Newb Question: Building Your Own Base

[Tovical]

So, after going through several trial-by-fire games and learning the game by doing things like running through town while smoking and drinking and firing a bow I made myself, I’m finally settling in to playing the game seriously. In the game I have going now, I’ve managed to put together my first cheesy car for the purpose of transporting lumber (yeah, a truck would be better, but I was impatient xD). In what I consider to be a great stroke of luck, I’ve also picked up a katana, which seems to a lot more impressive as a melee weapon than anything I picked up during my “trials.”

After putting up a less-than-impressive double wall (I’m working on a garage of sorts to protect my car from acid rain - I look forward to finding out how well that works), I’m beginning to wonder if it’s at all feasible to construct your own base. It seems to take an extraordinary amount of effort - four phases to put up one wall, and it takes a lot of wood.

I can appreciate that a one-man engineering team should take a long time to build stuff, but I’m just wondering if perhaps I missed anything that can save me a lot of effort, either in-game or on my part. Is there anything to streamline this process? Furthermore, am I just going nutso-crazo here and building an entire base myself is not worth the effort?

Any insights or tips will be appreciated

[The_Slime]

. . .Furthermore, am I just going nutso-crazo here and building an entire base myself is not worth the effort?

I find that a lot of people tend to set their roots down in pre-existing buildings, modifying them if they need to. If you’re trying to protect your car from acid rain, try finding a place to live first, then build a carport onto that. It’ll take a lot less work, but you should still be able to get what you want/need out of it.

[Taraq]

Many people (myself included) also use large cars as bases, to avoid the hassle of traveling back and forth for raiding and for ease of customization compared to houses. You could even just build a stationary car, and it would likely be a lot easier than a full base but probably have better equipment (Kitchen units, integrated furnaces, repair, etc.).

[system]

Yeah, but vehicles are more difficult to repair than just straight walls. I find that a small self-made garage with a few roofs serves fine.

[EkarusRyndren]

Many people (myself included) also use large cars as bases, to avoid the hassle of traveling back and forth for raiding and for ease of customization compared to houses. You could even just build a stationary car, and it would likely be a lot easier than a full base but probably have better equipment (Kitchen units, integrated furnaces, repair, etc.).

Someone said something about large vehicles? In all seriousness though when making a base you’ve gotta decide how far you’re gonna be traveling to do normal shit. Personally I stick to vehicles (The now legendary (…I can call it that right?) RMCC is NOT my normal vehicle though)

[system]

I dunno, you need to do something memorably like run over every building in an entire town with it for legendary status.

But in all seriousness the difficulty of building a wall is overrated. It takes me a good 15-25 minutes to build a wall that has been built off posts I’ve put in the ground. It takes like 12 2x4s and two posts or 6 more 2x4s for a supporting structure behind.

It really needs to take less time and resources.

[nickasummers]

It only took me a little over a season once i had an axe and reliable water to build a little cabin on the edge of the woods. I was actually extremely pleased with how much time and resources it takes to build things. I used log walls to avoid the need for nails because fuck nails.

[Pageman]

Don’t bother to build many defenses. right now you get to zombies, zombies don’t get to you.
We don’t have base attacks in static spawn

[youtoo]

its not worth the trouble to build your own shelter. its alot of work for little reward. you dont need the perfect shelter. after a while you clear out areas and move around. building a car is better. as a newb your better off learning the game. just doing basic construction and finding cars to use. unless you turn up zombie spawns your not going to get very big swarms at your shelters anyway. as long as you have a vehicle you can always get away. a vehicle isn’t even that important early on.

as a newb a good shelter is one with a convenient locaton to water. I usually just use the starter shelter for a while depending on how much hassle it is to run and get food. There are items now (forgot what they are called) that can slowly collect water, but over time you will get alot of them.

mansion can make good shelters since they have a pool. just dump your stuff by the pool and then sleep farther from the windows.

as you clear out places and get stronger you will move around. the perfect shelter is not really important until they get massive zombie swarms coming at you.

[Inadequate]

Now that the construction menu has been ported over to .json, we should see some changes to it soon. Maybe flimsy walls that can be built with very few materials, or reinforced glass walls. Building your own basement would also be pretty neat, if it could be implemented.

[John_Candlebury]

Now that the construction menu has been ported over to .json, we should see some changes to it soon. Maybe flimsy walls that can be built with very few materials, or reinforced glass walls. Building your own basement would also be pretty neat, if it could be implemented.

It is already possible to build your own basements. I have a thread covering the exploit here:

-My method for building in Z levels

And yes i suggest modifiying an existing building for a permanent base, I personally enjoy caves and apartment buildings for RP purposes but sewer treatment plants are very good bases

[Inadequate]

Yeah, 90% of the time my actual bases are just the first house/garage I come across, with the windows boarded up, because I don’t feel like moving my loot around.

[Tovical]

All of that is good food for thought. Mostly I was leaning toward building a base because I found this game after playing Dwarf Fortress for a while.

Today I finished up the garage for my vehicle and had a pleasant surprise. I made a run to town for water and found a sledgehammer. Just for fun, I started bashing the hell out of nearby furniture. It turns out you can get a very large amount of 2x4s that way, and you get a decent amount of nails. That eliminates the need to make 2x4s myself, which means less log-hauling, which makes wall construction a little easier.

I appreciate everyone’s input; it seems like base construction works like most other things in the game: do whatever you want. Some things are certainly more efficient, or make for better strategies, than others, but overall the game is such that you can play how you want, within reasonable limitations, and still do okay.

[Murphy]

It is more efficient to deconstruct furniture instead of bashing it. You only need a hammer and a screwdriver for that.

[Inadequate]

To maximize resources, deconstruct all the furniture in a house and cart it out, smash all the windows and cart away the sheets, then set the house on fire. Two or three days later, when it dies down, sift through the rubble and collect rebars and nails.

[Tovical]

-facepalm- well, knowing you can deconstruct furniture will be helpful xD

[Taraq]

You could also deconstruct the windows as well if you want the glass panes to build your own windows.

[FunsizeNinja123]

Remember you can close the blinds on windows by [c]losing them again.