Tutorials/Settlement guide

Introduction
If you were wondering what this tutorial is about, it is for building a settlement (i.e. village, town, city). This is different to the "Building a Metropolis" tutorial, as it is a guide on how to classify different types of settlements, as well as what goes in each type. Also, it covers other aspects. It is recommended to build settlements in flatter ground (plains, desert, swampland and tundra) and possibly creative if you just want to build. Also, you MUST set difficulty to peaceful so monsters don't ruin your work! It is recommended to put your creations to a server so your creation is actually functional.

Types of Settlement
So, as you all know, there are three main types of settlements: Villages, Towns and Cities, with other types such as Hamlets, Boroughs and Conurbations. How you distinguish them is really up to you, but for those of you that can't think up a classification system, here is a suitable one that you can use.

Village: Think of a typical NPC village. For a village, you need at least 5 houses. A church is recommended (and compulsory if you have less than 5 houses). It is usually rural but can have a slightly urban touch if near a large town or city. Villages can also have farms, shops, a school, forge and a cafe. They are only known locally.

Town: Usually larger than a village and has a much wider range of services and attractions, as well as being primary destinations on highways. For a town, you must have at least 20 houses. If less, then at least one of the following: a marketplace, port and/or college. You can also have restaurants, supermarkets, hospitals, museums, department stores, malls, hotels, and more. Towns are usually well known in most places.

City: Basically an "upgraded" version of a town, and is usually larger than a town (but not always). Cities are main hubs for pretty much everything. A city must have at least 30 houses and 5 different commercial services. Otherwise, at least one of the following: a cathedral, airport and/or university. Larger cities are separated into districts (urban, commercial, industrial, residential, etc.) and usually contain many office buildings and skyscrapers. Cities are well known throughout the entire continent. Capital Cities also contain Government Buildings and maybe even a palace.

Other Settlement Types:
Hamlet: Smaller than a village. A hamlet is simply a small group of houses with little or no commercial services. It may not even be named!

Borough: A very large town that doesn't have official city status. It must have at least 30 houses and can have some city characteristics but doesn't meet the requirements to become a city.

Conurbation: Many towns and cities merged into one really large settlement. Just build at least two or three different towns and/or cities close enough to each other to be seen as one.

Naming Your Settlement
It is almost compulsory (unless you have a tiny hamlet) to give your settlement a name, which will appear on signage. This is up to you but if you can't think up a decent name, then look for names of real towns and cities (possibly around your area in real life). You can use them to mix and match suffixes and prefixes (for example, "Stourbridge" and "Westminister" can form "Stourminister" or "Westbridge"). Or, you can simply take the name of a real life location and name your settlement after it. To make a name up, you can think of appropriate words (maybe in another language) and fit suffixes to them. Here is a list of some suffixes you can fit on the end of the settlement's name (all examples listed are actual places in the UK, with the exception of Nashville and Hamburg, which are in USA and Germany respectively): -ton (e.g. Northampton) -town (e.g. Newtown) -don (e.g. London) -ville (e.g. Nashville) -chester (e.g. Manchester) -field (e.g. Sheffield) -gate (e.g. Ramsgate) -burg (e.g. Hamburg) -borough (e.g. Middlesborough) -market (e.g. Newmarket) -port (e.g. Southport) -head (e.g. Birkenhead) -bridge (e.g. Cambridge) -mouth (e.g. Portsmouth) -ham (e.g. Nottingham) -ford (e.g. Telford) -church (e.g. Whitchurch) -bury (e.g. Shrewsbury) -bourne (e.g. Eastbourne) -wood (e.g. Brentwood) -wich (e.g. Norwich) -sea (e.g. Swansea) -end (e.g. Southend)

If you prefer something more Welsh, try these prefixes (make sure it's a Welsh word after the prefix though!): Llan- (e.g. Llandudno) Caer- (e.g. Caernarfon) Aber- (e.g. Aberystwyth)

You don't have to stick to the list! Be creative with all words, names and languages you know to put together a nice-sounding name!

Highways and Route Numbering
If you have multiple highways, then it would be good to number them, so you can easily identify which is which (using signs). You can also list primary destinations on the sign underneath this. You can simply number them like Route 1, Route 2, Route 3, etc. as you go along or something more complex. Be as creative as you can and look up how countries like USA and UK number routes. The way Japan numbers routes, going straight through as in route one, route two, and so forth is generally a good idea. It would also be good to put letters before the numbers if you have different classes of highway (e.g. A## for trunk routes and B### for secondary routes). Otherwise, just put "ROUTE" before the number. You can also have a separate numbers for freeways (with minecart tracks) compared to walkways. Freeways bypass every settlement in the way (with exits) and terminate at big cities. For extra-long highways with great distances between towns and cities can have service stations in between that sell food and have beds (i.e. motel) for resting.