Base Design - The Most Overlooked Element in DST

[Mencken]

I preface my remarks with the disclosure that I'm very new to the game (about a month), as I progress I like to share and get feedback from the community.

What is the purpose of a base?    It is a sanctuary for rest and recuperation, a defensive structure that protects the inhabitants from hostile forces and a repository of essential goods.  Usually the development path is based on a layered approach without much thought given to a blueprint as the players are more concerned with the very demanding needs of the immediate moment.  I've seen many different designs, some rather chaotic, others that appear to be very orderly, some with lots of "toys" but not much thought given to a proper layout.

In my opinion a good base requires several characteristics, location, defensive capability and efficiency.    The first one is easy to learn, the second requires more application and the third is by far the most challenging.   It is the third one I'm most interested in for the simple reason that a well ordered, well stocked and efficient base provides a critical element, time.   Many players don't like hanging around bases, they enjoy going out on missions, if you have an optimal design you'll maximize the time they have to do so.

So..efficiency.   Small footprint, easy to maintain and very intuitive.   Drop a new player in and they have it figured out in less than a minute.   Here are some bullet point ideas:

1.   Don't create a mass storage center with 20-200 chests.   The chests should be broken down into clearly delineated groups, armory, raw materials, finished products, etc.   To make it attractive you could build small walled in compartments with a sign in front (obviously the beta version has some predefined capability for that).    Where you have grass, saplings and other things planted which can be stored in chests, keep the chests right next to the product you're harvesting (also have a second chest for fertilizer).    Next to each flingo have a chest with fuel supplies.  Players may also elect to have a private chest in another area.   Another idea is to set up an area for the three seasons that are challenging and have chests for each one with corresponding supplies.  

2.  Walls of course don't add much value other than for aesthetics so they should be kept to a minimum.   A small footprint is good as it minimizes maintenance, for summer perhaps 1-2 flingos are all that is needed (one player doesn't have that but how are fires prevented?).  

3.  Obviously iceboxes and crock pots need to be so close that they stay open, you could have one icebox for raw materials (or two) and one exclusively for finished products.   

 

On defense, one possible solution is a circuit of tooth traps (like an oval), when hounds attack players assemble and then run the circuit, within 2 laps all the hounds should be dead.   Tooth traps are very effective but very high maintenance, there has to be better solutions out there.

 

Well, I have lots of other ideas but this post is getting a little long already, would be great to get some feedback and see what other ideas people have come up with.

At some point (done this before in other environments) I might run a contest for the best base design with a cash prize, would be fun.

 

 

 

 

[Sinister_Fang]

13 minutes ago, Mencken said:

1.   Don't create a mass storage center with 20-200 chests.

I don't see what's wrong with this. Personally, I prefer a nice, central storage area. I could see putting a chest near farms for fertilizer or something could be useful, but I'd rather not be running all over the place to find what I want.

21 minutes ago, Mencken said:

 Tooth traps are very effective but very high maintenance, there has to be better solutions out there.

Those are your best bet for defense. It's really not that high maintenance, at least not to me anyway. I usually always have logs and grass on me so I can easily replace any traps that broke right then and there. The hounds usually drop enough teeth. And resetting them isn't that bad if everyone takes a quick moment to help reset them and collect all the stuff the hounds dropped.

[Mencken]

1.   It is a centralized storage area but it is broken down into categories so you don't have to search through or look at 50 chest labels to find what you need.   Envision a public storage unit with no doors, so a backdrop wall and dividing walls for each group of chests.  Armory (weapons, armor), raw supplies (stone, grass, etc.), all in one supply chests for building specific things and so on.   You should be able to find what you need by opening at most two chests.   This is the same way internet sites and online product databases work (like eBay), without categories you spend too much time searching.  I'll build it and put up a picture as that explains better the concept.

2.  It isn't high maintenance if you have 2-3 players doing it but a single person can spend a lot of time on it.   We had 30+ hounds attack and I was the only person on the base, had to reset about 75 traps, build 15 new ones and recover all the meat, gems and teeth.   Not efficient.

 

[Kittydub]

I like having my chests in the center of my base as well. Close to all of my machines in a row, preferably. Kind of the center of command for me, I don't like having all different kinds of chests all over the base. I don't want to be running around to every corner (bases get big, over time) to get what I need. 

Walls are pretty much personal preference, I like a good wall once in a while. I recently had to make a pretty big one to wall in my swamp loving wandering beefalo. Sometimes a wall is necessary. Easy MacTusk loot, for example. Or a walled of powder cake for always available pigs.  

I personally keep a summer fridge and a winter fridge and keep the rest of my finished products (or leftover season food) in bundle wraps. It's easier to grab a bundle wrap when I go caving as well. 

[Mencken]

Not saying all different kinds of chests all over the base, only a few spread around where it makes sense.  The rest together but segregated into groups.   I saw a base of over 150 chests all in the center, takes way too much time to read them and find what you need.

Say you have 100 grass plants, does it make sense to have your chests for grass in the center?   That is wasted travel time, easier to have it right next to the grass.   

[Kittydub]

Having to run back when you need a bunch of ropes for example is wasted travel time as well. Might as well be where the rest of your resources are, but that's just my opinion of course. 

[Electroely]

I think a Minisigned central chest area is better than spread out. You easily know where to go when you need resources and if you've stayed at the base for a while you'll have no problem finding what you need. 

For defense I've never really relied on tooth traps much, although I gotta admit having a field of them is pretty handy. Playing on a private server basically made up of veteran players allowed me to do some experiementing with base design, and it seems to be bummyman farms can double as a security station if you replace random parts of each wall with boulders. This does require agreement from everyone on the server, so I doubt anyone will ever use it. (I do, though.)

These are my personal preferences by the way. I'm sure everyone has their reasons for using different strategies.

[Electroely]

47 minutes ago, Electroely said:

it seems to be bummyman farms can double as a security station if you replace random parts of each wall with boulders.

Spoiler

 

 

[Bunions]

My new favorite thing is to make a moat and fill it with tentacles.  

Here is a shot of a base of mine in progress. The farms are for girlfriends beefalo mount (dragonfruit production) I mostly use beeboxes, (not pictured) hunting and birdcage as the core of my food production.

The advantage of a moat is it channels enemies (players or monsters - mostly players) Onto the paths which I then liberally sprinkle with a variety of traps. If you're a friend or an expected visitor you'll be welcomed / escorted in to the base. If not you're escorted to the morgue.

I also like small bases that can be covered with 1 Flingomatic like I learned about lurking these forums.

Things left to do in that screenshot - improve road network / lay additional traps finish anti swamp pig fences and finish base structures.

 

[Rellimarual]

The moat concept is fascinating but the screen shot is so dark it's hard to see. Do you use straw walls to force the tentacles to spawn in the moat? It's an unusual base design and I'd like to hear more about it.

[Bunions]

Sorry about the darkness it's summer in that shot and I think the zoom out mod also lowers the lighting. When I resume playing that world I will try and take a few better  shots.

The moat itself is swamp turf and combined with the tentacles serves as a visual deterrent and controls avenues of approach. As far as tentacle placement in the moat goes, straw walls works if you're using the book to spawn them in. The walls serve to work as boundaries / guides and helps avoid having to fight misplaced tentacles. Of course killing misplaced stray tentacles gives raw materials to work with on occasion so silver linings I say.

I  also happen to play with a few vetted, on theme, balanced  mod characters avaiable. If you have a Womp player to help out that's an option as well. Womp character mod is a swamp monster with some Webber-esque features but related to swamps instead. He' fairly balanced and relies on the wetness mechanic. Tentacles are friendly to him like spiders are to Webber. He can also place tentacles directly using tentacle spots.

I have used both methods, and it goes fastest with friends present to aid in the work. If using the Womp character he can do the detail placement for instance.

Can be done solo If playing wilderness mode. You can always commit hari kari and place them yourself using combinations of both methods, or just one, before switching to another preferred character for continued game resumption afterwards.

I also play with the Killer's traps mod and some additional trap types (Landmines and Spiketraps) these mods let you set traps that will work against other players. They will be invisible to enemies but visible & safe to friends. When all taken together, Tentacles, Landmines, Beemines, Toothtraps, and two types of Spiketraps provide a robust / layered defense. Of course no automated system is foolproof against determined attackers but it works pretty well and is absolutely lethal against the unsuspecting.

Wilderness setting is nice for PvP, but the downside is it makes things a little easier enviormentally than I'd like overall, and removes some of the features of the game regarding death that I like. Of course an upside is the increased solo utility I just mentioned, as well as the abity to change things up flavour wise and use a variety of offensive stratagems while playing.

I usually play wilderness if playing solo and just trying to attract players to meet and play on the server. I will typically play survival if friends are going to be playing alongside me.

Hope this answered your question. If you had questions about other features of the base just let me know.

 

Edit*

 

As promised:

 

 

[Destros09]

On 2/22/2017 at 6:52 PM, Mencken said:

Walls of course don't add much value other than for aesthetics so they should be kept to a minimum

WRONG

deerclops distractions are always welcome

[hkhm]

On 2/22/2017 at 6:06 PM, Bunions said:

If you're a friend or an expected visitor you'll be welcomed / escorted in to the base. If not you're escorted to the morgue.

i think this will become my new motto.

[Warplord]

Well, muh friend, you know - spring and winter hounds can always be led to the beefallo and get slaughtered there. A good way to dispatch summer hounds is with a tentacle kill pit - requires wickerbottom and a lot of spot farming, but they should be ok around fire? (if not just add a flingo somewhere in the middle. (We should build that in our server, too!) 

[CaptainChaotica]

9 hours ago, Destros09 said:

WRONG

deerclops distractions are always welcome

Actually, that's dead right!  I've had the parts of my base I REALLY wanted to keep saved because Deerclops can't resist him some walls, at least two if not three times!  Bearger too, kinda--although he's still obsessed with food/vaguely foodlike substances more than smashing.

(I also like stone walls because they make my base (or rather, the central living area) look more like a proper indoor structure/cool medieval fortress.  : P)

...Notorious

 

[Zeruul]

On 2/23/2017 at 7:14 AM, Bunions said:

 

MFW Base built diagonally......... NotLikeThis

[EuedeAdodooedoe]

15 hours ago, Destros09 said:

WRONG

deerclops distractions are always welcome

 

5 hours ago, CaptainChaotica said:

Actually, that's dead right!  I've had the parts of my base I REALLY wanted to keep saved because Deerclops can't resist him some walls, at least two if not three times!  Bearger too, kinda--although he's still obsessed with food/vaguely foodlike substances more than smashing.

(I also like stone walls because they make my base (or rather, the central living area) look more like a proper indoor structure/cool medieval fortress.  : P)

...Notorious

 

Signs are 100% a better choice for this, because when Deerclops destroys them, you can rebuild them straight away. No extra resources needed, not even a hammer, just rebuild and rebuild so long as you need a distraction.

Stone walls are useful. Grass walls used to be useful, but then along came gates and made them mainly useful for aesthetic purposes. All other walls suck. I think I can say that here without triggering people, right? All other walls simply suck...

...

Well, perhaps the moon rock wall has its uses, although I've yet to get a good one for those. They could be a potential replacement for rock walls if you farm up moon rocks from the moon caller staff's event.

[Maslak]

14 hours ago, Warplord said:

Well, muh friend, you know - spring and winter hounds can always be led to the beefallo and get slaughtered there.

 More time consuming than tooth traps, unless you have tight beefalo pen at base, which is a pretty bad idea in most cases. You would need to have both beefalo hat and snurtle shell ready to make it quick.
 @Electroely presented great solution. Just make some gaps and fill them with boulders/tables/statues/fossils/whatever. Walls won't get rekt, unless we're speaking about hounds. They will bark eventually, switching to walls, so you want to keep them busy or kill them quickly.

[GLERMZ]

All my bases are small and practical. 

[Warplord]

1 hour ago, Maslak said:

 More time consuming than tooth traps, unless you have tight beefalo pen at base, which is a pretty bad idea in most cases. You would need to have both beefalo hat and snurtle shell ready to make it quick.
 @Electroely presented great solution. Just make some gaps and fill them with boulders/tables/statues/fossils/whatever. Walls won't get rekt, unless we're speaking about hounds. They will bark eventually, switching to walls, so you want to keep them busy or kill them quickly.

Dude, trust me - we have like 100 mating beefalo and I have no problem using them as a hound killing mechanism. It's all about the approach

[EuedeAdodooedoe]

3 hours ago, Maslak said:

 More time consuming than tooth traps, unless you have tight beefalo pen at base, which is a pretty bad idea in most cases. You would need to have both beefalo hat and snurtle shell ready to make it quick.
 @Electroely presented great solution. Just make some gaps and fill them with boulders/tables/statues/fossils/whatever. Walls won't get rekt, unless we're speaking about hounds. They will bark eventually, switching to walls, so you want to keep them busy or kill them quickly.

Just wall yourself in end-tables and you're OP AF  no generic mob can defeat you! ... Except may be the rook... and batilisks...

[Arlesienne]

The one and only answer to Were Iz Bais you'll ever need:

And apart from that, @Glhrmzz answers it:

5 hours ago, Glhrmzz said:

All my bases are small and practical. 

I have much less maintenance to do in the swamp. I just pick a place with many tentacles (bribing Wickerbottom like @GiddyGuy to spawn more optional), put down some traps, get a bushhat... enjoy.

No bunnymen ever. I hate these.

[RobertoRezende]

8 hours ago, Glhrmzz said:

All my bases are small and practical. 

Really small, right? Malandro....

[Electroely]

13 hours ago, Arlesienne said:

The one and only answer to Were Iz Bais you'll ever need:

And apart from that, @Glhrmzz answers it:

I have much less maintenance to do in the swamp. I just pick a place with many tentacles (bribing Wickerbottom like @GiddyGuy to spawn more optional), put down some traps, get a bushhat... enjoy.

No bunnymen ever. I hate these.

But... bunny men are one of the more efficient food sources in the game...

Tentacle farms are pretty useful for farming pretty much everything. They'll attack anything that comes near them. And they don't eat anything. They do require a wickerbottom for maintenance, though. So if you are one I'd suggest farming merms, spiders and pigs with tentacles. Bunny men will probably wreck the tentacles. 

 

Also, did you draw that pic Arlesienne? It looks awesome.

[CutChemist]

The moat idea is genius