Hey all, I've touched on this subject in the past, but I think it's worth its own topic once more. Basically, I'd like to be able to build little "forts" around my encampments during the early game stages. I'll often do this currently, but only when I find a suitable Core-less POI, such as a Wreckage or Ruin. In essence, what I'm proposing would be the ability to place basic blocks anywhere and not necessarily linked to an existing structure. I'll give an example use-case to my my proposal clearer: I'm currently playing the excellent Project Eden Scenario. I started on a Jungle Planet, which has dense forests crawling (literally) with numerous hostile critters. I've set up a little camp next to a resource deposit and would love to be able to place some basic walls using some of the materials I've collected, but I don't want to place a Base Starter block to do so. All I want is to be able to freely place some Concrete (or other) blocks I can craft in the Portable Constructor. As I said, I can do this easily if I find any sort of Core-less POI to use as a starting point, but I cannot freely place blocks otherwise. There's a chance that I might eventually wish to add a Core and turn the encampment into a permanent structure, but during those early hours I just want walls to protect me from critters. I get that in MP this might lead to an excess of structures, however, some sort of clean-up process could be implemented if such a structure isn't visited by a player for a certain amount of time. To preserve the structure, the Player would need to simply place a Core. What do people think about this? Would the ability to be able to place a few basic blocks freely appeal to you? It does me, needless to say, and in my current game I'd feel MUCH safer if I could place some concrete blocks around my little camp. Scoob.
You can do this with the factory. Create a blueprint that is just a single block without a core and then you can spawn it and add to it in-game as needed.
Yes, I have used this technique to effectively give me a "free" starter block so to speak. I also use it for CV's - basically I have a CV BP that's just blocks, no devices, so I can pop it down quite early in the game as a deployable base. Eventually I add Thrusters and all other components to make it fly My thinking re: my original point was that, eventually, the Factory in its current form will be no more - one assumes a special block needs to be placed to spawn in Vessels, and perhaps some sort of special starter block + resource storage to spawn in Structures, though Eleon haven't really commented on their plans for this feature, other than that they want the Factory to be "real" so to speak. Anyway, with future Factory changes in mind, I wanted a way to place a core-free "Starter" block outside of the current Factory mechanic. Though your point is perfectly valid suggestion for how the game works currently. I think I cleared out all my "fort" Core-less BA's I designed - I used to place them around AMiD's for not other reason that to make them look protected. In the short-term, I may well create a basic fort POI of just Concrete or Steel blocks, but of course I'd have to place it before my little encampment. Scoob.
I haven't done it in a while, but you used to be able to look a your main base, hit 'N', choose "Connect to ..." and then place blocks that are considered part of that base, but are physically some distance away.
I have often longed to put a perimeter fence or wall about me in the early stages. Perhaps limiting to the thin wall blocks as opposed to full blocks.
Yes, there's the "Connect to..." feature, but it needs something to connect to I'd likely not need to build a defensive wall around my camp (constructors, O2 Gen, Tent etc.) if I have an actual base nearby As @ravien_ff mentioned, we can exploit the Blueprint factory, saving a BP of just one block we can then extend upon. This is a workable and valid way to achieve the goal, but not intuitive - I rarely use BP's - and certainly not for a newer player. It does actually appeal to me that my first "base" is just s concrete, steel or even wood defensive wall to protect my camp. Later I might add a Core and turn it into a proper base, but initially it'd just be blocks. In the short-term, I might just set up some very basic Core-less structures again and expand upon them - as I've done for CV builds. All I need is a few hundred Iron Ingots and a little Carbon and I can spawn in a CV husk as a starting base. Scoob.
