sponazgul

I'm legit excited about this contest. And to visiting the other SGs who have entered their base passcodes.

Wanted to share a few pics from my base Solitude (passcode Solitude-748.) I know I wrote up notes on it when I entered the contest - I won't spam the thread with pics, just two of the atrium with the largest statues available to me. The entire atrium uses the dirty water texture to make it look like ice, and I've created vertical columns using that texture, with the interior blocked off by glass walls (facing inward) to keep people from flying through the columns. I know the base design criteria is functionality and detail, but I hope scale gets some consideration, especially when one enters the Bottle City of Kandor that I have in the Fortress.

Global: @First of Equals Supergroup: Solitude Passcode: Solitude-748 STATUS: FINISHED I appreciate the time you're giving me to work on the base, which just needs a few tweaks. If I can give a brief introduction to things you might want to not miss when you visit... The base is intended to be an homage to the original and arguably most famous superbase in comics, Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Coming in through the SG portal into Solitude's atrium, that concept will hopefully be communicated. (It's a large atrium, so I recommend using /visscale 5 so it'll render well.) The statues of Lara and Jor-El should dominate the view. I used a dirty water texture throughout the atrium to simulate a look of ice, including four columns of ice running from floor to ceiling. The functional spaces are located in the workshop area opposite the statues, with the teleport area to the workshop area's left. (They are labeled.) A few notes on these functional spaces. 1) Workshop: there are multiple inspiration lockers, 5 of which are set aside in their own niche and hold Xmas gift inspirations that have been sorted by type. The locker with the medkit holds Gift of Life inspirations, the locker with weapons on it holds Gift of Power inspirations. The locker with armor below it is a Gift of Defense container, the locker with the blue glowing orb holds Gifts of Energy. The unmarked locker above these holds Gift of Experience inspirations. In the workshop is a forge and hammer for creating black holes to feed the Sun-Eater who is trapped below (this is a reference to the All Star Superman comics run.) The workshop has several levels, one of which has a chamber with a display mounted against a glass window, looking into a chamber which a matching computer display, almost a mirror image. The chamber being viewed cannot normally be entered. I'll return to this in a moment... 2) Teleport: the regular City of Heroes city zones have been divided into METROPOLIS and GOTHAM zones (shiny cityscapes vs the more gritty urban ones) and there are two teleport nodes labeled as such. Flying characters can enter a back area of the teleport chamber to find a restricted area with three teleporters: - Rogue Isle access (the Supergroup has some villains - I have a Bizarro analog to my Superman analog - so I needed teleport for that) - Crisis Zones (these are the Paragon City Hazard zones, but Crisis is a better DC term) - Earth-3 Zones (Praetoria is essentially an analog to Earth-3 in DC comics, where the heroic Justice League are villains, so this is the teleporter for the Praetorian First Ward and Night Ward.) This is nearly the end of the functional areas, but there are Superman-flavor areas to be mentioned. Opposite the teleport area across the atrium is an area of such flavor, the meeting area (should the Justice League show up) the alien zoo, and the trophy room. The trophy room is sealed off, since the collection of weapons and artifacts in the Fortress should be safeguarded. There is no normal way to get back there. (Hold that thought.) Back across the atrium, opposite the zoo and next to the entrance to the teleport area, is a set of steps. Next to the steps is a window looking out on the excavation of an ancient Kryptonian ship, being dug out of the ice (a reference to Man of Steel) At the top of the steps is the Bottle City of Kandor, the Kryptonian city that was shrunk by Brainiac and stolen from Krypton before it exploded. You can visit the bottle city. Nearby is a green miniturization beam: turn off your flight and step into it (no flight, because Superman can't fly in the bottle city of Kandor, which simulates the environment of his home planet.) You will be shrunk and brought into the bottle city. (Okay, you'll fall down into the bottle city.) There are functional elements in Kandor: that's where I have a trainer, tailor, and quartermaster. (It wouldn't make sense to have these Kandorians up in the main Fortress space.) Also, nearby is the medical bay. Superman has no typical need for a sickbay in his icy home, but Kandor would need a hospital. So Supergroup members who are defeated can teleport here to be patched up. There is a teleporter in the medical area which goes to Atlas Park or Mercy Island, if someone did not want to fly up out of Kandor. It's fair to fly up the tube where you entered, but there is another tube going up to the fortress which is built outside the walls of Kandor, and that's where Superman would be able to fly again. So that's a better exit. Flying up, there's an enlarging ray and you'll be back in the Fortress, outside of Kandor. Behind and to the left of the statues in the atrium is the Phantom Zone projector, which has projected a hole into the Phantom Zone against the back wall of the base. Once you enter this area, you are now a phantom, and can see through the walls of the fortress, but you won't be able to be seen by anyone inside the base. The zone wraps along side the base along the meeting room and zoo area. And ... allows access back into the base into the trophy room which is otherwise inaccesible. Apprarently, the dangerous artifacts in the trophy room have ripped a hole in normal space, allowing the phantoms in the zone access. (It's best if you can fly.) Continuing back behind the base, the phantom zone opens up into another fortress space. This is in the future, the home of some descendant of Superman's, a superhero in his time. Windows along the walls reveal a futuristic city. Following the hallway, there is a room with a computer display that is looking into the matching room in the upper level of the main fortress's workspace. This is a time window, where the contemporary Superman and his descendant can communicate. (Another reference to All-Star Superman) Because the Phantom Zone is a timeless void, it makes sense for the two fortresses, separated in time, can be connected. (Also, the timeless nature of the Phantom Zone is why I have an Ouroboros crystal there.) TL;DR Make sure you visit the Bottle City of Kandor. It's the best part of the base's design.

Dacy, Thank you SO MUCH for these videos. I had been creating bare-bones SG bases, just a collection of medical, teleport, and lockers without any flavor. After watching you build things above (and more importantly, below) a base plot, I put in a lot of time and created something resembling Superman's Fortress of Solitude (complete with the ability to visit the Bottle City of Kandor and the Phantom Zone.) Getting something that looked like ice was very tricky (I ended up using the muddy water surface texture and that was a pain) If you are ever on the Excelsior server, my SG base's passcode is Solitude-748. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to share the base editing tips and hacks. It was very rewarding for me. Best regards