Land Devices

LilyPADs and their Land Devices

The primary unit of land ownership in Frogland is the land device itself. Land devices do not have a fixed map coordinate associated with them. Each device can be used to claim an unowned land plot and each device can be moved to a different plot through the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission is an in-game construct that is responsible for managing different factors of property dynamics in the game world. Each biome has its own Planning Commission.

The land device can be transferred to another land plot by submitting a request to the appropriate Planning Commission for that biome.

When a land device is used to claim a plot of land within the biome where it was issued, that device receives a bonus modifier that affects gameplay in various ways.

For example, a land device issued by the Forest Commission that is used by the device owner to claim a land plot in a forest biome could result in ownership of a plot that has enhanced resource gathering related to that location — wood, for instance. Other benefits may also accompany that forest device when used to obtain a plot in the forest biome. More details will be shared about the structure and operation of these Planning Commissions in the future.

All land devices share the same traits, but not all land devices are equal. Each land device includes characteristics that make it suitable to associate with certain parcels of land. It is up to the player to weigh different strategies to determine if a device should be associated with a particular parcel.

Each land device has an affinity for a specific biome, determined by the Planning Commission that issues the device. Each land device includes a trait that indicates its physical size, which can mean different things in different biomes. For instance, land in the tropical grasslands is objectively larger than in the urban district; but size isn’t everything.

Land devices also indicate efficiency, which impacts the time it takes to create improvements. Some folks are just lucky, so each device also includes a luck trait that can affect the probability of certain outcomes, such as the likelihood of discovering artifacts or legendary items on that property (or possibly across that specific biome). Each land device also comes with prestige, a value describing its lineage, provenance, or history. The prestige value can influence a Planning Commission’s actions.