Nice guide, and useful to the new base builder in terms of thinking about setting the base up rather than actual base design.
Blueside, I set up pads to Kings Row as well as Steel initially. Then added Talos and Striga, but that's because I have a lot of mid range toons and Talos is without doubt the pad that now gets used the most.
Additionally, some of the Hazard zones are probably not worth putting in until the very end. There are only a handful of missions that take place in Terra Volta, Dark Astoria and Boomtown. Independance Port also got left until the very end as the drop-off point was in the middle of nowhere (that could have changed now). Sure DA and Boomtown are good inf making grounds, but generally folks out there to earn cash by arresting magical enemies are there for a good while.
The point about easy access is well made. Power, control and workshops can all be moved away from your "core", as players generally spend a while talking to the Pillar (if you have it) or crafting/storing etc. I appreciate that not everyone has the cash/flexibility to afford everything though.
One last comment is around looking to the future. My biggest headache with expanding a base has always been around deleting the multitude of placeables and shifting full storage devices and telepads around. As Telepads are crafted items, you cannot delete the teleporter room unless you move the telepads out of the way or delete them. If you have nowhere to move them to, you can't change anything. There is always the "move room" option, but if you have no space to move it, you're stuffed. So plan ahead and think about the space available to you. If you buy the smallest telepad room because you can now afford it, you won't be able to upgrade it by selling it & rebuying it without losing your telepad. The same applies to a lesser extent to storage as they can't be deleted when full, but as they can be placed in a few different types of rooms, it's not so much a problem.
This is kind of off topic from the guide, but I designed my blueside base similar to the process above, and when I wanted to expand I had to pretty much rip it completely apart and start again. It's worth thinking about the future too.
Nice work.
-H
Agreed- moving things after the fact can be difficult, so it's best to try and keep it in mind. Although there's certainly no 'right' way to do it, since each base configuration is going to require its own plan according to what's there and what will be added later.
For instance, I had to go from this to this.
Thanks to the configuration of the different rooms, it was a multiple step process that included temporary room placement, plot size shifts, and having to shuffle items in the rooms in order to temporarily add and subtract doorways. Expansion is certainly something to be considered, although I think it's something left for people with more prestige than myself. It would be hard for me to justify writing about logical expansions when I've little to no experience with same.
So you want to set up a base, but in the past it hasn't gone so well. Maybe you've run across a few bases where it seems like you can't figure out where you are, or where you're trying to go. This guide aims to help you set up your base so that it becomes convenient enough for your supergroup that you'll never hear anything about it.
[u]Raids Versus Convenience[u]
Alright, so here's your first question: what do you want to do with this base? Are you looking to raid? Or do you just want something convenient? This is an important question because your choice will determine the end results. A base that is designed to be raided is going to be set up almost opposite to one designed for convenience. This is because of what your goals are. A raid base is going to be set up so that moving from room to room is difficult and accessing key elements of the base is hard to accomplish. Further, you're going to want to make sure energy, control, and the vault are all easy to keep an eye on to prevent people from sneaking over there and blowing them up. That's pretty much contrary to what I'm trying to do.
Plus, I have no idea what I'm doing talking about how to build a base to be raided, so I'm just going to leave that to other people who've got a better idea what's what.
If you've figured out that you're going for convenience, then you're in the right spot. So let's start thinking about some of the core ideas here.
[u]Flow Of Traffic[u]
Alright, here's your big concern when you're looking at making a convenient base. What makes a base convenient or not is basically if you can move from your starting point to where you're trying to get to with a minimum of hassle. That means both distance and obstacles should be minimized.
But what, then, are we trying to reach? Well, let's think about this a bit.
[u]Transportation[u]
This is the big thing for people who're going to your base, and as others have said, the main reason to have a base in the first place: getting to use teleporters. People who are going to want to use the teleporters are going to primarily be coming from the base portal, so you'll want to keep these nearby. The other direction from which people will be going to the teleporters is the med bay, although this is less likely. It won't hurt to keep these all clustered together, but give priority to getting from the base portal to the teleporters if push comes to shove.
[u]Storage[u]
Storage is another reason people will be stopping by the base, and with inventions available the Personal Vault will be the biggie here. It would be very easy to just say, "Oh, well I'll just toss one in each room." That could work- but not as well as you might like. If you can manage to keep your storage centralized in one or two rooms, you'll be better off because people who can't remember where they put that level 45 SO will be able to quickly go from one storage device to another without much trouble.
Of course, Storage is best located somewhere close to workshops, because people are going to want to move from one to the other quickly. You'll also do well to sort out what you're grabbing by what's nearby: an Invention Desk placed next to the Personal Vault will be better than one grouped with the forges and worktables. Similarly, you can drop the Inspiration and Enhancement storage away from the work areas, because these won't be interacting as much.
[u]Healing[u]
The ability to revive in a base is questionable at best, given that you're not able to recover to 100%, and you'll likely still have to trek across a zone to get back to your mission door- reviving at the base will reduce your starting health and endurance while making you wait for load times. However, particularly below 10th level, members of your supergroup may find an infirmary useful for getting around- you just die, step into the teleporter, and there's no worry about running to the tram. In some places like Mercy this can also save you time since the spot you show up at from teleporting is a long ways away from the base portal. In any case, as stated before if you want a med bay, you'll want to put this near the main transport routes.
[u]Missions[u]
Between the CoP Trial, the Task Force, and the ability to (now) add a Pillar of Ice & Fire to your base, you can find youself spending a lot of time running to and from the control room of your base, particularly as part of a group. Because of this, the Control Room is another room that's best set up somewhere near to your main transport routes (which incidentally translates as 'Base Portal and Teleporters), although you'll want to keep it off to the side. It's also going to be useful to keep in mind what people will be accessing- in this case, two auxiliary items. That means you'll do best to put these near the door and keep the rest further in. You don't need to worry about blocking access here, you'll only have to get to these two items.
[u]Energy and Lack Thereof[u]
The Energy room isn't something you're going to need to go into unless you're upgrading your power source. And for that reason you can stick this out in the corner where it's difficult to reach. There just isn't a good reason to do otherwise. Similarly, if you have rooms dedicated to lounging around and chatting with your friends, you're really not going to have to worry about speed of travel- your goal's going to be to stop traveling, after all. So these can be placed in relatively inconvenient areas without any harm.
Okay, so we've got a good idea of what rooms need fast access and what ones don't. It's worth noting that every room except Energy and Decorative benefits from being close to the base portal. That should make it rather clear that your Entryway should serve as a hub around which everything else is arrayed. If we were to prioritize things it would be something like this:
<ul type="square">[*]Entryway[*]Transport Rooms[*]Workshops[*]Control Room[*]Med Bay/Infirmary[*]Decorative[*]Energy[/list](And yes, I skipped red for those of you on the CoV side).
So if you're looking at the standard 8x8 plot, you're going to do best by reserving the N,S,E, and W directions for Transport, Workshops, and Control, and then leave your NE, SE, SW, and NW corners for Medical, Energy, and Decorative or extra Storage/Workshops.
This last bit is worth noting because it seems to contradict what I said above- but it doesn't. While you want storage to be immediately available to people who show up from the Entry Portal, people who are wanting to make things aren't going to be in as nearly as big a rush as someone dumping salvage before heading off to the teleporter. You can prioritize things as your workshops move further out from the Entry Portal, with the Invention Desk, Vault, and Inspiration storage being near the door, and then your base salvage, Forges, Worktables, and Enhancement devices next, and your Enhancement storage in the back. In fact, you could even drop your Forges and Worktables at the far end, since you're not likely to need them except when you're cleaning up the salvage racks or tinkering with the base- things that you aren't going to be doing except when you have a lot of time on your hands.
[u]The White Zone is for Loading and Unloading Only[u]
Here's something to think about now that you have your rooms laid down: what you put in them, and where. This is a pretty simple concept: people who are in a hurry probably have their travel powers on when they show up in your base, or otherwise are going to want to make as straight a shot from the place they are to the place they want to be. You want things to be convenient, but if I'm going from A to C, and to get there I have to pass through B, I'm going to want my path of travel to be free of obstacles. Of course, that means sticking those workstations and teleporters and such in places so that they can be bypassed easily- but what about people?
Anyone from the early days of City of Villains can relate the horror stories of the bank heists. You see, bank heists originally were full of civilians. And these civilians could move you, but you couldn't move them. That meant that trying to get to the vault and taking down all those security guards attacking you was a matter of navigating an organic, constantly shifting maze. One that you could often find yourself cursing. That's no longer a problem (or at least not as much) but there's still the same effect possible in maps where your teammates (or their pets) can keep you from getting to where you're trying to go. You want to make sure that your base doesn't end up being one of those maps.
So how do you do this? Simple: don't just stick things out of the way, think about where people are likely to stand while accessing them. It does me no good if you've moved the salvage racks out of the way, if I have to go around Bob who's using those same racks. Get things positioned so that someone standing nearby will naturally move themselves away from the path of traffic.
This same idea goes for elevations in your base: while it may be useful in a raid base to shrink the size of the place down to a minimum, or that one really neat decoration requires more height, moving up and down can be a pain, particularly because stairs will count as blocking doorways. So there's always going to be a narrow gap where someone can find themselves halted by a step up. Similarly, sudden drops in the ceiling or big spiky decorations that hang down can annoy flyers and leapers. If you want to change elevation, do so- but try to keep the path of travel homogeneous throughout your base. You can test this with a few volunteers- just have them try to zoom through the base as fast as they can, and see where they get stuck.
As for those Masterminds? Well, you can't put two Doorways right next to each other. So the only real advice I can offer you there is institute a No Pets policy in the base. There's no real need for them, so you might as well avoid summoning them so that your groupmates can avoid the hassle. Or, if you prefer, just give them a place to hang out.
[u]Where To Go[u]
Alright, so we've got our basic layout. But I mentioned something about beacons, so let's look at that.
Villain-side, life's good. Four teleporters will take you anywhere you can go, since there's only eight Beacons available as of I11. That means two 2x2 rooms are all you need. Set 'em up next to your Base Portal and you're good as gold. Hero-side, you've got 21 possible Beacons. That means you'll need eleven teleporters. Ouch. It's not easy being blue.
So let's say you're a resident of Paragon City, or maybe just a villain with less prestige than you'd like. You're going to want to get the most bang for your buck from your teleporters, aren't you? Well then, let's talk travel hubs.
For the villain, your number one place to teleport to is going to be Cap Au Diable. This is your one stop shopping mall, with a University, Black Market, Facemaker, and the ability to get to every other PVE zone in the game. Further, although I'm not 100% sure of this, I believe there's even a Vanguard station here as well as a Vault, so you're pretty much set. People might not like having to jump from one zone to another, but if you have only one beacon to your name, CaD's the place you want that beacon to go to. Mercy is your second bet because of convenience- the base portal puts you at the starting location, while the teleporter will drop you in Mercy proper. Your new recruits will appreciate it when they get beat down, rez at Fort Darwin and need to get back to the tiki bar to kill some Snakes. From there, Port Oakes (since it can only be reached from Mercy or CaD) will be useful for your higher level types, and you can start filling in as you see fit.
For the hero, your first bet will be Steel Canyon. Like CaD, this is the place that will get you everywhere you're going while offering Icon, the Vault, a University, Wentworth's, and vendors of every stripe. It may not be very kind to you when you're trying to cross the zone (what with all those buildings) but this is still the first beacon you'll want. From here, there's two places to consider: King's Row and Peregrine Island. Why these two? Simple: KR has a Pocket D portal, while Peregrine Isle's the only non-hazard zone you can't get to via tram. From here you've got to prioritize, since your base isn't likely to offer enough room for all 21 portals. If it does you probably don't need me telling you how to set it up! My suggestion past these three is to look at Hazard Zones that are difficult to get to: particularly those that have only one way in. Fallout, Terra Volta, Crey's Folly, Dark Astoria, and Eden are all good choices. Boomtown is less so because you already have a Steel Canyon beacon. The Hollows and Striga are other good ones although easier to reach, and Perez should likely be left alone since you can get to it from four different (widely used) Zones. Prioritize, and don't be afraid to adjust the beacons based on what your group's using. Remember that they don't require salvage so you can swap them as necessary.
[u]Summary[u]
While it's fun to build bases that look really cool, it's really important to remember that the main reason you're sinking all this cash into a base in the first place is the fact that it makes your spandex-filled life more convenient. Your teammates are going to be happier with a base that they can hop through in a moment's notice than one where they have to dodge through your carefully arranged crystal garden in order to reach what they're after. Sometimes the best compliment is when people say, "I never noticed that before."