Talk:Base Layout Strategy

Ethereal (or anyone) - See my new Floor Plan section. Feel free to standardize wording.

Traditionally I have not fought base battles, preferring to down the Retaliatory battleship first. However, I may give it a go just for the fun of a change.

What do you think of the concept of a Small Radar next to the Access Lift, with either a General Stores "past" it, or a Large Radar? The Small Radar keeps aliens "in the open"; the Stores can then be used as you suggest, and/or wouldn't a Large Radar be better than a Hyperwave, because more soldiers can fit in the ground-level room of it (plus come in its "back door" with impunity)?

Of course, the Hyperwave and the Stores are much more viable for actual base usage.

Some thoughts ---MikeTheRed 17:11, 14 June 2006 (PDT)

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Build time is one of the biggest factors in base construction. When I build a new base, I want a Hyper-Wave Decoder there as quickly as possible. (If it's before I've unlocked that tech, I guess a Small Radar is a good start -- although I usually manage to get Hyper-Wave before I have funds I want to allocate for a second base.)

Because of this, I'll build a Hangar below the Access Lift and a Hyper-Wave above it. If I'm patient, I'll put a General Stores (10 days build time) above it first, then the Hyper-Wave, to give the "scout post" a little separation from the Lift. I suppose a Small radar in place of the General Stores would work well too -- if not better -- although it's more expensive and not useful like the Stores would be.

The one drawback with the "perfect" design is that you have to wait until each module is built before you can attach the next one, since it's all crammed against one wall. But Hangar+Stores then Hyperwave then Living Quarters gets you a functional base pretty fast.

--Ethereal Cereal 19:10, 14 June 2006 (PDT)

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True, build time can be a real problem. I've been playing with "bridges" with something cheap (like a Storeroom) from the Access Lift (or wherever) to link to other areas, so the base can expand faster. (Storerooms are both cheap and fast.) Then later I will take out or replace the bridge, depending on where/what it was. If you're really challenging yourself with tough conditions though, you may not have the extra cash, esp. early on.

I had not seen that "extra arm" design - good thinking!

I would think that with a Small Radar above the Lift (instead of Hyperwave in your design), one (not two) extra blank spaces (next to the Small Radar) would be enough. Unless tons of aliens come through at once, too many to stop in one turn... I have yet to do a base defense in my current Superhuman game. How likely is it that many enemies will try to come through in one turn? The cyberdisc could be a real problem, too.

I see now why you once said you were playing with smoke. Having smoke right outside your scout door seems like it might work really well, or to its side, blocking visualization of your shooters around the sides of the scout room. In fact, one might not want a Large Radar (back to my early thought) then, because a smaller scout room would give your shooters on the side more room to aim.

I notice you put your hangars on the south side of the base. Does it matter if one has them across the north side instead? (With Access Lift to far left.)

---MikeTheRed 22:34, 14 June 2006 (PDT)

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Friends, check my user talk page and head down to the Total Randomness section. Right at the bottom. Easy to find.

I was fiddling with wiki templates and trying to see how parameterized wiki templates worked - and probably failing in the process. Anyway, our wiki's settings for the parameters seem somewhat limited, but there's enough functionality to put together a parameterized grid of sorts.

Would it be an idea to reuse what I've done here but to use X-Com base module images instead? With such a contraption, you can design any 6 by 6 module base to your hearts content and not have to take screenshots every time you want to discuss a possible base layout.

- NKF

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I hope you don't mind me taking the liberty, but I've swapped your images with the game sprites, and I reckon the result looks pretty good (I've got your thumbnails backed up should you want them replaced). :)

- Bomb Bloke

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No, actually, that's pretty good. We can make a copy of the template and call it something reasonably easy to remember, maybe tweak it a bit, then slap together some documentation on how to use the thing, and we're all set.

I'll hang on to my images for a little later. I have the originals, so that's fine. They were originally there just to show a top-down floorpan of the base (lower level), so you could design it and then see where all the doors are and how you can move through the base.

- NKF