Screw any sort of fast travel, I once said to slatie (though he turn it down) that we make a gravel-cobblestone path between each town (with voxel paint) that doesn't altar the terrain in anyway and it is not a direct route it will twist and turn with the terrain, and no bridges will be made, so A; it'll find its way around a lake/river or it will stop and continue on the over side. And that the players are allowed to altar the path like make it better, add a few bridges or even remove it and troll everybody

oh and i find its more enjoyable if you walk. tping or using rails is be lazy, walking is where you get to see the terrain and the world as it is... and kill a few pigs on the way

I like the idea of the central trading town and the four surrounding towns but I think instead of the surrounding towns being for shops people should be able to buy premade houses in the outskirt towns and decorate the insides as they would like. This way people would be able to join a town without needing to be known by a town owner.

Also gravel paths all the way!

Gravel paths and horses, I like those ideas, people can sell/breed horses, opens up the economy a little bit more, editing it can be a problem in ways, but then again, like real life, travelling the roads has always been dangerous and possibly booby trapped.

It's decadently realistic

Like the shops in Bushos, but for personal use, they can do whatever they like for a rental fee. Kwl.

I dunno about people building in the designated towns, for one it seems like a lot of management, and I don't want the server-towns to be heavy on needing management, the idea was just for players to be able to place their chests and some signs and that's it.
If players were building in the server towns they may get too attached, and restrain from going out and making there own towns.