Building 101

A complete overview of the new building mechanics introduced in Stranded Deep 0.07. Current as of 15/12/2015

INTRODUCTION

BUILDING PIECES

FOUNDATIONS

Foundations can be placed anywhere on clear land within a certain height and snap to other foundations on the four sides.


Snapping a foundation piece to an existing foundation...

When you place a foundation, you start a new 'structure'. Structure's cannot be built too close to another structure.


Attempting to place a foundation too close to another structure...

WALLS, DOORS AND WINDOWS

Walls, windows and doors can be placed on 4 sides of foundations and floors (depending on the type).



Please note, windows and doors are not available in 0.07 but will be returning soon!

FLOORS

Floors can be placed above foundations or other floors and also around the four sides of a supporting floor.

STEPS

Steps place in a similar way to foundations.
To place steps between multiple storeys, you need a foundation or floor below and a floor on the next storey in front of the new steps. When snapping to a foundation or floor, steps will snap to the closest 90 degree angle to the direction you’re looking, so if you're having trouble getting steps to place, try reorienting yourself so you're looking at the foundation or floor that you want to place the steps on.

COLLISIONS AND SNAPPING

COLLISIONS

All building pieces have collision detection that will not allow the piece to be placed if it's colliding with another object like a rock, plant, stick, tool, etc. However, the collisions are quite accurate and you can still place some pieces over objects if you're careful. For eg, you can place a foundation over objects as long as the legs don’t collide with anything.


A foundation's collision detection preventing it from being placed...

SNAPPING

All building pieces snap together. Pieces snap together at the centre of where they should snap, so when attempting to snap a piece into position try to visualise where the centre of that position would be and aim for it.

STRUCTURAL SUPPORT

SUPPORT

To place a multi-storey floor you need a foundation or floor below it with 2 or more panels to support the floor ---

Failing to place a floor with a single supporting wall...

Successful placement of a floor with two supporting walls...

Additionally, you can build 1 piece outward from a supported floor and the supported floor will structurally support the piece you’re placing.

Successful placement of a floor one piece out...

Failing to place a floor two pieces out...

PLANNING

It can require some thought and planning to build a structure how you want and to fill in certain areas ---

Failing to place a floor because there is no supporting floor. The floor adjacent is already supported by the floor behind it and cannot support another piece...

Successful placement of a floor. The square floor adjacent acts as support for the new floor...

As of build 0.07, you may find you will have to place walls for structural support to be able to fill in certain areas. We realize this is a bit of the pain at the moment, as you can only build walls - which will lock the area in. This problem should be minimized when doors make a return.

BEWARE RECKLESS BUILDING!

We have allowed as much freedom as possible with building placement which is great for creativity, but also means you can get yourself into some sticky placement situations. Particularly if you start getting crazy and snapping multi-story floors in different configurations to the floor below ---


A wedge floor above a square foundation...


A square floor above a wedge foundation...


You're going to have a bad time...

By all means feel free to build this way, but be aware that the structural support detection is approximated and may not detect the correct level of support with weird geometry. The piece that is being placed checks for a supporting structure below itself, so if a piece is failing to place you can do a quick visual check to confirm that there is a supporting foundation or floor below the centre of the new piece your placing (or the piece that will support your new piece).


And that's it! If you keep these basic building principles in mind you'll be admiring your tropical mansion in no time :)

If you find a scenario where you think the structural support system is not working as explained above please post a bug report to let us know, however please inspect your structure carefully and be completely sure! There’s been many times when testing when we’ve sworn there were two walls... ;)

TIERS

Coming soon...

[MasterOfBacon]

Please add split screen support for two controllers instead of one :D and thanks this guide actually helped I started my single player game today :) oh those sharks lol

[SSG Reckless]

You don't need anymore materials than what you used for the foundation, it is a one time payment haha.

[SSG Reckless]

For those who were having trouble with foundations, after you make the foundation you see that is is uncompleted. You have to then gather 4-8 sticks(or whatever materials you needed for the foundation) and use the (use) key/button on the foundation.

[Aristacah]

Seems that building is broken right now. I gather all the required items together, equip my hammer and all I get is a half-finished platform that is useless. Would be fun to be able to build shelters, otherwise, the game is pretty boring.

[~Roser~ :3]

its early acsass its not fun for early acsass

[RickXs]

@江南小麟 把光标移到Building下面那排子标题上，然后用滚动鼠标滚轮就能看到其他的子标题了。官方设置位于子标题上的那两个箭头有问题，看来不只有我一个人之前被坑了。

For anyone else who had the same trouble,just move the cursor to the subtitle in the craft menu(The titles under the "Building",maybe it is called subcategory's title or something,whatever...),and then roll mouse wheel,you will find more subtitles which contain other structures.
The arrows next to the subtitles are useless for now.Seems like a glitch...

[江南小麟]

I can only build foundations and floor there is no options for walls ,I don't know why,is there anybody have the same situation?

[Mr.Wanaskiwin "Navarone"]

is this game even worked on?

[Codemiester2006]

When building my shack/hut/house I noticed there was a limited span of roof without a wall but I seen no indication in-game and when I would place a building floor on the roof it would disintegrate immediately but the object was blue (making me think it was okay to place it) but you just end up loosing valuable resources. I had a foundation surrounded by walls but the roof could only span so far... I have somewhat figured it out but its still a mystery as to weather I will loose my materials or not since the object will snap to the building and be blue... so I am thinking have it turn red... and if you place the object it should just give a "error" type sound and simply not place it.

[pryde64]

i can only build foundations and floor there is no options for walls etc any one know why