New Wolfminster (5th Haven)

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New Wolfminster (5th Haven)
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WolvHaven State
Established June 2018
World Information
Area 144km² (12km x 12km)
World Type WorldPainter
Boroughs
  • Capitol Island
  • Exchange Place (Working Name)
  • Wolfminster
  • Westford
  • Victoria (Working Name)
  • Danforth (Working Name)
  • Kings (Working Name)
  • Mechanicsford (Working Name)

New Wolfminster (also referred to as Fifth Haven or 5H) is the 5th Iteration of the official WolvHaven City, and also the Capital of the WolvHaven server. It is the largest iteration of the city with a size that is over 10 times that of its predecessor, New WolvHaven (4th Haven) and is expected to replace it in 2023.

Despite its official name, the city as a whole will be referred to as WolvHaven City after it takes over as the server's official capital city in 2023.

New Wolfminster is composed of 14 islands; of which 11 of them are planned to contain major developments.

History

With serious design flaws in the 4th Haven primarily due to its small size, proposals for the 5th iteration of the city would be floated since 2016 as the server celebrated its 5th Anniversary. It was a tough decision between expanding the 4th iteration or starting from scratch.

Despite the expansion option winning out in a Parliament sitting, it was eventually ruled out due to technical difficulties and the greater potential benefits of starting a brand new city from scratch.

A #fifth-haven discord channel was setup for all members of the community to discuss proposals and what they wanted to see in the new world.

Initial Proposal (2017)

The initial proposed map layout for Fifth Haven was released in March 2017 by SilverWolv. The proposal called for a 7km by 7km world made up of 7 main islands, and paid homage to the 4th Haven with the shape of the new proposed Wolfminster island looking very similar to that of its predecessor.

Members of the community started proposing ideas using the map, drawing out districts and areas for land use; including Metro maps which were frowned upon by SilverWolv himself and other members of the community who felt that Metro and rail transit planning should not be its top priority. It will later be the reason why the city has held off the development for its rail infrastructure for 3 years.

Problems with the initial proposal soon ensued, as planners soon found out that the scale at which they wished to build at would result in space in the proposed world running out very quickly, resulting in similar problems as 4th Haven. This was due to the shift of moving from 3-block wide road lanes to 5-block wide road lanes.

The island layout also came under heavy criticism by Lykanatthemochi for being "too unrealistic" and also requested for a more "realistic" island layout, and as a result, he was invited by SilverWolv to propose a new map layout as the world had already been worldpainted by then.

New Proposal (2018)

The layout of the current New Wolfminster, drawn by lykanatthemochi using pencil and paper

Lykanatthemochi followed up with the call for his idea of "realistic looking islands" on 14 March 2018 with a drawing that contained 11 main islands for development. The proposal also called for a larger map size of 10km by 10km; which was eventually upscaled further to the current 12km by 12km. This new proposal would be taken as the official layout which New Wolfminster was to be based upon.

The new proposal also followed the layout of the original initial proposal, allowing most of the previously discussed plans to be easily transferred over into the new map.

Due to its nature, the world had to be worldpainted again from scratch. To do this, SilverWolv printed a copy of the image and slid it into a clear plastic paper holder and traced the outlines of the islands using a permanent marker. He then pasted the clear plastic holder over his laptop which had the worldpainter program open and started painting the world from there using the drawn outlines as reference.

A clear plastic sheet was used to trace over lykanatthemochi's island proposals by SilverWolv to guide world painting

Fifth Haven Previews

The newly proposed painted worlds were different where the hilly terrain was painted in along with trees that dotted the lands. As a result, major consultations were required to ensure that it was done right.

At least three preview versions were put up onto the server, which allowed builders to tour, visit, and test buildings within the worlds before official work would begin. This was the final chance for people to provide feedback about any potential tweaks that were required for the world itself.

Breaking Ground

Ground broke on Fifth Haven on 23 June 2018 and was celebrated by minebuilder1223, who shared a picture of the first blocks placed in the world; which formed the official WolvHaven flag on a mast on the world's Clarence Island, which would be the world's Welcome Centre.

New players would spawn on a boats; similar to how immigrants arrived in the United States at Ellis Island back in the day. A new immigration building was also constructed, together with a Hospital & Quarantine Centre; which as since been demolished by Heiopeii to make way for newer plans for the island.

The first blocks placed in FifthHaven, image captured by minebuilder1223

By May 2018, work had started on the city's capitol island with the initial roundabout infront of City Hall constructed, and the island's initial road network would start to be constructed.

De facto Capital (2019)

Throughout 2019, infrastructure development was primarily focused on Capitol Island. The Lower West Side neighborhood; located at the South-Western side of Capitol Island was the first neighborhood to be constructed.

Other key public instituitions and server infrastructure was moved to Fifth Haven as well. Notably the Parliament House, and City Hall. Parliament sessions started to be held in the world instead of 4th Haven; making the world the de-facto capital of WolvHaven.

Expanding into Exchange Place (2020)

As the world descended into lockdowns due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, WolvHaven saw a surge in player activity. Efforts were targetted at the expansion of the city into Exchange Place, which was the island next to Capitol Island.

Developments such as the entire Docklands District south of the Exchange Place Market itself were undertaken during this period of time.

Initial Expansion into Wolfminster (2021)

The superblock ward grid layout by Quarxilon was the chosen grid layout for Wolfminster island

Development into Wolfminster was particularly slow as there was no agreement on the general road layout of the island. WolvHaveners did not want to see another mundane and boring grid layout like 4th Haven.

Quarxilon held a poll earlier in 2020 asking WolvHaveners their preferred layout and a superblock ward layout was chosen. However, development of the grid itself was also delayed due to real-life commitments.

Building Blasts (2022)

TO BE FILLED LATER

Geography

TODO: Talk about the islands & boroughs here

Culture & Contemporary Life

Arts

TODO: WolvHaven Art Museum

WolvHaven Pride

Main Article: WolvHaven Pride

Transport

Metropolitan Trains

Main Article: WolvHaven Metro (5th Haven)

Buses

Main Article: Public Bus System (5th Haven)

Criticism

Slow Development

FifthHaven has been often criticised for its slow development. The world which was originally slated to be opened in 2019 has been consistently pushed back to 2020 and then again to 2023. Several key factors caused the slow development; namely the higher building standards and larger scale. Capitol Island of the world itself is equivalent to the size of 4th Haven's Wolfminster island; which took over a year to construct itself.

SilverWolv's risk-adverse attitude towards construction of the world also slowed down development

Furthermore, since 2021, a large section of the community had entered university or had additional real-life commitments; further limiting their time to be spent in the server.