A Simple Base Building Technique.

Hello Everyone! My name is Zelestir and I am posting this thread as an attempt to answer a complex yet simple FAQ. Specifically : "How do you build/plan your base?".

Well, I'm here to tell you! It's not easy... But it is! But it isn't... So I'm going to try and make this simply complex problem simple and not so complex! Maybe...

Now, you may be asking yourself, why this is simple and complex, it's an oxymoron is it not? Yes! And no... Here's why.

Doing something like this requires a few things which are: Patience, Imagination, & Visualization. Some people have all of these qualities, some people have none, and allot of us only have just one or two of these things.

But, worry not, there's a few things we can do to work around this problem.

You need to do the following (Note, these are merely suggestions, I do these things because they help me):

1. If you have issues with Imagination, then actively seek out inspiration. Google search, yahoo, bing, what have you images of things that inspire you, that drive you, to want to create something. Base your build off of these inspirations you find.
   
   
2. If you have issues visualizing your work, then use a program like paint.net or mspaint for example, as I have done in the picture bellow, and will later explain.
   
   
3. If you have issues with patience, then you could try splitting your focus, work passively, take breaks from building. Do other things. I listen to music while I work because it splits my focus. I also talk to my friends on discord, I don't actively work on my projects. This is the hardest thing to remedy, but you must find a method for handling this aspect.

Now, allot of people ask, when asking this question:
(Is there a base building program? | How do you build your base?)

The unfortuante truth that right now, is that there is no world editor for Starbound. So the most common answer for this problem, as I stated previously, mspaint, or some other art program, zooming in completely, and making sure you have grid lines active.

Allow me to explain this photo



So, as you can see, there's allot of things going on here, there's multiple different colors, there's arrows and question marks, there's wide brackets with lines leading to numbers, as well as dotted lines coming off the structure aligned with these wide brackets.

To keep things simple, this is MY METHOD for organization when designing a structure. This particular structure, as you could most likely tell, is going to be on an ocean planet, as shown with the words "SEA LEVEL" & "SEA BED"

The different color coded brackets, lines, and numbers are for 4 different purposes.

Color Coded Lines, Brackets, & Numbers
Green : Overall height of a structure
Blue : Internal width of a main structure
Red : Full width of required space for a structure, to allow for my level of detail I.E. External decorations etc.
Yellow (only dotted lines in this photo) : For average room height. (which should be 9 pixels for me) as well as a placers for specific points and room widths.

The "Arrow and Question Mark" : These are simply because I cannot accurately determine the depth of the location that I would be building. So these are place holders that I put beneath fully formed additions with an immeasurable height. Otherwise, if this were a ground level structure, and I could measure, it would be added to the Green brackets.

Now, you might ask : "Why are the "Arrow and Question Mark" red?" Well, to that I say: Because. That's why.

Now, when I do this, I have a few Do's & Don'ts.

DO

• Only connect main structures to other main structures ( By this, I mean have them in close proximity so you know where they connect. For the above structure there will be 3 main structures, the Base (water level structure), the Lobby (where my elevator will stop), the Hub (where my living area will be, friends living areas, as well as npc living quarters, crafting rooms and other rooms)).
  
  
• Build additional sub structures off to the side of the main structure, (not connected) so that they can be measured, and labeled. Then, color code where they should connect (I use my dotted lines)
• Make certain color coded line brackets are directly aligned with dotted lines, this keeps you honest with yourself about lengths and heights.

DON'T

• Build sub structures to the main structures, you could risk mismeasuring particular structures, and throw off the direction and balance of room lengths, heights, and decoration placements such as doors, vents etcs.
  
  
• Connect color coded brackets to structures with solid lines (The reason why we space the main structures slightly, are so that the wide brackets and lines have space to be place, and measurements can be labeled)

Now, to close.

What I suggest for those of you reading who needed help with this aspect of the game, you could try following what I did here to the letter, or, you could define your own methods for accomplishing the same goal.

With that being said, I hope this gave you an idea on what you could do to assist in your base building methods. Happy building!