What to consider when making a home planet?

So I'm rather new to Starbound and I've been putting off making a home planet for awhile now since there is just so many variables to consider and aspects I'm not even aware of. (feel free to provide cords if you think of ideal certain planets)

I pretty much want to set up farms, colonies, set up a 'zoo' and show of my collections (fossils, fish, bugs, critters, etc).
But I want to maximize the planet to the best of my abilities. But I have no clue what to look for in planets.


What do you put into consideration when you made your home base, and what are things you wish you knew?
What things do you have set up in your home base
Are there other things that people usually set up that are "must have"s on starbound?​

 

Well, if I am going to build a base, I am going to build it in a friendly planet, like the forest and the savannah. The first building I am going to build is the HQ or the townhall (a.k.a my house). Its purpose is to serve safety when I am building the other houses.

Second, I will build several houses beside it, from the small simple cottage in to the huge tall flat. I am trying to make variation among the buildings, so it doesn't looks plain. Those buildings are for the tenants or NPCs.

Third, the watchtower. I will build it at both far end of the settlement, and some also near the important buildings. There will be the Guard NPCs stationed there. I will also place a couple of defence turret for extra protection.

Next, I will build a library. Like I said before (if you read my post in your previous post), I am going to build it to store the codexes I have collected.

For the farm, I am going to build it underground. I build it there to save up some space.

I will also build a museum. Its purpose is to store the fossils, bugs, and figurine I have found. So, everyone in the settement or travellers can view it.

For the storage, I don't build it in a planet. I use my spaceship for all the storing needs.

I think that's all... well, I think... but I never really done all of those, they are just a plan. For me, my spaceship is enough. I prefer going nomad.

 

There's no pressing need to develop a home base when your ship has room for everything you need, so it's largely a matter of taste. I like building underwater on ocean worlds.

One thing you should bear in mind, though, is weather. If you build on a planet prone to dust and sandstorms be prepared to clean up your base a lot. Toxic rain is going to be a pain to deal with unless you take precautions. Firestorms can burn wooden buildings as is often seen with Glitch villages on volcanic worlds. Meteor showers can actually destroy your structures, so building on those worlds is difficult. And of course from a practical perspective rain can water your crops if you don't have sprinklers, which is actually helpful and saves you a step.

 

I usually don't have a base, I just live on my ship or on my colonies, or small houses near settlements. I personally love to build colonies on both friendly and dangerous planets, since the more dangerous they get, the more rent you get from tenants (correct me if I'm wrong). I love the gardens worlds for small towns with many cozy buildings and farms, and the magma planets, as well as atropus seas (I believe they are from Frackin' Universe, and I think the soundtrack is a nice touch, until it makes you go crazy), for building large colonies, where I tend to build bunkers, interconnected buildings, or arcologies (whole cities inside a building). Based on that:

Towns, for these ones, either I build on a modern style or small bungalows

• Town Hall, with teleport
• Small Warehouse, for things that I need on that world, not for things I require for quests/trading/crafting, we will get to that later
• Small Houses, for colonists
• My House, most times near colonists homes, I like to live among them
• Large Farms, with all kinds of staple crops and farm animals
• Fishing Piers
• Small Workshop, with essential workstations
• Large House, distant from the city, mostly on mountains or beaches, and I have two undersea, where I go for "vacations"

Large Colonies, always on a modern style

• Town Hall, with teleport
• Bunker
• Large Warehouse, same as the ones from towns, only bigger
• Large Crew Quarters and Dormitories, for colonists, I have a small office here too, were I live
• Large Vertical Farms, with all kinds of crops and animals
• Large Factories, with all kinds of workstations

I also have a barren world where I store all things that I don't require on a specific world. I tend to deplete natural resources from most planets, so lots of storage is crucial. I also make my colonies specialized on something (meat, fish, ores, vegetables, fruits...) so I can set-up my own "trade routes".

 

you guys have put a lot of thought into this. i usually just build up on the first planet i arrive on, or live off my ship. also, what kind of messed up housing market is there in the galaxy when people pay more rent for living in a dangerous area?

 

Most important things are, what you wanna do with it, yet technically important things are:


Weather (because meteors pretty much ruin a base, or sandstorms, acid rain can be annoying)

Size (because not all biomes offer every size- Lush for example will not come with maximum size, so you might have to choose a bigger one and terraform it.

Full customization? The Outpost teleporters cannot be removed, but every lush planet has one.

Threat, because if you wanna utilise housing higher threat = better stuff from NPC's (Terraforming keeps the Threat Tier iirc)

But I don't have any homebase anymore the ship I sufficient to store all the stuff. There are just 1 planet: a pretty badly made minimalised laying batterey like housing for gathering money and weapons + some farming on it.

 

I waited until i found a hylotl house. Cleared it and used it as my starter base and storage. Before that my ship could carry everything but I'm a bit of a hoarder and it got out of hand right as i found the house. Lots of rooms and spaces for storage. Would recommend until youre ready for planet scale make-overs.

 

Pick a planet with a biome you like, but be careful about the weather, as some are dangerous. If you want a high Threat planet as base, building it underground can help, specially in the case of meteorites, but many of those have Magma Rock. Similarly, Barren Planets have Dire Stone which may make them less desirable for this.
Otherwise, just pick a biome that fits your taste. Structures can be good for repurposing, too.

 

if it look nice, colonize.