How long does it take for you to plan out your base?

[SpookCrow]

The moment you view your newly generated map for the first time, how long does it take to plan out your base.

-It currently takes me about an hour just to plan out a medium sized base.

[Brutetal]

I let my bases grow organically.
I don't plan much ahead at the start. I simply lay out three rooms, a stock room, a freezer and that's it. I always build from then on one bedroom spare, so new pawns have a bed.
Besides that I find it more fun to "let it grow".

Only on my long running colony I have built a fully planned mountain base. First, because soace outside is now pretty tight and secondly because I have enough pawns and material (Year 4 with 10 pawns).

[stu89pid]

I'm like you and use the first 30 minutes at least to draw out the basic template so I have an efficient base in the early game.

[Euzio]

I'm like Brutetal really. I just let it flow along without much planning. Though I do have a standard template which I use for almost every game when it comes to designing stuff like my colonists' rooms.

That said, I do spend about 5 - 10mins at the start to check around the map and see which area would be the most ideal to build. Generally I would try to be as central as possible to minimise travel distance for my pawns across the map. Also, to be close to a geothermal source preferably.

[Stormfox]

I suggest not planning out the full base but doing as Euzio and stu89pid do - chose your location well and take a few minutes to plan out your first, smaller building and where it should go so it is not in the way of a later upgrade.

Starting with your lategame base from the start means you take too much time and materials to build that huge base for just a handful of people at the start and sacrifice other important things for that.

[PiggyBacon]

Kitchen/Freezer and the starting farms are the only thing that need planned out. Everything else just gets built where it fits. Only time I plan a base out is when I go full GlitterWorld colony like my current settlement and want everything in prestige order.

[Barazen]

Im in the organic growth boat too, lets areas develop their own charm. Like my accursed second town that never wants to survive.

[SpaceDorf]

Yeap, I am one of the organic growers as well.

Position and Layout depends more on prominent map features ( lakes, mountain inclines, fertile land, steam geysiers ) than on any design features I think of.

I have a standard room design for my pawns as well, but thats it.

Everything else grows from there, and gets a major overhaul when I have the manpower or it is getting to cluttered to expand.

I love especially the roofing feature for creating a stockpile.
Slamming down a few pillars, roof them over and presto ..

[Ragnarok]

I tend to plan out a little at the start but I don't plan for anything too big. A freezer and dining room (usually the same/similar design), and atleast 4 bedrooms with room to expand to 6-8 (I never get much further than that). I try to fit 2-6 prison rooms somewhere too. I also plan a stockpile relatively close. From there things expand based on what I need or what I have the space for and where things can fit.

[Solomancer]

I tend to take some time to plan out my base from the start as well.  I haven't timed it, but I'd guess about an hour as well. 

Sometimes alterations occur, (especially since experimenting with circuitry) or expansions, but I try to plan out all of my room and paths ahead of time.  An amazing plan is one thing, but the realities of Rimworld can absolutely test an overly ambitious builder or base design.  I tend to take it slowly throughout my starting phase while I recruit colonists, establish a semblance of base homeostasis, and gather resources, only building or mining out the portions that I need until I have the need and the ability to finalize my original plan.

I like oceanside mountain locations the best. I'll choose a position on the map based on terrain features such as geysers, fertile soil, and defensive advantages (ex: mountain and ocean on 2 sides)

Then I plan out all my major rooms with a couple of key features:

• Freezer

I like a double thick exterior wall around any freezer (as a perimeter wall around my entire base actually) for most efficient climate control.  I frequently have multiple paths and rooms (typically additional freezers) connected by way of airlocks to my main food freezer.  Most importantly: Direct airlock access to the freezer as close to you your main farm or hydroponics set up as possible and direct airlock access to your main kitchen. This is the cornerstone by which the rest of the base is planned.  The one catch is that you only want this entrance to be enticing for pawns depositing goods in your freezer system and not as the main entry point to your base... more on that later...*

In addition, I like to have an attached Corpse Freezer, Meat Freezer, Deep Freezer, and Spillover Freezer for any sudden influx of materials.  There is a side chamber with a Nutrient Paste dispenser that feeds into my Prison Barracks room.  Finally, I have a Meal Freezer for cooked food, Insect Jelly, some Pemmican, Beer, etc. that is similarly located in the closest proximity to the kitchen, but again, positioned so that this entrance is only enticing for pawns depositing goods in your meal freezer system and not as a thoroughfare through your base.*

• Ventilation

All of this is located around a ventilation hall that runs as a spine through sections of the base.  This is one of the more challenging things to plan at times and can ruin a base's overall design if not done properly.  Poor ventilation will lead to many problems, such as food rot, wasted energy, and temperature-related health conditions (hypothermia, heat stroke, or various mental breaks due to temp.) My previous designs (A15) have since stopped working, so at this point, I leave my ventilation open or attached to the outside but am very interested in solutions to having an indoor ventilation system, or rather a heat vent that is "Unroofed" as opposed to "Outside".  My limited experiments with heat vents have led me to improvise my designs, but that's one of the beauties of Rimworld!

I currently have an additional vent for a second freezer system for animal feed and pirate corpses (for the wargs), as well as several A/C units into my main habitation wing.  These are all controlled by switches to make for easy climate control changes along with the seasons.

• Dining Room

The dining area is positioned adjacent to the Meal Freezer with direct airlock access for hungry pawns. I currently have 3 full-size marble tables with a host of my nicest wooden chairs, as well as lighting and potted plants around the perimeter.  My main entry to back exit hallway runs right through one side of the Dining Room so it is easily accessible and part of the main passageway through the base.  Unfortunately, this has the drawback of accumulating dirt and grime quickly compared to other parts of the base.

This room typically ends up being a central connection point to most of the best.

• Hospital

I try to locate this towards the front of the base and as quickly accessible as possible while still being secure.  One or two private rooms for serious injuries (complete with vitals monitor, TV, flower pots, and medicine - once your resources allow), as well as a hospital barracks for quick fixes or heavy firefights.  My personal favorite is to have a red and blue light next to each other for a purplish effect marking my hospital.

I like to make these rooms individually controlled by a power circuit to cut all lights and machines when not in use.  I also have a couple of attached storage rooms: one with A/C for my herbal meds, and one for all types of usable body parts. 

• Habitation

My bedrooms sprout off of hallways that extend out from the main dining room, for the majority of my builds, but there are always bedrooms placed to complete the congruity of the base design.  I like having the bedroom wing located further towards the "front" of my base so sappers and raiders will reach those areas before my more precious storage facilities, etc.

Furthermore, the hallways connecting to the bedrooms open into a recreation room with a chess board on one side, the biggest TV purchasable from traders in front of the highest quality armchairs, and a pool table on the other side, complete with planters and lights as well.

• Prison

The Prison wing is somewhat difficult to build as well at times.  You want something secure that you can prevent escapes or contain those that do occur, but you also want something accessible for quick imprisonment or prisoner medical treatment (most often).  A few added steps can frequently be the difference between life and death for the ideal prison pawn, so build wisely! 

In my current base (I'll try to figure out how to post pictures... I tend to read more than posting on the forums) I have a major exterior/interior hallway that runs the majority of my base's perimeter.  The Prison entrance is connected to this exterior hallway and is the only way in or out, so there is no connection to my pawns' main living area.  The only necessary connection to the main base for the prison's function is the refrigerated nutrient paste dispenser and an A/C unit.  I have two relatively large and luxurious private cells; 1 prison barracks with around 8 beds, a table, TV, and nutrient paste dispenser access point; and a prison hospital with a couple of medical beds and a small cooled storage room with herbal meds and some easy access food.

I tend to leave the walls in my prisons thick and make somewhat of a spiral with the hallways.  This is done so the prisoners must travel further to escape and face a series of turrets place at the bend in each hall to make escape a living hell if even a possibility.  My most recent game has been particularly brutal and the prison has gotten quite a bit of use... let's just say the wargs don't mind the prison doctor's occasional surgery SNAFUs.

• Barn/Coop + other

As far as animals go, they can be rewarding or quite a pain.  I've enjoyed raising farm animals (chickens, pigs, cows) more on this last map, as well as wargs, alpacas, dromedaries, elephants, and a couple rhinos. I prefer having a separate chicken coop to ensure they have an animal bed for the night and are not vulnerable.  It may be wise to heat or cool your coop as chickens are affected by temperature more than most animals.

The barn can be of a simpler design, my current one is covered but outdoors, and separated from my base by a short distance.  This is in close proximity to the corpse and animal feed freezers  I had mentioned above and allows for easy pet feeding, especially if you have several.

• Crafting Room

No particular specializations as far as my set up goes apart from a moderately reliable power source and convenient access to storage stockpiles.

Some additional necessities and features to include:

• Exterior perimeter path
• Power Supply
• Defense
• Lighting - I go green for food storage, blue for habitation, white for dining and hallways, red for the prison, and purple for the hopital.

I'll now attempt to quit while I'm ahead...


*This involves having an additional entrance close enough and more desirable than your Freezer entrance.  This is usually not hard with an airlock set up as your pawns will avoid two doors for the single door of your main entrance.  If they do need to enter a freezer, there are airlocks from all sides, so any hauler will use the exterior access double doors for your main freezer as opposed to entering your colony (through 1 main door) and then having to proceed through an airlock (2 additional doors).  The same applies for access to and from the kithen, and the meal freezer. 

[SpaceDorf]

That sound like my base .. certain design features develop on their own and are still added organically to my base ..

For the big overhaul I tend to think in Wings too, but I seldom have any problems that can't be overcome with good old dwarven engineering.

[Perq]

No planning - just going with whatever I need at a time, placing it in the most logical position. If need shows up, I repurpose rooms or whole buildings.

[XeoNovaDan]

I get a rough plan in my head at the start, but I then just let the base develop from then. Sometimes led to a design I was really happy with (such as my Alpha 15 colony), other times it led to unusual design (the kitchen/freezer area in my current colony). Either way, I get a functional base out of it. I generally have a fixed design of killzones though, if playing on Extreme.

[Karth32]

I'm more of an organic grower as well. Although, I spend time at the start looking for a nice spot balanced between defense and usability.

[Dorian]

My 2nd colony was grown organically at first, and then I started planning, but by then, things were in the way.  I could tear down and rebuild, but that means moving my windmill field, solar panels, farms, and extra work.  My next colony will definitely be better planned with regards to eating/cooking/food storage, fields for crops, and power sources.  But, I'm still learning!