Ranches

I dunno how much work it would be but i'm a big BIG fan of westerns. Books, movies, songs, what have you. Louis L'Amour is the best western writter of all time.

In one of his series he uses a well known western character by the name of Hopalong Cassidy, and people are known by the "brand" they ride with.

When I say "brand" I mean the brand of their cattle. The ensignia that is burned onto the cattle so there is no dispute who's cattle is whose. Anyways, I was sort of thinking. The ability to build a ranch would be sort of a fun idea. Maybe ranches instead of towns? Or maybe the option of a ranch over a town?

Ranches in the day had several things. Livestock, Blacksmith, Bunkhouses, Open range, Main Quarters. I reckon it would be a little more realistic if you had ranches in which people had to drive cattle. Towns could be for outlaws ranches for ranch hands and ranchers. This incorperates a whole knew strategy to the game. Not only do you have to make money, level up, and stay alive...You then have to protect yourself from rustlers and the rustlers have to be sure they don't get caught...

Towns were also the local hangout where people would simply sit and drink, play cards, eat, and stuff. Seeing as these things are already incorperated I see no problem with that. However, some form of tavern does need to be added into the buildables of a town. Back then taverns were probably the biggest attraction of a town. Some towns even formed around the tavern.

I dunno if this suggestion appeals to anybody else, but I think it would be rather fun to add this in. Not only for a sense of "realism", but just for sheer fun.

you can be a cowboy for a job

But your wanting a ranch for the town, whihc is a good idea as it could bring more money into the town etc, i liek this idea! Nice one!

I'd concure. It would be an interesting addition.

Certainly like the idea of the tavern... Good thinkin batman!

I like this idea...

I've read somewhere that they plan to add classes someday... Maybe if it is successful they might consider add various town options. (FORT-for army men/CAMP-for outlaws/RANCH-for cowboys/TOWN-for traders etc)

Really? That'd be mighty interestin. I never thought about soldiers and what not.

Also, I am quite surprised there isn't a tavern already. Taverns in the west were the main attraction in the town. Alcholism was very high lol.

Rachers/Ranch hands = Ranch
Merchants/Barkeeps = Towns
Rustlers/Outlaws = Camps
Soldiers = Forts

Even though there wasn't a lot of forts in the west in some place. Other places (such as the northwest) had quite a few forts. Forts were put in according to where the indian population was causing a fuss. Which would be another good aspect...

Traveling the west was very dangerous...There was extreme heat in the day, extreme cold at night. There was snakes, and tons of plants that were rougher than the tougest hombre. And then there were the indians. Mainly the cherokee and apache (pretty sure). So random encounters with these things would also be a good idea. You could then actually be rewarded with exp when traveling if'n you have the right skills to have a shoot out, or to nurse a wound...

Back on topic anyways...The bandits/rustlers goals would be to the extent of taking towns and ranches over....soldiers then fight off the rustlers when that happens.

Ranchers goals would be to trade their livestock in to town. This means driving cattle. So when driving cattle there would have to be certain aspects that can happen based on that person's driving skill and how many hands he has...

A merchant/barkeep's goal is to form a town based on either a tavern or a general store. The town then grows according to how much money is brought in by the rancher and his livestock (given they have a general store) or the tavern. Now this part could get confusing and could probably be left out. Once this happens i'm thinking there should be a railroad put in. The goal for the merchant would be to get the cattle to the railroad to ship them to the processing city where the merchant then turns a profit. However he has to make sure they get their at a certain time. So a global market thing would probably be in order so he or she can keep up with the prices and knows when to sell. The barkeep simply get's his or her money from all the people who come in and socialize and drink and play cards. I'm thinking that drinking would need to have some sort of benefit in the game to make people actually want to do it...and that there should be a comission or maybe a 10% "housing" fee for housing the card game. This is how the barkeep could make money for his or her town..

Surely we would need a camp for the indians too.

I like this.

Well yeah, I was thinking indians could just be NPC's. But I dunno...Guess that could also be something we could be...

Good idea
Ranching came with the demise of the buffalo herds


From wikipedia:Buffalo skulls for fertiliser

Yup, seeing as the buffalo was practically gone after the land rush and everybody rushed out to the west. But ranching really came and started when people realized the government sham'ed them and found out that the only thing you can do in the west is raise cattle, mine, or be the owner of a tavern or merchantile.

Nice thinking there lad..

Be nice if you can be a Blacksmith also surely be needing those around for stuff for the ranch..

Be really interested more if thi all develops in game..

Yup, I reckon there could be all sorts of things to come of it..

Ranchs would need cooks, blacksmiths, ranch hands, ect. And same with towns and the others...each would need a certain type of person with certain types of skills. Only thing I could really think of is adding actual skills seeing as realistically a lot of cowboys would shoe their own horses and do their own blacksmithing. blacksmithing skill that is raised like the other skills (with skill points from leveling)...cookiing, trading, ect...

I'm thinking this probably won't happen because there is A LOT and I mean A LOT of work involved with it. I'd like to see it happen, but the chances are slim

Messiah1 said:

Yup, I reckon there could be all sorts of things to come of it..

Ranchs would need cooks, blacksmiths, ranch hands, ect. And same with towns and the others...each would need a certain type of person with certain types of skills. Only thing I could really think of is adding actual skills seeing as realistically a lot of cowboys would shoe their own horses and do their own blacksmithing. blacksmithing skill that is raised like the other skills (with skill points from leveling)...cookiing, trading, ect...

I'm thinking this probably won't happen because there is A LOT and I mean A LOT of work involved with it. I'd like to see it happen, but the chances are slim

Click to expand...

it would only be slim if the developers don't listen to what the players suggest..and if they really lazy to really develop the game further..

after the war there were millions of cattle.. so they were definatly a major part and should be added, though i thik they should be build like a town, but used purely to make profit. You build a ranch, and when people work there you gain a few $ of profit and they get paid

Indeed, people who join your brand and work on your ranch should definatlly get some of the profit. Cattle ranching was a HUGE buisness back then and was as you said very profitable. People could go on a 2 month cattle drive and make $14,000 easily given the right amount of head of cattle...So yeah i'd agree that the owner of the ranch gets a good chunk but it be divied out to the rest of his ranch as well....Maybe let the owner of the ranch decide how wages are set? If the owner wants somebody to actually work for him he is going to have to set wages at a decent rate...

Any pro's for including NPC workers?

i love this idea.

I wonder if the cows could be included as a random event too, like the cows trample the fences for example.

or if a horse injured you, or your hand was caught in a machine, or your barn caught on fire,

all of these random occurances could happen in a town just as easily, it cant be specific or exclusive to a ranch