Land Claim Pole

The Land Claim Pole is a construction item that looks like a sign post and has the function of claiming an area of land within which the player can build all placeable items.

The Land Claim Pole is found in the Construction section of the Build Menu under Others. It can be selected and placed on the ground in the same way that other construction items can be placed. However, it is unique in that no resources are needed to place it, so there is no crafting recipe for it.

Once placed, the Land Claim Pole cannot be moved. Careful placement is of primary importance, because the pole can present an obstruction to building if placed in a spot where the player plans to build or might want to expand the base. A newly placed Land Claim Pole can be deleted, but once light or noise producing Placeables have been built within its sphere of influence, it can no longer be deleted.

The mechanics of claiming land are tied to the combat mechanics in the game. When a Land Claim Pole is placed, three groups of Vambies are spawned around campfires in random spots outside of the radius of the Land Claim. These enemies are attracted to noise and light and one of the groups will attack the player's base when noise or light reaches a critical level.

After a Land Claim Pole has been placed, its user interface can be opened with `E`. The player can enter two short lines of text that will be displayed on the pole. Additionally, there are two buttons which can toggle the on-screen display of relevant information on and off.

The left button which has an icon that looks like a chart displays on-screen the current state of noise and light within the area of the land claim. Initially these values will be displayed as:

Noise Value 0

Light Value 0

These numbers will gradually rise as the player starts to construct noise and light sources within the land claim area. When the values reach 10, they reset to zero once again and the counting starts anew. When one of the values approaches 10, a group of vambies will become aware of the noise or light and come to investigate. The on-screen display of these values lets the player know when an attack is imminent. Generally speaking, the attack will occur shortly after the value in question has reset to zero. After the player has defeated the attacking group of Vambies, a replacement group will respawn with a campfire at a random spot outside of the land claim area. When travelling the player can also come across one of these groups and be attacked.

The right button in the user interface which looks like a pair of binoculars toggles a pink dome on and off which covers the area of the land claim. When the pink dome is toggled on, the player can see the exact boundaries of the land claim. This can be of great use when the player desires to place defenses at the edge of the land claim.

The player can place multiple land claim poles on the map. Multiple land claim poles make travel more perilous, however because three groups of vambies per pole will spawn. The light and noise meter values only increase when noise and light producing items are active. Players can shut down all such devices before leaving a base to ensure that no attack occurs in their absence.

## Building restrictions outside of a Land Claim

Placeable items such as sawbenches, forges, etc. which produce light or noise can only be placed within the boundaries of a land claim. An exception to this rule is the campfire, because it is an important item to build when travelling.