, but the truth is that programmers know how complex or simple it is to implement these changes in the software.

[Catastrofus]

A difficult topic for sure. Other than proactive, more customer focused admin-ing there aren’t any real failsafe solutions i think.

But a building block limit for either a player OR a clan wouldn’t be too bad if implemented somewhat liberally, to prevent the extremes.

Now bear with me, because i never quite cared to measure bases, and as such am pretty much pulling these numbers out my ass.

Let’s say these are all categorized, ranging from one player to 8 in a clan, for example:

Light sources: 50-90

Decorative objects: 120-200

Structural pieces: 4000-8000

Crafting placeables: 35-75

Misc. Utility: 35-75 (fish traps, cauldron, purge chest, etc.)

Furniture (beds, seating, tables, etc.): 80-160

That kind of thing. I think a sizeable base with all altars and amenities on foundations and ceilings, including a perimeter wall and sensible walkways can probably be done in many creative shapes, forms and heights with 2500-3000 blocks if the player compromises, builds smart (hollowing out floors and outer walls for example) and doesn’t try to check all the boxes.

That still leaves plenty for a bundle of teleportation outposts with a couple of things for the location i think.

But here’s where it becomes a problem. Players will simply not clan up and then use the generous starting threshold to still create bases to the maximum capacity available to them.
If an entire full clan decides to use their full building capacity in one spot it may also cause issues.

Still, i would prefer this over a hard build radius i think. This could create a situation where people will start creating round or square bases by default, effectively dampening creativity.

I kind of hate to say it, but without really turning it into homework i’ll have to say there’s no hard numbers i can give that in my opinion would give people reasonable construction freedom.

I can sure as hell eyeball it and recognise something excessive, but that is all i can say.

TLDR; A difficult topic. Other than more customer focused admin-ing there aren’t any real good solutions i think. Maybe Funcom admins already have a building block list they refer to when judging a build?

[gravityfalls]

Oh yes, I agree that it is a difficult topic. I think the discussion is valid, to foster ideas. But I confess that every new idea can bring new problems.

I can’t say if the developers have some parameter like a list of building blocks to analyze a construction.

But I don’t doubt that they can implement some way to calculate the number of elements of a base. Not that I believe they do this: judging by what they ask for when receiving a report (like screenshots, location and other information), I believe that they evaluate each case separately and manually. I believe that, in fact, it is because it is done manually that it is so difficult for them to actively and more strictly enforce the rules on the servers.

Still on the subject of limiting the number of building blocks and an area limit, look, you gave a good example about clans. But if players don’t form clans (following the idea I mentioned), they will be forced to build their bases at a good distance from each other, so if they build a base using the entire building block limit, that limit should still prevent a base from causing problems on the server in terms of FPS drops. I think a medium base meets all the needs of the game for a single player and even for a clan.

One example (applicable to PVE, since I don’t know enough about PVP to give an opinion) is that a base doesn’t need all five temples. After all, what are you going to do with five different temples in one base? I don’t know much about temples, but I don’t see the point in collecting all five temples in one base. From what I know, I would limit (at least on the online server) to one temple per base.

Other examples apply. I had to build a garrison armor workbench to save resources and make armor, but I don’t need that workbench all the time, so it’s more economical to have the materials to make that workbench when I need to save resources and build that workbench only when I need better armor for a specific campaign. When not, for reconnaissance, gathering, and exploration missions, I use an improved workbench and forge simpler armor. The improved armor workbench takes up less space in the base.

This is just one example of how a base doesn’t need to have all the workbenches all the time. And the idea of ​​optimizing this and how to optimize it will vary depending on the playstyle of each player or clan.

I know there are some people who play more professionally and build actual factories to forge iron bars, steel, bricks, etc. It’s a fun way to play, but they’re aiming to create enough building material to build a metropolis. When it comes to forging materials to survive in the Exiled Lands, there’s no need to create that much material, so a steel bar factory isn’t vital.

I set up camp at the Noob River, on top of a cliff in the upper right corner of I3 (there’s not much room there, by the way). With a round foundation eight blocks wide (8 x 8) and a 3 x 6 rectangle attached, I was able to build a two-story base. I have plenty of room for all the workbenches I’ve needed so far. Of course, I haven’t done anything using sorcery yet, so I haven’t built those workbenches yet, but I have room for them if I need them, and there’s nothing stopping me from building another floor.

This is a large floor plan considering it’s a starter camp, but something this size would be good for a permanent base, with room to put a large corral and a large pain wheel (I didn’t do it because it’s harder to position those structures on top of the cliff, but not impossible).

Look, we’re talking about a small to medium floor plan (an 8 x 8 circle plus a 3 x 6 rectangle) and, I insist: there’s still room to better organize the benches I haven’t created yet. And of course, not everything needs to be placed inside this structure. I have a few things outside and a low fence (which I made out of habit, because there are no hecatombs on the cliff in the South and since the server is PVE, other players are not a problem). In other words, I think that yes, I could have made it even smaller and smaller.

However, my friend, I have seen some bases in this region that make me dizzy just looking at them. What bothers me the most are the people crossing the river from one end to the other with a structure that I think will become a bridge, a wall or a foundation to build on top of the river (but wait, this guy has already built a huge base on top of a cliff with at least two taverns inside).

[Catastrofus]

Personally i agree, everything i have built so far only has 1 or two altars at most and things such as animal pens and stables are temporary, to be removed to house the animals in the same area.
It does however mean i currently have built and am building a main base on two servers, in different ‘cultural’ styles.

I know some people will want to build multiples of many things however and be on just one server, and on top of that insist on their clan buddies being able to build something functional to their heart’s content though.

Yet again, personally i disagree with that and i feel there should be a shared responsibility from that point on but others might disagree on how a public server could be used with no repercussions.

And yes, there are insane builds out there that cause extreme performance issues on my Xbox Series X. Things such as walking into an empty area, having the app forcefully freeze and close down and when logging back in you walked -through- a perimeter wall and are suddenly surrounded by things.

Or bridges and walkways connecting base pieces that literally take 10 minutes to sprint through from the starting point, to the furthest point and back.

To me, those last two examples are very clear cases of someone being unreasonable with the freedom granted on public servers. I dare say objectively so. If it takes that long to get through your base, or it literally can’t properly be handled by a top of the line console then it’s too much.

The fringe cases however if people posting about suspensions are to be believed however are most of the issue. Things such as having a base with literally eveey taxidermy animal, every bench except Tier 1 benches, walls lined with statues surrounding all of it, with perimeter walls perhaps higher than they should be.

That said, i frequently pass by bases i consider ridiculous in proportions that are connected to more enormous bases by teleporters pretty much for half a year now. With how opaque it all is for us as (passive in my case) observers, it’s hard to say if something is permitted or simply not seen.

It’s hard for Funcom to determine a limit if they really have to i think.

[Catastrofus]

@gravityfalls

Still on the subject of limiting the number of building blocks and an area limit, look, you gave a good example about clans. But if players don’t form clans (following the idea I mentioned), they will be forced to build their bases at a good distance from each other, so if they build a base using the entire building block limit, that limit should still prevent a base from causing problems on the server in terms of FPS drops. I think a medium base meets all the needs of the game for a single player and even for a clan.

Also a good point i think, but it does depend on the construction prevention radius i suppose.
It could of course also cause a clan to just split into 2-8 people and just claim a whole region to the best of their ability. Not that that is too egregious or impossible now, but it might then happen more if such a system is in place.

I also have to admit, i do like people who build a sensible spire base but of that i have only seen two of many that are reasonable with their verticality.

[DeaconElie]

As much as I love this topic; and it is one dear to my heart, till funcom sets down at the table it’s purely a theoretical discord.

But I do enjoy a good discord. There is so much you can learn from some people.

[Catastrofus]

True, it’s hard to determine what even their criterion list is at this point and if it is enforcable in the form of in game limits, or if they choose not to do so due to potentially too many factors playing into things such as performance issues.

It may not be that clear-cut for the person judging the builds, with no one single answer to apply across the board. As a result the entire topic may be a bit too hot for them to touch or make rigorous adjustments with hard limits.

So then the situation defaults to… please report and we’ll see, to then have a behind the scenes deliberation, some server report maths and an attempt to be as fair and consistent as possible.

It’s inefficient but they probably consider it the safest course of action for now.

[stelagel]

A player who understands the game will not be banned even with 20k building pieces!
A player who needs to build something big in single player has the creative mode!
A player who respects the official servers must let his bases decay after he does his cycle.
Players interactions in official servers, even with minimum or zero annoyance, carry old informations that needs to be deleted.
If there’s one limit Funcom should enforce in each player or clan, this would be a timer of one year in each server. After this year passes everything this player fixed and the character should be deleted automatically.

[gravityfalls]

I’m also not against the server being reset once a year. Or maybe every time a new season is released.

However, I think that if setting strict criteria is something Funcom is wary of, then this would also be considered radical.

But it’s a great idea in terms of preventing abuse: people would be more careful about investing time in building up a huge base, knowing that it will be wiped after a year or a new season is released.

[stelagel]

@gravityfalls

However, I think that if setting strict criteria is something Funcom is wary of, then this would also be considered radical.

It’s bad for marketing and good only for devs and performance. If something works against profit, no matter how healthy it is, it’s not an option .

Let’s be honest. Even a new player, a player who just started the game, a year it’s way too much to do a full cycle of literally everything this map can give and experience literally everything in a server. A veteran needs maximum a month if he-she could choose to do all the events at will.
After this 2 things follow in pve servers.

1. useless buildings
2. refresh because i play in a different server or another game now.

That’s the truth of this game on pve or pve-c servers.

And just to show you that i mean what i say about server respect. I deliberately left my session on 3047 to decay. @Wonka refresh it the last time, which was very sweet and thoughtful jesture. 10 days ago i logged in with my son and made a lvl 10 purge.
I left golems to do their job, i didn’t even kill the starcaller. But my son is a bit bloodthirsty like me , so when the commander show up he went straight to take his head, lol. Unfortunately the star metal ores, neither the golems managed to do much dmg, but it was fun, we both enjoyed slaying in this purge, plenty.
None of my thralls died, only a Lian and a Tugra fell for awhile until i lift them up. It was a session that i started with age of sorcery update on the third chapter. I was a guest for more than a year in this server with over 20k building pieces. Over 50 thralls lvl 20, different names all of them. The wealth, the legendary gear, the loot needed days to be transferred. All decayed .
I can only thank Funcom for their hospitality in this server, but my cycle was done in this server.
A game session ended another will begin!

[AndersonKain]

@stelagel

If there’s one limit Funcom should enforce in each player or clan, this would be a timer of one year in each server. After this year passes everything this player fixed and the character should be deleted automatically.

I disagree about it people join and play in official servers for find and play with other people many players doesnt want restart playing the same thing every time making the same dgs or learning the same thing it was proved before in the begin of conan was servers called “blitz” they reseted every 30 days and almost no one liked it people want play and progress reseting servers every 1 year will make people move to other games where dont have reset in servers.

What funcom can do is copy the rules from others games are working and are very popular , add a limit of where people can build from another one , add one limit of build piece for players and clans like 50k pieces and for last reward clans giving bonuses i always talk to my friends how conan is almost a anti social game because you win nothing joining one clan and you risk to lose all your items and builds also console players still dont have chat for godsake…

Now one example how clans can be good for perfomance in servers:

Let think a little we have 10 people playing in one server they dont play together and dont have clan if every one have a base with 5 teleports 2 wheel of pain 1 stable 1 animal pen what we have in the server?

10 bases 50 teleports 20 wheel of pain 10 stables and 10 animal pen

But let talk from the 10 people 8 join together and make a clan the other 2 stay alone playing solo because they like to play solo
We will have 3 bases 15 teleports 6 wheel of pain 3 stables 3 animal pen.

I still think they shall go it way they need to make aleast in official servers people play together and get rewarded it is what happen in many other sandbox survival games and work very good.

[stelagel]

@AndersonKain

many players doesnt want restart playing the same thing every time

Although this is the real fun of the game, i already stated…

@stelagel

It’s bad for marketing

And i said this exactly for this reason .
But thank you for giving this feedback, it’s true that people hate to spend 3 days to go 60 and learn again all the new things. If we didn’t have so much rng on Siptah for practically mostly useless recipes restarting would be only fun!

[DeaconElie]

The private 7D2D server I play on resets every 500 game days. We players have the option to vote if we do or not, always been unanimous for the wipe.

@stelagel

But thank you for giving this feedback, it’s true that people hate to spend 3 days to go 60 and learn again all the new things

3 days? Are you playing for 72 hours straight? Why the big hurry?

Sorry but the best part of the game is getting there, once at 60th, have done all the dungeons, finished the journey steps, have learned everything, now what? Once I get there, I’m done time to start again.

I’m not going to continue to amass wealth or materials, how many chests of legendary weapons is too many? With 8 vaults of gold why do you need 12 animal pens full of goldnoses? If you have 4 vaults full of each metal when do you need 12 furnaces running?

See that is the issue with zendesk and us being the HOA agents. It’s all judgement calls, and what I consider reasonable isn’t in the same zipcode as what others consider reasonable.

I’m a very conservation builder because I don’t want to take up more then what I consider my share of the server. For some that thought never seems to enter their minds.

Being an old man I know a lot of people never learned the lessons of life the way I did. You shared or you did with out. You are not the only person in the household. The world does not revolve around you.

The public servers are not yours.

[gravityfalls]

I like the idea of ​​limiting the size of buildings on official servers and increasing the distance between bases, because I believe that the real reason for the problem is these two:

Too many (unnecessarily) large bases, which cause FPS drops, close or modify paths, sometimes block resources, bosses, etc.;
Too many bases too close to each other. Sometimes these bases aren’t even that big. On the server where I’m playing, for example, the Noobs’ river has become an underwater Venetian Dubai, with dozens of medium-sized bases (some large, but most of them medium-sized or even smaller), but all very close to each other. So, since the bases are very close, together they have a very high potential to cause FPS drops when you pass through the area.

In this case, limiting the size of bases on official servers and increasing the distance between bases would help a lot to avoid FPS drops and would prevent players from being tempted to build gigantic shopping malls around an area, blocking rivers, crossings, canyons, plains, etc.

On this same server, there are also some megalomaniacal bases, some occupying plains, but others are on paths and points of interest. There were few cases in which I saw someone forcing me to deviate from the path (but there are those cases, like a base in the East that forces me to deviate by the river to get to the Rhinos that are in the area). But those that do not block the path create bridges and ramps for you to cross, and that is also not allowed.

That is why Funcom’s idea of ​​preventing players from building on points of common interest is also very good, but that alone will not prevent these construction conglomerates and all their problems. Reducing the size of the bases and increasing the distance between them would keep the server cleaner and lighter, and with a map the size of Conan Exiles, it would still be possible to maintain dozens of bases, even with this limitation.

By the way, there is another type of abuse here that the building block limitation would solve: a single player maintaining more than one giant base. It is one thing for a player to maintain several small bases (I myself have about four bases, which are nothing more than small huts on the map), but it is another thing for a player to have four castles, 5 fortresses with walls full of towers. Okay, is having a castle with walls and towers cool? Yes, it is cool. But if it is too big, it is better to do it in singleplayer mode or on a private server. But man, maintaining several castles? Several fortresses? Having a mansion per biome?

But, as @DeaconElie mentioned, Funcom needs to sit down and discuss the issue. How can we, players who want to see the official servers more lively and interactive, pressure them to do so in a healthy way?

Maybe by starting a campaign to report abusive bases?

On the server I’m on, I go around with my repair hammer checking to see if any of the bases in the area have decayed so I can destroy them, but so far I’ve only found one single, solitary block that I’ve removed. The other buildings always seem to receive visits from their owners interested in keeping their gigantic buildings there, which I find strange, not because players can’t do this, but simply because I almost never see more than one or two players on the server (including myself). There are rare occasions when the server has 5 players online at the same time. This number doesn’t match the number of bases there (number and size, because there are many very large bases for so few players online). Maybe we access them at different times, but I don’t think that’s it, because on weekends the number of players online is also not that high.

Anyway, I’m thinking about taking some screenshots and contacting ■■■■■■ to see what happens and if they’ll give me feedback on these points:

Too many bases close together are causing FPS drops. Should this be allowed on official servers?
Aren’t very large bases an abuse of land claim, like the examples that will be mentioned?
Aren’t bases occupying common paths, creating bridges or forcing detours against the rules?

Anyway, I’d like to try to contact ■■■■■■ about this (it will be my first time, so I don’t know what to expect).

[gravityfalls]

I’m one of those people who likes to start over after a while.
It’s a survival game, and when things get too easy, I lose interest in the game a little.
I agree that people like to play online to meet up with friends and play together, but the server being restarted doesn’t stop people from getting together on the same server and starting over together.
Alright, restarting the server every 30 days is a bit excessive, I agree, but 1 year is a long time.

Another less “radical” way to keep the server clean is to send the gods to punish the bases that go over a certain limit and occupy community spaces. In this case, only the offenders would have their bases “cleaned”, without their characters being reset to level zero.

[stelagel]

@DeaconElie

unanimous

I had to use the dictionary, thanks for using not casual English, it’s very important for me.

@DeaconElie

3 days? Are you playing for 72 hours straight? Why the big hurry?

My normal sessions is about 5 hours per day when i create new characters. When my characters are “finished” 2 hours is more than enough to fall asleep!
So consider about 15 hours (in these 3 days), no pressure or speed run, going around the map like a batterfly, getting all the knowledge and lvl up at the same time.
I am never in rush but always busy if you’re getting me, that you probably will.

@DeaconElie

Sorry but the best part of the game is getting there, once at 60th, have done all the dungeons,

I didn’t quite understand the part of disagreement! I like to do dungeons both on lower levels and after 60. It’s just more spicy to go under leveled and far more rewarding to be a naked butt, yet with a scythe in your hands on the exit .

@DeaconElie

Once I get there, I’m done time to start again.

True, we totally agree!

@DeaconElie

many chests of legendary weapons is too many?

Exactly m8, exactly. Then again people do a huge mistake looking legendary stats but not boons.
Or another… They don’t use legendary weapons because it doesn’t have master kit…
The irony?
They put a master kit and toss it to a chest .

How many materials, thralls, legendary weapons people must loose to understand their only purpose?

All these exist to be used, so we’ll have fun with them, not store them on shelves and brag about them .

@DeaconElie

The public servers are not yours.

Exactly brother, we are guests and we must react like guests not owners.

Well said DeaconElie, nice post!

[DeaconElie]

@stelagel

It’s just more spicy to go under leveled and far more rewarding to be a naked butt, yet with a scythe in your hands on the exit .

On test I’ll be exploring, maybe with a thrall in tow, and die in an easy fight. Then remember I’m in inn keepers clothes for the carry bonus

[stelagel]

I believe that the greatest reason we all die is the lag fest above all. We think we’re here, but we’re there. We see an enemy but getting hitted from many. We all know when to dodge and what to expect, but lags add huge spicy taste in the game!
I use camels and play full agility, grit and vitality, yet lags can kill me too .