How to make elevators (and our fortress)

[Xee]

In case anyone doesn't know, you can actually make "elevators" to shoot up really fast. Hopefully they never "fix" this becaues it's fun to play with.

Basically it's due to an inherent part of the game to prevent you falling through the wall, you may have noticed when mining somethings you get shot up through the ground.

So for an elevator all you have to do is take any voxel block (dirt, sand, stone etc) and place it by itself, then keep building up with it. Once you have a tall voxel tower you can walk up to it and hug/jump at one of the sides, and it will take you to the top.

Here is a screenshot of th elevator to the roof in our fortress
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=287647755

Here are some more happy snaps of our fortress build as well

Marking out the size with wooden frames is easy
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=286043333

We always build a 2 block high "trench" as our first line of defence, zombies apart from spdiers cant get up, but players can still jump up, and its the perfect height to wack zombie heads with a sledgehammer.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=286043373

Frame is going up, the footprint is 9x9
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=286043448

Main frame is up, we like to use iron blocks surrounding our metal door for the main entrance, zombies tend to hit those blocks the most and you can't clad the inside of the doorframe unfortunately.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=286741791

Initially was going with rebar>cobblestone for the top floor, but had a bit of a collapse with some really weird physics. Ended up switching to reinforced concrete, and putting 4 supporting pillars out from each pillars since we are having a rooftop with a bigger footprint than the bottom
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=286972499

Pretty much complete now
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=287647658

1/2 Concrete block shooting ledge surrounds the building, this is great for holding off hordes, you can shoot them as they bash the wall and spiders can't climb to you
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=287647628

Next we are going to expand the dirt below our trench ready to be filled with traps, and possibly add some sniper towers in each direction.

[Xee]

Here are some details on the rooftop

View of the rooftop, the roof footprint is 19x19, so plenty of room
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=287647693

Luxury Kitchen
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=287647592

Living area in the middle of the roof, you can see where the elevator comes up. If you put blocks both sides of it you actually pop up "through the floor".
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=287647487

Rooftop Farm
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=287647459

Forge and weapon storage
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=287647560

Elevator shoots to the top, with a lader either side to get back down
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=287647755

We have another elevator on the other side and ladders going down about 20 blocks to the basement/mining level. All of the supporting piers on the outside of the building go down to this level, helps us make sure we don't dig in the wrong spot.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=287647807

p.s. Wooden Frames are great for scaffolding while building since you can pick them up and they are easy to make, I used hundreds of these as platforms to make buiding easier, and to save me for death falls
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=286972499

[Roderick]

I really hope they fix this. At first: beside thats an game for an Zombie-Apokalypse, is more than unrealistic. And second: I can't count the times where I was mining, went to an edge and was sucked up to the ground. -.-
I would prefer a mechanical or electrical elevator later. ^^

[Xee]

Yeah I agree it can be annoying when mining, however I wouldn't want them to remove it until they put in some form of proper elevator, preferably something that is very expensive to craft so that it's only something you can really build once you are established.

As far as realism goes, there isn't much that is realistic in the game anyway, it's more as to whether it's thematic - and most importantly whether it's fun. They could always just add a server flag to disable "player collision safety mechanism".

I'd also like to be able to stop on ladders at any position, haven't found a way to do that yet.

[Roderick]

Point for you. ;)
Maybe they should make zombies capable of jumping, using this eleveaters too like they can use ladders. *g*

[Xee]

I think the zombies do actually use these elevators as well, since they follow the same physics as players (ie if they huge the pole it will send them up). I guess the difference is they don't "Know" about them to use them intentionally.

[Roderick]

i always have to jump to a tight point for activating the elevator-effect. Thatswhy zombies can't follow it. Never happend to be sucked up while walking only. O_o

[Xee]

If you set up the elevator like in the first screenshot, you can just walk up to it most of the time, no need to jump.

[El Zamuro]

There is the old waterfall elevator method, as well. Just set up a water container, like for irrigating your plants, at the top of the structure, let it spill into another water containment pool at the bottom, and you can then can stand in the waterfall and "swim" up and down the waterfall.

[Snail]

Nice share, much appreciated OP!

[Toast]

I also built my base in the exact same lake you did.

But to defend it is much much easier than you probably have it set up. A simple 2 high wall in the water prevents any zombies from jumping on top of the wall; including you for that manner.

You can stand safely on top of the wall and melee any enemies that come up to the wall, while they won't be able to attack you in return. Made my game way too easy by Day 10 of 8.7

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=287989021

[ReadyNick]

I don't like it at all my underground base is so huge that when it happenes I have to travel so far through danger to get back to the point where I was.

[Lerch Addams]

Very nice work!

"conventional elevator":

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=267353944

[Xee]

Yeah I was thinking of watervators as well, but they aren't automatic or anywhere near as quick to get to the top.