Help Topic: Construction
Category: Crafts -- This command cannot be used in combat.
Construction works a bit differently from other crafts. It is the core
skill that allows for in-character player building, in terms of structures
and habitats.
Unlike other crafts, which tend to center around the making of particular
items, construction is more of an assembly skill in that you collect items
and set up how they are going to be assembled.
Most of the time, the collection of items will be negotiated in-character
with other crafters -- those who are able to make the specific items you
seek. You may have a client, who has commissioned the structure, and planning
the construction will also require communication with this client. There
is a lot of consideration involved.
Further unlike other crafts, construction does not fully operate off one
skillset alone. A carpenter, even without any construction skill, is still
capable of installing finishes on an erected building. And if one has
construction skill but no education at all, they cannot draw the blueprints
that will lead to a completed structure -- only allowing them to build
potential generic small buildings such as mud huts or log cabins.
The first thing you must do is establish a construction site. It might not
be permitted to build in some areas within a city. So, it's a good idea to
look around and decide with your client where exactly the building is going
to go, and whether it's alright for it to go there.
Usage:
establish construction site
It costs an initial fee to establish a construction site, depending on how
expensive the neighborhood is, and a site only remains viable for six months
to a year before the city may take it back over if there is no progress made
on the plans.
Once you have established a construction site, you may begin storing materials
there safely. There are many types of materials that can be used for building,
from adobe to sheet metal to wooden logs to bricks to great blocks of alabaster.
Materials have their own costs, and ways to attain through resource gathering.
You can also store finishes at your construction site. Finishes are detail
items, such as doors, windows, locks, lamps, bells, and so on -- objects that
should be fixed and installed onto a structure, unlike furniture that can be
moved around.
Usage:
construction store <material/finish>
construction
construct <generic build>
Using 'construction' without arguments will give you a run-down of what's
happening at the site. A character skilled in construction, without the
necessary education to develop customized blueprints, will also be capable
of putting together various small general builds depending on their land
of origin: such as a log cabin, a mud hut, or a small adobe brick courtyard
with a palm-leaf roof.
Before you can start building, it will be necessary to have some blueprints:
a series of in-character documents that contain the structural plans. To
start your blueprints, you will need some large-sized paper or parchment,
and a writing implement. You also need to be standing in the construction
site.
Usage:
start blueprints
This turns a piece of paper or parchment into the starting page of a plank
set of blueprints. You can add more paper to the set of blueprints, if you
want more pages.
Usage:
blueprint add <paper>
Once you have laid out the blank blueprints, you can begin filling out the
segments. Each page of the blueprints functions as a room of its own, so
for a large structure, you would need to have several pages of blueprints.
Much like a book, the pages of a set of blueprints can be turned, and one
needs elementary education skill to be able to read blueprints. Writing
directly onto a page of blueprints, however, will work more like graffiti
on the blueprint object -- you will not be able to edit individual blueprints
in this way.
To fill out the segments of a blueprint, use the BLUEPRINT command.
The first page of your blueprint is always going to be the building front.
This part will stand where the construction site is standing now. It has some
particular segments that other pages will not have -- definitions of the
whole building, rather than of an individual room.
All segments of a blueprint can be edited via the BLUEPRINT command, regardless.
Usage:
blueprint <segment> <new value>
On the building front page, you'll see segments for: client, foundation, roof,
construction, appearance, and description.
The 'client' is who will be considered the owner of the new structure. This
owner will be responsible for neighborhood taxes and building upkeep. You can
sign this over to a specific person, or to an organization.
The 'foundation' essentially defines what sort of material will compose the
floor of the new structure. 'Roof' is for the ceiling, and 'construction' is
for the walls.
The 'appearance' is what the structure will look like from the street or wilds
outside. Example: a shabby lean-to.
The 'description' is what one might see when looking closer at the structure
from the outside. Example: This is a shabby lean-to. It is propped up with long
poles and an oiled tarpaulin.
After you've finished setting up the building front, you need to set up the
interior rooms. Each room will have its own segments on the page: connection,
name, description, and apertures.
The 'connection' defines how this room links together in a structure. A room
might have multiple connections, each separated by commas. You'll want to use
blueprint page numbers to indicate connections, and if the link goes out onto
the site, then indicate the first page -- the building front. A connection has
two parts: a page number, and then a direction.
Usage:
blueprint connection < blueprint page number - direction >
Connection example: You have a 'Kitchen' described on page 2, and you want it
to link to both the 'Narrow Hall' on page 5 and the 'Dining Room' on page 3. The
hall is south of the kitchen, and the dining room is east.
Example (first turn the pages of your blueprint set to make sure you're on page 2):
blueprint connection 5 - south, 3 - east
Now, the 'name' of the room is its name (what you would see at the top when looking)
and the 'description' is its description (what would follow). That is pretty simple.
The 'apertures' are any outwards views that may exist in the room. A window could be
installed into an aperture. Consider it a hole that looks out onto another room.
An aperture can either look out onto another page of your blueprints, or it can look
onto the building site. If you want it to look out onto the site, use the first page
number. You can describe apertures, but if a window is installed there, then the
aperture description will obviously look entirely different, based on the window.
Aperture Example 1 (a balcony that looks out onto the site):
blueprint apertures over the balcony railing - 1
Perhaps you want two apertures, and maybe one of them you want to install a glass window
into later and one of them you don't. Perhaps an open interior "window" from the kitchen
to the dining room, and a window onto the site from the kitchen that should be installed
with an actual glass-paned windowframe later, and will get its name changed.
Aperture Example 2:
blueprint apertures the dining room counter window - 3, a large aperture - 1
Lastly, there is an optional segment for 'blueprint notes'. You can make notes on any
part of a blueprint set.
These are notes that the architect might make ICly to inform the laborers of special
requests. When construction projects go up in-game, there's no OOC approval required
immediately -- however, they do show up on a private queue of projects for game
administration to take a look at. And, while there's no guarantee of this, it's possible
that game administration will take a look and potentially set up custom features for you
based on your notes.
That's it for blueprints.
Once you've put together the blueprints, it can help to take a look over them
before you commence building. After all, you want to make certain that everything
is going to turn out alright when laborers begin to utilize your plans. Standing
in the construction site and holding your stacked sheaf of blueprints, you can
use a verb to PROOF your construction plans and see if any revisions are necessary.
Usage:
proof <sheaf>
If you don't notice any necessary revisions that need to be made, it's time to
start building. The process of building will take time according to how extensive
your plans were. During this time, the laborers will require pay, and you will
need to maintain the coffers of your construction site in order to ensure that
they are paid. If they are not paid, they will abandon your structure half-built.
Usage:
build
Once the construction is complete, you will have a plot note about it, and gain
further acclaim in the area as a notable architect. The construction site will
give way to the erected building, and all stored finishes will be out in the open
again.
It's time to go through and install all the extra details. You can do this by
lugging those uninstalled parts around and securing them to their places via the
INSTALL command.
Usage:
install <object> on <other object>
OR
install <object> here
Congratulations on your finished build! Hopefully your client's happy.
Note: During the building process, it's possible that staff will make some edits
to the plans. Consider any of these changes to be made on basis of local laws or
laborers' whims, if you like.
Back to Index