
Assassin's Creed Hideouts Across the Franchise & How it Led to Shadows' New Construction System.
Analysis
Shadows "just being an improvement" on previous Assassin's Creed settlements would be a huge understatement.

Previous games offered different types of settlement and trade systems refined in each iteration.
Some might have forgotten about it, but Assassin's Creed giving us a hideout you have to take care of, or a city to renovate with the income from shops you rebuild is no stranger to the franchise.
In fact, Assassin's Creed 1, Origins and Mirage are the only games in the whole franchise that did not include a base for the player to customize and upgrade from which you can see the evolution of your actions impacting directly on the world and NPC's or a city to renovate in order to thwart enemy influence.
Assassin's Creed II marked the start of the trend with Monteriggioni following the same formula for the entirety of the Ezio Trilogy swapping a villa for cities and shops that end up turning you into a medieval real estate magnate.
Assassin's Creed III took it to the next level introducing a trading system that, albeit half-baked and really confusing with tons of different menus and unnecessary stuff on-screen, you had access to the Homestead in the American colonial wilderness, so, hideout management with NPC's tied to the story and offering diverse skills aiding in the expansion of your trade influence and an all-new trading system never seen before.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag stripped the hideout from its fixed anchor point; Land, moving it on board of your ship, The Jackdaw, essentially becoming your moving hideout, highly customizable and with tons of upgrades, an access to an improved trade system in which you earn money by completing contracts sending your ships through the Kenway Fleet obtaining rewards and resources along the way.
Assassin's Creed III: Liberation readapted the Kenway Fleet structure and turned it into a plain out trading simulator as it was originally designed for the PSPVita lacking the classic naval system iconic to the American Saga even after it had a proper console port.
Assassin's Creed: Rogue morphed the Kenway Fleet concept into Shay Cormac's fleet aboard The Morrigan.
Assassin's Creed: Unity introduced us to the Café-Théâtre and while anachronistic in nature, it is home not only to Arno Dorian and his Assassin peers but also very fond memories we all developed in those fancy halls while taking in the view from the balcony, again, being able to upgrade and renovate it for ourselves.
Assassin's Creed: Syndicate changed the concept yet again, now giving us a repurposed train nicknamed Bertha, constantly on the move around London serving as our moving headquarters and on-the-move fast travel point.
Assassin's Creed: Odyssey reused the concept of having a ship set as our moving headquarters, The Adrestia, since the world was mainly composed of huge bodies of water, logically due to the Greek setting, however it wasn't much of a settlement per se and it was drastically toned down in comparison to the ships steered by other protagonists in the past, but it was put in there nonetheless.
Assassin's Creed: Valhalla came in hot with an interesting settlement system inspired in the Viking occupation, now allowing us to use resources not only to upgrade but to build structures with direct impact on our gameplay providing buffs and boosters for Eivor to use while in the field. However, albeit a fun concept on paper, Ravensthorpe felt a bit soulless, sure you get to familiarize with the NPC's, then there's Sigurd endlessly walking around in circles and going to bed, but that's pretty much it.
Assassin's Creed: Shadows completely overhauled how you can build your base.
So, after a brief recapitulation, we can see that Assassin's Creed is not alien to the concept of having our own base, but what Shadows is bringing on the table is something completely different and, should I say, unexpected!
I never thought I'll get to use my Minecraft skills in Assassin's Creed but hey, I am not going to complain.
Let's dive right in!
BUILDINGS:

Similarly to Valhalla, the new hideout will come with several buildings granting us different stats and passive augmentations for our characters;
The Hiroma;
Essentially your operations center where most decisions are made, rooms to be built are reviewed and goods storage is accounted for.

The Dojo;
The training grounds of your recruits from your League, allowing them to rank up becoming stronger for future incursions in which you might need to call for help.

Study;
The place where your League will gather all the information about the local activities and topography, upgrading this building will increment our number of Scouts and expand their network across the Kansai Region.

Forge;
As the name implies, the place where Naoe and Yasuke will upgrade or dismantle their gear, unlocking new variations of their weapons and outfits as well as to apply engravings to further enhance the power of their gear.

Horse Stables;
Different breeds of equestrian transport can be unlocked throughout Japan, here you'll see them taken care of and trained ready to take out for a ride after choosing your favorite mount.

Scout Barracks;
The gathering hall of your network of spies composing the League, upgrading it will further enhance their efficiency on the field.

RESOURCES:

Resources are fundamental for the development of your Hideout, compared to Valhalla and Odyssey it seems that upgrades and building costs are less inflated or easier to get a hold on.

The resources required for the betterment of your community are the following:
Wara (Rice Straw) or Shuro (Palm Tree Fibers);
Used mainly for Insulation and reinforcement of roofing and thatching. For the most rural areas and poorer demographics, used to build walls if mixed with mud or lime in a water mixture.
Genbukan (Basalt) or Shizen-Seki (Fieldstones);
Basalt mainly used as paving stones, bridge foundations and castle fortifications, could also be applied to smaller villas or mansions with decorated exteriors and large gardens meant for privacy.
While the fieldstones composed most of housing foundations, walls, pathways between houses and villages it also was compressed and crushed into gravel for decorations and landscaping.
Sugi (Japanese Cedar), Matsu (Japanese Pine), Keyaki (Japanese Elm), Take (Bamboo) and Hinoki (Japanese Cypress);
Depending on the type of wood, Keyaki and Hinoki being the most expensive woods due to their higher quality and veteran craftmanship involved in its manipulation, the majority of the houses and layouts were made mostly out of cheap wood, often combining different types of wood in a single house depending on where you look, furniture, roofing, walls, etc.
Matsu, Sugi and Take being most commonly used among the populace and farmers, especially Bamboo due to its rapid growth and multi-purpose applications.

Golden and Copper Coins as currency;
Ōban (Gold unit) used across the country in the higher spheres though rare among commoners, that instead used copper coins (Eiraku Tsūhō) inspired by the Ming Dynasty Chinese Coins that have been massively exported to Japan between the 13th and 16th Century via the Chinese and Portuguese, prompting local Daimyos and Lords to print their own currencies in copper for daily purchases using the same model of an easily transported coin with a hole in the center, in which a small rope or lace could be tied or fastened onto a belt or pouch.
Silver ingots were also used among merchants for bulk payments, often cut in smaller pieces if needed.
This would leave us with three payment methods during 16th Century Japan:
Gold for large trade (Elite).
Silver for regional trade (Merchants).
Copper for everyday purchases (Common folk).

DISPLACEMENT GRID:

This is where Shadows breaks the mold, honestly, I wasn't expecting this feature to turn into a building simulator, the complexity and effort put into it is deeply appreciated.
The Grid will basically be our guide aiming for a precise placement of our structures and decorations, ranging from statues, altars, small shrines and Temples.
This way, each Hideout will be totally different for each player, having total freedom in how and what to place inside the buildings and its surroundings. Really ambitious for an Assassin's Creed game.
When you click on a building you just placed you're immediately greeted with a menu that allows you to choose between three options;
Upgrade Building.
Move Building.
Customize Building.

The Customization option is what matters to us in this case as it really offers a wide variety of things to meddle with;
Roofs.

Walls.

Apply Skins from Packs.

Stations (Armor Stands, Shelves, Weapon Racks etc).

Station Sets as in your saved stations to be replicated elsewhere.

Place animals ranging from dogs and cats to cattle including deer and pigs.

Gallery:





All in all, this is one of the features that has me intrigued about its potential for cool base building competitions, specially amongst the VP community which surely will have a blast with this and the whole game as a whole, playing with the new mechanics that allow Naoe to adopt much more dramatic postures in terms of scene composition for Virtual Photography.

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About the Author
UbiCypher (Joe) is an Assassin's Creed Transmedia expert who works as the Lead Admin for the Isu_Network social media team!
He provides consistent social media content in the form of Assassin's Creed lore trivia, puzzles and news coverage, spending countless hours researching the series and real history.
He has also been working on an AC events timeline to help fans of the franchise looking to learn more about the lore.
UbiCypher (Joe)