Without getting too fancy ...

Redlynne · March 21, 2020

Finally decided to take some (first person) screenshots of the meager base building I've done for the base I've got for all of my alts, just in case anyone else is inspired by what I've done (hey, it could happen...). However, unlike some people who post around here, I'm not even doing anything "outside the box" (mainly because I haven't got the time for it). There are some 3D elements however that may prove useful to some people wanting to know how to get more floor space out of "interior only" base editing.

The first thing to note is that I like to keep the ambient room lighting OFF inside of my base(s) so as to allow use of ambient lighting sources. This winds up creating a sort of "cathedral-like" ambiance inside, even when enclosed by walls and ceiling, since your eyes will just naturally gravitate towards the lit areas while spending little (to no) energy observing the walls that bound the space. My personal preference for lighting sources are either Shoji Lamps, Tech Lamps or Fires of some sort (like Bonfires), as you'll see. The advantage of the approach of using localized lighting sources is that it allows you to show off bright visual FX to their best advantage.

So I kept my 2x2 Entry Room ... but I raised the entry portal above the ground and "jazzed" it up a bit.

The Ceiling Dome is positioned such that it is exactly above the top of the Entry Portal "pillar of light" below it such that they look like a cohesive 3D object in their own right. Under the Portal I put the Arcane Floor Seal and added a visual FX to circle around it (which also adds sound FX to it as well). I then used Arcane Platforms and Wooden Stairs to create a walkway around the edges of the room that ramp up to the (lifted) Portal for easy walk access. A Medium Tree Planter is placed in such a way as to "conceal" the Portal from the floor and leverage a sort of "treehouse effect" upon entering the base.

See if you can spot the visual joke with the bathrooms ...

The (tech) monitoring station for maintaining the (magic) Portal Entrance is located directly under it. I figured that this Praetorian Display lent itself to the idea that it was involved in maintaining a sort of "wormhole transit" conduit to the outside world, and if necessary could be used to "close the door" against intrusions.

It's important to have safety equipment (to meet fire code) and trash receptacles for a suitably "lived in" feel in interior spaces.

For the medical services, I've recreated on a 1x2 plot what I originally did on Virtue in a 2x2 room. It involves putting the (arcane) Res Rings on top of a (ringed!) "planet" that hovers in the air over an Inspiration Storage Bin parked over a Bonfire (which makes the fire essentially not visible, but the smoke FX rising really cool looking). This whole vertical assembly is then flanked by trees in planters, with one of the trees having a Tree of Life grafted onto it in a way that moves with the swirling of the leaves so as to look like it's all part of the same "tree" (kinda sorta). All of the light you're seeing here comes from the Bonfire under the (arcane) Inspiration Bin. Here on Homecoming, I was able to "jazz up" the appearance of these items with a few extra visual FX and the addition of the Oranbega Lamps hanging from the four spike pillars of the Inspiration Bin. I added the extra "rainbow rings" FX to the Rez Rings on top of the "planet" so as to make it look more impressive upon actual use of the Base for Hospital services after a defeat.

Well, that's another way to do water fountains, I suppose ...

I'm somewhat proud of what I managed to do in the Workshop room, since in this case I just took a 3x3 room and built everything on the ground (didn't see much need to go 3D this time) and did it on a diagonal divide so that one triangle half of the room is Arcane themed while the other triangle half of the room is Tech themed, with the entrance in the corner.

This is what the Arcane side of the room looks like from the entry. I'm really proud of how I managed to combine some of the Arcane Control items with visual FX in ways that I've never seen done before. For me, though, the coolest thing about this configuration is that when you're on the Arcane "side" of the room it SOUNDS Arcane because of the T1 Arcane Control item ... but then when you move to the Tech "side of the room, the sound changes to sounding all technological ... which I think it pretty neat.

In the back corner of the Workshop room, furthest away from the entry, is where I parked all of the Service NPCs along with the T3 Empowerment Stations and the Merit Vendor. I went with a Hero/Villain split on the NPCs so as to have Trainer, Tailor and Reputation services available inside the base. There's even a Midnighter there who can serve as a Vendor.

The Tech side of the Workshop essentially mirrors the Arcane side (I deliberately went out of my way to make them as similar as possible using the two themes) and yet still manages to have its own distinct ambiance rather than feeling like a knockoff copy of the other side of the room.

And just for fun, I decided to put in a "launch tube" for fighter jets. One of these years, I might even open the wall at the end ... or just make a big "door" array out of wall vents on it, which can be rolled up and opened ...