The MacGyver Manual, or "You used X to make Y?!?"

[Raevyn_Darke]

Between this forum and Discord, I've seen some lovely creative ideas for using items in non-standard ways. From Mega-Monitor sidewalks, to bathroom wall loading bays, to every conceivable use for the letter I, I love seeing when people find a new way to look at and use the existing pieces. So, I thought it might be fun to have a thread to capture some of these, and share them with others!

 

(Note: This isn't meant for "look at my awesome base!" posts. Those are great, but there's already a Show-Off thread for them. This is strictly for your favorite item uses/combinations.  :) )

 

Here's one to start:

 

I wanted a black & yellow caution line on my pavement. I considered using alternating-colored letter I's, but then noticed the dumpsters have a caution strip on the sides. So I placed a bunch of dumpsters, then flipped them and buried them in the pavement until only the strip was sticking out.

 

 

[Flashtoo]

Kitchen stuff time!

 

 

This toaster is an upside down trash can, the very tops of two fire extinguisher wall mounts for the slots, handguns for the levers, and the top of an Enriche bottle for the knob

 

 

 

Exploration badges make great burners for a gas stove!

 

 

 

And for those who prefer not to have a biohazard fridge in your food prep areas, this is a white counter tilted on its end with a white wall cabinet placed to cover the gap in the geometry, and two wall cable bundles for door handles.

[Impish Kat]

So, I have a trick to lighten a doorway ....

 

Sink a florescent light below the floor.

 

 

 

 

 

And, since we don't seem to have towels anywhere, I made a towel table for my pool/sauna room...

 

 

[Heraclea]

I do a fair bit of this myself.

 

 

My 'aqueduct' is three long fountains in a row.  In order to get the slight slope and levelness I needed, I did it old school, building up platforms of desks below them that were later removed.  Then the arches were added underneath,

 

 

'Grandfather clock' is three tall wooden posts from Dividers placed next to one another, a short wooden post on top, with the Antique clock wall detain surface-placed on it. 

 

Once I make some screen shots I'll show you the fairly easy tricks to make most of the Greek alphabet including theta, lambda, sigma, and pi. 

 

 

 

 

[Heraclea]

Greek letters.  Most of these you probably could have figured out yourself.

 

 

Νίκη ἢ Θάνατος - 'victory or death'; theta is the O with a - inside.  Sigma is the lunate sigma, identical to C, the same one that got into Cyrillic.

 

Tὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς - (With) your shield or on your shield.  What Spartan mommas told their boys as they marched off to battle.  Bring us victory, or come back dead, in other words.  Pi is two I's topped with a -.

 

 

Ηρακλειά - the Greek spelling of 'Heraclea'.  Lambda is just V turned upside down.

 

 

[Raevyn_Darke]

'Grandfather clock' is three tall wooden posts from Dividers placed next to one another, a short wooden post on top, with the Antique clock wall detain surface-placed on it.

 

Nice, I love the grandfather clock idea! Now I have something else I need to add to my build, lol.

[Heraclea]

I fully realize I am likely to be the only one obsessing over this stuff, but...

 

We've already done lambda, sigma, and pi.  Today we're learning Xi and Omega:

 

 

προσέξτε τρύπα κλοπής - "Look out for the kicking-hole".  Xi is simply three dashes, one on top of another. 

 

 

μολὼν λαβέ - "Come and take them" (our weapons).  Omega is O with two -'s added to the bottom. 

 

These are from a new base on Indomitable, called simply 'Sparta'.  Currently a WIP.

 

 

 

 

[ShardWarrior]

Anyone have suggestions for the white parts/textures on building something like this?

 

 

 

Just the white parts of the building.

 

Thanks!

 

 

[McCavity]

Flashtoo, I love the idea for the stove burners.  What did you use for the Oven Door?

 

And does anyone know how to cobble together a fascimile of a coffee pot?

[Raevyn_Darke]

Here's my latest one...a lilac bush.

 

 

It's cobbled together with "Cabal" stick pieces for the base, "Cemetery Dirt Pile 1" to disguise the bottom, 3 or 4 green-tinted "Leaf Pile 2" for the leaves, and 3 or 4 lavender-tinted "Large Bush 1" for the blooms.  :)

[Healix]

Raevyn_Darke, that looks so good!

[Impish Kat]

Very subtle and clever way to create a two toned plant... not only in color but also using the leaf pile to give leaves a different shape than the blooms.  Nice job!

 

[Impish Kat]

Shard Warrior.... errrm... I'll got with Cruja's all around solution.... bathroom stall panels.  They are so versatile!

[klokwerkaos]

I've seen a lot of people doing "warehouse" esque builds.

 

This isn't something I'll use a lot of since this is my Magi-tech R&D center, so it has high value with a need to obscure, but for warehouse folks, consider using arachnos mesh instead of or in conjunction with widows.

 

As you can see it works really well.

 

 

 

[ShardWarrior]

Shard Warrior.... errrm... I'll got with Cruja's all around solution.... bathroom stall panels.  They are so versatile!

 

I tried those but the lighting interaction on them is very weird - nor do I want to stack thousands of them lol.  Several SG mates have had issues with the game crashing due to bases with a lot of objects in them.  Was trying to keep it small in terms of object count

 

Would be perfect if we just had some very basic blocks/walls/ceilings like the interior of the Vanguard base or something that can be colored. 

[Shenanigunner]

Rikti computers make dandy door screens if you embed the pillars, and optionally the base, in the walls. They also don't block other effects such as steam when you look through them.

[Flashtoo]

Flashtoo, I love the idea for the stove burners.  What did you use for the Oven Door?

 

And does anyone know how to cobble together a fascimile of a coffee pot?

 

The oven door is a bar table tilted on its side with a fluorescent light (off) for the handle.

[Heraclea]

Here's a fairly interesting one, from the Church room at the Holy Office base on Excelsior. 

 

 

This is supposed to be a pipe organ.  The body is just composed of wooden desks, with the many drawers put forward to represent stops.  The pipes come from a variety of sources, including Divider wooden posts and the smaller diameter Sewer pipes.  The 'keyboard' is made up of several computer keyboards side by side.  The pedals and pulled stops are actually a couple of Gym treadmills; I used an AE computer and one of the Tech pipe seconds to cover unwanted bits.  And before it I set a Typing NPC. 

[Calamity Cain]

Time to pay it forward: think I improved upon the standard stovetop design that's floating around. If only by degrees.

 

Stovetop & Oven:

• 4 Safes
  
• 8 Exploration Badges (turned upside down)
  
• 8 Gas Cans
  
• 2 Digital Clocks
  
• 2 Grab Bars
  

[Calamity Cain]

Hood & Vents:

• 1 Gray Desk w/ Drawers
  
• 2 Medium Square Vents
  
• 1 Large Reading Lamp
  

[Ulysses Dare]

Time to pay it forward: think I improved upon the standard stovetop design that's floating around. If only by degrees.

 

Stovetop & Oven:

• 4 Safes
  
• 8 Exploration Badges (turned upside down)
  
• 8 Gas Cans
  
• 2 Digital Clocks
  
• 2 Grab Bars
  

Nice work!

[Calamity Cain]

Figured out how to make a grand piano from fellow user BBBadger!

 

• Several Black "D"s (from Alphabet)
  
• Several Black "I"s
  
• Several Black Hyphens
  
• One Black "7"
  
• One Black "1"
  
• Two "Modern Art" (for white keys)
  
• Thirty-Three "Knife 1"s (for black keys)
  
• Three "Small Iron Fence Poles"
  
• One "Carnival Stool"
  

[Raevyn_Darke]

Figured out how to make a grand piano from fellow user BBBadger!

 

• Several Black "D"s (from Alphabet)
  
• Several Black "I"s
  
• Several Black Hyphens
  
• One Black "7"
  
• One Black "1"
  
• Two "Modern Art" (for white keys)
  
• Thirty-Three "Knife 1"s (for black keys)
  
• Three "Small Iron Fence Poles"
  
• One "Carnival Stool"
  

 

*jaw dropped*

That is AY-MAY-ZING  O.O  Great work! I'd love an image with a bit more light on the body of the piano so I can see how it all goes together, but the keyboard is just perfect!!

[Healix]

HOLY COW!!!!! That piano is beyond fantastic!!!!!!!

 

[KingofMonkeys]

Id kill for more of those in base teleport points. Unless they work when far enough apart it really only allows for 5 in base tound trip teleporters. Would open up a lot of cool possibilities if we had more.