Developing a "fortified Evac shelter" structure

[Erk]

I’m working on this as part of my dialogue update (you can wind up going to these places based on stories from NPCs that have been here), and have hit the point where I could use some feedback.

I’m making “fortified Evac shelters”. These are structures that spawn anywhere Evac shelters would normally spawn, but they aren’t options as player starting points. Like the Refugee Center, I plan to have a couple static NPCs that spawn with them. That’s for later though.

I’m thinking of reasonable ways to develop this. How would NPCs fortify shelters?

• a wall around the place, probably made of scrap metal
• a single large sliding metal gate with a guard shack on the side
• an adjoining bit of farmland, also enclosed inside the scrap metal wall
• a well outside the shelter
• shelter windows boarded up or replaced with fortified windows, doors reinforced or replaced with metal
• the inside of the shelter gutted, and turned into the main dining area and armoury
• the basement converted to living space, possibly dug out and expanded to include the crafting area
• I’m considering adding a stationary terrain piece - solar array - and giving the shelter a third overmap tile that includes a solar farm. This wouldn’t be player craftable, it would just represent the NPCs building the same solar structure we do using vehicles. Then I can put a few utility lights up around the place.

What else might they have? I’ll probably use this structure plan for a few different types of fortified shelter, with population ranging from 2 to 6 NPCs depending on the storyline.

[Stone]

Id check out the lore, i think its only been a week but its been a bit since ive checked but that should give you a decent idea of what would make sense to add.

[Erk]

I’m pretty up on the lore, since presently I’m writing a lot of it. What do you mean?

Bear in mind that these represent places NPCs have decided to stay in the shelter and turn it into their base, like players do.

[Stone]

Id think about what a small group could accomplish in a week (or whatever timeframe) with what theyre given, boarded up windows, a defensive wall, maybe a few traps and i doubt they would worry about farming so early on since they were in the stocked evac but thats my opinion

[Erk]

Oh, I see. These don’t spawn on worldgen often enough that the player is likely to find them on day 1; once the code supports it, they should only spawn when you get a quest to find one.

[Wayticus]

Don’t know about the metal gate/walls cause is that even build able in game, would require welders forges and lots of metal, not sure how high-tech you want the evac shelter people to be. I’d see them as more of a typical apocalypse type fort, use of the raw natural materials near by to build it up, as venturing into the cities to get the advanced stuff is dangerous.

For defenses the wooden palisade gate makes sense, with wooden walls, pits with stakes in them to keep monsters away from the walls. Nailboard traps placed around.

The solar array, again how high-tech are they? A few solar panels they were able to get from cars out of town, or a little bio diesel generator, or a few pedal power generators.
By the well add a standing water tank.

Make a big pit a bit outside the walls, similar to the fema camp ones, they use for burning any of the infected they come across.

Could have a small livestock area.
Have a basic butcher rack the hunters use for the game they bring back, makeshift beds, as the sheets and rags for real beds might be harder to come by.

I’ll try to think of more stuff got to walk the dogs.

[Stone]

That would make sense, i didnt think about time it took to find it but i think they would have a small farm, a workshop and some way of dividing up private rooms (sheet dividers or something) in addition to what i previously listed.

[Erk]

For the scrap wall, I’m actually coding a bolted together scrap metal wall right now, it’s basically a log palisade made with loose metal… About the same stats but a more post apocalyptic style.

The backstory I was planning to the solar array is that this is one of the rare Evac shelters that actually got most of its supplies delivered. I could just as easily put a generator in the basement, that might even get the point across more clearly.

Butcher rack and abattoir area is a good idea. Also I want to build a little outhouse.

Beds will likely be makeshift, even though I think it’s not hard to get bedding… It just gives the right look.

[Stone]

You could research some historical locations and modernize/apocalyze them

[Wayticus]

Oh well if there is going to be new wall types.

I didn’t think any of the evacs got much supplies as they were mainly to get people out of the cities so there were less panicked mobs and to cut down on the chaos in them.

A little area of mounds of dirt or some grave markers if possible for the survivors who were part of them and died, they still burned the bodies of course, got to be safe, but left markers to remember by, them have little mementos on them. If there is a way to code it could even have the grave markers have names, and a little blurb type thing of how they died.

Could have some tents set up outside the shelter but inside the walls, or not even do an evac building have it all be a little thrown together fort thing, as most of the good materials were focused on the walls for defense rather then housing.

Not sure if you are going to have questlines line there, but they could be used as gathering more materials for making better living quarters, getting a more high tech advanced place going. Even the refuge center ones have you look for welders and such, cause they ain’t going out of their safe area.

[Erk]

I love the idea of a couple grave sites.

Although a fortified survivor camp built from scratch is a cool thing, it’s lorewise not what I’m looking for. I both want to show that not every Evac shelter was totally abandoned (for the same reason as players often use them as bases), and I have storylines that will lead players here that are based around them being Evac shelters.

As for the idea of some of them getting stuff, I am going based on logical procurement. The shelters we know do start with some stuff in them, so clearly there was some sort of a purchasing and stocking phase started before the budget ran out. Because of the way such things work, it’s likely at least a few prototypical shelters got more of their stocks before then.

[Theundyingcode]

Build your outer wall as a vehicle… not only is military plating sturdier than any wall you can build, you can also mount all sorts of laser cannons and other weapons to dispose of any unwanted visitors or inlaws.

[Wayticus]

He is referring to a game generated pre-made camp location that he is coding, not one a player builds. So he can make the walls anything he wants really.

[Erk]

While a fun idea, that’s more of a player base thing than an NPC shantytown thing. Having vehicles spawn in exactly the right place on the overmap isn’t something I want to play with

Also, the disadvantage to making a wall out of vehicles is that it can be eroded down in HP. A sturdy structure doesn’t really take damage, it either breaks or doesn’t.

[Erk]

Here are the scrap metal walls.

Adds junk barrier -> junk wall

[Mr.Denton]

Few ideas

Maybe add a 1-3 farm animals? They collected on their way there, or they found on an abandoned farm

Maybe a quest to help them get the parts and build a 9mm turret?

A quest to help them get in contact with the refugee shelter? Which will result in an extra guard moving in

[DannyBoi]

I like that idea! Though I don’t think that it should only be found at the end of a questline.
Such structure is a great way to show a player what a competent survivor can achieve with enough resources. For the same reason I prefer generator over solar panels.

[Trigon]

Definitely a good idea. You could add a trench or some such outside the wall as extra reinforcement for the base. But I’m always for more of your NPC work to make the world feel more alive.

[QuietCoyote]

Maybe move the armory down a z-level, guarded by the obvious double metal door duo.

I think it would be great to see more of a monarchy in the game, with one character being conceived as a martyr of sorts for the group, someone who seemed to sacrifice so much for the group, but in reality just got to the top due to shady business and his competitors “mysteriously” disappearing on “safe” scavenging runs to secluded areas.

In the finale maybe there could be a serious civil war between groups for leading the people of the shelter, and maybe with a little luck and firepower, you could end up on top, maybe choosing some policies for the camp to follow to help develop the NPC developmental branch a bit too.

I mean this I’m hoping the lore is sorta an open note of sorts of course…