Welcome to a brave new world of base building! Issue 13: Power and Responsibility brought us many changes to the base building system, but one stands above for die hard base architects as the real gem. The Devs saw fit to disable raid pathing rules, which has opened up a great number of options for us. I will try and cover all the magical new things we can accomplish thanks to this in this guide. A big thanks to all those that spent time exploring this new feature and sharing their knowledge!
Raid pathing once prevented objects from being placed inside each other, floating, and from blocking a clear line between the base entrance and any functional items. That is no more.
The first thing you will notice as an architect in I13 is placing items has become a more twitchy process. Objects will clip inside each other, or even pop up on top. This can be frustrating at times, but it opens up many new possibilities. Slow down your editing process and learn the new system, the results will be worth the effort. If you are having trouble keeping items on the floor, remember that you can pan up and look up through the floor and most items. This will keep things grounded as you have to target the top to move an item up.
In Stage Magic, controlling what the audience sees is all important. The same goes for Base Magic, control your camera position and you control the magic of the Base. Best go get friendly using Right Click for mouse look now, your going to be working with it a lot.
Inside the box
Lets start with the obvious and the simple. You can place objects inside each other. Simply place one object, then place another inside of it. If you are using one of the many objects that allows stacking, you will want to place it second, as any time your mouse points to the surface the second object will be placed there instead.
We can take this one step further and place objects within the elevated floors. You will need to have the floors in place before you attempt to place objects, as the system still does not allow you to add, or remove, floors (or walls and ceilings) when something is in the way. Instead place your object in the room, then pull your camera back and pan up. While looking through the floor into the room you can place your object into the elevated section with ease.
You can also box yourself in. The doors into rooms are no longer sacrosanct, and you can place items across them, even sealing off a room so that only those with editing privilege can enter. Sadly, the ability to actually place items in the doorways themselves didn't last, so they will remain as barren as ever. Thankfully if you hate the look, you can at least minimize the visual impact on each room, by partially cordoning them off.
Magical Levitation
Floating objects is now a breeze. All you need is a desk or similar object to form your base. Use the Floor Safe, it has extra magical properties. (I suspect Houdini has something to do with that.) All you need to do is place your Floor Safe, then left click and hold to move it. Place your mouse over the top of the original location of the Floor Safe and release. Your safe will be floating directly above its initial location. You don't even need to build up a base to float an object, any size object will float above a Safe, Desk, or the like. As before, if you have something placed directly on top of a Desk, you will need to move the Desk to another room before you can delete it.
To see the Floor Safe's real magic, you'll need to be looking at it mostly from the side. Place your Safe on the floor. Now grab it (or a new one to see clearly what is happening), instead of trying to place it on top of its original location, try placing it inside. You should easily be able to place your second Safe half the height of a safe off the ground. You can even place the second safe higher than top of the first by a similar amount. A truly astounding illusion, Mr. Houdini! Large Accent Lamps can also accomplish this feat, and are just under three times as tall as the Floor Safe!
Thanks to this mystical property of the Floor Safe, you can achieve fairly fine control over the elevation of the objects you wish to float.
With one little trick, you can even float objects far from the base you are using. Place a Desk, then grab it and float it on top of itself, but don't let go! Right click to move your camera, pull back, and pan up. While you are looking up through the floor of your base, you can move the Desk (or other object) almost anywhere in the room at that elevation. Just don't move it too close to another Desk or it might decide to stick to that instead of the elevation you put it at.
Penn and Teller reinvent Levitation
Who else would think floating objects away from a wall would make for good magic?
We can now float objects off of the walls and ceilings, rather than just the floor. The process is the same as for Desks and Floor Safes, except you are working in a different direction. If it helps, turn your monitor on its side. Trust me, it works!
As with Desks, wall and ceiling items can be used to float objects far larger than themselves. Sadly, camera angle tricks don't work for floating things far from their base, nor do any seem to have the special magic of the Floor Safe.
The best objects for the job are the Shoji Wall Lamps, though the variety of Large Cabinets work too. Place your Shoji Lamp on the wall, then target and move it onto itself. You now have a lamp floating in thin, virtual air! But the magic of wall levitation doesn't stop there. You see, not only does the face of the Shoji Lamp or Cabinet count as a wall, but the sides and back do too. You can turn your objects in mid air allowing you to work out from a wall in any direction.
If you are trying to place a wall item out in the room, save yourself some time and edit the room itself to place a wall as close as possible to your final goal.
Large Wall Lights seem to have received special magical attention. You can actually use these to place objects at an angle! (45 degrees to be precise.) It can be tricky to get the item to stick to the Wall Light at both the right spot and the right angle. Take your time when trying to do this, adjust your camera angle to shift where the object is placed on the Wall Light and in time, you will learn how to master this special art.
Hanging Lamps can also be used for levitating trickery. Simply treat the Lamp the way you would use a desk and build down to where you would like your item to go. No other trickery is involved, just build down.
Second Floor: Magic Department
A discussion about adding a second floor to bases prompted me to add this section.
By using a Floor Safes or Accent Lamps you can float objects at multiple heights. This means you can place objects at one elevation, and then on the same Accent Lamp, place a flat object to serve as the floor. Most objects don't have a visible underside though, making them less than perfect. Rubble however does, which is why I used it in my example. Wonderfully you can simply delete the Floor Safe out from under your floated object when your done to clean up. Try experimenting with different objects for your floor. If all else fails, you can always hide some Rubble beneath it to provide a ceiling.
Tip Jar<ul type="square">[*]Move your camera. Camera angle plays a huge role in placing objects. If you want to put something on top, make sure you can see the top. If you want to place something inside, always try looking up through the floor.[*]Tab. If you lost an item inside another, adjust your camera and hit tab. Odds are you can find it and remove it.[*]Plan ahead. Lay out your plans on the surface you will be working from first to see how you should start.[*]Use markers. Standing Torches are readily visible from any angle, and are large enough to stick out of most things. Use them to mark where you want things to go, you can always remove them later.[*]Set your room style to a grid while editing. Grids make lining things up easier.[*]You can now move rooms that contain floating items. If you don't like the location or orientation of your room, just move it rather than rebuilding.[/list]
Magicians and their tricks
Many people have taken the time to share the results of their labor under this new, magical base system. Here are the fruits of their labor. See if you can find the strings!
Thank you all for your time and contributions. I hope this guide helps make SG Bases into wonders for the ages!
Posted
You can find another great way to make floating easier in this thread.
To sum up: Stack Accent Lamps and use Floor Tiles to create a broad surface to stack objects on top of. Brilliant!
[u]I13: Magical Mystery Base[u]
Welcome to a brave new world of base building!
Issue 13: Power and Responsibility brought us many changes to the base building system, but one stands above for die hard base architects as the real gem. The Devs saw fit to disable raid pathing rules, which has opened up a great number of options for us. I will try and cover all the magical new things we can accomplish thanks to this in this guide.
A big thanks to all those that spent time exploring this new feature and sharing their knowledge!
Raid pathing once prevented objects from being placed inside each other, floating, and from blocking a clear line between the base entrance and any functional items. That is no more.
The first thing you will notice as an architect in I13 is placing items has become a more twitchy process. Objects will clip inside each other, or even pop up on top. This can be frustrating at times, but it opens up many new possibilities. Slow down your editing process and learn the new system, the results will be worth the effort. If you are having trouble keeping items on the floor, remember that you can pan up and look up through the floor and most items. This will keep things grounded as you have to target the top to move an item up.
In Stage Magic, controlling what the audience sees is all important. The same goes for Base Magic, control your camera position and you control the magic of the Base. Best go get friendly using Right Click for mouse look now, your going to be working with it a lot.
Inside the box
Lets start with the obvious and the simple. You can place objects inside each other. Simply place one object, then place another inside of it. If you are using one of the many objects that allows stacking, you will want to place it second, as any time your mouse points to the surface the second object will be placed there instead.
We can take this one step further and place objects within the elevated floors. You will need to have the floors in place before you attempt to place objects, as the system still does not allow you to add, or remove, floors (or walls and ceilings) when something is in the way. Instead place your object in the room, then pull your camera back and pan up. While looking through the floor into the room you can place your object into the elevated section with ease.
You can also box yourself in. The doors into rooms are no longer sacrosanct, and you can place items across them, even sealing off a room so that only those with editing privilege can enter. Sadly, the ability to actually place items in the doorways themselves didn't last, so they will remain as barren as ever. Thankfully if you hate the look, you can at least minimize the visual impact on each room, by partially cordoning them off.
Magical Levitation
Floating objects is now a breeze. All you need is a desk or similar object to form your base. Use the Floor Safe, it has extra magical properties. (I suspect Houdini has something to do with that.) All you need to do is place your Floor Safe, then left click and hold to move it. Place your mouse over the top of the original location of the Floor Safe and release. Your safe will be floating directly above its initial location. You don't even need to build up a base to float an object, any size object will float above a Safe, Desk, or the like. As before, if you have something placed directly on top of a Desk, you will need to move the Desk to another room before you can delete it.
To see the Floor Safe's real magic, you'll need to be looking at it mostly from the side. Place your Safe on the floor. Now grab it (or a new one to see clearly what is happening), instead of trying to place it on top of its original location, try placing it inside. You should easily be able to place your second Safe half the height of a safe off the ground. You can even place the second safe higher than top of the first by a similar amount. A truly astounding illusion, Mr. Houdini! Large Accent Lamps can also accomplish this feat, and are just under three times as tall as the Floor Safe!
Thanks to this mystical property of the Floor Safe, you can achieve fairly fine control over the elevation of the objects you wish to float.
With one little trick, you can even float objects far from the base you are using. Place a Desk, then grab it and float it on top of itself, but don't let go! Right click to move your camera, pull back, and pan up. While you are looking up through the floor of your base, you can move the Desk (or other object) almost anywhere in the room at that elevation. Just don't move it too close to another Desk or it might decide to stick to that instead of the elevation you put it at.
Penn and Teller reinvent Levitation
Who else would think floating objects away from a wall would make for good magic?
We can now float objects off of the walls and ceilings, rather than just the floor. The process is the same as for Desks and Floor Safes, except you are working in a different direction. If it helps, turn your monitor on its side. Trust me, it works!
As with Desks, wall and ceiling items can be used to float objects far larger than themselves. Sadly, camera angle tricks don't work for floating things far from their base, nor do any seem to have the special magic of the Floor Safe.
The best objects for the job are the Shoji Wall Lamps, though the variety of Large Cabinets work too. Place your Shoji Lamp on the wall, then target and move it onto itself. You now have a lamp floating in thin, virtual air! But the magic of wall levitation doesn't stop there. You see, not only does the face of the Shoji Lamp or Cabinet count as a wall, but the sides and back do too. You can turn your objects in mid air allowing you to work out from a wall in any direction.
If you are trying to place a wall item out in the room, save yourself some time and edit the room itself to place a wall as close as possible to your final goal.
Large Wall Lights seem to have received special magical attention. You can actually use these to place objects at an angle! (45 degrees to be precise.) It can be tricky to get the item to stick to the Wall Light at both the right spot and the right angle. Take your time when trying to do this, adjust your camera angle to shift where the object is placed on the Wall Light and in time, you will learn how to master this special art.
Hanging Lamps can also be used for levitating trickery. Simply treat the Lamp the way you would use a desk and build down to where you would like your item to go. No other trickery is involved, just build down.
Second Floor: Magic Department
A discussion about adding a second floor to bases prompted me to add this section.
By using a Floor Safes or Accent Lamps you can float objects at multiple heights. This means you can place objects at one elevation, and then on the same Accent Lamp, place a flat object to serve as the floor. Most objects don't have a visible underside though, making them less than perfect. Rubble however does, which is why I used it in my example. Wonderfully you can simply delete the Floor Safe out from under your floated object when your done to clean up. Try experimenting with different objects for your floor. If all else fails, you can always hide some Rubble beneath it to provide a ceiling.
Tip Jar<ul type="square">[*]Move your camera. Camera angle plays a huge role in placing objects. If you want to put something on top, make sure you can see the top. If you want to place something inside, always try looking up through the floor.[*]Tab. If you lost an item inside another, adjust your camera and hit tab. Odds are you can find it and remove it.[*]Plan ahead. Lay out your plans on the surface you will be working from first to see how you should start.[*]Use markers. Standing Torches are readily visible from any angle, and are large enough to stick out of most things. Use them to mark where you want things to go, you can always remove them later.[*]Set your room style to a grid while editing. Grids make lining things up easier.[*]You can now move rooms that contain floating items. If you don't like the location or orientation of your room, just move it rather than rebuilding.[/list]
Magicians and their tricks
Many people have taken the time to share the results of their labor under this new, magical base system. Here are the fruits of their labor. See if you can find the strings!
Shadow_Fire's Temple of doom
Beef_Cake's High Tech Entry.
Beef_Cake's Power Room sure looks impressive!
Beef_Cake shows a simple solution for TP Beacons.
Talek decides one upping Beef_Cake isn't enough.
Thank you all for your time and contributions. I hope this guide helps make SG Bases into wonders for the ages!