Guide to base building for the small SG, part 2: "Getting the most out of the basic 8x8 plot size"
(version 1.0, Feb 2007)
This is part 2 of my guide to base building for the small SG. Part 1 covered several options to start out with, and this will pick up from there, walking you through the various upgrades from the basic base, and will take you all the way through to filling up the basic plot size, with various options to allow you to get the very most out of your little base you possibly can, while avoiding upgrading to the next plot size in order to avoid base rent.
As I mentioned in part 1, 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 nicely viable and functioning base, in a fairly short amount of time.
I will be covering both villains and heroes (in the few instances where they might differ).
I'll be using mostly tech items in my examples. The reason for this is that for a few notable items, the footprint of tech items is smaller than the 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 most 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. There are a few items where this is not the case as far as *footprint* goes, and I'll point those out when I come to them.
This guide is aimed at maximum function and therefore covers none of the decorative items or rooms. I will also not be covering how to get a raid-ready base. 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.
Okay, in part 1, I left off with our little base in a bit of a pickle. Assuming we wanted to maintain our med bay, and start getting a few more porter/beacon destinations, we had a base that looked like this:
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
The problem was that we did not have enough energy or control to meet our new needs:
Combo unit +125 nrg, +75ctrl
Reclamator - 50 , -25
2 porters -100 , -50
4 beacons , -20
Total usage: -150 , -95 Net nrg and ctrl: -25 , -20
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.
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.*
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:
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.
(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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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:
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.
Happy Building!
@Bonker Guide to Base Building for the Small SG
Present project: Solo Everything Project
Remaining: Lusca, Sewers, Eden, Kahn, States, HeroSpec2&3, Apex, Tin Mage, Moritmer Kal, Tesseract, Recluse, 'Cuda, Quarry, Stropharia, Thorn, Arachnos Flier, Deathsurge, Caleb, Seed of Hamidon (Villrespec2&3, Hami, CoP, Incarnates)
Posted
Thanks for these guides. I have to admit that base construction still seems like a black art to me, but you have cleared up a number of my questions. I will be curious to see what changes they have in mind for bases other than lowering the rent.
Guide to base building for the small SG, part 2: "Getting the most out of the basic 8x8 plot size"
(version 1.0, Feb 2007)
This is part 2 of my guide to base building for the small SG. Part 1 covered several options to start out with, and this will pick up from there, walking you through the various upgrades from the basic base, and will take you all the way through to filling up the basic plot size, with various options to allow you to get the very most out of your little base you possibly can, while avoiding upgrading to the next plot size in order to avoid base rent.
As I mentioned in part 1, 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 nicely viable and functioning base, in a fairly short amount of time.
I will be covering both villains and heroes (in the few instances where they might differ).
I'll be using mostly tech items in my examples. The reason for this is that for a few notable items, the footprint of tech items is smaller than the 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 most 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. There are a few items where this is not the case as far as *footprint* goes, and I'll point those out when I come to them.
This guide is aimed at maximum function and therefore covers none of the decorative items or rooms. I will also not be covering how to get a raid-ready base. 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.
Okay, in part 1, I left off with our little base in a bit of a pickle. Assuming we wanted to maintain our med bay, and start getting a few more porter/beacon destinations, we had a base that looked like this:
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
The problem was that we did not have enough energy or control to meet our new needs:
Combo unit +125 nrg, +75ctrl
Reclamator - 50 , -25
2 porters -100 , -50
4 beacons , -20
Total usage: -150 , -95
Net nrg and ctrl: -25 , -20
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.
Happy Building!
@Bonker Guide to Base Building for the Small SG
Present project: Solo Everything Project
Remaining: Lusca, Sewers, Eden, Kahn, States, HeroSpec2&3, Apex, Tin Mage, Moritmer Kal, Tesseract, Recluse, 'Cuda, Quarry, Stropharia, Thorn, Arachnos Flier, Deathsurge, Caleb, Seed of Hamidon (Villrespec2&3, Hami, CoP, Incarnates)