Nodes. They’re an important piece of the gameplay loop in Ashes of Creation, letting players establish towns, become citizens, and ostensibly giving players reasons to fight one another in the FFA PvP sandbox. That said, Intrepid Studios hasn’t really granted a look at the node system for roughly two years going. That has changed with the studio’s latest video, which guides followers through what building up a node looks like in Alpha Two.
The video shows node creation from the perspective of the player elected as the mayor, starting with the node treasury screen, which is effectively an inventory of materials a node needs to do things like build buildings or establish defenses. Filling this inventory is done with buy orders set by the mayor, which in turn rewards players who deliver the wanted materials, though the devs pause to point out that this system is ripe for exploitation, as some dirty pool in the form of insider trading or caravans bringing materials being assaulted can happen; ultimately mayoral reputation matters.
Using this node inventory, mayors can grow a town through its various stages of development and place buildings and services. Other mayoral duties showcased in the video include fulfilling requisitions, adjusting tax rates within the node, and a quick look at the default buildings that get automatically placed as a town grows.
The video then walks through the process of placing a building in an empty lot space, which requires node currency, node materials, and the contribution of additional materials from player citizens. The devs explain that there is no reward for citizens who offer materials, but this does let a mayor know whether other players want the building in their town based on whether they grant materials or not. Placing additional buildings is further explained as a way to specialize a node, as mayors can establish multiple buildings such as smithies to craft different types of weapons, thus making their town a haven for weapon crafters.
Finally, the video offers a basic rundown of how buildings can be upgraded through a tech tree, which further allows for some specialization and customization for mayors. The devs point out that specialization will be key, particularly as the team wants players to move goods around the game world and that no one location can do everything. It’s an overall extremely granular look at the system awaiting below.
