Camp Layout

[Monohan]

Like so many of you, I am somewhat obsessed with the layout of my camp. I'm quite sure, just like me, you want everything to line up nicely and to use the space efficiently. But with so many thing to place (houses, fields, compost, dry frames, tubs, troughs, etc.) it can be a bit exhausting trying to plan out the design of the camp. I was hoping some of you guys that are already established can post some picks of your camps so we can all see different designs and layouts.

[ramuller]

I use a spreadsheet to lay out my camp. I adjust all the cell widths to make them square and then draw in various structures and fields as boxes. Unfortunately this doesn't quite work right since a bunch of stuff seems to get laid out on half tile boundaries if you don't disable the snap to grid layout, but it gets me a reasonable idea of how things will fit together (and I don't mind discovering I have a bit more room after using a conservative design). I also use the leveling tool in Ender's client a lot to both check on footprints of structures (which can be done by starting to build but not actually putting down the sign) and for lining things up (valuable for establishing a reasonably straight line of urns).

For walls, I would take into account at the start how many layers of stone wall you want behind your initial fence (assuming you start small with a fence) and account for them in your layout (the fence is only really effective as the outer "wall" since it's destruction is the thing that triggers braziers (or at least it should if the current 3 vandalism bug is fixed). Also, if you plan on extending your claim beyond your current walls at some point in the future, you probably want to have a gate in the direction of the expansion as well as your primary gate (it is just as hard for you to break a hole in your wall as it is for raiders).

Also, I strongly suggest making your claim bigger than you think you need or planning for expansion from the beginning since you never have enough fields and, as we saw in the last build, new structures keep getting added as the game evolves (e.g., where do I put the 3 new carpentry structures).

[Monohan]

thanks for the great post ramuller. Your claim is roughly 25*40 tiles, seems quite large. Then again, currently my claim is just over 12*12 and not nearly big enough.

[Sevenless]

I went modular. My initial homestead was ~30x30 and I made 20x30 expansions as I needed more room. I ended up making a tic-tac-toe board of individually walled off areas with gates between everything.

For a hermit you should be able to live out of 20x20 internal space comfortably. I was housing 10 leantos worth of people in a 25x25 internal and it was crowded but manageable until we expanded.

[ramuller]

I could probably have lived out of a smaller initial claim; however, even as a hermit I don't like to have all my structures crammed together with small aisles between them. I fully expect to make at least one expansion to the left if I need more farming space (as a retired person, I have far too much play time per day and having the extra space just makes life easier; it also means I am collecting a whole bunch of savage charms and cricket teams to pay for it).

[Monohan]

i'm surprised more people aren't posting pics here, I figured they would want to show off some nice camps.

[Sevenless]

Most people don't use graph layouts, and those who do are kinda paranoid in the first place. And showing actual screen shots of base defense is inadvisable for larger factions with the more impressive defenses.

[heroicpillow]

I used google sketchup to map out a basic layout for my camp. Modeled everything by hand using a relative scale in-game.
Everything should be approximately to scale, with tiles being 1m², and 10 dirt equaling 1m.



This is actually pretty outdated now, because I only wanted it for a general "feel" of the base. There's a lot more to it now. And it was a pain in the ass to dig.
(I also wasn't aware how big the town bell's initial claim size was, so I used the flag in the center to measure the bare minimum amount of space I would need.)
(Also, there are 4 stone hedges around the upper walls, i was just too lazy to model them in there)

[Monohan]

that is an amazing layout, and im quite impressed with the work you put in. I think the real lesson I've learned here is to plan your camp well in advance. Since I am still quite new I am just learning the progression of the game so was not quite sure what structures and tools I would need to incorporate into my camp in the future. I think when I decide to start again I will plan my entire camp from the beginning and not rush to get it started until I have a large enough claim, proper levelling and defenses.

[ramuller]

that is an amazing layout, and im quite impressed with the work you put in. I think the real lesson I've learned here is to plan your camp well in advance. Since I am still quite new I am just learning the progression of the game so was not quite sure what structures and tools I would need to incorporate into my camp in the future. I think when I decide to start again I will plan my entire camp from the beginning and not rush to get it started until I have a large enough claim, proper levelling and defenses.

You don't need to plan your whole camp if you make sure you have the room to expand it later and leave yourself an access point for your expansion. The trick is to make it somewhat bigger than what you think you need to start with and then add on as necessary (by the time you are ready for the first expansion, you will probably be able to slaughter crickets wholesale for cricket teams and the silver for the expansion won't be as daunting).

That said, I think it is healthy to plan to make a second claim after you are more familiar with the game (and many of us may have to as new features enter the game that change what we think of as a good location). My current concern is that I can't find coniferous forest near me and I could really use the occasional thorn forage run and will eventually need to find turkeys (the birds, not the strange players -- those thrive in Boston); I am sure as time goes on there will be more useful creatures and items that will be limited to a few terrains.