COMMUNITY - FORUMS - NEW PLAYER QUESTIONS
Building a business with a retail front?

Hi there,

I remember hearing about this game when it kickstarted, and just last night came across it again. I’ve read a bit about the plans for the game and I feel like the economy will be an amazing aspect of the game, if it’s anything how I interpret what i’ve read.

With that said, and I’m just really looking for confirmation before I pledge to help fund the development: you’ll be able to acquire land to develop as you wish with buildings and/or lease space to/from another player.

Through this developed or leased space, you could potentially create retail fronts to have your character run a shop that sells goods you’ve hand-crafted through an innovative crafting system. For instance, as a jewelry crafter or candle maker selling cut gems and jewelry or crafted candles, then NPCs and player characters alike would enter my shop to purchase goods that I would sell to them and continue to stock while offline?

I’ve seen a few videos showing the various alleyways with entrances to buildings, and I think it would be really fun to lease one of those spaces as a retail front.

Since the game items are entirely destructible, what’s stopping someone from picking a lock or smashing a door and stealing everything I’ve spent all day crafting? Will there be areas, based on a law system(which I haven’t seen too much about) where it will be highly undesirable to break-in and steal due to the consequences? Or, relative “safe-zones” so to speak where I can reasonably expect to log back in and still have a shop, by hiring henchmen or security AI that patrol and protect my building(guard dogs, a stationed guard, nearly indestructible lockboxes, etc)?

If it’s not just going to turn into a game like Rust and will have the game mechanics in place that help protect this type of gameplay, and if anyone has or is looking to create a guild whose interest is to create a highly popular market for trade goods and retail fronts that rival the likes of Diagon Alley, sign me up.


7/9/2019 3:11:50 PM #1

While i don't have any game mechanics to refer you to for the specifics of this question, perhaps you would instead like to read a few books of community journals we have on display.

Sarcasm aside, we vaguely know that there will be systems for selling goods while offline, and that most property within a city wall will be fairly well protected through npc guards (communal, but possibly also personal guards), as well as reputation and legal systems. There are no true safe zones. The actual destruction of harder objects and buildings is supposed to require a significant amount of time and effort.

7/9/2019 7:25:44 PM #2

Since the game items are entirely destructible, what’s stopping someone from picking a lock or smashing a door and stealing everything I’ve spent all day crafting?

There's a few things to think about when discussing 'stealing' in Chronicles of Elyria.

  1. A thief can only steal as much as he can carry, so it's unlikely he could rob the entire store without the use of a wagon, crate, etc. of some sorts. A guy running around with a wagon or cart will most likely be a very easy target to hunt down by law enforcement.

  2. Time & Skill. Not only will it take the thief to picklock the door, but it will take a lot of time moving store items into their satchel or whatever they are using. One does not simply loot a store in a handful of seconds. And how long will it take for someone walking down the street to notice this? More so, this is all implying that a thief has the skill to picklock your door, maintain stealth mode, etc. Think of the paper trail as well, of a thief trying to sell stolen goods to nearby villages.

  3. Don't worry too much about a thief 'breaking' a window or door. That's not a very stealthy way to rob a store, wouldn't you say? That would let pretty much everyone nearby know that something wrong is going on.

  4. If you are a candlemaker, or a producer of a simple commodity, it's not the end of the world if a thief gets into your store and steals a dozen candles. Think of the hundreds of candles the store produces every week! It's akin to a thief stealing a couple of apples from a barrel.

However, if you are a jeweler, that is a different matter. If you are crafting jewels, you're dealing with a high value commodity. Therefore, you should have the means to pay for the best of locksmiths, potentially even a nighttime guard, and hopefully, you'll have everything locked in chests come night. Risk vs reward in this case :)

Part of the thrill in Elyria is creating something, protecting it, and potentially selling it sucessfully. If the world was perfectly safe, and everything you created had zero risk of being destroyed or stolen, then most things would lose a significant amount of gratifying value.

If you want to craft peacefully, then find a city that invests in their walls, law enforcement, and order. As a jeweler, I would definitely not want to be in some little village with no enforcement or defenses! I would want to be in an urban area with guards patrolling the streets.

Hope this answered part of your concerns! :)


7/9/2019 7:42:40 PM #3

However, if you are a jeweler, that is a different matter. If you are crafting jewels, you're dealing with a high value commodity. Therefore, you should have the means to pay for the best of locksmiths, potentially even a nighttime guard, and hopefully, you'll have everything locked in chests come night. Risk vs reward in this case :)

Part of the thrill in Elyria is creating something, protecting it, and potentially selling it sucessfully. If the world was perfectly safe, and everything you created had zero risk of being destroyed or stolen, than most things would lose a significant amount of gratifying value.

If you want to craft peacefully, then find a city that invests in their walls, law enforcement, and order. As a jeweler, I would definitely not want to be in some little village with no enforcement or defenses! I would want to be in an urban area with guards patrolling the streets.

When you mention hiring a guard, would this be an NPC AI? This is exactly the type of gameplay that I'm looking for. So is hiring guards, tiered strength locks, cities with fortified walls etc confirmed or speculation?


7/9/2019 8:04:54 PM #4

Posted By Tral at 12:42 PM - Tue Jul 09 2019

When you mention hiring a guard, would this be an NPC AI? This is exactly the type of gameplay that I'm looking for. So is hiring guards, tiered strength locks, cities with fortified walls etc confirmed or speculation?

Hey, I think a lot of your fears would be eased if you read this design journal a bit. It has mentions of hidden safes, locks, hiring guards, etc. So, yes confirmed :P

As far as Cities with fortified walls, yes they exist. Some settlements will require various buildings and defenses in order to be called certain things like a Fortress, Keep, Stronghold, or the like. We can even show you examples of wall prices for title holders during Exposition :D

You will still have to find a nice place reliable place to settle down though, which is why many people have joined communities at this stage of the game. You want walls, find others that want walls too :P


7/9/2019 9:06:48 PM #5

When you mention hiring a guard, would this be an NPC AI? This is exactly the type of gameplay that I'm looking for. So is hiring guards, tiered strength locks, cities with fortified walls etc confirmed or speculation?

-You can either hire a player on NPC guard, doesn't matter either or. Some players might automate their characters to work as guards when they're offline :) You could also have your character constantly in your shop when you're offline as well.

-The quality of your locks will depend on the skill of the blacksmith you hire to make them.

-Smaller towns and villages most likely won't have significant walls, at least not stone ones. So if you plan on working on an expensive craft, I certainly recommend starting out in a capital, or larger city. A profession, like being a jeweler, will attract a lot of attention :)


7/10/2019 12:31:02 AM #6

Also, @Tral, remember that when you as a player are logged off, your characters remain present as OPCs. OPCs are scripted, and each character's script can be customized for actions and reactions to some events. I expect that locking up the jewelry (for example) when closing up shop and taking actions to stop a daytime thief will both be available scripted actions.