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

[Serenity]

A few minutes to get down the basics. Like where do I want to settle. Where my defensive walls will be. Where to grow my food. Those are things that depend a lot on geography.
For the basic buildings I think about where I put my kitchen and freezer as those need to be connected and the freezer can't always be easily expanded.

But from there on I make it up as I go along.

[shaw357]

I let my colony grow like a weed. Day 1, I search for Gysers, the more there are in close proximity the better, then I build a storage room, barracks, and "Production room" Where I put all the stoves, crafting benches, freezers, research benches etc in one room. I then build the rest of my colony (Mainly just bedrooms) around my production room, having the production room in the safe comfy center of my colony.

[SpookCrow]

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. 

That sounds like a super base judging by all the rooms and defenses you have. Do you mind showing a picture of it?

[SpaceDorf]

What takes up a lot more of my time is "prospecting" the map and marking interesting locations with the planning tool ..

[Titanite]

I don't really take long planning because I usually do it in layers. I plan the first layer thinking about space to expand, and then the second and on and on.

First layer: bedrooms and dinning facilities (kitchen, raw and cooked food freezer, dinning room);
Second Layer: defenses, storage room, research and craft shop (sometimes I make into different rooms), hospital.
Third layer: expand the previous ones.

[BlackSmokeDMax]

I look around the map and pick where I want my base. I then put a 6x6 planning tool mark over any Steam geysers that my base is likely to be near, that way I plan around them from the start. I then decide where my growing zone will be, I don't mark anything for that yet, but just decide. From there I plan out my first few rooms (bedrooms, barracks, work rooms, etc.) to make sure they won't be that close to the growing area, which will also have my kitchen & freezer somewhat near. I then lay down some very general stockpiles, typically somewhere I'll be able to roof over very easy, but not necessarily build rooms around.

I then let the game start playing, and once I get going, I next lay down my plans for making my growing zone indoors, and for my kitchen/freezer/dining room. Whether I start building that depends totally on what type of game I'm playing. Tribals, hot biome, cold biome, HardcoreSK, any other weird conditions, etc. For the most part I never start building these areas until I have stone to build with, if that is an option on the map!

[hwfanatic]

Sometimes I'd doodle at the map of and on for hours before getting the right idea.

But even then, I wouldn't plan the whole base ahead of time (just the first few stages instead) as you never know if you are going to be around for so long.

[b0rsuk]

I let my bases grow as the need arises. I lost my best doctor (not that she was good) to plague in first year. Then I had a raid with a lot of bruises (melee colony), then toxic fallout (in the first year, yes!). You have to revise your plans.

What do you do when some early event ruins your colony ? Reload ? Restart and spend another hour planning your base ?

[RazorHed]

Now that I use the Industrial rollers mod I plan out everything I can think of before my pawns touch the ground. Then i just forbid those things till im ready to build them.

[Mikhail Reign]

I let my bases grow as the need arises. I lost my best doctor (not that she was good) to plague in first year. Then I had a raid with a lot of bruises (melee colony), then toxic fallout (in the first year, yes!). You have to revise your plans.

What do you do when some early event ruins your colony ? Reload ? Restart and spend another hour planning your base ?

Adapt. No plan survives contact.

[Beider]

I also tend to just go in without much planning, it usually works out and you can always demolish or move things around later in the game when you got more resources.

That being said there are three things I feel are mandatory to consider when you start a base.
1. Defences - Unless you don't want to funnel enemies it is always useful to place your base in an area that is easy to wall off.
2. Growing Zones - If you play on a map without much growable soil try to find an area that has some. Or if it is a complete soil map look for rich soil.
3. Existing buildings / natural cliff alcoves - These can be good to quickly get your first beds and stockpile indoor without much work.

Finally I would also optionally consider the position of steam geyser. If I have the choice between two good spots and one of them has one or more well placed steam geysers then I go for that spot.

For anyone who like to make big bases on mountainous maps I would recommend testing the Mountain Miner mod (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=794450222) . Using that you can remove overhead mountain so you don't get infestations all the time, downside (or upside) is that it gives a lot of raw chunks which makes the game a bit easy since you will end up with so much stone to mass produce furniture and art for selling.

Sadly the Roof Bomb mod which did not have this problem was discontinued.