FlameBlade

Well, it would explain it at least. As usual, the wiki is less than helpful.

I found an island in an open region (J8 - Dighill Island). "Yay!" I thought, finally somewhere to build without too many neighbors. But, alas, it is not possible to place anything on that island. Why is that? Does anyone know?

First of all, I really want to like ATLAS, I really do. But it is not easy. I realize that this game is in early access and that is fine. I also understand that it is impossible to please everyone, especially in this time and day. I also want to say that there is a lot of stuff in the game, that I really like, but it mostly ruined by several issues. The official map is huge, literally. On a good ship with good wind, each grid takes roughly between 15 and 25 minutes to travers, and even longer if one need to explore each island in a grid cell. So, lets say 2 hours per grid, in order to properly assess all islands. With 121 grids at 2 hours each, that equals 242 hours just for assessing all islands. This is a good thing, in my opinion. It means that it should be possible, given time, to find a spot for everyone. In theory. Now, I admit, I haven't been to every island, or even every grid. I usually lose my ship long before that. Farmhouses and warehouses I am a late comer to the game, after the last wipe, and it is damn near impossible to find a place to put down even a single farmhouse. Especially if you want any kind of efficiency out of it. It is not really a problem of finding a place to build a base, but the exclusion range on farmhouses and markets are just so huge that at this point it is very very difficult to find a spot. I found one island with 5 or 6 farmhouses, quarries etc. all connected to 1 or 2 warehouses. There was literally nowhere on that island to set down another farmhouse. It had simply been monopolized by two players/companies. I do believe that several things should be done about this. 1. Reduced the number of farmhouses, mines, quarries etc. to a maximum of two per company per island. 2. Reduced exclusion range on farmhouses, to maybe twice the influence sphere of the farmhouse. 3. Remove the exclusion range for warehouses from different companies, or reduce the number of warehouses to one per company per island. Trade Wouldn't know, I haven't been able to find a spot to place a warehouse. So I am unable to get into trading, since the tradepost needs a warehouse. Ships I like building ships, but they have become to damn expensive, and it is too easy to loose a ship to a Galleon of the Damned. It usually goes like this: I build a ship. I set out. Everything is good for a while. At some point I end up lagging, and getting my ship shot out under me. Rinse and repeat. It is survivable when just building sloops, but when you want something large, like a schooner, you ALSO have to find 5,000 gold. I know, it is fairly easy finding gold, but still, 5,000 gold for a schooner, and it just gets more expensive from there. Besides, to find gold, I basically need a ship, so now I have to build a new sloop, unless of course I saved it when I moved to my schooner. Then I have to trawl for wrecks and buried treasure until I have the 5,000 gold. I get that it shouldn't be too easy, but it sure as heck isn't. At least not if you're like me, and prefer to be alone or just a couple of friends in a company. I think that the gold cost should be removed again, maybe except for galleons. Ships are damn expensive to build, especially when soloing or just a couple of friends in a company. Ships of the Damned All too often have I been ambushed by Ships of the Damned coasting around just on the other side of a grid wall. I can't see them through the grid wall, as it is a different server. That is fair enough, but it isn't fair that they can get so close to the wall, that I have no chance of evading them. Even if I manage to turn around and head back to the grid I came from, the bastards can follow me through to the other grid. And I lag whenever I switch grid, they don't. From a cosmetic viewpoint, the Ships of the Damned look more like alien spaceships, than sailing ships crewed by the damned. But maybe that is just me... I like the concept of the SoD, but all too often their cluster in grounds that are too large to fight, and since you are dependent on the wind, it can turn out to be impossible to get away. I really don't know how to improve on them, but maybe smaller spawns? Lower aggro range? Less damage? All I know for sure is, if the wind is weak and you manage to aggro a SoD, you're pretty much doomed. At least if said ship is larger than your. And on top of these issues, there is a lot of minor annoyances, almost too numerous to mention, so I'll just name a few. 1. cobras are way too aggressive and abundant. 2. Character designer. One face per gender? Seriously? The faces are exceedingly ugly. And no matter how much I fiddle with the settings, it is not possible (for me at least) to get something that looks human enough. 3. Randomized crewmembers. Good lord! Same issue as above. Either they are towering overweight giants, or skinny midgets, and not much in between. Maybe one in ten looks relatively normal, the rest are freaks of nature. 4. Age progression. It's a great and fun idea on paper. But in reality it is hugely annoying, especially because it is not particularly easy to get to a fountain of youth. At least make it optional? I know, many players do not concern themselves greatly with how their character looks, but it matters a lot to me. So something like these issues really sticks in my craw. I have returned to ATLAS on several occasions now, but I end up leaving again after a few weeks. This time my departure is caused primarily by the lack of balance in a lot of things. Ship building, farmhouses, warehouses etc. It doesn't seem like the ATLAS crew concerns themselves with the small tribes, or solo players. It certainly doesn't feel that way. I am a software developer myself, so I know about having to add new features and not just correcting bugs. For that matter, I know some bugs are nigh impossible to squash without have to pull a lot of other stuff. So, some bugs will never be fixed, and there are good reasons for that. But a lot of issues seem to be more of a balancing thing than a bug, so I would think maybe of the issue I have, should be fixable. Whether the developers agree or not, is of course another matter. In any event, I am out for this time. Maybe next season?

And what is the server's name?

Well, I am happy to see that I am not the only one baffled by the "logic" of it all. Misery loves company and all that I can only hope, that the developers will actually begin to balance things so it actually works, instead of just adding new stuff. I like new stuff, but I like that existing stuff works, even better

Hi, I have to say, as a returning player, there seem to be something fundamentally wrong with the system as it stands. I come back after a hiatus of 6 months or so, and am starting from scratch. I discover to my "horror" that to build something as simple as a schooner, I have to gather 5000 gold?! In addition to the other resources. Ok, that is what it is, I get that it is related to the trade system and that is fine. I suppose that this means it should be relatively easy, compared to diving and digging for treasure, to raise the 5000 gold. Right, so I build my marked. Bit expensive, but that's ok, because I am going to make a killing, right? Ok, the marked doesn't work without a warehouse... Ok, that makes sense, I suppose, so I gather the materials for a warehouse and am finally able to put it down. And this is where the logic chain breaks down. I cannot put down my warehouse, because there is apparently another one in the vicinity. I cannot see it though, which suggests, that since I have a fairly good view from my spot, the exclusion range of a warehouse is quite large. This means, that it is almost impossible, or at least very very difficult, for a small single-member trading company like myself, to get some trade going, because there isn't room to get started? There is something very very wrong with this system, if I am required to join a large trading company just to get into the trading system. Seems to me, that the exclusion range on e.g. warehouses should only apply within a company. The same goes to some extend for farmhouses, quarries, mines etc. I get that logically, there has to be a limit to the automated resource gathering in an area, but since real estate in this game is limited, it makes it incredible difficult for new players to get started. You find a nice spot, build a nice base, get ready to build a larger ship. Only to discover that you cannot put down essential structures because you're within the exclusion range of another structure that does not even belong to you. I really do not know what the intention with the system is, but there seems to be some major flaws in it.

I realise that there are some potential issues with this feature request, but I am sure the developers can work those out. In may cases it would be enormously desirable to have right triangles to put in corners, like this: https://prntscr.com/ubz9pk This looks silly, and there is no way to fill it out currently. One issue I know of will be that one side will be somewhat longer than the other two, but I am pretty sure something can be worked out about that. I do not know the capabilities of the game engine, but maybe it can automagically stretch walls to fit or something?

Ya'll do realize that this game is still in early access? It got bugs, it got issues. For crying out loud, the devs are most likely hard at work fixing some of these issues, but at the same time is just as challenged by COVID-19 as everybody else.