Show off your base

[TheStoryteller]

[quote=“AllisonW, post:10, topic:8749”]Back on topic. Time to show you folks what I meant in that other thread by “hybrid base.”

Above, that’s the inside of my base. Yes, it’s an evac shelter I made some home improvements upon. I use the lockers at the top-left for sorting my guns, ammo, and mods in separate piles, and the locker to the right of those is for non-gun weapons and things. At the top-right, I have an armchair built next to the eternal light source for sitting while I read; my bookcase is directly to its left. Sadly you will probably notice I never got around to organizing other things like that.

Also in the upper-right, south of the terminal, I’ve got one of the fancy new standing charcoal kilns and a wood pile; in the lower-right, you see my old kitchen, with counters and fireplace, and a standing wooden keg of water right by the door. On the south side, you see my utilities rig! I’ve got the kitchen set up with an RV kitchen (and water tank on the same tile), kitchen buddy, and minifridge all in a row of three adjacent tiles, and then to the left of those is a chem lab. You’ll also notice I placed aisles so I could access the doors I added, with a forge rig and welding rig on the far left for a metal shop. I went ahead and put important tools like my anvil, crucible, swage and die set, and tongs in the welding rig’s tool compartment.

All the utilities on the utility-rig row, except for the forge rig, have controls installed, so that I can access them from any point to flick on the dome lights (which illuminate the whole strip), the stereo system, the minifridge toggle, etc.

You might, however, be wondering how the hell I could have connected this to any outside solar generator, with that bloody wall in the way. Or why there’s an aisle on the right side when it doesn’t connect to any obvious utilities over there. Well…

That’s the complete “vehicle.” A lot more than meets the eye, huh? Those two panels of “wall”–which were originally the south pair of doors in the evac shelter–are actually boards installed in the vehicle. Those tiles, with the boards, link the generator outside to the utilities inside, while maintaining the presence of a “wall.” It even looks perfect. You’ll also notice that the two wooden doors (which ended up replacing the old windows, since I was using them to get in and out given that I blocked off access to the old doors) are also part of the vehicle. I did this for the specific reason that unlike non-vehicular wooden doors, they can let in light (did you notice that I could see through them in the first picture?) or have their curtains closed, allowing them to work as both doors and windows. This is actually the reason for the aisle tile on the right: to maintain a connection. I probably could have just built it as a separate rig, though. It also has the shortcoming that I can’t pull a wheelbarrow inside through those doors, because they collide with the “vehicle.”

As mentioned in the notes for the last picture, the water tank is installed on the same tile as the RV kitchen. Very convenient. I also have a storage battery installed on each of the eight tiles of the solar array proper. They recharged super-slowly when I was using regular solar panels, but once I switched to upgraded solar panels, they filled up nice and quick, and the eight batteries hold a charge extremely well.

Here’s a view of the solar array from outside the house. Notice the wood walls I built to protect the solar array; I recommend this, because they’re fragile and you don’t want to crash into them or anything. The three opaque doors, provided for outside access, are also part of the “vehicle,” though that isn’t actually necessary and I could replace them with standard wooden doors instead if I were so inclined. The door on the left there was created for left-side access to the second welding rig I built for actual vehicle work. The rack right by the door back into the shelter holds lots of spare vehicle parts.

You might have noticed the shelter has a basement, but I provided no picture. Nothing interesting down there. Just some junk piles and my bed and bedside table, upon which I keep my supply of three-litre jars of cough syrup. It is my treasure. Also not pictured: the shimmering portal about five map tiles away, right by my local woods, which I sealed up with wooden walls after killing all the nether critters that spawned with it. I’ve been in this base for a few 30-day seasons now and the walled-in portal has yet to cause me any trouble.

Anyway, hopefully this show and tell was helpful for those of you wondering how you could power facilities inside your house with a solar array. This setup doesn’t even require cables or moving batteries around![/quote]

So THIS is what you meant!

I have to admit, if I wasn’t already committed to the design I’ve got… this would be my new plan of action. You’ve done exactly what I originally imagined I would do, before I decided to keep my fortress somewhat ‘mobile’ and make it a complete vehicle. Maybe I’ll even figure out how to get some screenshots of it once I’m finished with the main layout. But color me impressed. I love this design.

[AllisonW]

I have to admit, if I wasn’t already committed to the design I’ve got… this would be my new plan of action. You’ve done exactly what I originally imagined I would do, before I decided to keep my fortress somewhat ‘mobile’ and make it a complete vehicle. Maybe I’ll even figure out how to get some screenshots of it once I’m finished with the main layout. But color me impressed. I love this design.

Oh, thank you kindly! But if your quasi-mobile base is half as impressive as your description made it sound, I can only imagine it’s glorious. It’s just a more ambitious project than I was ready to undertake, myself.

I got the screenshots by, uh, using the Steam overlay to snap screenshots with the F12 key. (I just switched to the graphical version of the game, not because I’m sold on tilesets, but because it has features the pure-ASCII version doesn’t, like playing nice with the aforementioned overlay. These features still work when playing with tilesets off, apparently.)

[Ishindri]

Here’s a view of the solar array from outside the house. Notice the wood walls I built to protect the solar array; I recommend this, because they’re fragile and you don’t want to crash into them or anything. The three opaque doors, provided for outside access, are also part of the “vehicle,” though that isn’t actually necessary and I could replace them with standard wooden doors instead if I were so inclined. The door on the left there was created for left-side access to the second welding rig I built for actual vehicle work. The rack right by the door back into the shelter holds lots of spare vehicle parts.

Very nice! Though I have to wonder if you’ve had any issues with attacks on your solar array? My primary character’s RV is papered in solar panels, and zombears approaching in the middle of the night usually present the most danger in that respect.

[AllisonW]

Nope! I’d say the walls take care of that, except for the part where I don’t think they’ve ever actually been tested. For what it’s worth, I don’t actually live in the middle of the woods, but just a few map tiles away.

Definitely protect your solar array though. Wood and nails aren’t scarce, so at least encase it in wooden walls or something. If nothing else, they have the advantage of being a separate entity from the solar array itself, so an enemy bashing the wall isn’t affecting the solar array in any way unless they actually break through and attack it.

Also, none of the tiles in the actual solar array itself, with the exception of the outside welding rig, actually stop movement–they’re just frames with a roof, battery, and solar panel mounted on them–so a monster trying to move through it won’t have anything to bash unless they’re trying to move through the welding rig tile (at least that’s only one tile) for some reason or they’re trying to break through the boards to get into the shelter (and at least the board tiles don’t have any sensitive stuff on them).

[dovla]

AllisonW, I had a similar setup, except I removed the doors at the bottom of the shelter and extended the solar array into the building, replacing the doors with vehicle doors. The inner setup was a six-tile crating isle with a single space to approach and metal racks build up against the walls (which I built to partition the shelter into four 3x3 rooms). One was a bedroom, another was general storage, third was disassembly room and the fourth I did not use.

Then I got a parasite infection and lost use of my arms. On the last day before they healed, a bear sniffed me as I was loitering next to a boarded up window and mauled me to death.

It looked something like this (detail)

##+#}    }#+##
   #} &H }#
   #} && }#
#  #} && }#
----#-++-#----
     #### 
     ####
     ####
     ####

[AllisonW]

so I partitioned my shelter into four rooms, right?

I think you used the space far more efficiently than I did.

Sorry to hear about your infection and the bear-mauling, though. Did the fungus happen? Fungicide is so important to have.

[dovla]

[quote=“dovla, post:17, topic:8749”]so I partitioned my shelter into four rooms, right?

I think you used the space far more efficiently than I did.

Sorry to hear about your infection and the bear-mauling, though. Did the fungus happen? Fungicide is so important to have.[/quote]
Eh, I guess it could be even more efficient if I wasn’t a stickler for symmetry - I only really needed two rooms, one a bedroom with a wood stove, pile of logs and a bed, another to dump things in I didn’t readily need. The other two I built to keep the place symmetrical. Racks lining the entrance hallways were nice to store weapons / ammo / armor / clothing in (this was the northern hallway, opposite the workstation isle).

It was the fungus. I didn’t recognize the symptoms and went to sleep. Ironically, I had all kinds of drugs readily available.

[Flashlight_Hoarder]

My Base has more Flashlights then it does Drugs, And this is Cataclysm so…

[Illogical_Blox]

Firstly: I need to copy you Allison, your setup is neat.

Secondly: I recognise you, Flashlight horder! I’m on the Bay12 forums as well. In fact, you posted in my Original Insults thread.

[Flashlight_Hoarder]

Hey it’s my favorite Illogical Box!

[ramesesniblet]

Here’s a relatively recent base of mine, I too had a solar rig than went through the wall. The little farm plot is the result of the collapsed roof from jaqueshammering through the wall for the solar rig… waste not want not. It’s all set up in a refugee centre, the permanent light is really awesome, way better than cuddling up to a console. I had a fermenting vat, still (both never used), charcoal things and stuff… on the counter by the beds is a petrified eye so guess how this character died.

[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

I would post my most recent one but for the 5 people that watch my videos there would be spoilers (plus it’s not as good (yet)).

[Flashlight_Hoarder]

Where can I find your videos rameseniblet?

[ramesesniblet]

In the link in my sig. checks that it works It does!

[Flashlight_Hoarder]

Neato!

[AllisonW]

It’s all set up in a refugee centre

What happened to the NPCs?

[ramesesniblet]

[quote=“ramesesniblet, post:23, topic:8749”]It’s all set up in a refugee centre

What happened to the NPCs?[/quote]

You know, I have no idea. They were OK with me hanging around anyway but one update they randomly disappeared, but I didn’t notice right away so I’ not even sure which. I know one of them randomly died early on and I’m still not sure how, it was a merchant sealed in a room (might have been radiation). Another died from a random triffid visitor, the rest idk. Just gone.

[AllisonW]

[quote=“AllisonW, post:27, topic:8749”][quote=“ramesesniblet, post:23, topic:8749”]It’s all set up in a refugee centre

What happened to the NPCs?[/quote]

You know, I have no idea. They were OK with me hanging around anyway but one update they randomly disappeared, but I didn’t notice right away so I’ not even sure which. I know one of them randomly died early on and I’m still not sure how, it was a merchant sealed in a room (might have been radiation). Another died from a random triffid visitor, the rest idk. Just gone.[/quote]

Are you radioactive.

[MormonPartyboat]

Little wood shack. Storeroom, bedroom, workroom, and big farm. I did sort of cheat by moving fruit trees from the surrounding woods to the farm, but I made sure to delete the originals. To have the open plan workroom, I had to build surrounding walls to put up the roof and then knock them down again. Spring has sprung, so I hit up all the marked strawberry/blueberry fields I could find to kickstart the farm.

Wooden barrels of liquid fertilizer out back, wooden barrels of salt water and cooking oil inside. The solar rig, the four wheeler, and the in-house rig all are set up to use detachable storage batteries, which is nice. If I find another welder (or a book that lets me make them), I’m going to make a single tile draggable welder for all my vehicle work needs.

I’m basically in the middle of nowhere. The little swamp tile on the south side of my lake is far enough away (and too small, I guess?) to not spawn any swamp nasties, while still being a useful source of salt water.

[Barhandar]

[quote=“MormonPartyboat, post:30, topic:8749”]

Little wood shack. Storeroom, bedroom, workroom, and big farm. I did sort of cheat by moving fruit trees from the surrounding woods to the farm, but I made sure to delete the originals. To have the open plan workroom, I had to build surrounding walls to put up the roof and then knock them down again. Spring has sprung, so I hit up all the marked strawberry/blueberry fields I could find to kickstart the farm.[/quote]
Oooh, the “get wheat and cotton seeds and never ever need food or rag pinatas” setup. Mind telling what’s your field-fence and what’s in the shack above it all?

Also, practical advice: make a mod with all changes you made to files. Item definitions override by themselves, recipes need "override": true.
And change cotton seeds to have "charges": 2 (instead of CHARGES they have) and both cotton ball from cotton boll recipes to produce "charges_mult" : 1 instead of amount. It saves a lot of headache from unstacking cotton if you’re not using AIM.

[MormonPartyboat]

Oooh, the “get wheat and cotton seeds and never ever need food or rag pinatas” setup. Mind telling what’s your field-fence and what’s in the shack above it all?

Haven’t found either of those kinds of seeds yet But perpetual blueberries are a thing now.

The field fence is a makeshift fence (something like this http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/x/farm-fence-24052997.jpg ) that I modded in for purely decorative reasons. Takes longer and uses more tools/wood and slows less than the regular picket fence, but doesn’t take nails.

The little shack to the top is a crapper. I throw all my old books there.

Also, practical advice: make a mod with all changes you made to files. Item definitions override by themselves, recipes need "override": true.

I’ve been keeping anything added in a separate folder, but good tip on the override thing. Luckily I’ve also been keeping notes on what I’ve changed.

And change cotton seeds

Will do, if I get lucky and find a farm somewhere. I may want to wait until winter to go seriously exploring, since I’ll have nothing to do then, but it’s like 170 days away and I’ll probably drive into a minefield before that. May just ~godmode~ in some seeds to play with in the meantime.