Topic

Where are the new community machine rooms?

I've only seen one so far, in Otterlane, but there has to be more than one, right? Blockmaking and fuelmaking are just about my last two remaining skills to learn, so I figured I should know where I should go to make my blocks and fuel, since I don't really want those ugly machines in my pretty house.

Posted 19 months ago by Essie Kitten Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • As far as I'm aware, there are only two community machine rooms at the moment:  Otterlane in the Meadows and Middle Valley Clearing in the Forest.  
    Posted 19 months ago by Marebito Subscriber! | Permalink
  • You may not find machines in them, especially if there is a project in progress.  You can also purchase your own machines at a hardware dealer but they are expensive.  Another option:  the Rube has been offering machine parts for an Emotional Bear.  It may be cheaper to buy a few bears and look for the Rube.
    Posted 19 months ago by Brib Annie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Last test I checked out both machine rooms and there were no machines at Middle Valley Clearing and only a Fuelmaker at Otterlane. Luckily there were machines at the project and owners willing to share them. Unless the devs make a change I don't think we can expect to find machines in the community machine rooms because they are being removed.
    Posted 19 months ago by Gizmospooky Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh I though community rooms are theaters, and the big X are for the performers to stand and practice their acts. Kidding aside; wonder why the machines cannot be locked down just like the gnomes. And for the thieves who keep taking them, someone left a very nice note for them on the notice board. Please do read that.
    Posted 19 months ago by gia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • gia, there is a huge thread SOMEWHERE about locking down machines. The issue is clutter. Gnomes you can only place in your house or right outside it. People can fill up their front yard and all they have to worry about is annoying their neighbors. Having streets littered with locked down machines would be horrible. (Various options have been floated by players such as time limited lockdowns and the like.)
    You could make it so that machine could be locked down in community machine rooms... but then the devs might as well just place 3 block makers and 1 fuel making. (For now. I assume at some point there will be another machines.) 
    Posted 19 months ago by Lord Bacon-o Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Couldn't you keep all the pieces in a bag and assemble/tear down when you need a machine? Seems like that's what people are doing to keep the machines close to the projects.

    I too was surprised to find the machine rooms empty. Somehow I expected them to be populated with machines you couldn't take apart.
    Posted 19 months ago by Sweet Pea Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Why not just have the devs populate the rooms with machines?  Then at least perhaps the rooms would get used for making bricks and blocks.  I altruistically assembled a machine in one of the rooms, then paused to realize that it would simply be taken.  So, now I carry it with me to projects, assemble it and then disassemble it when the project's needs are filled.  

    Unfortunately, this places me in the position of standing guard over the machine for the duration of the project in order to be able to disassemble it before someone takes it.  If the cost weren't a factor, I could care less, but it's a fairly hefty investment.  It's also strange when you consider that no one else but you can take your gnome from your house.

    Would it be so terrible for devs to populate the rooms with locked down machines or to only have the person who assembled a machine be able to disassemble it?  Perhaps with an option to confer the disassembly to someone else - if I do, for whatever reason, decide to abandon it?
    Posted 19 months ago by zeeberk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • If they will not lock down machines in the machine rooms then they might as well get rid of the rooms.  They add nothing to the beauty of the streets and as they never have machines in them they are useless.
    Posted 19 months ago by Brib Annie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 I Good point, Brib
    Posted 19 months ago by GreyGoose Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Zeeberk - I was glad to see that you & Christy both brought blockmakers to the last active project I donated at. You guys were generous enough to share the use of the blockmaker so that others (like me) could actually make bricks/blocks and donate them. I guess I will plan to buy one unless the dev's announce they will place some in the comm rooms and allow them to be locked down (or let us place them and lock them only at that location). I carry so much stuff around so that if I come across an active project I can donate I hate to give up spaces to the pieces of the blockmaker, when I checked the encyclopedia it said it takes up a backback slot, but doesn't say if it will fit in a bag, does it? Also, the machine stand says "once assembled can't be moved". I guess that doesn't mean can't be dis-assembled.
    Posted 19 months ago by Gizmospooky Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hey Gizmo, each piece of a machine takes up one backpack slot.  I had fun setting up a machine next to Cristy, so I'll likely do it from time to time, still, although you can never have enough machines at projects.

    While I loved the community aspect of setting up a machine, there were some challenges:

    - People dump piles of resources at the machines, which is awesome until someone comes along who is not even making bricks or blocks and just takes them.  Boo.

    - Also, I felt obligated (in a good way) to give the people who dumped resources some of the bricks/blocks, but I honestly couldn't keep track of who dumped what, so I felt some guilt that I wasn't able to give some people the finished product to donate.

    - And then people were directly giving me resources, again I couldn't even keep up with who gave me what, so returning finished product was hit/miss.

    All of these speak to the continued general 'problem' (some don't see it as a problem, hence the quotes) of how to effectively work together at projects.  It really all still depends on who is on at a given time.  Some people are more community-minded than others, so communal harvesting of resources or coordination of effort is easy to do when they are around.  Others are more self-minded, so when they are around it's all about people standing under street spirits buying up stuff on auction or waiting for someone else to collect the items so that work can begin (nevermind that if the 20 people waiting would just go harvest the stuff, the work would start faster).  For these reasons, I'd rather see some way of setting up who is working on projects rather than rely on serendipity.  

    Serendipity is very, very, very awesome and my best in-game moments have happened as a result of it.  So, I don't offer the project suggestion of signing-up for projects lightly, because it really would remove a rather happy aspect fo the game.

    However, as more people have come into the game, the dynamic has changed a lot, so there are more issues with cooperation and coordination with the whole serendipity thing.  People either don't know about New Streets or don't use it or use some other backchannel for their own clique, or they use it strictly to profit through inflated sales.  It becomes less about 'wow, we built this together' than plundering resources, making currants, or getting a piece of the trophy.  Which is fine for those who want that style of game... I enjoy the community aspect more than the personal profit aspect, myself.
    Posted 19 months ago by zeeberk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I agree that the blockmakers and fuelmakers in community machine rooms should be locked down, and that there's really no point to the rooms otherwise.  If they can be locked down, the rooms should be made available throughout the world, not just in one or two locations.
    Posted 19 months ago by glum pudding Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks for the explanation of the community rooms... I was perplexed at their purpose when I came across the one in Otterlane.  I originally thought, these are nice for group parties, but then realized there was a machine in the one I finally investigated...like others have said, if the machines can't be locked down, really, what is the point of the community rooms (especially with so many players that would just swipe them)?  Why not only make them locked down for the community hall locations (if someone 'donates' one to a location) or just provide immovable machines in the hall since we can't use them until we get the skills anyway...otherwise, the halls are a waste of space...unless people want to stand on the x boxes and perform for others (as gia mentioned)... ;)
    Posted 19 months ago by b3achy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Zeeberk - thanks for your great response, yes I agree it would be easier to do a project if we could be more coordinated. It's almost like we need a project manager, someone who could assign tasks to volunteers and keep info updated. I realized that people contribute for different reasons, some just like to see the new streets opened, some really want to get the top spots so that they can get parts of the trophy, some just want something to do. It does get very frantic and I understand people not wanting to leave because it takes time to get to the other end of the world to get barnacles for instance. Maybe when we can set multiple teleportation spots and use tokens it will be easier. Imagine we're all on a project and are out of barnacles. If we can use follow and have one person teleport a bunch there and ano person teleport a bunch back it would be easier to organize a barnacle scraping party.
    Posted 19 months ago by Gizmospooky Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I just enjoy the projects, plain and simple.  i do not care if I get any return for donating and find the teleport to the new street a wonderful surprise.  I seldom use the teleport though because I am usually in the middle of doing something i don't want to stop.

    I have dumped items at blockmakers with no desire to get them back or be given blocks.  I think maybe most people who dump must feel that way otherwise they would make sure that they got the blocks.  I seldom have all of the ingredients.  It occurred to me that what I dumped might not be able to be used.  I hope that someone was able to collect the leftovers and use them elsewhere.
    Posted 19 months ago by Brib Annie Subscriber! | Permalink