Probation: StanateeManatee

Look for the return of my tag: Gray Wood sandwiched by Bronze Slabs (or simply gray wood)
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Build #1: Seamstress's (or spinster's) house in Varner

/warp varner or -2573, 43, 15641
 
Build #2: Fisherman & Small Family House in the Duskendale ghetto

/warp ddslums or 5426, 47, 11618

Also helped Kul and Cash with some furnishings in Rhymerton and Ferren at this time.
 
Build #4: Logger (at the nearby mill) and wife. Woodwright Holdfast 1.

Last house of Woodwright, the house itself has been looked at already. "Cute" ~ Ark.

/warp woodwrighthf1 (literally right there)
 
Build 5: Poor farmer family housing in the Duskendale Ghetto.

Partially built, finished as one of the last couple houses in DD on behalf of Veg. Made to be very poor with no real table or dining area besides sitting on thatch around the furnace.

/warp ddslums or 5367, 45, 11650

Also helped Veg a bit in touching up a garden and ceremoniously collaborated with Seri and Baff to finish the LAST HOUSE!!!
 

_Simbaa

Printmaker
Hello, Ill be your probation builder, in the next month I want you to build minimum of 5 houses, each in different region, At the end of your if all goes well, then at the end of your probational month you will become a full builder!
 

_Simbaa

Printmaker
#1
quite decent for a first house, however it does have some questionable decisions!
-why is there lavender growing out of lavender basket?
- the chimney should be in a straight line, curving it like this would make it challenging to build, as youre pretty much having a zigzag pile of stones
- the cabinet placement in the chimney makes no sense - if the chimney is straight upwards, therefore there wouldnt be any space for cabinets!
- generally try to reduce blocks with metal bits in them for low class houses, metal was quite rare to get and hard to work, and a low class household wouldnt be able to afford it in nonessential places (outside of tools)!
- do not have storage in places that are hard to access such as the attic area, trying to put things up using only ladders would be hardwork, especially bigger things like the chest! and/or barrels, crates
- with clotheslines try to have them start & end into a wall, right now it looks strange next to the herbs
- in houses with dirt floors avoid having actual carpets with woolen carpet blocks in them, instead use just fur carpet as straw, as it would be used in insulate the house and a regular carpet on a dirtfloor would get destroyed very quickly!
- why so many bones in the house?
Otherwise all good!

thats all for now, ill review the rest later!
 

_Simbaa

Printmaker
Hello,
I might be bit slow on catching up with your probation houses, however I will do my best to do so, However due to these circumstances I would like to encourage you even more you go back to your already made houses to address any reasonable feedback received in game( melons, messages etc...) and check that none of the issues mentioned can be applied to them. (basically go over them with this probation thread open and do sort of a checklist walkthrough) I hope this will help both of us in communicating with each other and avoiding unnecessary repeating of errors! I apologize for any inconvenience caused and promise that i shall be fully back on track by Monday next week!
-Simba
 
Okay, Alex_is_tragic said she'd be my probation leader and she looked over the first few houses. She was the one who made the lavender baskets, the clotheslines and the cabinets. It's also not a low-class house, but a middle-class seamstress- thus why they'd have parchment for drafting and bones for making needles and awls. Being a seamstress is also why there is patchy carpeting as she might as well make her own house as nice as she could within reason. Thanks for your feedback though, Simbaa!
 
Build 8: A couple of tents in Mance's Army

So I don't know if these count, but I did build two tents in Mance's Camp for Otty. They're either side of these coords.

-1620, 49, -20432
 

_Simbaa

Printmaker
Okay, Alex_is_tragic said she'd be my probation leader and she looked over the first few houses. She was the one who made the lavender baskets, the clotheslines and the cabinets. It's also not a low-class house, but a middle-class seamstress- thus why they'd have parchment for drafting and bones for making needles and awls. Being a seamstress is also why there is patchy carpeting as she might as well make her own house as nice as she could within reason. Thanks for your feedback though, Simbaa!

I was asked by WhereRmyDragons to be your probation leader. Anyway I am happy that you are reasoning the placement of certain blocks, that is a good step however I still disagree with some of your reasoning (carpet, "middleclass", etc) given the situation at Varner I will however skip on that as I am sure I will come across similar issues in the following houses, this is not to discourage you posting your own view on things here, In fact I fully encourage you to do so!

#2
DD house is fine!
Good job!

#3
I hope I found the right house as all is in order!

#4
Once again I am not a fan of the cabinets in the chimney, as firstly they are something I would consider a fancy block given the amount of metal in them, and secondly due to the fact that there would be no space for them as they are right in the chimney.
Whats going on with the fencebits above the table?
the hopper that is used to hang the herb bushel makes no sense, why would they deform the entire rafter in that way? wouldnt it be easier to just hang a rope across and have it hanging there,
the stair blocks of the rafters should be in line with the stairs below them, they are supposed to be a single beam supporting the roof!
the wooden stairblock about the doorway is not a part of the style and given the fact that no other houses nearby have and as I see no need for it I think you should replace it with a stone block like in the other stone houses!
Good job on the garden!
 

_Simbaa

Printmaker
#5
all good!

#6
Okay this will be a quite a long list, I have spoken to the project leader to clarify few things with him aswell!
Ints:
- dont use pebbles around the fireplace, just go with scorched earth & ash blocks they will fit in better
- the shelf above the fireplace, firstly, why would it have supports above and not below it? furthermore its situated right above a fireplace - making it largely inaccessible and anything stored there would most likely get a smoking treatment!
- how would the inhabitants access the window above the fireplace to close the shutters?
- I am not sure what you are trying to do there with the fish, firstly I have no idea why theres wattle around it, secondly I would prefer if you would try to have a horizontal rope from which you hang all the stuff, it just looks better and makes more sense - wastes less rope and its easier to hang more stuff on it
- the area that I assume is a for a dog - try not to have alot of elevation difference inside, even a half block means a half a meter hole irl! therefore I encourage you to put a regular block there, if you want some sort of depth to it, you can use carpets around it!
Exts:
- the washing table outside would not be able to stand upright and fixing wood to a stone wall seems unnecessary given its function, therefore I think you should reorient the stairs to make a regular table!
- while I appreciate your choice of crops it would be better to use the ones around the project for consistency - always make sure the ground mix matches the ones around yours! Therefore I would like you to redo them, check out other areas in the project to serve as a guide to you!
- why is there a stripe of fully grown carrots, not yet mature carrots and harvest carrots?
- why is there a barrel with duckweed on it?
- for the woodcutting area: dragging such a big log into the yard would be quite a challlange, they would most likely use smaller branches, fallen wood as firewood!
-you are overusing mudblocks!
the shed:
- thatch roof has to be steeper
- why does a low class farmer has a almost a complete butchers area? where and how would he get the meat? most of the meat block require more steps than chopping up, such as smoking etc...
- furthermore the shed is missing door, alot of the meat is touching dirt floor!
- the wall blocks upon regular blocks make the shed look odd and not up to the server standards, try sticking with regular blocks!
Pigsty
- while I appreciate that you like thick logs, we have long ago shifted away from this style (2015) as it makes no logical sense, especially given how wide they are, So I think it would be for the best to drop these out, along with the random blocks in the ground.
- usually plots specify if they want a pigsty, coops etc.. if they do not mention it either dont build one at all or ask the project leader about it!
- try to stick to one thatch type unless in certain regions!

I hope I did not overwhelm you with all this mostly negative feedback, in case I did, feel free to tell me and ill try walk you through your houses ingame as it might be bit more manageable and slightly negative as we will have time to talk things through!

Cheers!
 
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Alrighty, def won't argue against Dragons's divine and wonderful judgement, plus caught up with you again in game, so all's set and good now, thanks for taking up this mantle. I'll be glad to work with you! :)

#1: I'll make similar adjustments as I made to #4 once Varner is fixed
#2,3,5 DD is done and you were happy, so Great! :)
#4 You saw my fixes. I'm not sure if my message got through in chat today, but I understand what the current thatch roofing style is now- a grid pattern of beams. Happy you like the yard. I loved it a lot too and think it came together quite well. Thx to Seri for finding a good plum tree.

#6 I'll go bit by bit with what i've removed/fixed/still have questions
Ints
-gotcha with pebbles, as I said in game, that was a style I'd seen, but if its been corrected elsewhere, I understand. Not a big fan of the northern pebble use myself.
-in looking at that shelf style again, I should have used diagonal ropes to hold it up. I moved it away from the fire, but now that wall feels a little bare. maybe i'll shift the window over a block.
- i got rid of the upper window
-the fish hanging design doesnt really matchup well with the flat, horizontal rope pattern, thus why i was putting it on harnesses or bottoms of flatter blocks (i think these should've been textured differently (as to your point with they have metal for no real good reason)). I had the wattle there to keep away the dog, but I got rid of him
-^ got rid of the dog. replaced with another bed (for the child's mother post partum). makes the house seem even poorer considering it now has bedding for six or so.
Exts
-okay. old habits die hard.
-I'll move the figwort to the back, where it might grow better with the nearby wash- that way it can serve as a semi barrier between yards and can be shared by the neighbors. I'll replace them up front with leeks or gillyflower (which we obviously know must be grown in canon). I would think dandelions and angelica should be common enough crops in this world. If all else fails, there's always the failsafe sourleaf or kingscopper.
-I'll make it harvested and mature (about to be harvested) carrots.
-nixed the duckweed
- log wasn't brought there, it was felled in the yard- the stump is still in the ground. I always see these "thin logs" sticking up in people's yards. This means there was a tree in their yard that they just cut down, but we always see it right at completion. I'm showing a large part of the trunk still sitting there. I know most of their firewood would probably be collected by the women and children from the nearby forest, but when a fruit tree dies in their yard, they're gonna cut it down and use it.
-I removed the excess mud, although I would think itd be pretty muddy
Shed
-it has to be? all roofs have to be 45°?
- i got rid of the sty- no reason for meat anymore. I know there would need to be smoking, but I was having trouble getting it all to mesh. removing the sty helps a lot. The inside still has a multiuse table where a chicken was recently butchered. It also now has a pile of nondescript straw for whatever use (bedstraw for beds, thatch, others for wicker, gardening/ w/e.). Also an additional clay pot for them to collect their excrement for the garden (a full pot is over by the loo rn ready to be spread once the new carrots are planted).
- I think I mustve broken the door on accident.
- really? I thought it gave a lot more depth to the build- imitating frames around the door and framing/trim along the ground, but i suppose I'll just use all planks then.
Sty
- Logs were nice back in the day gave some framework to the builds and made them feel like built-up houses now wattle has become a catchall. Oh well, I guess I'll have to let them go.
- gotcha. I probably should've checked with Kul, but considering the size of the plot, I thought it might make sense. I got rid of it anyway, it was an exploration in creativity.
-alright. I was just trying to give it a darker, dirtier, less well-kept look.

Thanks for all your feedback and criticism, it is very helpful in catching back up with everything that I've missed these last five years. I wish I could've chatted more IG today, but I hope your computer issues, whatever they may be, get resolved. :)
 
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_Simbaa

Printmaker
Just addressing the tree issue - given the size of the remains of the tree, there is no way they could have safely felled it in the yard given how clumped up everything is, furthermore if you see thin log “stumps” in backyards those serve as chopping blocks for firewood
 
Build 10 (Apparently I should count each Mance's tent i guess): House for a small family of tenant farmers in a hamlet near Ferren Keep.

/warp ferrenhamlet2 or -3158, 69, 12514
 
Build 11: Barn near the Holdfast near Ashwood

/warp ashwoodhf or 409, 47, -3572 or You know where.

I especially await your feedback on this, your own build. I included meat, crates&barrels&racks for veggies, a grain pile and a small hay loft.