Building on island, need advice

[skOsH♥]

Starting a new base on a small island with a new world, but when the ocean swells, it kind of hits the floor of my base

Can I stack a bunch of stone and build my base like an artificial island, or how lighthouses are ussually constructed atop a bunch of concrete?

I realize this would take a lot of stone, but I have a really interesting idea for a build. It's likely not possible but I would want to be able to dock my ship in like a llittle alcove underneath the stone (this is probably not possible atm with the game not allowing stuff like tunnels)

But, I do realize it would require a lot of stone--is this possible, before I go out and collect a crapload of stone?

[NorthernGoof]

Short answer is yes. Using the hoe you can raise the ground so your base foundation will be above the ocean swells. I've done this for a farm in the plains. Raised and extended a small island to grow barley and flax.

[blprice61]

Depends on the end result you want. You can build using elevated pillars as 'foundation' points and save quite a bit of stone, plus can make a dock at least partially underneath - not sure about mast height though especially during storms.

On the positive side, if you use the highest 'natural' points as your pillar locations, then the base will be nigh impregnable to ground based mobs.

On the negative side, you'd need very large pillars to raise crops. Also castle architecture might be challenging to make it look good. There's also a bit of background work needed before you can really get started - for instance you'll want to make a small pillar (perhaps will be used later) just to get a sense of the terrain tile orientation. Also will want to build framework and scaffolding to get everything lined up right and be able to build at 8+ meters above ground level.

PS: might want to make a duplicate world using same seed and try different ideas out in creative mode before going back to your Viking's world and doing it for real in survival mode.

[vinyblaster]

Probably gonna need a good amount of iron if you're trying yo build a stone roof for your dock.

I would backup my world and give it a try in god/creative mode tbh. Just to see what's possible and if its worth the resource gathering time.

[Cap'n Bells]

note also if you wish to make "land" bigger how deep and close does the land drop away underwater.. the hoe in "Raise" mode isnt bottomless fyi

[PunsRus]

you can expand your island and raise its level too.

[knighttemplar1960]

There is a maximum height that you can raise/lower terrain from its starting height (IIRC its 8 meters). If you are on the shore lowering terrain with your pick there is only so far you'll be able to drop it before you can't reach it. If you are in the water and lowering the terrain makes you begin to swim your pick will unhighlight and you won't be able to rehighlight it again until you aren't swimming.

Another word of warning, if you are building out into ocean where your ship can be affected by waves, having solid objects above it or rocks/trees/logs under it (but not dirt) will damage the ship as it bobs up and down in the waves. Eventually this will destroy the boat and if the water is deep when the waves are calm the non-wood parts of the boat will sink to a point where you can't ever recover them.

[blprice61]

For an ocean port, best thing I've found is to make a loading/unloading pier with steps (ladders) down into the water. You can stand on a ladder and reach 2m up or down to a container/ship storage/cart etc. After loading or unloading, if you're going to park the boat, move it out about half as far as you can swim and leave it there in deep water with no stones or other stuff nearby.

Haven't lost one like that yet, though I have logged on to find it hanging in mid-air occasionally.

PS: make sure and put a workbench at the end of the pier so you can repair ship.

[Faceplant]

I've built several covered ship docks, but all of them have been stone walls, with a large peaked roof. All of them are at the build limit in the center of the top peak, but I did not use any supports other than core wood. I also started the walls near water level in most cases.

I believe this is the largest example:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2616846356

I've also make some buildings with large areas covered with stone roof, although sometimes with iron reinforced beams.

My guess is that, if you used terrain/stone as much as possible on the sides, followed by stone walls (using the large 4x2 stone), and then used stone floor pieces across the top, likely with iron reinforced beams integrated into it, you could build a 100% stone structure.

Either that, or you will ALMOST be able to build it, which, of course, is very frustrating. :-)

One thing to note with the stone roofs is that you will likely have to build some sort of support beams while you're building the roof, and cross your fingers that it will not collapse when you remove the beams. The stone tiles are not their most stable until filled in on all sides.

[warrenchmobile]

Several craploads of stone may be necessary.

An interesting aspect of copper and silver mining is the huge amount of stone generated. I normally discard a lot of the stone in favor of carrying the ore. If I took the time to collect and store all that stone instead, I would probably have much more than several craploads of stone.

[skOsH♥]

Originally posted by Faceplant8:

I've built several covered ship docks, but all of them have been stone walls, with a large peaked roof. All of them are at the build limit in the center of the top peak, but I did not use any supports other than core wood. I also started the walls near water level in most cases.

I believe this is the largest example:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2616846356

I've also make some buildings with large areas covered with stone roof, although sometimes with iron reinforced beams.

My guess is that, if you used terrain/stone as much as possible on the sides, followed by stone walls (using the large 4x2 stone), and then used stone floor pieces across the top, likely with iron reinforced beams integrated into it, you could build a 100% stone structure.

Either that, or you will ALMOST be able to build it, which, of course, is very frustrating. :-)

One thing to note with the stone roofs is that you will likely have to build some sort of support beams while you're building the roof, and cross your fingers that it will not collapse when you remove the beams. The stone tiles are not their most stable until filled in on all sides.

Yes! This is exactly what I am looking to do

Originally posted by vinyblaster:

I would backup my world and give it a try in god/creative mode tbh. Just to see what's possible and if its worth the resource gathering time.

yeah I'm gonna heed that advice, backup my world, try it in godmode first

Originally posted by warrenchmobile:

Several craploads of stone may be necessary.

An interesting aspect of copper and silver mining is the huge amount of stone generated. I normally discard a lot of the stone in favor of carrying the ore. If I took the time to collect and store all that stone instead, I would probably have much more than several craploads of stone.

This is what makes me think I should be building exactly where I have my island. It's small, but I can expand it, and I can easily swim to shore with carrot stew and some other stam buffs

Thank you all for advice!

[Dracoco OwO]

You can i am actually in the process of making such an island base on a plain biome so i can farm on top of that. It's kinda huge and i need tons of rocks though. I'm running out now. As for the method to get rocks you could either make a greydwarf farm (i used to have 3 of them in an old save) or find gigantic rocks and break their base (either in the mountain biome or plain biome) so that the rocks will actually break entirely you will get tons of rocks, though my PC is kind of in the weaker side so it actually crash when i do it sometimes.

I don't recommend doing a greydwarf farm for farming rock even though you can afk and get lots of drops from them you still need to tames wolves and hope they don't die due to sneak attacks and that your wolf breeders don't run out of meat or that the the greydwarf spawner get destroyed somehow (that happenned twice when i did it).

[Pigeontoothpick]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2755669887
I made a "starter" island base in a land-locked lake. I raised the ground as high as possible, but during more severe storms the waves will occasionally wash over it, but it's not very frequent. I have my house and workshop on a foundation built out of core wood that elevates them enough to avoid the water. I have a simple dock for a karve at water level and it definitely gets submerged.
It took literally thousands of stone to do, with a lot of back and forth trips, but for my first real attempt at this kind of terraforming, I'm happy with it.

[skOsH♥]

Originally posted by Dracoco OwO:

You can i am actually in the process of making such an island base on a plain biome so i can farm on top of that. It's kinda huge and i need tons of rocks though. I'm running out now. As for the method to get rocks you could either make a greydwarf farm (i used to have 3 of them in an old save) or find gigantic rocks and break their base (either in the mountain biome or plain biome) so that the rocks will actually break entirely you will get tons of rocks, though my PC is kind of in the weaker side so it actually crash when i do it sometimes.

I don't recommend doing a greydwarf farm for farming rock even though you can afk and get lots of drops from them you still need to tames wolves and hope they don't die due to sneak attacks and that your wolf breeders don't run out of meat or that the the greydwarf spawner get destroyed somehow (that happenned twice when i did it).

That's a good idea. My current island area is close to Meadows and Black Forest, I think the seed I am on also has mountains close by. Hopefully I can find plains close by as well.

Originally posted by Raven:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2755669887
I made a "starter" island base in a land-locked lake. I raised the ground as high as possible, but during more severe storms the waves will occasionally wash over it, but it's not very frequent. I have my house and workshop on a foundation built out of core wood that elevates them enough to avoid the water. I have a simple dock for a karve at water level and it definitely gets submerged.
It took literally thousands of stone to do, with a lot of back and forth trips, but for my first real attempt at this kind of terraforming, I'm happy with it.

Very nice! I love it. I think this is a cool way to make a base

I don't mind mining rocks, but I gotta upgrade my workbench to repair my pickaxe so I can gather enough of it

[Aimee]

Lots of answers already, but one important thing that i would like to add;
Use the flattening/equalizing option of the Hoe first on any ground you intend to raise, because the game counts maxium hight from the lowest block of natural genarated terrain.

If you plan to raise the ground high up, or have locations that are under water that need to be as high as the island, you will want to make sure to raise the generated terrain as high as posible first. As you can only raise the last/highest ground block in a location.
This can sometimes be a difference of more than half a meter, and any ground you raise after that is higher because of it.

It also helps with flattening the surface a little, to make sure you have a decent flat ground to build on.

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by d¢:

I don't mind mining rocks, but I gotta upgrade my workbench to repair my pickaxe so I can gather enough of it

If you use the antler pick axe you can drop a work station and put a roof over it anywhere there are large rocks that you want to mine and repair it right there as often as you need it or you can carry the materials you need to make a portal and just go back and forth between your main base to drop off the rocks and repair.