Functional bases

Why not make base charges relative to the size of the SG?

Since I6 I've earned just over 30k prestige and I play probably 30 hours a week...

I'm in a large SG and we have a lot of very regular players but we have a scrawny 90k or so in the bank, last time I checked, once we spent out intial 300k pay off... (on top of a few more hundred Ks from inf transfers etc.

TBH anything would be welcome that makes attaining a functioning base more realistic for all SG's.

I will confirm what i see a functional base as being.

A power room with a generator
A Control Room with a Main Frame
A workshop with a Basic Workbench

Everything else you should have to work hard for extras and stuff to make the base available for raids.

I like it the way it is. Our SG (Seekers of Intrinity) is currently mostly playing in the rogue isles, but a few of us (slowly increasing) are working out butts off to earn prestige to get the base up and running. The ongoing challenge, goal and community spirit feeling this is giving me beats any experience I have had so far from the game (except winning our first match in S4 - that put me so high it ought to be illegal).

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I will confirm what i see a functional base as being.

A power room with a generator
A Control Room with a Main Frame
A workshop with a Basic Workbench


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Agreed 100%

It should be a challenge to buy things such as an advanced workbench, and the power/control to run it - but every supergroup should be able to afford a basic, functioning base.

Way to suck the fun out of a new feature.

I would like to build a base but with just decorations. I see the base more as a place to stand an lecture my puny minions. Its amazingly expensive for even the basic decorative rooms.

As for joining a larger Supergroup. No. I have seen some of the bases that people create. Blank rooms with no decoration, No thought other than must have x, y, z. No design other than stick that there. I have my own design ideas and some how I don't think that the larger supergroups would let me near there base design. To quote one person I asked "why would we let a n00b prat about with the base?"

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To quote one person I asked "why would we let a n00b prat about with the base?"

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You should join Scrapapocalypse. If we didn't let n00bs prat about with the base, it'd never get made...

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Also, how are small supergroups supposed to become larger now?

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From the looks of things, by inviting every single player on the server in order to get enough members to fund a base, and spamming the broadcast channel once every couple of minutes with a 5 line SG advertisment.

When you start to get SG invites from the same people over and over, it becomes pretty obvious that this is the percieved way "forward".


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Shame there cant be some SG instanced missions where an SG team (good or bad will change the senario slightly) goes and robs a high tech electrical/computer firm and the loot is a computer or a generator ect.

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This is an excellent idea. It's so good, I'd flag it up to the devs if I thought there was a point in doing so.


My apologies, but you've caught me in a cynical mood today.
To my mind, the whole feeling of the game has now shifted from one of co-operation (us against the game) to competition (us against each other). It's not just in the PvP zones and arenas, now people are competing over SG membership, bases and soon items of power.

Meh. To each their own as the saying goes. Lots of people seem to love this new style. But I bought this game to play WITH people, not against them.

Again, apologies. Normal service, and the topic, will now be resumed.

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It was already hard to get new supergroups off the ground, but when a new player is given the choice between a big supergroup with a fully functioning base, and a small supergroup with a non-functional base (because they can't afford one) which are they more likely to pick?

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I'm going to use football as an analogy.

A big club with a massive backer, an amazing ground, coaching staff, history of success etc is going to be the ultimate club to join. Players need to be noticed by scouts, given trials, and ultimately dropped if they do not deliver.

Still, even big clubs crumble. Smaller clubs can pull out a win on the day, other medium clubs become big, changes happen at board level, big name players stay loyal to local clubs etc.

The point I'm trying to make is that it is inevitable that there will be a number of "Super" SGs in game. But everyone will have a chance to use better strategies to overcome their defences and to grab the IoPs away (admittedly, the chances are you wont hold on to it for very long ... ) or to give people a good kicking !!

Another potential threat to a "Super" SG is that there are not enough roles for all to perform. Regardless of all the toys, perks, status of being in a big club, if players don't have a real voice or role then they will walk, or set up their own smaller SG to direct themselves. I’m sure there are a number of working models for successful “Super” SGs out there and I hope people will share them to enhance gaming experiences, but the vast majority of "spammed" recruitment boosted groups will most likely fall into decline without depth of player involvement.

I'd rather be in a smaller group with players I've come to know and trust, locking horns with a nemesis of the same size, then being a 2nd or 3rd string player in a big group with no thought given to players beyond how much prestige they add to the bottom line.

I think you've missed the point slightly.

Small supergroups cannot physically raise the starting funds to setup a base.

The maximum boosted prestige is 300,000. The minimum needed to build a PvP capable base is in excess of 1.2 Million (1.2 million will buy the minimum PvE functionality, but is still 2 rooms short of being PvP enabled, needing a vault and 1 more room of choice)

That "missing" prestige has to be raised by the group members, and current good estimates is about 1k/hour (that's normal mission running in a team)

say 1.5Mil (low actually, probably closer to 2mil) 1200 man hours to earn enough for the base. assuming you have 10 very dedicated players who are doing _nothing_ but earning prestige and are playing 5 hours a day (these are not casual gamers) then it's going to take 24 days to get your base up and running.

Then you have to earn your IoP and be prepared to start accepting raids, knowing that some of your very expensive items are targetable, you have no static defenses, just the members who are online...

For a casual SG of friends you might have 8 players tops (because more and people get left out of SG teams which leads to division and splitting) playing for 15 hours/week each. This group will need 10 weeks, or more than 3 months, to earn enough prestige to get a base.

The football team allegory is valid, but the super SG's are the premier league clubs, and the best of the rest are the office 5-a-side teams - they might be good but they can't even play.

Ah - fair point

No point winning the FA cup if you don't have enough cash to build a trophy room.

I feel my point about SG migration and the best toys is still valid, but you're right ... it will take a long time to gain the prestige needed to even be in the game

Since you take nothing with you, even if you want to "split" with a fairly tight 8 man team, you then have to face the prospect of at least a month and probably a lot more with no working base facilities.

For new players, they will want to join a large, established SG simply bacause the intrastructure will already be in place, when you're on your first free month you want to try as much as possible, not be told "in 3 months time"

For players who start alting, they face a grueling slog raising the prestige a second time, or using up a valuble alt slot within the SG they've already established and contributed a lot to.

I can see this schisiming into a lot of SuperSG's who won't accept anyone who alts and expect very very rigid rules to be adhered to, a few very very tight SG's which are entirely populated by a handful of players and all their alts, effectively closing them off to new players, and a lot of disgruntled "have-nots" who don't belong to either a clique SG or a SSG and hence can't even use the PvE functions of the base never mind the PvP game simply because it will take them so long to raise the funds.

For small groups of friends, this isn't too bad. They'll form the clique type of SG and if you're fairly committed to the game you'll have your base long before you have a 50, and then all your alts benefit from the PvP if you want it, it's the fairly casual players that will suffer.

The initial base cost does not put me off that much, I am in a very small SG, just 3 of us left regularly playing now. But although I have a mastermind on the go I prefer the heroes at the moment. So I will be levelling my alts after my main, which is lvl 44, gets to 50. My other members well play their alts a lot too, and hopefully we will get more people to help us. So eventually we will have enough to buy a base, my problem is the fact that you have rent too, so you work for months getting your base then go play on CoV for a week or so and cant afford the rent.

Having played CoH since March, I've never really noticed super groups except for the annoying people who abandon you half way through a mission with the excuse their SG needs them. (to my mind, thats bad manners. They commited to at least complete the mission before bogging off and leaving the rest of us in the lurch). However, since the advent of bases the constant spamming of broadcast for new members seems to be the way forward for some people. I have no intention of stopping my style of play with my SG (a group of friends who have known each other for many years). I play this game for fun, not politics. If the small groups get penalised and fail to build bases, then so be it. Until the devs decide to make it impossible to solo and force us to work all the time in groups I shall continue to play in whatever style I am in the mood for. Sometimes solo, sometimes small SG and sometimes full on 8 man team causing mayhem. We will never be able to afford a functional base with the numbers of players in our group so we don't bother trying for prestige. Now if there was only some way of selling off all this useless salvage cluttering up my inventory....................

enforcer, level 38 blaster
Lord Blue , level 28 defender
General Deathbringer, level 18 mastermind

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Now if there was only some way of selling off all this useless salvage cluttering up my inventory....................


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When there are a few SGs with functional bases, I expect there will be some peddling for salvage.

And as per all MMO games, the prices will no doubt vary from rediculously high, so insanely cheap, and every thing in between.

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I will confirm what i see a functional base as being.

A power room with a generator
A Control Room with a Main Frame
A workshop with a Basic Workbench


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Agreed 100%

It should be a challenge to buy things such as an advanced workbench, and the power/control to run it - but every supergroup should be able to afford a basic, functioning base.

Way to suck the fun out of a new feature.

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I agree. Hmm lets see. The Goonies have near max number of members, plenty of alts and people playing on cov.. 15 lvl 50s iirc.. This plan is what I have in mind too, we now have 1 control room with non-functioning mainframe, 1 generator room. Now trying to get enough dough to get the generator bought, then buy the workshop room and finally that worktable..

BTW, If I recall things correctly from beta, we wont get far with basic worktable, gonna need the advanced one to get tech material and tech power built which in turn might let us build stuff like the turbine generator.. Problem is, the advanced worktable needs 100 control and the main-frame only produces 50....

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I have no intention of stopping my style of play with my SG (a group of friends who have known each other for many years). I play this game for fun, not politics.


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You get thumbs-up from me, as this is how it should be done. That's how the Goonies started off.. We are basically the same lot of people just getting together and having fun.. there's just more of us

And the Turbine Generator costs prestige to place

I started my own SG about a year and a half ago, only me, my wife and my nephew. I'm the only one who plays anymore. I have The basic everything and a couple teleporters. I am happy with my base and I have farmed my BUTT off to get all the prestige for what i've got. I have a question. WHY is everthing so bloody expensive to change or do in a friggen base? shouldn't there be some kind of discount or something if your SG stays under a certain number of members? I feel i can't abondon my base because i've put in TOO MUCH time getting it this way. Bottom line, Owning your own small base sucks all the fun outta the game, because it becomes too much like work. I'm ready to quit CoH altogether.....
<cries at the thought of all the time that was WASTED, when i could have been having FUN with the damn game>

Wow, talk about necroposting.

You should have seen the costs before they changed them.

First of all, do you have the 15 members in your SG to get the 300k prestige bonus? Second, have you considered doing a little marketeering? I don't do this, but apparently there are lots who do and are willing to explain how to do so over on the Market board. Earning lots of inf is a good way to get prestige. 100 million inf = 200k prestige. Not a great exchange rate, but a way to boost your base up to a level with which you are comfortable.

Have you coalitioned with a larger SG in order to gain access to all teleporters and other items? If you are on Freedom heroside I would gladly coalition with you to help you out.

Also consider running high carnage activities if you enjoy them. Rikti Mothership raids, the ITF, and other things like that are great sources of prestige.

I'll add that the design is for bases to be a significant undertaking if done solo. The reasoning is the devs already gave us some non-base storage (the vault) and now have given us the way to store recipes and IOs (emails to self). If you want the extra storage space a base allows you have to put alot of work into it.


I've not only earned alot of prestige playing my toons but also dumped a ton of cash into prestige conversions. My VG on Freedom is close to cracking the top 100 from all the conversions I've done in fact. I don't have any more helping me than you (2 family members who on-and-off play).

P.S. I'd have made a new thread for this rather than animate this old thread from 2005 from the dead, but it was humorous to read the old posts I guess.

You can. With the emphasis on LITTLE. After all, Superman had alien technology and Batman was a billionaire.