Base organization for those who don't use debug mode

[SusanMcO]

So, I stated before that I typically don't use debug mode because it's too much of a cheaty temptation for me and destroys a lot of the fun (for me, not judging anyone else! )

How do other people deal with organization/etc when you are starting from zero?  I'm wondering if perhaps I should try and concentrate on one side of the map and build things, and once that side is stable, then build the other side in an organized fashion, get that stable, deconstruct and rebuild the first side. 

I just am not very good at keeping it organized from the beginning!

[GreatGameDota]

Well your free to build whatever you want! If you want organization, make sure all your needs are settled then build away!

[Ciderblock]

So up front: I'm really bad at appropriately using storage compactors to keep sweep and delivery times down. I tend to just shove all the storage, except for hazardous storage (polluted dirt, slime, ice, etc.) in one place to be done with it instead.

With that said, I like to have a grid layout of some kind. For example, a 5x3 array of 12x4 boxes, with four ladder columns. This allows for symmetry about the printing pod, which I like aesthetically. It still usually fits into the sandstone biome (if it doesn't then I will trim it a little to avoid premature exposure to Slimelung). Then each of the 15 boxes has a role to play. One of them is sterile food storage, one of them is the mess hall, two of them are dormitories, four of them are farms. That leaves 7 more for bathrooms, general storage, etc. Utilities and fluids may be just off to the side instead of inside the "main base".

Such a system is way easier to set up and maintain if you have a particular target number of dupes. In the example I just stated the base is configured to stop accepting new dupes after 12. For me 12 is already kind of overkill, I prefer to actually have more like 8.

[vonVile]

I organize by centralizing all my Water into a reservoir to get it out of the way and block it from vomiting Dupe contamination. My plan for base design is to have the top be for Dupe living quarters and the bottom for the engine the makes the base work.

[Guest]

8 hours ago, SusanMcO said:

So, I stated before that I typically don't use debug mode because it's too much of a cheaty temptation for me and destroys a lot of the fun (for me, not judging anyone else! )

How do other people deal with organization/etc when you are starting from zero?  I'm wondering if perhaps I should try and concentrate on one side of the map and build things, and once that side is stable, then build the other side in an organized fashion, get that stable, deconstruct and rebuild the first side. 

I just am not very good at keeping it organized from the beginning!

Everybody has their own way of doing it. I have a rule of thumb which does work out great for me: I try to make my rooms 4 high and as wide as when fully zoomed out, including walk paths and service holes around the base. I always end up with 6-8 floors and each floor divided in 3 halls. The roof needs to work itself progressively inwards to a point in the middle for capturing hydrogen produced by electrolyzers. It is also much higher than the 4 cells.

I will build my halls like that. I don't care a lot about the buildings at the beginning as they are easily deconstructed and placed somewhere else. 2 exceptions are the outhouse, which will be put somewhere high up or low down, and the compactors. Compactors generally containing metals, minerals and other none-organic resources don't need specific placement, but organic and polluted resources do need to be placed somewhere sealed off.

In my current colony, this gave room for 26 dupes although I easily could have gone for more in my base as I have loads of space. I didn't do that; I simply dug into an ice biome and started a second base there. Very challenging, lots of fun. I did have the luxury of having a fully unlocked tech tree and much more foresight and how to put down the base exactly. The first base for me is always going to end up being somewhat of a compromise in one corner or the other because without the debug mode you do not have that foresight, but I think that goes for everybody really.

So do plan, but be prepared too to make compromises.

[SusanMcO]

I know everyone has their own way, I was just curious as to what way everyone employed  It is some of my obsessive tendencies that make me want to rip out half the base at a time to make it look prettier  *L* I wasn't sure if anyone else has this issue (perhaps not!  )

[Guest]

Yeah I can definitely associate with the feeling. I had issues too in my earlier bases, and each big update added things to make changes. However, 4 high floors provide enough room and just enough reachability. With enough width you'll end up with very modular rooms easy to tear up the content and replace it. It's not easy to change room height or width later in the game, so it is important to get that fairly right from the beginning.

[brummbar7]

For me, I extend the printing pod platter by about 6 tiles each way.  skip 3 spaces for vertical shaft with ladder in the middle, and extend the outer two platters the max I can without running into too much slime.  Which usually ends up being pretty similar to the middle platter in width.  I try to have one of those two side platters on the level of the printing pod extended out to it's furthest reach by the end of day 1, and put my outhouses and washbasins there, ready to be used on day 2.   I only dig those tunnels 2 high initially - there's not much point digging all 4 tiles of height in the start, it just wastes time, and I'd rather make darn sure I have sanitation set up on day 1.  

I build two lockers, hamster wheel, two small batteries, and science station on the middle platter surrounding the printing pod.  Advanced station usually on adjacent platter.  Beds go 1 level up in the middle platter.   Mealwood farms one of the outer platters.  Once I have lavs the outhouses and stuff vanish.  Those left and right pod-level platters usually become ore scurbbers and sanitizers for access outside the base.   The middle platter around the pod usually becomes a dining area when I set up my coal generator in the basement.  Though I haven't tested how the pod affects the mess hall room.  This does mean I go without dining tables for a pretty long time, but it really doesn't make any difference, I find.

So basically for me the idea is place things on those initial platters that you know won't be there forever.  Try and only place beds and mealwood in places you know they will stay for awhile.  Now that storage is best done outside the core, it tends to leave a lot of empty space in the core area, especially when I move from mealwood to mushrooms.  I try to build the very minimum number of lockers necessary in the core, so that when I have a chlorine room, I don't have to move tons of storage.

I spend a lot of time in the beginning constructing a basin of air flow tiles at the very bottom middle (low as I can get before running into slime or plants), spanning the entire width between the two ladders, and this basin is for my fresh water.  Otherwise, leaving water in the 'natural' spawn areas a long time is a big contributor to uneven base design, I find.  With this large basin down in the middle, I build my coal generator room at the bottom right, and above it my mushroom farm, so the CO2 naturally moves up into the mushroom farm.  Having stuff in these pre-determined locations does extend the time it takes me to get the core sorted and really start exploring, but it means I don't have to come back later and reorganize.

[Sevio]

@SusanMcO I've adopted the "open style" base design which just has floors separated by wide ladder sections since there isn't really much point to making fully enclosed rooms, the better gas flow that you get from having an open style base helps CO2 settle down to the bottom very well and keeps the main base nice and clean with pure oxygen.

Image in the spoiler:

Spoiler

I mainly use 4 high floors (I'll call them Large Floors here) as these are the tallest you can go while still having reachability to all tiles in the floor. When I start, I designate the printing pod platform as the Main Corridor, which must be kept free of obstructions for east-west travel. Above and below it I have two large floors, mainly because I like to build two outhouses in their own separate dead-ends early on in the game. These are the floors where I construct my dead-end toilet rooms, auto-separating electrolyzers, polluted water tank, hatch cage and other things that block horizontal travel

Below the lower large floor I designate a Storage/Utility corridor. This place is ultimately for putting all the ugly stuff: Storage containers, batteries, transformers and heavi-watt wire if my colony gets that large.

And finally as seen in the purple square, I've recently started to use one 4-wide ladder design in all my bases which I call the Hatch Elevator. It gives me enough space to build hatch stairs between the two ladders to allow me to herd all the hatches I find into one spot without having to do a lot of temporary construction in the rest of my base.

[KittenIsAGeek]

5 hours ago, vonVile said:

I organize by centralizing all my Water into a reservoir to get it out of the way and block it from vomiting Dupe contamination. My plan for base design is to have the top be for Dupe living quarters and the bottom for the engine the makes the base work.

I used to do that method, but I've started revising a little. Since heat goes up and cool goes down, I find it more convenient to have my industrial equipment up top or off to the side so that the heat doesn't cook my living quarters.

[Nascarlaser1]

I make my base like this:

Central printing room

Dining room and Beds Above

Toilets on the bottom to collect the carbon dioxide

Right side has a farm, storage and the exit into the slime biome (seems like its always to the right)

Left side is entrance to that chlorine biome and my water deposit.

[The Plum Gate]

I try to keep my ladders out of the middle. The decor is ridiculous in the mess hall area - think my maximum value in the middle off to the left a little is around 471.  ..yes, the decor bleeds through the mesh tiles.

 

[manu_x32]

I shared some tips and tricks here of my last outbreak game. It's a small 10-12 colony, open style base, self-sufficient. There is many mistakes I would not do in the next game, but it was overall successful.  I guess with the new update, closed rooms becomes a bonus, so I need to look into that...

 

[Lifegrow]

I build a different layout every time I play  

The basics always remain the same :

• Ceilings are 4 high unless they're temporary floors - i.e. early game mealwood spamming floors.
• If i'm building electrolyzers inside my base and want to utilize hydrogens properties of floating to the top left, I make a bell tower to collect it slightly off to the left - if not, I do whatever I creatively feel like  
• Temporary outhouses placed somewhere out of the way until lavatories/showers are brought in much, much later (I never rush for them)
• Since OU I now build a large perimeter wall around my entire base, and dig out 2 tiles from my walls to prevent constant disinfecting from slimelung creep.
• Plenty of floors, but overlapping ladders to prevent the dupe-drop issue from plaguing my bases.
• Leave plenty of space - if you don't fill it, never mind - but if you struggle for space, your base will become an overcrowded mess. In the pics below you'll see i have large open areas on either side of my base - these are for growing rooms on the left (when I finally get around to them) and refinery rooms on the right (below the geyser tank).

They're some of my basics - obviously now we have these dumb ruins cluttering up the place, my bases tend to incorporate a few of them - like my current offline base which has 3 set pieces in/on/adjoining it....