What Are Things to Look Out For and Think About When Starting a New Town?

[baconhwang]

Hi there,

It's been a while since I posted in these forums, mainly because I've been away from AC:NL for a while now (Pocket Camp takes up a lot of my time these days). But I'm back at trying my hand at New Leaf again, and I thought what better way to do so than to start a new town. I'm actually going to purchase a brand new cartridge of the game tomorrow so I don't lose my progress on my old file (I have a ton of villager pics and rare items that I don't want to lose so I think it's worth the $20 to pick up an extra copy). The thing is that I've been away from New Leaf for so long that I forgot what are some of the things to consider when map resetting for the perfect map layout (I remember things like pond number, bridge number, access to beach(es), fruit type, river layout, villagers, villager home locations, various NPC building locations, etc... but I feel like I'm missing some key things to consider). Are there any other things I'm missing?

TL;DR: What are some key things to consider when map layout resetting (ex. villager home locations, fruit type, river layout, etc.)

Thank you in advance, and glad to see this community still thriving after six full years since New Leaf's launch!

 

[ravenblue]

When Rover gives me a layout that meets whatever requirements I'm looking for in river, ponds, coastline, and buildings placement, I visit that town and check for rock placement mostly. I've been in too many towns where rocks were in truly awful places (at least for what my plans were, like two rocks in front of town hall is a deal breaker for me now, as I've had towns with that placement and it's just not something I want to spend time working around).

You'll only get one bridge to start, btw, so check if you like the placement if that's the kind of thing that bothers you. (I usually don't care much as I know I can move it within a few days anyway).

Also there's the grass shape if you have a particular one you prefer.

Good luck with your new town! I hope you find a map you like without too much trouble

 

[tiffanistarr]

I always prefer to have re-tail as close to the dock as possible, that makes going back and forth between your basket at Kapp’ns and the store much easier and faster. I also try and have the bridge in a good spot, minimal rocks and ponds, and I kinda prefer to have my starting villagers houses close together, that makes plot resetting much easier for me later on, because I like to have all my dudes in one place.

 

[meggtheegg]

The first two points are probably my most important initial points

-River shape and the resulting shapes of land are probably the first thing I look at on the map, I like to have little nooks from the river to put houses, PWPs such as the lighthouse, a good place by the pond part of the river to put the campsite, etc.

-I like the first standard buildings to be all on the same side- TS, re-tail, town hall. And this matters to me more than having re-tail close to the docks bc i kinda like walking through my town anyway. I like half of my town to be residential and with PWPs

-I don't pay attention much to initial villager houses, because it took me forever to find a map with just one of my dreamies in the starting 5 villagers. So as long as that one dreamie is on the half of the map where i want my villagers to go, i don't really care much about the rest of the villagers because i'll be cycling them out anyway.

-I pay a littleeee bit of attention to fruit. I just don't want cherries. But tbh, once I got my map I wanted with one dreamie I wanted, I kinda compromised with the fruit which was apples. I initially reallyyy wanted oranges or peaches. But now I actually love my town fruit being apples and probably wouldn't change it if i could. So certain things that maybe you don't like initially on the map grow on you as you develop your town

-I also don't pay much attention to ponds. I actually quite like having them and think they're fun to work around. Although if I had multiple ponds of the same shape that's probably the only time it'd bother me lol

-I don't really pay attention to rocks (unless there's like a ridiculous amount of them like 15 or something) I don't find them too difficult to landscape around.

 

[baconhwang]

Good luck with your new town! I hope you find a map you like without too much trouble

Thank you! I actually just chose the layout, it was my first choice and it turned out fabulously! Has my favorite fruit (pears),
nice placement of all buildings, ponds, river, and eight rocks which I heard is relatively average.

 

[ravenblue]

Thank you! I actually just chose the layout, it was my first choice and it turned out fabulously! Has my favorite fruit (pears),
nice placement of all buildings, ponds, river, and eight rocks which I heard is relatively average.

Sounds like a good start! My town of Ravena has pears as its native fruit and I really love the way they look. The green and gold colors are really pretty imo.

 

[Mayor Kera]

TL;DR: What are some key things to consider when map layout resetting (ex. villager home locations, fruit type, river layout, etc.)

Make sure you're okay with where the rocks are, because only one is breakable.

Fruit type is honestly not a huge deal if you have connections. Clover's town fruit is apples, but I have no apple trees. I completely reworked the town to be pink/white for the most part, so I replaced the apple trees with peach trees.

Ponds that are close to the campground and/or Re-Tail are largely out of the way. I find that the fewer ponds you have, the easier the map is to work with. Clover has two of them, but you can get as few as one if you want. On the other hand, you can get as many as six or possibly more; the most I've seen on a map is six. It's hard to get your paths set up nicely with a bunch of ponds all over the place.

 

[vicutie]

Town layout - river, beach, # of ponds and rocks, plaza and town hall placement
Also train station color (red or brown preferred), native fruit (don't really care as long as it's not pears), and grass type (circle is preferred but I don't mind square/triangle)

 

[Alsafie]

I’ve restarted quite a few times on my second game card and I’m quite fussy with a lot of the placements of things. The biggest thing would definitely have to be the river. I personally like my river to flow straight through the middle so that I have adequate room to build and whatnot. I don’t like having edges up the top where there isn’t much room to build anything, it feels like a waste of space sometimes. Secondly, if there are too many ponds it’s a no go. Too many ponds feels again like I don’t have quite the amount of space I could have. I also HATE any map that has a pond directly in front of the train station as I like to build and path that area. Thirdly, I look for retail, town hall and plaza placing. I like enough room around these areas to build and path as well and I generally don’t choose a map that has any houses blocking these areas (especially just in case I like that villager). Villager house placements are important to me. Lastly, the rock placements. If you know you have plans for your town and the rocks ruin that, it’s a no go again. I’m not too phased by colours of town halls and stations but I do try and start with 5 villagers I do like (or potentially will like).
Fruit as well; I try to get a different fruit from my other town (cherries) and I’m not a big fan of pears as it makes the town look less colourful.