Guide to base building for the small SG [I8]
(version 1.1, Mar 2007)
This is a guide for base building for the small SG. We'll start out covering the different options you can start out with using only the 300k maximum start up bonus you can get on the very first day of your new SG (I'll cover the explanation of this *bonus* in just a moment). Then we'll move on and take you through the steps beyond the initial 300k basic base, to a very complex and fully functional base that fills the entire basic 8x8 plot size, and allows you to get the most function out of it that you possibly can. All in all, I give the following different base examples, complete with screen shots and prices (you can simply ctrl+f on this post to get to the base or price range you are interested in):
Base 1 thru 3, all less than 300k prestige. Combinations of med bays, teleporters power and energy needs discussed.
Base 4a, 355k prestige, but with control and energy problems (illustrative)
Base 4b, 1,011k prestige. CTRL and NRG needs met, med bay, 2 teleporters, 4 beacons
Base 5a, 1,192k. Med bay, 3 porters 5 beacons. (CTRL and NRG needs being met throughout and figured into the cost of each upgrade.)
Base 5b, 1,449k. Med bay, 4 porters 8 beacons.
Base 6c, 1,839k. Med bay, 6 porters 12 beacons.
Base 6f, 2,144k. Med bay, 6 porters 12 beacons, 1x2 workshop+empowerment station.
Base 7, 2,544k. Same as above but upgraded the control room to 2x3 in anticipation of greater control needs.
Base 8, 2,840k. Med bay, 8 porters 16 beacons, Workshop.
Base 9, 3,060k. Same as above, but sold off the 2x3 control room and all the control items to go back to the 2x2 control room and the supercomputer in anticipation of greater control needs and better use of limited space.
Base 10, 3,280k. Our final example. 10 porters, 20 beacons, med bay, no workshop. All on the 8x8 (rent-free) plot size.
Anyway, onto the guide:
There are lots of reasons to want to keep it simple and have a small SG with just a few friends. Or the much talked about private lair, where it's just you (and yer alts) by your lonesome. With recent changes to base rent and the introduction of some cheaper items for smaller SG's, it is quite possible to have a very nice viable and functioning base, in a fairly short amount of time.
This guide will walk you through the very first steps of base building, suggest some possible floor plans (with screenies if I can make them work) and end with some ideas on how to make the very best use out of the smallest plot size, since with the new base changes, the 8x8 plot will be free from rent, allowing a small group to maximize its savings, while still getting maximum utility from their base. I'll be trying to cover both Villains and Heroes base building, in the few instances where they might differ.
This guide is aimed at maximum function and therefore covers none of the decorative items or rooms. I will not be covering how to get a raid-ready base. Both of these are covered elsewhere quite nicely. Please visit the base building forum at coh.com if there are questions/problems that you don't find covered in either part 1 or 2 of this guide.
I'll be using mostly tech items in my examples. The reason for this is that for a few notable items, the footprint of certain tech items is smaller than the corresponding arcane items. Also, for crafted items (like the porters) tech salvage seems much more easily and quickly attainable. It is worth noting though, that for every single tech item, the corresponding arcane item costs exactly the same and provides the exact same utility and fits in exactly the same amount of space (except for a few notable items where the corresponding arcane item has a larger footprint, the only arcane item that has a smaller footprint than the tech item is the raid porter, but I will not be covering raid items in this guide).
First things first, head inside city hall at Atlas (Heroes), or the large building with Arachnos flags all over it in Port Oakes, just south of the Marconeville waypoint (Villains). There you will find the person who let's you start up your SG. Once you've got the naming and the colors and the SG chest emblem all picked out, talk to the same guy again and start construction of a base. *important note, you must have COV on your account in order to be able to access bases* There are base porter locations in most zones that will allow you access to your base. Find one, and pop inside.
You'll have the smallest plot size (an 8x8 grid) and the entrance that takes up 2x2 squares. Assuming its just you in the SG at this point, you'll have 20k to spend. Sadly, umm, not alot you can do with that prestige, except decorate your little entrance. But, for every new toon you add to your little SG, you'll get another 20k prestige (for a maximum of 15 toons, or 300k prestige). If its just you and yer own lil private lair, find a kind soul that is willing to join your SG for a the time it takes you to invite all of your alts and you could be talking about a good lil pile of starting capital. If you're starting your SG with at least one other friend, you could maximize that 300k *boost* of start up prestige by each of you inviting all your alts.
The great thing about base building is that you can sell items for exactly what you paid for them, so you are free to mess around and try new things by placing something, and then selling it and placing something else. You are never penalized, in other words, by buying items. The one exception to this is the *personal items* like the teleporters or other items created using salvage. While all prestige spent to place these *personal items* is returned to the SG if you delete them, the salvage used to generate or craft them is gone forever.
So now you have to kind of decide what you want to be able to do with your base, from a planning and playing perspective. Will you want a teleport factory? Will you want the medical bay? Do you want to maximize your storage abilities for inspirations/enhancments/salvage?
These goals/aims will shift over time, of course, but I'll try to offer suggestions based on the very most bang fer yer buck as far as functionality goes. You're going to be swapping priorites as time goes on and the prestige starts piling up, so I'll try to go from cheapest to most functional on the first building plot. Space will soon become a premium, and you'll really have to choose one thing over the other, eventually. You'll be selling rooms, moving them around, deleting and restarting often, so try not to go too nuts with decorations early on, as it's sometimes painful to spend hours decorating a room just the way you like it, only to realize a few short days later that you have enough for the next functional upgrade and that room simply has to go in order to get the most bang fer yer buck. Also remember you might have to sacrifice some function or another of the base as you go on, in order to gain more function later; trading down in the short run, to go up in the long run, in other words.
So, starter base. Base 1: Med base: 210k (1st med room and the reclamator, oversight room and the combo unit, insp storage)
If your first goal is to get a rez unit or *basic reclamator* in your base so that if you die, you can choose to go to your base instead of the hospital, well, we can start there: The first med bay room (found under the medical tab) costs 50k to build, and the reclamator (under place item) is a measley 10k to place. You'll notice quickly though that this just ain't enough. The reclamator consumes 50 energy and 25 control, neither of which we have produced yet. So we need to build an oversight center first, for 50k, and then place the combo power and control unit in it for another 25k.
Grand total? 135k to get your small base up and running with nothing but a hospital replacement unit in it and 3 rooms. Needs to be said though that if you choose to rez in your base rather than the hospital, you rez with about 25% of your full health and end, rather than the 100% granted by the hospitals. It can still be worth it, if you're going to be spending time in the sewers for your first few levels, as exiting the base after rez puts you right back in the sewers where you died, or for the opposite end of the spectrum, if Hami's got you down, you can base rez and then exit the base to reappear right where he last got ya in the Hive.
We can make it a little more enticing to rez in the base by adding some storage tables for inspirations by adding an inspiration table, for 75k. You can fill this up with your most needed inspirations (100 of them).
New total, 210k.
So Base 1 is:
Base 1 pic
Oversight room 50k
Combo unit 25k
Med bay 50k
Rez unit 10k (135k subtotal)
Insp storage 75k
total 210k
210k, and not a bad lil starter base.
Alternate starter base. Base 2: Porter base
Bit more complicated, as you have to craft the porters on the basic workbenches, and also accumulate enough salvage in order to be able to combine it to make the porters, but entirely within the grasp of a starting SG, within the first day or so of forming. First we're going to need power and control. Oversight room (50k) combo unit (25k), same as above. You'll need to at least temporarily place either the arcane or the tech basic workbench in the room in order to combine salvage. You need 6 tech power (for each tech porters) or 6 foci (for each arcane porter). Either basic workbench can be placed in the oversight room for 25k. Place it, combine what you can, to get yerself closer to the required number of tech power or mystic foci needed, and then combine these again to receive a personal item in the form of a teleporter.
Now, you can combine enough to get one, and there is a transportation room you can place, where you can place one porter and one beacon (the smallest 1x2 porter room) but, consider that you have just spent salvage to make this item. When it comes time to upgrade, and you want to place two porters or more in a room, you will have to juggle this item around by creating temporary rooms elsewhere to hold it, while you delete the room it was in, and build a new room and then replace that item in the new room and delete the temp room. Once space starts becoming more of a premium, the juggling is going to get a bit more precarious, so you really need to start thinking ahead when it comes to placing crafted items. While the SG is young, salvage will be as much at a premium as prestige is. So you COULD build the smallest porter room for 50k, and place a single porter (that you crafted with some double combined salvage) in it for placement cost of another 15k, and then a beacon to some zone for another 10k. Total cost for a base that gets you to one zone?
Base 2a:
Base 2a pic
Oversight and combo unit 75k
sml porter room 50k
place crafted porter 15k (and 6 combined salvage)
beacon 10k
total 150k
So, we have room and more prestige, let's place another porter room for another 50k, craft another porter for 6 combined salvage, and place it for 15k, and then a beacon for it for 10k.
Base 2b:
Base 2b pic
Oversight and combo unit 75k
2 small porter rooms 100k
Place 2 porters 30k (and 12 combined salvage)
2 beacons 20k
total 225k
So I can continue to make a lil porter factory, adding a new small porter room and one porter and one beacon each time I get 75k and enough salvage to make a new porter, but I'm going to quickly run out of space. Most I could fit on one 8x8 square, taking into account the space taken up by the oversight room, is 8. But well before you get there, you're goin to have energy and control problems trying to maintain that many porters and wasting their potential of 2 beacons a pop. I recommend instead that you hold off and go for the 2x2 porter room that will hold 2 porters and 4 beacons.
Base 2c:
Base 2c pic
Oversight and combo unit 75k
1 2x2 porter room 150k
Place 2 porters 30k (and 12 combined salvage)
4 beacons 40k
total 295k
As for a discussion of which beacons to go for? For CoH, I like king's and steel to start, as King's porter drop-off is right by the yellow line, for easy access to galaxy, atlas, sky and steel south. Also it's right by pocket D for easy access to talos, founders and faultline. Steel drop off point gives you easy access to the green line for indy, talos, croatoa and bricks. Talos is also one of the very most used *hub* zones. It contains every single origin enhancement stores located all relatively close to each other, making selling enhancements for their max vaule a cinch. Talos also has direct access to the green line, Skyway, Dark Astora, Founder's Falls, Striga and Peregrine Island.
For further porters, I'd opt for hazard zones, but keep it flexible, as the face of the SG changes. The starting SG that needs Hollows and Perez today will need Striga and Dark Astoria tomorrow, etc. Faultline's new mish at about 15-25 and Croatoa's mish at 25+ might make them attractive porter destinations. At some point in the life of a Heroes base, you will reach a space crunch, where you will have to start sacrificing some other function of the base in order to place every single beacon (which is not only not neccessary, but not reccomended). Instead, opt for the beacons that can provide you with access to a zone that is a hub, like the ones mentioned above, and wait until much later to place zones that will be rarely used.
For vills? It's quite a bit easier. Port Oakes is a no-brainer. Throw mercy in there since it will take 2 zonings to get there without a porter. The choice btwn shark, nerva, st. martial and grandville will largely depend upon your aggregate level in your vg early on. Since there are only 7 beacons avail in vills as of this writing, 2 porter rooms will cover all zones. Considering heroes has 21 beacons to choose from, Vill bases are easy by comparison, and there is no real hard choices as far as keeping your base on the basic plot size and gaining maximum function.
That said, beacon choices are never set in stone. You can swap the beacons out effortlessly and for no cost. Sell one, buy another.
Base 3: Combination of choices 1 and 2. This is where choices start coming into play, not just for the prestige, but the energy and control cost of items. Let's say I want a med bay AND a porter to start with.
Base 3:
Base 3 pic
Oversight and combo unit 75k
Med bay and reclamator 60k
small porter room 50k
place 1 porters 15k (and 6 combined salvage)
1 beacon 10k
total 210k
Keeping mind that we can swap out the beacon in that small porter room as needed, only takes a few seconds in the base edit screen.
This is the base I recommend starting with, in fact. Keeping in mind that the next upgrade may be a little way's off for the very small SG. To understand why, we need to consider one other aspect we have not yet talked about
: the power and control cost of various items.
Our oversight center and combo unit will generate for us +125 energy, and +75 control. The reclamator in our med bay cost -50 energy and -25 control. The porter cost -50 energy and -25 control as well. The beacon merely -5 control:
Combo unit +125 nrg, +75ctrl
Reclamator - 50 , -25
1 porters - 50 , -25
1 beacons , -5
Leaving us with a +25 energy and +20 control surplus. We can use the surplus to temporarily power the workbenches when we place them to combine our salvage.
To understand how these energy and control costs limit our base as much (if not more) than the prestige cost, let's look at the next logical upgrade.
Base 4a:
Base 4a pic
Oversight and combo unit 75k
Med bay and reclamator 60k
2x2 porter room 150k
place 2 porters 30k (and 12 combined salvage)
4 beacons 40k
total 355k
It won't take long doing missions before you've gotten the extra 55k worth of prestige (beyond the start up bonus of 300k) required to get yourself this upgrade, but we need to look again at our power and control costs.
Combo unit +125 nrg, +75ctrl
Reclamator - 50 , -25
2 porters -100 , -50
4 beacons , -20
Leaving us in the negative for both energy and control (-25 energy, -20 control) meaning that not all of our placed items will function. Sadly, we cannot simply place another combo unit in our oversight center as the room will only hold one, and no other energy or control items. We can also not simply place another oversight center and a combo unit, as there is only one combo unit allowed in an entire base. We've reached the limit of what we can do with the start up bonus prestige and the energy and control for our little base.
From now, we need to start thinking long term, as far as planning ahead for our energy and control needs each time we want to upgrade.
The bottom line is, the oversight center and combo unit were intended to only really cover the very most basic needs of a start up base, and our base is no longer *start up* so they have outlived their utility and we need to now upgrade to our more long-term energy and control rooms, to satisfy the needs of our growing base. Before you get too crazy with the *delete room* button just yet, let's look at the rather sobering costs of this next step up in the evolution of our base.
Deleting the oversight center and combo unit will recover our 75k worth of prestige, but placing the energy room costs 150k, and the control room costs 100k, and then we have to actually place the generator (225k) in the energy room and that will generate 1000 Energy for us. Then a mainframe (150k) placed in the control room get us 50 control, which is not enough so we also need 1 database (106k) for another 50 control.
(/start mini-rant) The recent changes to base building are definitely a step in the right direction for a small SG, but they leave a major gap in the linear upgrading of bases. I start out with a base from part 1 of this guide for under 300k, and the next minor upgrade will cost me (as you'll soon see) and added 700k or more, due to the reconfiguring of power and control items needed. That's a very long time to wait for a small or single person SG. Why not make this scale, in some small way? Allow me to attach a circuit breaker and/or a database in this room, so I'm not so quickly shut down, with such a long and major gap between a start up base and a fully functional one? Why make the difference between a base that works today, and one that won't after a single porter is added not work again for 700k? Bump the combo unit's output by 75 energy and allow the two CB attachments, and 2 database atachments to it, and base building for small SG's becomes completely linear, without the major lag between start up and initial upgrades as is present now (/end mini-rant).
So the seemingly simple upgrade of adding 1 more porter and a few more destination beacons to our base makes our little tally sheet look a mess:
Base 4b:
Base 4b pic
Energy room 150k
Generator 225k +1000 nrg,
Control room 100k
Mainframe 150k - 50 , +50 ctrl
Database 106k - 50 , +50
Med bay and reclamator 60k - 100 , -25
2x2 porter room 150k
place 2 porters 30k - 100 , -50
4 beacons 40k , -20
Totals: 1,011k + 700 , + 5
Holy empty pocket books, Batman! Yes, you read that right, its 1,011,000 prestige. And that's not even including any storage items (which do not have energy or control costs associated with them). So, it's a big jump and likely quite a wait for a small SG from our small base that cost us 300k or less to get started and minimally functional, to this, but it will come. Don't be in a rush. It took me and just 2 friends in our small SG about 3-4 months to get to around 6 million prestige or so and max out our functionality on the smallest plot size, and we are quite *casual* players.
Quick discussion of the workshop, workbenches and empowerment stations as it relates to a small or start up SG: Wait. Discussion over.
Hehe. But seriously, you can place the workshop and a single workbench/empowerment station, as needed, *temporarily*. Get the salvage combining you need to do over with then sell these items and recover the prestige to be used for other items with more function. With a base we are designing to make the most of our limited prestige earning capabilities (being a small SG) but with maximum function, we can't waste prestige on something we will only be using, at most, once a playing session, and more than likely, once a week or less. I'd rather have more porters, or more storage items that I will use several times a day in my base, than the workshop. So, anyway, my advice, place the smallest workshop and one bench/empowerment station at a time as you need it, and then sell it back, keeping your eye set on the next goal/the next upgrade.
Assuming we've gotten to the point where we have our energy and control room and items placed, and our base 4b is up and running, the next logical upgrade to our small base would be to add another porter and beacon destination. 50k fer the smallest porter room, 15k (assuming you combine salvage to make them, now) to place the next porter, and 10k to place a new beacon. If you'll notice, we are right at the edge of our control generation, so we'll also need another database placed in the control room in order to generate a little more control, so 181k more makes this next upgrade happen.
Base 5a:
Base 5a pic
base 4b totals: 1,011k + 700nrg, + 5ctrl
+1 Database 106k - 100 , +50
+small porter room 50k
+1 porter 15k - 50 , -25
+1 beacon 10k , - 5
Total: 1,192k + 550 , +25
To recap: we now have 3 porters with 5 possible destinations (keeping in mind we can swap these destinations around as needed), the med bay, and enough energy and control to keep them all running in tip-top shape.
Our next logical upgrade would be to change that last uprade of the small porter room into the 2x2 porter room, adding another porter and 3 more beacons. Again, we need to look at control, just the one added porter will use up all our remaining control, so we need to add yet another control generating item. If you have enough prestige, you could opt to simply place yet another database for 50 control, but we only really need 15 more control than we are already generating, so we could opt instead to go for the cheaper costing terminal for 30k, that costs us only -10 energy and generates +10 control. 2 of these fills our needs. There is also the corner terminal that costs 32k, takes -15 energy and generates 12 control. For the sake of variety, I'll place one terminal and one corner terminal in the control room. Then I'll place the 2x2 porter room, another porter and 3 more beacons (total for next upgrade: 257k)
*Again, I need to remind that placing personal items like porters becomes tricky as you cannot simply delete them and hope to replace them at will. You need to have the personal items via combined salvage available. The next upgrade illustrates that point as you'll want a 2x2 porter room. You need to move the 1x2 room with porter installed to an an unused place on the plot, place the new 2x2 room, move the porter there and then delete the 1x2 room it came from. Space is starting to become a premium in your 8x8 square, so you will soon not have enough room for this juggling, so you really need to start placing crafted items carefully, and perhaps hold off on placing the 1x2 porter rooms until you have enough to simply place the 2x2 porter room (150k vice 50k) in order to avoid the juggling of the crafted teleporters.*
Base 5b:
Base 5b pic
base 5a totals: 1,192k +550nrg, +25ctrl
+1 corner terminal 32k - 15 , +12
+1 terminal 30k - 10 , +10
2x2 porter room 150k
+1 porter 15k - 50 , -25
+3 beacons 30k - 0 , -15
Total: 1,449k +475 , + 7
Quick note for Villain bases: you don't need that 8th beacon as there are presently only 7 beacons available. You've reached the pinnacle of your teleport capabilites/needs for your small base, and for just under 1.5 million prestige. Well done. Now you can start adding rooms and items we've since neglected in favor of function, such as decorative rooms, permanent workshops and workbenches/empowerment stations, work on getting the supercomputer (1.5 mill prestige) in the control room to maximize control output. You could also look into some of the other threads about getting your base raid and item of power ready for when the cathedral of pain trial finally becomes available. Again, well done, go have yourself an ice cold adult beverage, you've earned it.
As for Hero bases, well if you're as obsessive as I am, looking at those 2 porter rooms with 4 porters and 8 beacons is purty darn nifty, but all you can really see is the 13 other zones you are not yet able to go to via your small base. If you're not as nuts as I am, well, you too can celebrate with the villain architects and go indulge in the aforementioned adult beverage, and start thinking along the lines of purtifying your base, adding in the permanent workshop, making some purely decorative rooms, working towards the supercomputer or the larger generator, or even work towards getting your base raid ready. 8 zones is nothing to sneeze at, and if you are choosing your beacons wisely, you should be able to get to just about any zone with merely 1 or 2 zonings.
Here's a couple ideas:
Raid base pic
Here's your basic raid ready base (though not very well laid out). All the 8 rooms you need, the dimensional anchors, the item of power base, the super comp, the mission comp, workshop/workbenches/empowerment stations etc, merely to illustrate that its possible to lay out a raid ready base on the basic plot size to take advantage of the rent-free aspect of that first plot.
Decorative base pic
I just chaged the control room on the far left to the 1x4 style instead of the 2x2, and added in the decorative room *studio* in the middle of the map, and placed a small workshop up top. It hurts my head to waste that much space on a room just to decorate, but it's an option.
Anyway, let's get back on point. We have a pretty nice little base set up here. Before we start building more porters or placing a permanent workshop or some such, let's take a hard look at our energy and control requirements for further upgrades. Let's assume we want our final base to look something like this:
Base 10 pic
With 5 total 2x2 porter rooms (wrapping around the outer edge in this pic) with 10 porters and 20 beacons (access to all but one available zone, in other words). Each additional porter is going to cost us -50 energy, and -25 control. Each additional beacon will cost us -5 control. If I were to place all of these now I would need an additional +300 energy. No problems there, as I have +475 still available from our hard working little generator. I will also need an additional +210 worth of control though, and that is where we run into problems.
Let's go back to base 5b, and take a good look at our control room. Let's sell the terminal and corner terminal (recovering 62k) and place another database (106k). We can make this upgrade to our base for 74k. Now let's look at our numbers again, and get a fresh tally.
Base 5b.1: (no need for a pic, the layout is still the same as 5b, just with one more database in the control room)
Energy room 150k
Generator 225k +1000 nrg,
Control room 100k
Mainframe 150k - 50 , +50 ctrl
3 Databases 318k - 300 , +150
Med bay and reclamator 60k - 100 , -25
2, 2x2 porter rooms 300k
place 4 porters 60k - 200 , -100
8 beacons 80k , -40
Total: 1,513k + 350 , +35
Concentrating on just the control for now, and remembering that we will need an additional 210k worth of control to place our 6 more porters and 12 more beacons, we're gonna need alot more databases. But things are, unfortunately, just not that simple. Let's add one more database.
Base 5b.2:
Base 5b.1 totals: 1,513k +350nrg , +35ctrl
+1 database 106k -100 , +50
Total 1,619k +250 , +85
You'll notice we are still not close to our +210 control needed to place all the remaining porters and beacons we want, and you'll also notice that our energy output now has dropped below what we'll need in the end. If you go in and try and add another database, you'll also be sad to notice that we can no longer add anymore databases, as we've reached the maximum this room will allow (1 mainframe and 4 databases). Which is the reason I took this little diversion to illustrate that we need to do a little prior planning here before we just start adding porters and rooms. If you got down to having combined salvage and placed that 9th and 10th porter before realizing that there is no way you'd ever be able to power them, you'd be mighty pissed at this little guide when you had to delete them, I imagine.
But, we do now have enough energy and control to place 2 more porter rooms, and add in porters and beacons in one at a time.
Base 6:
Base 6 pic
(I lined the upper side of the map with the new porter rooms, but since the base I'm using for these examples is a villains base I don't want to waste the salvage to make more porters to place in there, please use your imagination)
Each room costs 150k to place. So
Base 6 Total (before adding any porters or beacons into these two new rooms): 1.919k
Adding one porter, 2 beacons:
Base 6a:
Base 6 totals: 1,919k +250nrg, +85ctrl
+1 porter 15k - 50 , -25
+2 beacons 20k - 0 , -10
Total: 1,954k +200 , +50
Another porter and 2 beacons:
Base 6b:
+1 porter and 2 beacons 35k - 50 , -35
Total: 1,989k +150 , +15
You can see we don't have enough control left to place another porter, much less the beacons to accompany it, and no way to increase our control output right now with our present control room, so let's delete that last porter room (the one with no
porters or beacons in it!) for now and recover our 150k prestige to use on a different upgrade.
Base 6c:
Base 6c pic
-2x2 porter room - 150k
Total: 1,839k +150nrg, +15ctrl
Let's next look at the med bay. We used the basic med bay when we started, but if one of our alts is an AT that can heal, chances are we're going to earn the first SG healing badge at some point, and that will unlock a recipe that will allow us to be able to craft a nifty little inspiration dispenser (auto doc or tree of wonders) that will sell us blue and green inspirations. In order to place this newly crafted item, we will need to upgrade our med bay to an infirmary. We'll recover our 50k it cost to place the med bay by deleting the room, and then it will cost us 150k to place the infirmary (this may take some tricky juggling with rooms and the placing of doorways to make sure *base continuity* is maintained, I really hope you haven't been decorating too lavishly as you may have to delete rooms or place doors in places you didn't think you'd have to to be able to delete the med bay). Then we can place the rez ring back in there and our newly crafted insp dispenser for 50k, -35nrg, and -15 control. Total cost of this upgrade: 150k, but the footprint of our base is exactly the same as it was before.
Base 6d totals: 1,989k +415nrg, +0ctrl.
We've hit a wall. And this wall is high, my friends. I can do a couple little things along the way here to increase my base function, like adding circuit breakers in my energy room for 50k a piece (max of 2), each of which will increase my energy output by +150.
Base 6e (+2 circuit breakers):
2,089k +415nrg, +0ctrl.
That hole in the center of the map is begging out for something to put in there, So let's place a 1x2 workshop there for 50k, and an empowerment station for 15k (does not cost nrg or ctrl to operate). You can swap out the tech and arcane empowerment stations to combine salvages as needed, but do not combine or use the salvage to make the empowerment station upgrades yet, as we are actually just biding our time until we can make upgrades to control, so we can get more porters and this room is simply temporary.
Base 6f:
Base 6f pic
+1x2 workshop 50k
+empowerment station 15k
Total 2,144k, +415nrg, +0ctrl
If we haven't already, let's add some storage tables. Though I haven't really been carrying the cost of the salvage rack in the base total costs up until now, you really should already have one of these on hand in your base. As I mentioned earlier its a great way to consolidate your salvage from all of your alts in one place for use by the toon you designate as your *architect*. Interesting information about the salvage rack is that it claims via its own info that it only holds 999 items, which seems like a lot, but can actually actually fill up fast. It actually holds much more than that, though, up to 2500 salvage items, though the counter stops at 999. Its cost is the cheapest of all the storage tables at 15k, so there is simply no reason not to have one of these on hand in your base at all times.
Let's also throw in an inspiration table for 75k (more if/when you can, inspirations are mighty handy to have on hand when using your base to rez, so you can pick up needed inspirations without having to run to a contact). If you've been following this guide, you already have the auto-doc (or tree of wonders) in your infirmary which will give you health and end inspirations, so you only need to really worry about storing the others. I use my higher level toons to stock these up with awakes and break frees, mostly, but also reds, yellows, purples, and oranges, as well, for use by all my toons.
Enhancement tables cost 95k to place, and at first glance seem kind of a waste or an extravagance, after all, when I get drops I don't need, I sell them immediately so I can get the INF for them I so desperately need since I'm running in SG mode constantly (this is only a factor as far as inf earnings post 25 btw) but consider that if you're playing your freshly enhanced lvl 47 today, fighting +1's +2's or +3's (or higher), high level SO drops will be quite common for you. Dropping out of SG mode for a mish or two will net you quite a bit of spending capital, as well, and you don't really need to be enhancing much further . . . popping into the base to drop off these expensive enhancements will make them available to your lower level alts to pick up, go sell and get much needed influence. It's like gifting your alts influence without the need for an intermediary, or a second player/account. They are also convenient places to dump your enhancements temporarily when you are on a fast paced team and you don't want to take too long a break from them to go find all the appropriate stores to sell your enhancements for max selling prices. You can dump them here and then come pick them up in groups (like grab all the science enhancements and head to the science store, etc.)
Your new workshop will hold one storage table (I suggest the salvage rack for now, as it will be close to where you've placed the empowerment station. Your infirmary, energy and control rooms will also each hold one storage item. So a salvage rack in the workshop, and enhancement table in the med bay (for close access to the entrance), and an inspiration storage in the energy room and control room.
Base 6g:
+1 salvage storage 15k
+1 enhancement storage 95k
+2 inspiration storage 150k
Total: 2,404k, +415nrg, +0ctrl
We've put it off as long as we can. I could delay things further by running around my base and adding purty things every couple of days, changing room locations, etc, but the fact remains, I simply cannot add anymore function to my base without addressing the control issue. And, sadly this is another one of those long pauses in the base upgrades.
Going back to where we left off with our control room, we know that we are maxxed out as far as having one mainframe in there and 4 databases. We are simply not allowed to add anymore. Much like the situation with the oversight center where we could not simply add another combo unit somewhere in the base, we cannot add another mainframe in the base either (databases must be attached to a mainframe). So I could delete my workshop, add another control room there in the center of our base and put some databases in there, but since they are not attached to a mainframe it does me no good. The good/bad news is, if you've been following along, and paying attention to my base layouts in the pics I've been linking, you're closer than you think to increasing your control output.
Look at the control rooms tab, the next room we want is the 2x3 room that costs 750k. This room will allow us to place up to 10 databases vice the max 4 we are limited by in the 2x2 room now. Those of you that can do the math quick, know this will give us plenty of control to reach our goal of at least one more porter room with 2 more porters and 4 more beacons. But DAG if 750k don't seem like alot for a small sg to earn. But if you've been following this guide, maintaining maximum function on your base and upgrading in a linear fashion without going overboard on decorations, you are really only 240k away from being able to upgrade. Once you've got your banked prestige to that point, go and pick up all the enhancements you have stored and sell them and then sell the enhancement table for 95k bringing your total prestige up to 335k (if you start at 240k banked). Go delete all the inspirations you have stored in your inspiration tables (sounds painful, but they are cheap to replace, and they drop often during regular play) and sell the two tables for 150k, bringing your total to 485k. Move your salvage rack out of your small workshop and into your energy room or infirmary, and sell the empowerment station for 15k, for a new total of 500k. Sell the workshop for another 50k, total now at 550k. Go into your energy room, find them two circuit breakers and sell them both for 100k. New total: 650k.
We're still short by 100k, but the cost of placing the 2x2 control room cost exactly . . . you guessed it, 100k! For a grand total of 750k!
Delete the control room. No need to delete or sell the mainframe and the databases as they will auto delete when you get rid of the room (you will recover 574k for these items, but since you have to place them back again right away, that prestige is recovered and spent right away anyhoo).
Purchase the 2x3 control room for 750k. Immediately place back the mainframe and 4 databases.
Base 7:
Base 7 pic
Total 2,544k +115nrg, +0ctrl
Before we can go for the next porter room, we need to bump up that control. Next database, 106k.
Base 7a:
+1 database 106k -100nrg, +50ctrl
Total: 2,510k, +15nrg, +50ctrl
Dammit! I've finally got my control under, <ahem>, control (each porter cost -25 control each), but now my energy output is a problem. Each porter is going to cost me -50 nrg each.
Ok, so then I need to place back at least one of them circuit breakers. cost:50k output: 150nrg.
Base 7b:
+1 circuit breaker 50k +150nrg
Total 2,560k, +165nrg, +50ctrl
Knowing that I'll need at least 70 ctrl to place 2 porters and 4 beacons, I'll need just a tad more control. 2 terminals in the control room will take care of that for 60k.
Base 7c:
+2 terminals 60k, -20nrg, +20ctrl
Total: 2,620k, +145nrg, +70ctrl
Now, we're finally ready to place some more porters. Next 2x2 room: 150k. 2 porters 30k -100nrg, -50ctrl, 4 beacons 40k, -20ctrl.
Base 8:
Base 8 pic
+2x2 porter room 150k
+2 porters 30k -100nrg, -50ctrl
+4 beacons 40k _ 0 , -20
Total 2,840k + 45 , + 0
Now, again, we have to accumulate some prestige. My next upgrade I really want is the super computer to maximize my control output, but it costs a whopping 1.5 mill to place. The good news is I can place it back in the 2x2 control room, so I can offload the 750k 2x3 control room and all the control items in it, so far, for an additional 530k, giving me back 1,380k. I'll need 100k of that to re-place the 2x2 room, so I only need 220k more to get to the 1.5mill I need. So when you've got 220k in the bank, sell off the 2x3 control room, replace it with the 2x2, and place the super comp in there.
Base 9
Base 9 pic
Total 3,060k
To recap, we're running 4 2x2 porter rooms, 8 porters and 16 beacons. We have an Infirmary with a res ring, and an auto doc. We have a generator and a circuit breaker, and a super comp.
We are pumping out 1,150 energy, and 500 control.
Our 8 porters are using 400 energy, and 200 control.
Our 16 beacons are using 80 control.
Our Rez ring is using 50 energy and 25 control.
Our auto-doc is using 35 energy and 15 control.
Our super comp is using 500 energy but giving us 500 control
Leaving me +165 energy and +80 control.
We're ready for the next porter room for 150k:
Base 10:
Base 10 pic
I can place 2 porters in there for 30k, -100 energy and -50 control, 4 beacons for 40k, -20 control
Total 3,280k, +65 energy, and +10 control
And our base is completely full. Some could say too full. There's simply no room to place a workshop. There is no real reason to have 20 beacons in there, anyway (unless you're obsessive like me), so you could (perhaps should) use that last spot in the map for a 2x2 workshop room instead of more porters. Place the empowerment stations in there, and some storage instead of that last porter room. Entirely up to you of course.
But, we've come to the end of this (much longer than intended when I started writing it) guide. OUr little 8x8 square is practically bursting with utility and function. I've seen much larger and more expensive bases that were far less functional or logically laid out.
To close, a couple of things NOT to do:
Do NOT decorate too lavishly early on. As I said earlier, it can be painful to spend hours or days decorating, only to have to delete it in a few short days so that you can upgrade the function of your base.
Do NOT do this:
Bad example pic
This is on a 8x12 grid to illustrate a point. That big 5x5 porter room on the bottom left holds 8 porters, and unlimited beacons. I can only attach 2 beacons per porter, so 16 beacons. The room costs 1.35 million prestige to place.
Consider this much better layout:
Good example pic
You'll notice that that 5x5 room takes up exactly the same footprint as 4 2x2 rooms that hold 2 porters and 4 beacons a piece, so I've not gained any space at all (except the room is alot more open in the middle for more decorations, BAH!). Since those 4 rooms can hold a total 8 porters and 16 beacons (the same as that 5x5 room), I've also gained no function whatsoever. Since those 4 rooms cost 600k to place total, and that 5x5 room costs 1.35 mill to place, but I've gained no space or no more function, I have simply wasted 735k worth of prestige.
A short note about porters and placement. I progressed the porters in the above good example pic around the base (and yes that's 5 2x2 porter rooms and 1 1x2 porter room, for a total of all 21 possible destinations, toldja I was a sick man). I started close to the entrance and placed atlas and galaxy as the first porter beacons, then king's and skyway on the second. Hollow and perez on the third, steel and faultline on the 4th, indy and talos on the fifth, croatoa and brickstown on the sixth, then dark astoria, striga, terra volta, boomtown in the next room, founders and eden on the 9th, crey and peregrine on the 10th, and off all by its lonesome for the final zone is the rikti crash site. In other words, I progressed from lowest zones to highest zones as you moved away from the entrance. One more pic:
Porter pic
I lower the floor in my base all the way down, and then raise the places where I will be putting my porters so they are elevated by two, and then place the beacons on that little section under the porters so you can tell at a glance where the porters are attached to. Just a suggestion.
Visit the CoH.com
Base building forums if anything else should ever come up and give you problems in your base building. A lot of very helpful and knowledgeable people there that are always willing to help out.
So, we're done! Can't believe how long this turned out to be. I hope this little guide has been helpful. While I have done my best to check my facts and numbers, I have no doubt made mistakes or missed some little tidbit of information. Please feel free to point these things out to me so I can include them in future updates.
And then I had room to get both work tables and 2 tiers of empowerment stations into the workshop. (Although I think the tier 2 INCLUDE powers from the tier 1 so I'll sell those off once I confirm that)