Base Building - Need some advice

[Mr. F]

Sometimes I want to go for a megabase in rimworld, but I'm always doing the same mistakes over and over again, when trying to archive this:

I'm creating large rooms and sections of the base with the "final" design in mind, resulting in too much wealth early on and leading to very strong raids, I can't handle, when my colony is still very vulnerable.

This made me wonder, how all of you usually build up your own bases, especially when you like to create a large colony in the long run.

Do you plan the complete layout for your base right from the start (and build this way)? Or do your bases grow "organically"? Do you rebuild your whole base several times until the final layout is reached?

Thank you for some insights regarding this :-)

[Excellion]

It depends a bit.

When i am building a base under a mountain i tend to sketch the entire base out because having to alter such a base later on isn't as visually pleasing. Then i create a few small buildings outside and have one colonist mine while the others keep working in the temporally outside "Mini-base". Once the mining is done i am generally ready to move everything inside without having faced any real challenging raids.

When building an outside base knocking over a few walls isn't as much of a problem. I often end up resorting zoning one of the larger buildings i wish to later on use, and just temporally build everything i need at the start in there (Eg: Sectioning of rooms for bedrooms, workshops and so on). By the time i am geared up i construct the separate sleeping / dining / et cetera buildings i want to use, and then move the furniture out of my temporally starter building. Finally i will knock down the internal walls of the starter building, leaving me with a reusable shell. That said - my outdoor bases tend to grow somewhat organically as well (I only have a general idea what i want to build at some point).

One notable thing perhaps: I never finalise rooms until fairly late in the game. A dull 3x3 bedroom with a bed and perhaps 1 piece of furniture is plenty early on. Same with a small dining room with 1 table and 2 chairs. Furniture is actually worth quite a bit, so if you want to build a large base you might want to create furniture last, or on an "When needed" basis. Having 16 lavishly furnished bedrooms for 4 pawns is just a "Value Spike Raider Magnet" after all.

[UltimateTobi]

My current colony grew organically. You'd notice several "old" parts and "newer" parts of the base. It's not a beautiful, but functional layout. I started quite small in the beginning.

[dot]

I build and reform as I feel like I need it and/or I can, Idk, but I don't know what pawns I'm gonna get, or how am i gonna feel later in the save, like i might want to do something I didnt think at the beginning.
The biggest long term planning i do is selecting where in the map to start depending if I have cost, mountains, soil, etc. You can always reform and whatever point, hell even start in a new tile all together with your good group of pawns already setup, your tech researched and the skills to build, grow, tame, cure, hunt.. whatever
On top of that all, I just think it would not be enjoyable and probably more difficult trying to comit to one big layout from the beginning when you have few pawns and they build, grow, and mine slow af, sounds like a recipe for every pawn loosing its ♥♥♥♥ constantly.

[Infern]

My designs change on a regular basis.

Originally I'd do rooms that were square in nature just to fit for purpose. Eventually i started to do Massive luxurious rooms. This also included Prisoners.

Prisoners need small rooms to lower their mood and their ideology.
Prisoners need large rooms if you want to recruit them.

Slaves need Headspikes... Slave clothing and Terror Statues.

I then Started to make Organic looking bases. But the more i did that... The more areas I'd want to smooth increasing the value of the base in general. I even downloaded a Terraforming mod to allow me to rebuild walls.

This is one of my previous bases. I keep changing a ton.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/797284158375198721/874665224517603348/Untitled.png

[jerrypocalypse]

It's been quite a bit since I built a huge base, but I generally would (and still do this even now with smaller bases) move rooms and add onto sections. Rebuilding sections of the base to fit the new layout works perfectly fine. You just need to accept that there will be a slight materials loss as you go from having to deconstruct walls and the like. Building with wood at the start, knowing some things will be taken down, is good since wood is largely infinite. Also remember to utilize merchants as the come for extra materials like steel

[WhamyKaBlamy]

I normally like to start out around a geothermal generator. Here's my kind of standard starting layout, it has evolved over the years a bit and this was in the process of upgrading things, etc:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2577405120

First thing I do is use the planning tool to make sure I've got the room layout right, everything is basically 6x6 (or multiples thereof) walls. The bedrooms are 5x4 in this picture, the ones that have a 3 thick wall get expanded later on once I've got the outer walls done to have 6x4, for anyone that's jealous or a bit temperamental.

First room I build is where the hospital is in that picture, and lay out my stockpile/growing zones. From there I get the kitchen, butchering and storage rooms built, followed by the bedrooms. Next get the outer wall built, power set up for food refridgeration and go from there.

It seems to serve me pretty well. Plenty of ways to expand it depending on where I am. So, I'm somewhere in-between planning it all out from the start and going completely organically. I like to have a nice and functional core of the base planned out and work from there.

[Mr. F]

Thank you all for your tipps. I think, I will give it another try by avoiding too much wealth and going for functionality over perfectionism early on.

Your starting base layout looks very nice @WhamyKaBlamy. Maybe this is a good concept to start with.

[Zelithas]

I tend to use a grid system (3 by 3 or 5 by 5). Makes it easy to plan out positioning and re purpose areas. For example, the area I use for 6 bedrooms can convert to a rec room and freezer with little change to walls and doors.

[Jigain]

I also use grids, but I go for 9x9 rooms (with a 7x7 interior). That's enough to fit four 1x3 workbenches in the corners without making the room feel too cramped.

[Iskander]

Originally posted by Jigain:

I also use grids, but I go for 9x9 rooms (with a 7x7 interior). That's enough to fit four 1x3 workbenches in the corners without making the room feel too cramped.

This is the correct answer. (Imho, of course)
Also: when working with grids, I always go for uneven numbers. So if you don't like 9x9, go for 7x7 or 11x11 (or 9x11 if you don't like squares) i.e. keep the grid with uneven numbers.
Someone mentioned 6x6 rooms and I feel physically ill, thinking of how placing a door will make the room asymmetrical :)

[Zelithas]

Your base grid can be 3 by 3 and still fit large rooms. 3 scales to 7, 11, 15 and so on.

Edit: Just to clarify, the dimensions I am referring to are interior (excludes walls).

[Masshiron]

Spending the beginning of the game living in what is essentially a glorified shack works pretty well. I usually start with a big building divided into two or three rooms, with the main room having all the beds, the table, and the work stations. Eventually I'll feel comfortable to move colonists out to private bedrooms one-by-one, then separating the kitchen. I usually feel like I've reached the mid-game once my original building is only a dining room, everything else having been moved to dedicated rooms. I've always felt this kept my wealth low enough for me to have the time to get what I need to defend myself, and I don't have to put much thought into upgrading amenities as the colonists' expectations rise. Of course, you have to avoid hoarding resources, too.

I generally don't make grand plans for bases, but I just have basic ideas of where things will go and the shape the base will take. Building a base for where you are now while at the same time preparing for what you will need in the future - or future-proofing - is hard to do and I can't say that I'm great at it. I just take note of things like fertile soil, steam geysers, and defensive features and try to picture how a base with the usual buildings would fit into a particular area. As I build out in every direction, I try to leave room for new buildings and paths so that I don't have to do any major remodeling if I want to build in that direction again.

[taciturn(o)]

Organically but I always use barracks, bedrooms are awful they just increase your wealth by tremendous amount and occupy a huge space in the map. It's also important to separete your kitchen and butcher station very quickly or your pawns will get food poisoning day after day.

[WhamyKaBlamy]

Originally posted by Mr. F:

Thank you all for your tipps. I think, I will give it another try by avoiding too much wealth and going for functionality over perfectionism early on.

Your starting base layout looks very nice @WhamyKaBlamy. Maybe this is a good concept to start with.

Cheers :) If you do go with it, I really hope it works out well for you :D

Just thought I'd pop on and grab a screenie of what the base currently looks like - that's my newest playthrough, but as you can see the core of it hasn't changed all that much. I can squeeze all of the needed work benches into one room and I expanded out to that second geothermal generator. I'm currently at the point of starting to build people bionic limbs, do some devilstrand clothing and deep drilling.

I haven't been getting too many dangerous raids, I'm on the Strive to Survive setting of the storyteller.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2577622316

Still can't make up my mind what I want to do on the right hand side though :/ I also need to stop being lazy and get the internal walls upgraded to stone >_>

[ROE]

In the beginning I rough things out and go. In the end my bases always end up in the form of a square. I just don't seem to be able to help it.