Cellars/Below Ground

[shelma32]

I am really enjoying the game.
But no matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to get things right when trying to make cellars/anything under ground.

I can go down one level, but then I can't seem to do something on that level without either going down further and not being able to add stairs or getting rid of the layer above.

I know that it is probably really simple, but I just can't seem to get the hang of it.

Any tips/help would be appreciated.

[Jambie Lionheart]

Never build directly under any supporting structure or wall segment and try to plan ahead. Get a picture of whatit is you want and do it.
Stairs need 4 tiles worth of space, not just three. You have to leave one tiles worth of space on both ends on the stairs, so you could technically say 5 unless it's a longer or winding staircase.

Also, if you wanna build a celler, go down at LEAST 3 levels, preferably four since heatwaves will kill stockpiled food on 3 tier cellars.

You you like compact buildings then you can also build a food storage outside of your main building(s). Just make sure there's at least one door between the open air and your room somewhere.

That's all I can give you without a screenshot.

[shelma32]

Originally posted by }P.B{ CtMurphy:

Never build directly under any supporting structure or wall segment and try to plan ahead. Get a picture of whatit is you want and do it.
Stairs need 4 tiles worth of space, not just three. You have to leave one tiles worth of space on both ends on the stairs, so you could technically say 5 unless it's a longer or winding staircase.

Also, if you wanna build a celler, go down at LEAST 3 levels, preferably four since heatwaves will kill stockpiled food on 3 tier cellars.

You you like compact buildings then you can also build a food storage outside of your main building(s). Just make sure there's at least one door between the open air and your room somewhere.

That's all I can give you without a screenshot.

Thank you for the tips and advice!

[sf]

Or just link your cellars vertically with "radiator rooms" at the bottom/near-bottom level so that your people don't have to travel the extra distance.

I keep a vertically linked network of cellars closer to ground level for food storage, a room actually ON ground level for holding meals and healing kits so that they are closer to dining area and bedrooms, and a network of "radiator" rooms at the bottom level (empty, natural terrain, with lots of walls/floors). When temperature in the joint complex is too high, I just dig more at the bottom level, until I can maintain a max 3-4 deg C in a 41 deg C summer heat wave (this is the highest I observed).

[Bronzewing]

You can make a shallow cellar cooler by increasing the wall surface area (the uncovered floor area also helps cooling, but for food storage you need to floor the room, so better to focus on wall area). For example going down 2 levels and digging out a cellar with 1 layer of dirt above won't be that cool if it's just a square room, but if you corrugate the walls with lots of alcoves it should become cooler. You can make it even more effective by making a cellar full of columns so it ends up as a grid of north/south and east/west tunnels with single tile columns (looks a bit like a waffle from above with the dents being columns). The waffle cellar also has the advantage that because you have columns everywhere you won't need support beams. If your cellar design is not keeping things as cool as you'd like the easiest way to retrofit an existing cellar with better cooling is probably to try boring some 1 tile wide tunnels off one wall. Leave them unfloored and they should help lower the temperature of the attached room. Lastly try making the actual cellar 2 layers deep. Whatever shape the room is just making it twice as deep from floor to ceiling means double the wall area and better cooling.
P.S. Never include lighting in a cellar, they give off heat as well as light.

[Bulldozer]

I didn't read all the walls of text, but make a floor when you dig down, then dig and make stairs. That's how I figured it out.