I'm looking for ideas that will help define and round out futuristic cities. Imagine a far future city that's a wild mix of technologies both primitive and fantastical. I'm looking buildings or structures which can affect the city in interesting ways. Preferably, these buildings will affect some stats that make up the city. The environment is a mix of technologies in a post-apocalyptic future, so please feel free to be very creative. In game terms, the city is defined by some stats. Not all of these are defined, so if you have an idea for a building but need a new stat, feel free to add it.

• Food and resource use per day (ie, power, water, etc)
• Pollution level
• Crime level
• Revenue generated
• Population, broken into groups each of which has
  • Nationality
  • Happiness level
  • Chance to do things when unhappy: Strike, riot, protest, exmigrate
  • Chance to do things when happy: Celebrate, work harder, spend more money
  • Enemy factions / groups
  • Allied factions / groups
• Factions, which are specialized groups like science, industry, police, organized crime, etc., which have
  • Wealth
  • Strength
  • Influence (over the population in general or other factions, like the government)
  • Chance to initiate special events, such as inciting riots, strike breaking, etc.

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A couple of examples: Meme Station - Programs the population to be more favorable to the faction controlling the station by broadcasting subconscious messages. Increases appearance of subversive or terrorist factions which will attack the controlling faction. Rebellion: -10% for all citizens in city, Requires 300 units of power. Rainmaker - Policing facility which generates hard walls of nanomist. Used by security forces as an aerial shield, privacy screen and to control protestors. Rioting: -20%, requires 1000 energy and 500 units of metal per use. ...or something like that...

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I'd like to turn the building ideas into actual facilities that you can interact with at an RPG level, btw.

Brothel.

Hi Wavinator, here's a few ideas:

The Palisade - A wall around the city which grants control of emmigration and immigration, affect trade revenue down by 50% or turn 50% of same to none taxable (or leaving it as it is). Military defense of city is easier. 250 energy and 50 metal to maintain.
The Wall of Unity was errected in 3055 shortly before the suprise attack that began the War of Eviction, in which the hypocrite filthlovers of neighbouring New Atlanta were persuaded to let the rural poor be put into camps to better serve the New World's Leadership. Now, on your left you can see one of the most famous sections of the wall emerging...

The Holographic Ad Monopoly - Control all street ads in the city. Cost 1250 energy to maintain. Controller can choose one of the following: (1) Increased strength and influence, (2) adjust general happiness up or down or (3) increase revenue & pollution.
So remember, on January the 21st, Vote Munchkin! ... This message was approved by The Leaders Voice and The Leaders Arm's counsil of Libery, enligtening the masses since the fall of the old tyranny in 3047. In the name of Freedom, All Hail The Leader.

The Training Camp - The controlling factions streetpeople become more effective at urban combat and perform better in military, riot and crime situations. The faction gains the abilities to arson and assasinate.
The power of the Urrahs was not that they were better connected than other gangs or had a more prosperous turf. The true reason behind their dominance was the ruthless efficiency with which they would utterly crush any opposition, something they were all required to learn shortly after inception.

The Mapkeeper - An institution that keeps records and maps of all buildings in the city. It allows the controlling faction to instantly know when another 'special' building has been built.
Buno was excited. Finally John and the others would have to admit his Urban Exploration Centre was a success! Those f*cking Reavers had built a dopelab in their heartland, breaking the treaty! As soon as Buno would tell Sergant of Arms John of this he will give the orders to burn it down and erradicate every single one of those backstabbers. And the Urrah would be one step closer to challanging the ivory tower!

Administration Office - A place where policy and claims are made. For example, the government faction begins with the claim that they must approve all buildings (since they represent themselves or whomever by proxy, and has the right to the land it is on). Here, lots of diverse policies, information and interfaces are made available to the controling faction.
Policechief Aronson was pleased, the screen in front of him indicated crime was down and the city's last real problem was the frequent strikes in the southern areas. He rubbed his back and sighted. That was growing to be a problem. If only those unionscum could be caught and charged with something..

Advanced Vehicle Control - In a time and age where the advanced vehicles (flying cars, magnetic subs) are all coordinated and controlled from afar, a central server needs to manage the traffic. Grants it's controlling faction use of advanced vehicles, allowing simple military maneuvers, extreme riot efficiency, protection of places and a chance to deny another faction this kind of control and abilities.
Sergent Peterson was not one to wait for orders when he saw a good opportunity. He charged the approaching unionworkers with his squad's Anti-Personal HooverCraft. The paperworks could always be corrected afterwords, he thought, and then he smiled at the first bump.

Dunno if this is what you had in mind, perhaps a bit too heavy on the conflict side of things. Is the citymap supposed to be interactive, or a (near) static like in the 4x genre? Anyway, hope some of it works for you.

/RC

Quote:

Original post by Edward Ropple Brothel.

I'm looking for strange and unusual. You're killing me here, Ed. [grin]

Quote:

Original post by Rosecroix Hi Wavinator, here's a few ideas:

Nice! I like the little anecdotes, too, they really flavor the facilities. My thanks and ratings++ to you, sir!

Quote:

The Palisade - A wall around the city which grants control of emmigration and immigration, affect trade revenue down by 50% or turn 50% of same to none taxable (or leaving it as it is). Military defense of city is easier. 250 energy and 50 metal to maintain.

The return of walled cities is a cool idea. But to be quirky, I'm thinking that people would consider huge walls with guards to be foreboding and an eyesore. So what if the Palisade was actually a knee-high wall that encircled the city, with breaks for roads and approved entrances. Using nanotech, however, the Palisade would swell to a slick glassy black wall when objects approached. The quality of the Palisade would determine how thick and high the wall could be. (Variants could ensnare people, as well).

Quote:

The Holographic Ad Monopoly - Control all street ads in the city. Cost 1250 energy to maintain. Controller can choose one of the following: (1) Increased strength and influence, (2) adjust general happiness up or down or (3) increase revenue & pollution.

This I like but would multiply the cost by the size of the city. It also makes me think more not just of single facilities but groups of facilities, so thanks!

Quote:

The Training Camp - The controlling factions streetpeople become more effective at urban combat and perform better in military, riot and crime situations. The faction gains the abilities to arson and assasinate.

Were you thinking sort of a VR training studio? (If so, this mirrors facility ideas for I've in mind for the starships of this era, too).

Quote:

The Mapkeeper - An institution that keeps records and maps of all buildings in the city. It allows the controlling faction to instantly know when another 'special' building has been built.

Okay, now THIS I REALLY like. If you don't mind, I'm going to run with this: A Mapkeeper is illegal in many democratic cities but beloved by authoritarian regimes and crime syndicates. What it does is to infiltrate the surrounding soil and buildings with monofilament "nerve endings" very sensitive to pressure, light, weight, chemicals and energy usage. These nerve endings report back to an AI consciousness that is fed statistical trend data about the city. Based on this information the AI makes some very accurate guesses about what's being built and where by comparing resource use data to an exhaustive facility profile.

Rebel, criminal and terrorist groups often employ aggressive deconstruction nano to directly attack the constantly regenerating Mapkeeper, while more stealthy and artful factions sometimes employ Racketeers, highly illegal miniature Mapkeepers that throw off false signals for a single building.

A more insidious variant of the Mapkeeper uses bacteria impregnated with low-energy wireless transponders rather than the more expensive and more easily detected monofilament wire. These called "Germkeepers" are less reliable, though.

Quote:

Administration Office - A place where policy and claims are made. For example, the government faction begins with the claim that they must approve all buildings (since they represent themselves or whomever by proxy, and has the right to the land it is on). Here, lots of diverse policies, information and interfaces are made available to the controling faction.

I'm thinking of this almost like the mandatory HQ in RTS games.

Quote:

Advanced Vehicle Control - In a time and age where the advanced vehicles (flying cars, magnetic subs) are all coordinated and controlled from afar, a central server needs to manage the traffic. Grants it's controlling faction use of advanced vehicles, allowing simple military maneuvers, extreme riot efficiency, protection of places and a chance to deny another faction this kind of control and abilities.

Almost like an air traffic control station for a city. Very nice!

Quote:

Dunno if this is what you had in mind, perhaps a bit too heavy on the conflict side of things. Is the citymap supposed to be interactive, or a (near) static like in the 4x genre? /RC

Great ideas, thx! I'd like the gmae to offer you interactive buildings built from precreated pieces so that they're interactive at an PRG level; but then to allow what I call "Command Mode" which is a bird's eye view of the buildings for base building and tactical gameplay.

Stabiliser core: A mammoth 50m high and 5x5m wide styrosteel pylon that is driven deep underground and serves to dampen violent earthquakes either natural or caused by "quake" bombs deployed by rebel or terrorist forces. Also serves to Stabilise the Quanta-Fusion process (as explained below) by absorbing the various strange particles attracted by it.

Quanta-fusion Stability++;
Action: Lessen building damage.

Terasail transport system: A series of interconnected tunnels and individual Terasail units provides a fast and efficient means of transport for the wealthiest and noblest citizens.

Happiness: Nobles ++, Other --;
Productivity: Nobles ++;

MHJ4 Robots: Generates robotic servants for the city. Only the wealthiest of cities can afford to generate vast quantities of bots.

Productivity: All ++;
Energy requirement: Large
Resource requirement: Large

Biopharm: Responsible for growing more human population.

Icarus [unique]: A highly evolved AI mainframe responsible for research and development. Benefits science and industry. Icarus is unique meaning that only one can be built in each city.

Productivity: Science++, Industry++
Energy req.: Large
Cost: Large

Quanta-fusion Chamber: Generates infinite amounts of Energy. Extremely unstable, and becomes more unstable the longer it is active. Each Stabiliser core serves to lower the probability of the Chamber imploding.

Cost: High
Energy generated: Infinite
Action: Implosion, destroys the building and the surrounding buildings.
Probability of Implosion: P(t=years,n=no. of cores) = (.9-.1n)^1/t

Hi again!

Thanks for the boost :) . I had a more rundown version of the world in my mind than you I think, but no matter. I named the buildings very genericly, so the palisade would be The Wall of Unity if built by Big Brother (and in that case very possibly could be a nano reincarnation of our old buddy 'city wall'), or it could just be called The Toll Stations and have a whole different look and feel to it, being run by the/a industrial faction. While this might be a hard design to take on (having several models and in your case even RPG maps of each facility), I think you might have to or the world might quickly become apparent generic.

About the administration office, I think it is a good idea to have one. That solution is excellently compatible with the philosophy that the player should not be swamped with interfaces before they have any real use of them. I'm even thinking it might be necessary to divide the building further, so the interfaces and information become more specialized. Maybe an office per function (one for trade, for crime, one for civilian violence, etc). The training centre is already very close to fall into this category, and maybe it could be developed into a string of buildings. Minor idea anyway, I just like the 'naturally interfaceless' interface.

The Drug Factory - Can be used to either 1) increase revenue++++ and crime++ and gain ability to perform subtle assasination or 2)increase revenue++ and troop recoveryrate+ and gain ability to perform and subvert subtle assasination.
A barly hearable melody escaped Magyars lips. He was very pleased with the new gank-fac, now the Reapers would be able to supply the newly conquered northen suburbs. He cracked his knuckles in passing and left the office to inspect the floor again. Suddenly he stopped and then sniffed the air. Was that smoke he smelled?

The Gated Community - The Faction controlling a gated community gives all its members a 75% chance to avoid assasination. It lowers citywide crime-. It increases citywide happiness+. Loss of the gated community momentairily decreases population- and happiness--- of all allied populationgroups.
It had been rough day for Mog, he had fled for his life all day. At 05.59 this morning bulldozers had breached the barriers down from the ancient subwaystations and into the old sewers. The hidden guards and laserturrents had done little, only the minefields had slowed down the onslaught of Imperial Corp's attack. Pressed against a grate at the end of a tunnel with his ear to a pipe he could hear the same old slogan repeated over and over in a metallic chime "Cease your illegal squatting. According to City Counsil resolution #19945-3220-21 this area is belong to Imperial Corporation. Cease your..". Mog cried silently.

/RC

[Edited by - Rosecroix on January 6, 2005 4:28:49 AM]

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Original post by Wavinator Quote: Original post by Edward Ropple Brothel. I'm looking for strange and unusual. You're killing me here, Ed. [grin]

I try, really I do. To make up for being as evil as I happen to be, I'll try to come up with some stuff today. (I have two classes, so I think I'll have time.)

Dream Vision

Lacking in fantasy life? Plagued by nightmares? Tired of your same old dreams? Then go to your nearest CC32K retailer and pick up a Dream Vision headset today. Dream Vision is the latest in high tech fantasy fulfillment. The Dream Vision system allows you to chosen one of our thousands of high quality dream scripts to live out in your sleep. But not just that using our patented neural remote you can change, rewind pause, or fast-forward your dream at any time. We also offer an exciting new system designed for families the multi dream system. This system allows you link multiple dream vision head sets together allowing the users to experience and participate in the same dream. The perfect way for you to take family faction you've always wanted but could never of afford.

Dream Vision Broadcast Facility
Cost 200 energy units per mile of prodcast range.
Population Effect:
Increased contentment - people are happier

Faction Effect:
Increased revenue - from usage fees, and advertisements.
Alter Public Opinion - can be used to alter people’s opinions of a faction.

RPG Effect:
Mind Hack - Gather information about people by hacking into their dreams.
Personality Modification - Modify a persons personality by sending specific kinds of dreams.


Neural Slave Pylon

The Neural Slave Pylon is an advanced form of distributed processor computer. By seizing control of part of the brain of any unprotected life form in the slave radius, it is able to link those minds together to accomplish complex computational functions. Although the effects can by taxing on the exposed life forms and leaves them some what mentally inferior during the process.

Cost: 2000 energy units

Population Effect:
Increased Unrest. – From the unwilling hijacking of minds.
Increase Risk of Sieger attack – from the large mental footprint.

Faction Effect:
Massive science bonus – from the pylons effects.
Popularity decrease – from peoples dislike of the technology.

RPG effect:
Decrease Intelligence if unprotected.

Citizen's Voice - An outlet for the people to be heard. Think of it as a government-approved whining session. The ability to air their grievances, ostensibly to those in charge (not that they have to listen to them) and broadcast to their fellow citizens as well, lowers unrest somewhat. However, there is a chance that a truly persuasive speaker may appear and actually increase unrest.

This is the sort of cynical thing that I would envision an authoritarian government doing. ;)