Approved Project Application: House Cobb by InvertedWinger and JJLyric

[InvertedWinger]

Why does the castle have a yard dedicated to nothing but a spike pit? A spike pit/moat would be best served outside of the castle rather than inside a yard, to serve as additional defenses for the walls. Once those walls are breached there is no further protection, a spike pit inside the walls would serve no purpose but to take up space that could be used to serve the household.

The idea behind that area is that in case of attack the wooden bridge would be taken down and the that area would be a chokehold for the attacking soldiers.

Another point is why is the castle an L? Is there a reason for this shape? It doesn't follow the shape of any geographic quirk of the lands (Its on a low lying hill) so I'm perplexed by the builders of the castle made the castle an L

So when the castle was first being built the gatehouse around the spike pit wasn't there, it was only added years later to have better protection against attackers. I tried to have the towers be a different style in the gatehouse to show that they were not built by the same ''architect.''

Can a little extra effort be made into the local vegetation terra as well? As it stands it looks extremely procedurally generated and looks more like cotton fields than meadows or plains

I would also give some of the crop fields another look because some fields look...unfinished.

In addition some of the village/hamlet streets could use more street details, a lot of them feel fairly desolate as if there is an active stay-at-home order for a quarantine.

These are all valid criticisms and I would love to talk with you in game about how I can improve them.

 

[Enah]

I feel that the spike pit while could be practical in a different setting, has no valid point, especially as the invaders can walk around it. I also found the shapes of fields too uniform and grid-like, there's no field that isn't following the same way. Everything has a neat, orderly direction, no angles or awkward shapes. it doesn't feel realistic. I'd highly recommend looking at how some other Reach builds nearby have plotted their fields. I'd also suggest adding vegetable gardens to all the hamlets, and pastures for livestock. Villages with 'bad' soil should have cows or sheep since grass grows almost everywhere, but there should be several livestock areas as is, and added wheat and oats and whatnot to help sustain them in droughts or winter. And I'm unsure what project the forest belongs to, but maybe having a few mature trees in the outer ring would be nice. It's odd that there is only new growth all around it. Also some coppicing areas and windbreaks for fields would be good, they provide vital mini-habitats for wildlife and help reduce field exposure to harsher winds.

 

[AerioOndos]

looking back through the thread, I saw that a while ago you wanted to redo the castle to be like Ozalj in Croatia. Is this still the case? I personally like the idea if its outer stone embankments are instead earthen embankments like Gaunt castle.

As an expansion of what was said earlier, and Enah's message above, shepherding would be vital to the woods village as forests are vital grazing areas for many animals and would particularly be so in the riparian Reach, due to its heat. In the server we're still coming off the second hottest summer on record so you'd have a high amount of grazing animals taking shelter in the shade there. The woodland sheep variety are called woodlands for a reason.

 

[Enah]

Pigs traditionally were forest animals in much of europe, they love acorns and mushies

 

[Margaery_Tyrell]

The idea behind that area is that in case of attack the wooden bridge would be taken down and the that area would be a chokehold for the attacking soldiers.

The reason why spike pits and moats are placed in front of castle walls rather than inside castle yards is because an invader could attack any side of the castle. In this case they would simply breach the part of the walls....without the spike pit. It's a castle not a vanilla mc parkour course.

So when the castle was first being built the gatehouse around the spike pit wasn't there, it was only added years later to have better protection against attackers. I tried to have the towers be a different style in the gatehouse to show that they were not built by the same ''architect.''

I think that there is a better manner of depicting this, the shape at the moment looks more like a suburban house with an addition than a castle that has grown and been built over time. I think the addition of an outer bailey like this:

would help immensely with making the castle feel like part of the landscape

These are all valid criticisms and I would love to talk with you in game about how I can improve them.

I think it would be best if these subject matters were addressed on the forums since the nature of the server chat makes dealing with critiques more concrete.

 

[Emoticone11]

One thing that would help with the foliage mix from the technical side is first using larger-scale, lower-frequency Perlin noise (I assume you used Perlin for the current mix?) to create some masks, and then use whatever smaller-scale noise you had initially used within those masks. This way the foliage won't look so uniform, but will instead be "clustered" into areas that are more or less dense with flowers (can show you what I mean in-game if it's unclear).

Also, for the fields I'd suggest removing whichever crop block is the one that looks neon green (just a lower growth blockstate of wheat I think?)

 

[InvertedWinger]

I feel that the spike pit while could be practical in a different setting, has no valid point, especially as the invaders can walk around it.

I would have no problem with moving or removing the spike pit.

I also found the shapes of fields too uniform and grid-like, there's no field that isn't following the same way. Everything has a neat, orderly direction, no angles or awkward shapes. it doesn't feel realistic. I'd highly recommend looking at how some other Reach builds nearby have plotted their fields.

I personally like uniform fields but if they are too uniform or grid, again I would be ok with changing them.

Villages with 'bad' soil should have cows or sheep since grass grows almost everywhere, but there should be several livestock areas as is, and added wheat and oats and whatnot to help sustain them in droughts or winter.

I will add more livestock areas, but when you said ''and added wheat and oats...'', do you mean in the forest hamlet or elsewhere?

Also some coppicing areas and windbreaks for fields would be good, they provide vital mini-habitats for wildlife and help reduce field exposure to harsher winds.

Now that you meantion it there should definitely be more windbreaks around the fields.

looking back through the thread, I saw that a while ago you wanted to redo the castle to be like Ozalj in Croatia. Is this still the case? I personally like the idea if its outer stone embankments are instead earthen embankments like Gaunt castle.

No that was not the inspiration for this castle,

As an expansion of what was said earlier, and Enah's message above, shepherding would be vital to the woods village as forests are vital grazing areas for many animals and would particularly be so in the riparian Reach, due to its heat. In the server we're still coming off the second hottest summer on record so you'd have a high amount of grazing animals taking shelter in the shade there. The woodland sheep variety are called woodlands for a reason.

Adding sheepherding to the forest is absolutely something I should do then.

I think that there is a better manner of depicting this, the shape at the moment looks more like a suburban house with an addition than a castle that has grown and been built over time. I think the addition of an outer bailey like this:

So maybe then i can remove the gatehouse extension and add a gatehouse on the outer bailey,

If I were to add the stone bailey, would the earth embankment that Aeks suggested be overkill or could I do both?

I think it would be best if these subject matters were addressed on the forums since the nature of the server chat makes dealing with critiques more concrete.

Ye but I just thought it would be great to show me examples in game of which field you think look unfinished and how I can make the streets look more alive.

One thing that would help with the foliage mix from the technical side is first using larger-scale, lower-frequency Perlin noise (I assume you used Perlin for the current mix?) to create some masks, and then use whatever smaller-scale noise you had initially used within those masks. This way the foliage won't look so uniform, but will instead be "clustered" into areas that are more or less dense with flowers (can show you what I mean in-game if it's unclear).

The foliage is made with perlin noise. I can send them to you on discord or post them here. And when you have time in game I would love for you to show me.

Also, for the fields I'd suggest removing whichever crop block is the one that looks neon green (just a lower growth blockstate of wheat I think?)

Yes I already did that.

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey Inv! Just wanted to check up on the status of your post-approval edits? Let me know if I can be of assistance with anything.

 

[InvertedWinger]

Hey Inv! Just wanted to check up on the status of your post-approval edits? Let me know if I can be of assistance with anything.

I decided to update the castle and redo most of the fields in the project, but I haven't done anything for a couple months now. I don't know how much free time I'll have in the summer, but hopefully I'll get off my butt and finish the project ''soon.''