Settlements in New World refer to various areas within Territories that players can claim as part of a collective organization known as Companies, which in turn belong to one of the game world's three Factions. Settlements start off small, providing minor quality of life improvements, services and buffs to players, but can be expanded upon by its residents. Settlements play a major role in territorial control and also serve to drive the economy. This page covers all information on Settlements and its related systems.
New World Settlements Overview
Settlements in New World are pre-built and start off as small hamlets spread across Aeternum's Territories and Zones. Each settlement has a pre-defined layout which can be expanded upon by its residents, converting the settlements into larger towns or even entire cities once they've been claimed. Settlements play a key role in player and game world progression, providing various services, quality of life improvements and buffs to players. Within settlements, players can own Housing, utilize crafting stations and trade with other players. Settlements also serve as a base of operations and a hub for many activities players can take part in. Additionally, settlements function as respawn points for players, should they succumb to their injuries while venturing out in the world.
Claiming Settlements
How do players claim a Settlement?
Claiming a Settlement begins by first joining one of the game world's three Factions: The Marauders, The Syndicate or The Covenant. These three factions are each vying for control of Aeternum, its territories and resources, each with their own motives and schemes for the future of the island. Early in the game, players will be able to take on a Quest line that leads to joining one of these factions, setting them up for future endeavors.
Within Factions, players can create or join Companies, which are player-run organizations akin to guilds or clans in other games. In order to lay claim to a Settlement, a Company must first take over the territory the settlement is located in for their Faction. At the game's launch, Settlements will have no owners and can be claimed simply by paying the claim fee at the settlement's Fort. Once all settlements have been claimed, however, the only way to take over is to engage in War which is a major PvP component of the game.
Settlement Ownership
Who owns a Settlement?
Companies who have successfully claimed a Settlement will have also claimed the Territory they are located in. However, Companies only act as proxies for their respective Factions and ownership of territories and their settlements ultimately belong to the Faction. A Company's creator is designated the Governor and taking over a territory makes them the Governor of that territory as well. Governors play a key role in maintaining control over a territory and its settlement by managing the Territory Upkeep.
Territory Upkeep is a system that Governors must pay close attention to. Each Settlement levels up by the completion of various activities and must be maintained by an active economy. A Governor's main duty is to set and maintain Tax Rates for activities performed by players within a Settlement such as crafting and trade. These taxes feed into income for the settlement and the Territory Upkeep fee must be paid every week in order to prevent the settlement level from downgrading. This fee increases as the settlement grows in size and scope. The Governor can also assign one or more Consuls who can perform governing duties in his absence.
New World Settlement Systems & Facilities
Territories, War and Faction Missions
As each settlement belongs to a Territory, maintaining control of that territory is crucial to keeping ownership of the settlement, its facilities and bonuses. Control of a territory is determined by the outcome of a War declaration. Companies belonging to opposing factions must declare War on a territory and take part in special PvP sieges to wrest ownership from the controlling faction and their companies. War can only be declared on undermined or vulnerable territories. A territory can become undermined or contested if an opposing faction has completed enough PvP Faction Missions within the territory, raising their influence and reducing that of the controlling faction's.
Once a War declaration has been made, the attacking faction will tally up each company's influence contribution during the undermining process. A company that has contributed at least 10% of the influence required to contest a territory will have a chance of getting selected through a lottery system to become the leading Vanguard. The Governor of the Vanguard will be able to choose players to participate in the PvP Siege, which are large-scale battles consisting of 50 vs 50 player combat. The Governor can choose from their own company or any players belonging to the faction or volunteers from a third faction in the event that there aren't enough players to fill out the ranks.
Wars will then take place at a time chosen by the defending Company and Faction. A War's main objective is successfully taking capturing or defending the Territory Fort, depending on whether the player is in the attacking or defending side. An attacking faction must capture three Rally Points on the way to the gates of the fort. Rally points cannot be recaptured by the defending faction and will serve as respawn and armory access points for the attacking faction. If all three rally points are captured, the attacking faction will successfully breach the gates and gain control of the territory, claiming victory for their faction and companies. Conversely, the defending faction will have to hold off the attackers and defend until the time limit is up in order to win the war and reclaim their territory.
See the War page for an in-depth guide to the war mechanics and sieges.
See the Faction Missions page for information on these special missions that players can partake in.
Player Housing
Players can purchase and own Housing within Settlements. Houses provide a home for the player that they can fast-travel to, decorate with various furniture created through the Furnishing trade skill, as well as mount trophies that can provide powerful bonuses to the player. Decorating a House will improve its score which is used to compete with other players in the settlement. Houses with higher scores will be visible to other players in the settlement, while low-scoring houses simply exist within their own instances.
Players can purchase a house starting at level 15. More houses can be purchased at level 35 and 55. A house will have a fixed cost depending on the tier. Higher tiers will provide more slots for decorations and trophies, as well as a shorter fast-travel cooldown. In addition to the upfront purchase cost, houses have a property tax attached to them which must be paid to the company that owns the settlement. This tax must be paid once a week and failure to do so will disable certain Housing features such as the ability to decorate, receive trophy buffs and fast traveling.
See Housing for an in-depth guide on player housing and related features.
Trade Skill Stations
Each Settlement will have a set of Trade Skill Stations which are used in Trade Skills of the Crafting and Refining lines to create items and equipment as well as refining resources collected in the world into usable materials. Each trade skill uses specific stations to craft or refine items and each resulting item has a tier level requirement in order to craft or refine. This tier level corresponds to the level of a crafting station. The higher the level of the crafting station, the better and wider selection of items that can be crafted. Trade skill station levels can be raised by taking on Town Projects. The following is a list of all crafting stations and the trade skills that use them:
- Forge - Used by the Weaponsmithing, Armoring and Engineering crafting lines to create items such as weapons, armor and tools.
- Workshop - Used by the Engineering and Furnishing crafting lines to create items such as ranged weapons and furniture.
- Outfitting Station - Used by the Armoring and Jewelcrafting crafting lines to create armor and trinkets.
- Arcane Repository - Used by the Arcana crafting line to create magical equipment and consumables such as potions.
- Kitchen - Used by the Cooking crafting line to create food and other consumables.
- Smelter - Used by the Smelting refining line to turn raw ore into ingots.
- Tannery - Used by the Leatherworking refining line to turn raw animal hides into leather.
- Loom - Used by the Weaving refining line to turn raw fibers into fabrics.
- Stonecutting Table - Used by the Stonecutting refining line to cut raw gems for use in equipment and stone blocks for use in town projects.
- Woodshop - Used by the Woodworking refining line to cut raw wood for use in crafting and town projects.
Town Projects
Town Projects are large-scale activities that players can work on together in order to upgrade their Settlement and its facilities. A town project can be started by the territory's Governor, after which any player in the controlling faction can contribute by completing special tasks. These tasks include gathering a number of resources, crafting a number of certain items, as well as culling the population of certain wildlife and monsters. These tasks can award players with experience points and loot but the primary reward is contribution towards the current project's completion. Town projects also play an important role in territorial control as many projects help bolster a settlement's defenses including the use of better materials for fortifications, upgrades to a settlement's defensive arsenal for use during sieges and contributions to the settlement's overall level. The higher level a settlement is, the harder it is to break the controlling faction's influence on the territory. In the event of a successful War Declaration, higher level settlements who have completed many town projects will have access to more advanced defensive weaponry, making it easier for them to retain control.
See the Town Projects page for an in-depth guide on town projects and their mechanics.
What I am curious about is if you own a settlement as a company and another group goes to war against you. Does your company run the risk of getting your stuff sacked if you lose the settlement?
2
+10
-1