Why live outside mountains anymore?

[zandadoum]

2nd. Building the power conduit in a wall does not prevent it from exploding, not does it reduces the chances of the event from happening.

i am not 100% sure about the wiring itself, but any electrical thing (like a cooking table) WILL blow up under the rain.

there are two kinds of zZt events: the one with yellow warning (meaning: this event could not have been prevented and was random) and the one with red warning (meaning: something blew up and it's your own fault)

as said, i am not sure if the red event can happen on electric wiring itself, but just to make sure, i'd rather build it into walls.
if those walls are stone/steel/anything_but_wood, even better, because the zZt event won't break the walls in that case.

also: if there is a toxic fallout, wouldn't you rather be able to repair your wiring and walls from withing the base, without haveing to step outside?

[zandadoum]

time to share my base.

currently mountain

mods used: EDB interface, animal panels, autosell
Randy Random Extreme



^ base premises
full link if image shows cut: http://i.imgur.com/4AwAT2y.jpg



^ main base with electric wiring
full link if image shows cut: http://i.imgur.com/mz3pGl6.jpg


explanations:
- medium sized map
- all thermoreactors on the map are used. the wiring is not protected as i have a good builder crew who repairs anything within seconds. reactors and wiring is in home zone for fire and repair
- ship reactors for the lulz (they aren't very powerful) and for more juice by night
- no flooring around wind turbines as nothing grows there. if it was an issue, i'd floor it
- top crops circle is 3/4 rich soil. in summer i plant devilstrand, in winter i plant haygrass
- forest is 1/2 rich soil too. too lazy to switch for anything xD
- some random turrets here and there to mess with sappers and kill fleeing enemies

at this point i have to explain that it's year 5512 and the base grew obviously from small to big, a remnant of the first stuff i did build is still there, see the small rooms near the base main entrance

- right side is the killbox. some turrets in the middle as bait, rest spread out and protected so they don't chain-blow up. also provides cover for colonists. with this setting and 4 emp guys i defended against a 35man mechanoid raid with just 2 losses coz some1 decided to go and put out a fire in middle of the crossfire manhunter packs at this point are around 250+ animals. i kite them around with my main colonists while turrets in all the base kill them. but sometimes they just ignore my kiter and destroy all turrets they can.
what i want to say with this is that the killbox is not "perfect" but i prefer it this way, otherway it would easier as it is already
- steel stockpile next to killbox for quicker repairs
- emp grenades next to killbox for quick switching against melee raiders or mechanoids
- killbox has own set of batteries with switches so i can turn it all off if i want to recharge my battery rooms quicker for some reason

- barn/cave for my "normal" animals. mostly boars. boars are my favourite animal, relative quick to train, can haul, breed quick, can be eaten.

- chicken den. usually i wouldn't go for chickens since i had a 200eggsplosion nearly kill my computer once. but as their eggs can be used instead of meat for lavish meals... well, here we go. roosters separated from hens so the eggs don't get fertilized

- weapon stash next to base entrance for quick switching.

at this point i'd like to explain that the more my game progresses, the higher i move the weapon and apparel quality both in my storage and in outfit setup. right now, anything worth than good and 75% is sold or smelt

THE BASE

- left side is expansion project, will activate once i need more rooms.
- you might notice i use ventilation shafts. why? coz it does make more sense to me than have heated corridors and vents from corridor to room. if you have ever been in a hotel or building with many bedrooms (hospital) you'll notice how all ventilation goes to the roof/back of the room, not to the corridor.
- i also would never sleep on a stone or steel bed IRL, so i build wood beds. i in my personal taste, wood is one of the better looking materials IRL, so i still builds stuff like shelves and floor with it. even if it's not the best bonus.
- when i started the base, rooms would have rough cave walls, which look bad. as soon as i could, i upgraded them with better looking walls.
- emp grenades next to top part of main base, as there is a small part of constructed roof, meaning i can get a mechanoid raid in there. only happened once tho in 12 years.

- sections and important rooms have their own switch
- battery pack rooms with switches, 1 room is enough to keep the base running through the night. 2 rooms are needed for a full eclipse. base won't ever run out of juice due a zZt event as i can just turn on an unaffected room.

- prison has a paste dispenser (the only one i have) with the hoppers inside the main fridge. so i set all my prisoners to "don't get food" and they'll just feed themselves from the dispenser. prison is currently turned off as i don't have any prisoners at this moment. i wish i could do something similar for animals



anyways, if you want to know anything specific about my setup, ask away.
other than that, i'll just say that i obviously don't build pretty. this aint my biggest/base either, but it's the one with least incidents so far.

also, my colonists are usually happy, but you can see a mood warning on the screenshot as i am sending my guys to build the last thermo reactor which is at the other end of the map and the poor guys end up exhausted. good that i have plenty of beer to make up for it

[Limdood]

2nd. Building the power conduit in a wall does not prevent it from exploding, not does it reduces the chances of the event from happening.

i am not 100% sure about the wiring itself, but any electrical thing (like a cooking table) WILL blow up under the rain.

there are two kinds of zZt events: the one with yellow warning (meaning: this event could not have been prevented and was random) and the one with red warning (meaning: something blew up and it's your own fault)

as said, i am not sure if the red event can happen on electric wiring itself, but just to make sure, i'd rather build it into walls.
if those walls are stone/steel/anything_but_wood, even better, because the zZt event won't break the walls in that case.

also: if there is a toxic fallout, wouldn't you rather be able to repair your wiring and walls from withing the base, without haveing to step outside?

#1 red Zzzts happen to electric OBJECTS that get rained on, not wiring.  And the fire starts on or around the object that shorts out.  Running an electric cord thru the rain won't explode (til the cord wears out) but watching TV outside?  dumb.

#2 explosion amount depends on the stored energy in your batteries in the system the explosion takes place in.  A stone wall won't blow from 3 batteries at 100%.  But even a plasteel wall, triple layered will be incinerated by 40 batteries at 100% all exploding...and god help you if a colonist was next to the explosion...

[zandadoum]

and thats why you make battery rooms with smaller amount than that xD

[Komyets]

Toxic fallout isn't entirely dangerous, one has to be smart, and build roofs outside the buildings in estrategic places, the crematorium + electric smelters hace their own roofs, its marginally easy to do.

Build a room in the open, in the shape you want, with wood, once finished, it gets roofed immediately, there you can deconstruct part of the wooden walls, and use the remove roof tool to shape it the way you want. the roof will remain overhead so long there's a structure nearby to hold it, and there you have it, a good place for your colonists to walk through or work during fallout.

I do this kind of job every time if two buildings are close enough to each other, literally building "bridges" from one building to the other, it drastically reduces exposure.  Do the same for each entrance of your buildings, have a small roof above each door and fallout never becomes a problem

What limdood says is all true, and I've followed these principles since long ago too. And in my honest opinion, the event of electrical fault chances of happening are so low, I do not really worry about it, I never need more than 4 batteries at once.

[b0rsuk]

Smoothed stone floors have only one downside - you're considered a cheapass. Room wealth doesn't go up.

I like planting dandellions in outside colonies. They don't give as many beauty points, instead they just look prettier. They spread on their own, resulting in organic-looking shapes.

Komyets: aren't your colonists frustrated from praying, meditating in those honeycombs ?

Another potential downside of living outside is that Room Stats don't apply outside. Only beauty counts, and sometimes space. But forget stuff like "Ate in an impressive dining room", even if you have a lovely picnic table.

[Komyets]

I didn't expect to receive so much feedback, criticism and comments about my building... guys, if you feel like it lacks something, if anything is wrong or you think it's wrong about it, I already posted enough information for you, the reader, to try something similar or alike to my set up, test it out and see if your hypothesis makes sense, or not. My colony, is doing perfect, mods added are CombatRealism, RedistHeat, RimBeast, and MoreMechanoids, any other mods are interface based, and core tweaks from CCL. Thank you. You're welcome. Moving on, please.

@b0rsuk I'll explain once im home, currently out with my phone.

----EDIT----

Komyets: aren't your colonists frustrated from praying, meditating in those honeycombs?

...That, is my grumpiest Colonists.
...
...
I think they're doing just fine.



Pictures speak better than words.

[milon]

@Komyets, I really like The Nest 3.0.  Quick question for you - why put AC units *inside* rather than in the wall?  Your layout gives a 1 cell room that heats up an awful lot, rather than just dumping the waste heat outside.  Was that intentional?

[Komyets]

@Komyets, I really like The Nest 3.0.  Quick question for you - why put AC units *inside* rather than in the wall?  Your layout gives a 1 cell room that heats up an awful lot, rather than just dumping the waste heat outside.  Was that intentional?

Thank you.

Yes, it is intentional, the squares where the Cooler's Exhaust port face towards are completely unroofed, means the heat will never stack up in such a small place.

Im now allways placing Coolers inside buildings, never exposed along the walls, you'll notice that a Cooler is rather vulneable to attacks, which means Raiders can easily target these weak spots and immediately gain acces to your buildings, especially, and more likely, your food suplies which are usually kept fresh by said Coolers. I started doing this for almost a month now since I got utterly tired of having such a horrible weakspot, and decided to do something about it, it gave good results. This technique aims offer great Cooling efficiency and to maintain your Building's Integrity intact, by sacrificing a significantly small ammount of space.

[zandadoum]

yepp, i call that "cooling tower" and i use that too, but just because i like the looks

my outside bases usually have large walls surrounding the whole area, so raiders get rarely to my fridge. even if they drop on top of me, they usually go for animals and crops first for some reason. hence while a squirrel army is so good to have, while your turrets and colonists rip them apart

[Dodging Rain]

I have chickens myself but not sure if a hoard of chickens or squirrels would be better for a zerg army, Squirrel Girl meme withstanding.

[zandadoum]

I have chickens myself but not sure if a hoard of chickens or squirrels would be better for a zerg army, Squirrel Girl meme withstanding.

assuming you don't waste time training and just just set them to a proper zone to life there and distract raiders, squirrels or tortoises are the best IIRC. squirrels are hard to hit and turtles have lots of HP and actually hit harder than you would think.

problem with this are AOE attacks.

i'd never use chickens for that, they are way too valuable to me as food source as eggs can be used to cook lavish meals.

[Scotty]

I always build in to a mountain when i first start a map

The AI tend to ignore my solar panels so i stick them outside.