When to Switch to Stone Walls?

[LookToWindward]

Hi,

I've started off a colony using wood structures, because at the start there are not enough bricks to build anything useful. It seems to take ages to cut new ones. I guess what I'm asking is, how do you get enough bricks to build a decent base in the early game?

Cheers
Dave

[gimmethegepgun]

As soon as is feasible. Once you have some spare labor just start cutting and you'll get stone walls in no time. Set up the stonecutting bench to have an endless, limited-range bill to cut all blocks and put it near wherever it is you haul your unwanted stone chunks. I'd also recommend making that zone also store stone blocks and just drop on the ground, then no one needs to haul it anywhere.

Typically, I set my researchers to do Crafting at the same priority as Intellectual, meaning they'll go cut blocks and make drugs before researching, since researching is usually something you can get away with delaying.

[Duck]

realistically you can take wooden walls right through to endgame, or you can build with stone immediately

there is no "correct" answer

[Duck]

but as to how to get enough, set up a stonecutting table, and have an endless cut stones job with moderate priority and in afew days you will have enough to start building/replacing with stone.

you can also deconstruct ruins and their floors for some quick early game stone blocks

[Astasia]

One chunk only takes a few seconds to cut and will build 4 stone walls. You can get a stone perimeter wall up on day one if you want by setting a couple colonists to construct and stone cut (probably not ideal, you can wait a few days so there's not much rush). Interior walls it doesn't matter that much, but optimally you want to replace walls with stone by the time you start running power under them.

[kevinshow]

I deconstruct nearby ruins and pick up the floor tiles to get a lot of stone-type items at the start.

Otherwise, just go with wood and upgrade when you have an ample supply.

If I find a small mountain that I like, then I might build up against it so that one side is the mountain, and then I might also dig into the mountain so that I have a little bit more protection.

It's a small mountain so no threats of bugs there so you might consider that.

Another way is that you can pick a ruins to build up on and have some of the walls there already.

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by navorskatie:

I deconstruct nearby ruins and pick up the floor tiles to get a lot of stone-type items at the start.

Note that this only works for tile floors. Flagstone floors don't give you anything.

[glass zebra]

While decisions for this have their pro and cons, I'd say as soon as your can for your outer wall. Getting a wooden wall in early game around your camp can be nice to restrict raider angles and keep wild animals at bay, raiders setting fire to them can quickly be a problem.

You can just make a tiny wooden wall at the start, set up everything you need for survival, start cutting stone and put a bigger stone wall around your first wooden wall. You can later make another bigger around when you expand your base. No need to start with a giant wall that just takes a lot of work right off the start.

In theory you can leave your building walls made from wood, but short fuses, lighting strikes and some other minor fires are a danger then instead of being a tiny nuisance.

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by glass zebra:

In theory you can leave your building walls made from wood, but short fuses, lighting strikes and some other minor fires are a danger then instead of being a tiny nuisance.

Also, huge fires can frequently be ignored with stone walls. If there isn't anything flammable on the other side that you care about, just remove the home area from the area outside the wall and ignore it. It'll either burn itself out or the firewatch will send rain for you.

[Vermillion Cardinal]

Originally posted by glass zebra:

While decisions for this have their pro and cons, I'd say as soon as your can for your outer wall. Getting a wooden wall in early game around your camp can be nice to restrict raider angles and keep wild animals at bay, raiders setting fire to them can quickly be a problem.

Had so much fun watching my people put out fires on a perimeter wall yesterday, knowing that on the opposite side was a horde of burning zombies set alight by a dry thunderstorm. Took hours before the rains came down.

[psychotron666420]

I don't even bother with walls until you have the stone. in early game walls aren't really useful anyway

[KalkiKrosah]

I always build an initial wooden structure and a large wooden perimeter before the first mad animal shows up. After that I spend my time gathering stone blocks into a central location for a few days, assembling them in such a way that it doubles as my early game sand bags. Then I build a stone cutting bench in the middle of it, set the range to about 15 and build a roof over it with a wooden torch nearby. I don't bother building a dedicated building for it, waste of materials and the door opening and closing wastes more time than it saves.

Often times my wooden perimeter walks are an outline of where I actually want to build. I haul stone blocks into 1-2 tile zones near where I intend to build and get to work. I line the inside of my wooden walls with stone that way I don't expose my colonists to any dangers in the slow building process of making said walls. Maybe I will double proof it if I have the excess materials and then I deconstruct what's left of my wooden walls and use it to make beds, doors and chemfuel.

It takes me roughly a year to get around to full stone walling. It all depends on my starting colonists and the layout of the map itself.

[Red-_-Monkey]

Winter a great time to grind crafting jobs when the colony is locked down.

[ambi]

you can keep bedrooms wooden. i only bother to make important structures like the workshop and freezer out of stone.

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by psychotron666420:

I don't even bother with walls until you have the stone. in early game walls aren't really useful anyway

Making an indoor area lets you avoid the slept outside moodlet, makes workbenches faster, stops deterioration of items, and allows for climate control should it be needed.

Originally posted by KalkiKrosah:

and the door opening and closing wastes more time than it saves.

Hold the door open, then. What matters for counting as indoors is that the door is there, being held open doesn't stop that.

[sono]

A large part of it is whether you've got enough stone. Starting on the flats can mean being low on bricks, which is part of why it isn't recommended.

Your outer wall should be made of stone, and eventually your main base as well. However, if you're low on stone, only making some of the inner walls stone can set up firebreaks so you won't lose everything to a fire.

As to when you should switch, the answer is pretty much as soon as feasible. Setting up your base and defenses is more important than cutting stones, and building in stone also takes longer, so you can put it off for a while if you have to, but you'll regret it eventually.