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  • Retired Community Rep
Posted (edited)

Hello again, everyone - we made it!
 

We’re thrilled to finally unveil the winners of the 2025 HC Base Building Contest!
 

To every builder who poured their heart, time, and talent into an entry: thank you. You turned this contest into a true celebration of everything we love about this community.
 

I can't even begin to tell you how many judging records this contest broke. The number of eyebrows raised, double takes taken, and jaws that hit the floor - all completely off the charts! I'm not exaggerating when I say that many of these showdowns were truly hair-splitting (and yes, hare-splitting, too).
 


 

In the spirit of growth and transparency, we’d like everyone to know that we're offering participants the option to request a copy of their judging evaluation.
 

If you’re interested in receiving constructive feedback and using it as a tool to sharpen your skills - we’re happy to share your evaluation. This can be a great opportunity to understand how your work was received, and where you might grow for future events.
 

That said, a gentle reminder: no matter how thoughtfully given - critique can sometimes sting. If you know you’re likely to take the feedback to heart in a way that may cause more hurt than help, we encourage you to consider whether requesting your assessment is right for you. This offering is meant to support, not discourage.
 

If you’d like your feedback,  just DM @Easter Bunny, here or on Discord.
 


 

And now, finally, without further ado...

Let’s meet your 2025 Champions!
 

 

Spoiler

2025 Base Building Fantasy Champions:
Awarded 250 Prismatic Aethers each
 

@Laucianna | @Wispur | @Zaldra5
Elysian Temple
DIVINE-29035 | Excelsior

7928ced17907d157f6736028023702db.jpg?for




1st Fantasy Runner-Up:

@Aalya
Dryad's Tree
DRYAD-20249 | Everlasting

522264feb3d558049ed006299fb5d0e5.jpg


2nd Fantasy Runner-Up:

@Vectress Novus | @Judicator
The Ruins of Aquarion
AQUA-34592 | Everlasting

223c0ae1bf2c944fd8f40b8f53a31a64.jpg


3rd Fantasy Runner-Up:

@Blutkrieg | @Faverty Industries | @Icebella | @Ai Hai Lilitu
Gehenna Club (Grand Lodge)
GEHENNA-20691 | Everlasting

f9573e656ca9ab859dfa82926f94c702.png



The first ever winner of our Base Building Grand Champion title
& 2025 Base Building
Nature Champions:

Awarded 250 Prismatic Aethers each
 

@Squidget | @Dropout | @Juxion
The Cascades
GARDENS-18790 | Everlasting

ef922303081ca1cf087a0d26b5a3dc8e.jpg




1st Nature Runner-Up:

@Derrek Blackmourn
The Eden Falls Wetlands
GLADE-37587 | Everlasting

f004414baa8d5016235ebf2b464a2f37.jpg


2nd Nature Runner-Up:

@Bootstrap
Telemachus Park
PARK-36846 | Everlasting

b83dd8a5245e067640ed2a03c501c805.jpg


3rd Nature Runner-Up:

@SpookyBuddies
Bloomtown
JKCBLOOM-34600 | Everlasting

6f67bbd594a8b693729b0000ec851eb6.jpg



2025 Base Building Novice Champion:
Awarded 750 Prismatic Aethers
 

@Lunar Shade
Ethereal Wanderers
ETHEREAL-14692 | Torchbearer

472fba91c1a32e71037a938b71cfd47e.jpg




1st Novice Runner-Up:

@Goblinman
Lil Pad
ABODE-37697 | Everlasting

938b3269045c22e1d9b307e2f2e3f438.jpg


2nd Novice Runner-Up:

@Robot Henri
New Dawn (Cyber City)
ALFIE-4931 | Reunion

4e1ad3f8410f24425c2220dafd5f48db.jpg


3rd Novice Runner-Up:

@Inana
Interstellar Alliance
ALLIANCE-33921 | Excelsior

e846bf65ca6fa037660f150feb119419.jpg



2025 Base Building Freeform Champion:
Awarded 750 Prismatic Aethers
 

@Allatum
Absolute
FORMS-32911 | Everlasting

a62b49be3248ca7acd2781356012bd50.png




1st Freeform Runner-Up:

@scruff
Scala Naturae
BIRDHOUSE-33864 | Everlasting

4ae5110407fc1288f9e2589ae2b15390.jpg


2nd Freeform Runner-Up:

@Mini-Nukette
Nova Games
NOVA-9999 | Reunion

fcd3d166d81c8629d2e1b85def06ecc5.jpg


3rd Freeform Runner-Up:

@Gristlebone
Inherent Chaos
IC-34305 | Excelsior

32d332abe508210df6c4846eb147a9e7.jpg



2025 Base Building Realism Champion:
Awarded 750 Prismatic Aethers

@Lukester
Midtown
MIDTOWN-29367 | Everlasting

b26478e93011f0fc65c53a3e84e1df64.jpg




1st Realism Runner-Up:

@Twentysix
Moonlight Tower
OPENHOUSE-21261 | Everlasting

0a1586527adb144505a9512770927520.jpg


2nd Realism Runner-Up:

@Wravis
Slappy's Boardwalk
BOARDWALK-23004 | Everlasting

bf236579a8be4bfb2f6c2df1fb5e18d9.jpg


3rd Realism Runner-Up:

@Dr. Feedback
Newport City
GIANTS-18986 | Excelsior

5db58ca88a1bb4a9610f75fb2574ba40.jpg



2025 Base Building Sci-Fi Champion:
Awarded 750 Prismatic Aethers
 

@Shard Warrior
The Watchtower
PARAGON-15105 | Excelsior

e8cf449c9692bf7ee2948287c15c17e9.jpg



1st Sci-Fi Runner-Up:

@ScarredSilencer
The Intrepid Sparrow Mk. 4
SPARROW-25676 | Everlasting

b7c2d3e7f1b9241f78ff8d81c07ae954.jpg


2nd Sci-Fi Runner-Up:

@ParticleRay
The Star Gazer Lounge
SGL-28076 | Excelsior

e7af47f71be95b8a89e6ba59f9e84af8.jpg


3rd Sci-Fi Runner-Up:

@Teirusa | @Max
Stellar 32 Station
JANES-32875 | Everlasting

6b2c99d3e2ea6178fa5109c52454238a.jpg


And now the Top 10 Highest Scoring Bases Overall

(Listed from Highest to "Lowest")

GARDENS-18790 | The Cascades | Everlasting | By @Squidget | @Dropout | @Juxion
FORMS-32911 | Absolute | Everlasting | By @Allatum

DIVINE-29035 | Elysian Temple | Excelsior | By @Laucianna | @Wispur | @Zaldra5
DRYAD-20249 | Dryad's Tree | Everlasting | By @Aalya
AQUA-34592 | The Ruins of Aquarion | Everlasting | By @Vectress Nova | Judicator

GLADE-37587 | The Eden Falls Wetlands | Everlasting | By @Derrek Blackmourn
ETHEREAL-14692 | Ethereal Wanderers | Torchbearer | By @Lunar Shade
MIDTOWN-29367 | Midtown | Everlasting | By @Lukester

PARAGON-15105 | The Watchtower | Excelsior | By @Shard Warrior
SPARROW-25676 | The Intrepid Sparrow Mk. 4 | Everlasting | @ScarredSilencer




But wait! There's MORE ...
 


 

Introducing The Base Building Spirit Awards!

Capturing the Heart of Base Building on Your Shard

 

The Spirit Award honors one recognition-worthy base on each shard that, while not a top winner, stood out for its passion, creativity, and spark. It’s not just about polish or technical complexity - it’s about showing up, playing along, and creating something memorable.
 

This award goes to a base that may not have taken the top prize but made the judges stop and smile, saying, “Now this is what base building is all about.
 

We define base building spirit as:
 

  • Creativity: Doing something unique, unexpected, or clever with your space - even if it’s not perfect.
  • Effort & Enthusiasm: A sense that you enjoyed the process and poured yourself into the build, no matter your experience level.
  • Shard Personality: A build that reflects the community, humor, or style of your shard - intentionally or otherwise.
  • Participation: Showing up. Submitting a base when you didn’t have to. Playing along. That counts more than you might think.


To all our Spirit Award recipients: thank you for showing up and sharing your passion. Some builds whisper instead of shout - and still manage to echo.
 

Spoiler

Base Building Spirit: Everlasting 2025
Awarded 250 Prismatic Aethers

 

@Aalya
Dryad's Tree
DRYAD-20249 | Everlasting

e01fa7627d8449f61ff0c28caf10c7ea.jpg


 

Base Building Spirit: Excelsior 2025
Awarded 250 Prismatic Aethers

 

@Electronuts
The Black Tower
THEBLACKTOWER-32812 | Excelsior

d46beef1630c95a55c8294ca10295251.jpg


 

Base Building Spirit: Indomitable 2025
Awarded 250 Prismatic Aethers

 

@Ms Recoil
Clumsy OAF
TEXT-8505 | Indomitable

02cf5abb0e1154932524b7e927b4ad56.jpg?for



 

Base Building Spirit: Reunion 2025
Awarded 250 Prismatic Aethers

 

@Robot Henri
New Dawn (Cyber City)
ALFIE-4931 | Reunion

d7b0c0c1313c0311fbae72d42d02d542.jpg



 

Base Building Spirit: Torchbearer 2025
Awarded 125 Prismatic Aethers each

 

@SupaFreak | @Nymloir
Zynavia
NOV-3012 | Torchbearer

c2aefce7c6cc948bf33dfee2689ac735.jpg?for



 

Base Building Spirit: Victory 2025
Awarded 250 Prismatic Aethers

 

@Lemming
Protectors
VICTORY-248 | Victory

9d45c5be7ff5d37729d46d5a62f32c4e.jpg

 




To our winners: you earned this. We’re in awe of what you built - congratulations!


 



Special Thanks

Huge gratitude to our judging panel - BBB, Deep Six, Garbage Wizard, Gem, and Interrabang - for your time, passion, and thoughtful evaluations. And thank YOU to everyone who participated, supported a builder, or toured the entries. You continue to make this contest something truly special.

 



What’s Next?

If you didn’t win this year, don’t let that discourage you! The skill, artistry, and fun on display this year has us inspired - and we hope it inspires you, too. We encourage everyone to keep building, keep experimenting, and keep sharing your creations with the community!

 



Until next time - 
Happy Building!


❤️ Easter Bunny, Dacy & the 2023 Base Building Champions
      BBB | Deep Six | Garbage Wizard | Gem | Interrabang

Edited by Easter Bunny
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    (\/)     Easter Bunny 
   ( . . )    Retired Community Rep  |  
Active Base Advocate

c (") (")   Community Base Directory  |  Base Building Guide  |  Base Building Discord 

Posted

Thank you for the contest! It was a joy to see a lot of these entries, and the variety of vision and work from the build community as a whole. We can only go up from here!

  • Like 4
Posted

I always enjoy touring thru the various bases during these competitions and always get some good inspirations for modifications to my own set of bases.

  • Like 4
Posted (edited)

The creativity and effort in the bases submitted was absolutely amazing. It’s a real joy to see the visions and implementations people come up with.
 

You can share your appreciation by leaving comments in the Base Directory Guestbook.

Edited by Matsiyan
  • Like 4

Captain Matsiyan, Office of Naval Intelligence, Terran Stellar Navy

Community Base Directory   •  Base Building Guide  •  City of Base Building Discord Add to Bases Guestbook

  • Retired Community Rep
Posted

I'm late to the party, sorry! I just wanted to note that Novice bases actually got a separate evaluation from the judging scorecard. I will be sending those out, they are not scored, but each has two different advanced builders commenting on different aspects of the base, from the technical to how you used the space to some of the artistic.  I will be sending those out to all who registered as a Novice base; if you want your judging evaluation scorecard, you need to request that.

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Posted
4 minutes ago, GM Impervium said:

Just a note/reminder to all our winners: You have to log in after a maintenance day to be eligible to be granted your prizes! This isn't a policy thing, it's an "evil spaghetti code won't let us" thing. Thanks... and again, Congratulations!


Now we have to log into the game to get prizes! Outrageous!

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Friendly reminder that no matter what anyone or anything is saying, you ARE loved AND valued in life no matter what.

Posted (edited)

I was fortunate enough to catch @Laucianna in-game one night when I was touring the Arcane/Fantasy competition with a character I no longer played that was transferred to Excelsior.  Had a brief conversation and told her that I felt hers was the one to beat in the category (and maybe overall).  Looks like I was right (at least in the Arcane/Fantasy category).

Elysian Temple is what prompted me to do 20+ hours of upgrades/modifications to ours in hopes of standing a sliver of a chance against it.  Such a beautiful base and her passion and creativity is well deserving of the win for the category.  Doesn't hurt that she was also super friendly.

Congrats goes out to all the winners, though.  I actually had a personal list of each category and my quick tour scoring, and the winners were all either my top pick or in top 3.  Some were so close, I would've had to flip a coin or spend a lot more time analyzing their bases to decide.  So, kudos also goes out to the judges for all the time dedicated and creativity they took in.

I absolutely toured each base (at least briefly), and I can honestly say the competition was amazing.  All participants should be proud of their creations at this point and encouraged to build upon their solid foundations.

Knowing what I know about base building now (+ the new tools given by HC)... part of me has wanted to start over from the hybrid base we created back in the early HC years... but I ultimately decided to just expand upon our foundation to get what we have today.

EDIT ADDITION
I personally feel ours is somewhat retro High School in a new age College world and I'm extremely honored to have been given the Spirit award for Torchbearer.

 

Edited by SupaFreak
  • Like 5
  • Retired Community Rep
Posted (edited)

There are a lot of awesome bases, even high scoring bases, that did not win an award. If you're looking at your score in dismay, please remember, first of all, the rubric was never meant to be a ruler by which a base must measure up, it was meant to assess all the possible ways builders could go when building, and so, no base will ever score perfectly.  And clearly, you can have an excellent base without having the top base in that category.  And low scores are disappointing, I know, but with the rubric, you can clearly see what areas can be improved upon. Theoretically, the most a base could score was 81 points per judge. No base scored more than in the high 80th percentile. Only about 21 bases got more than 63% of the points technically available.  That's because, again, it's not a ruler, it's a tool so we're all looking at the same things, and it covers possibilities. We like being transparent, but we don't like people feeling badly because some number is making them feel like their base isn't wonderful. I saw a lot of AMAZING bases, and I think everyone who stepped out of their comfort zone into the competition has good reason to be very proud, and there is no base that didn't take some effort to make.

 

Judging was as fair as we could make it; it is difficult to compare the beauty of a gorgeous landscape with a space station with a castle with a fantasy land, but having a rubric gives us structure and makes sure everyone is comparing the same things, at least. Unfortunately, competition being what it is, and being FIERCE, we will only have a few winners. And the judges, wow, they had to go through over 100 bases, and I know that people didn't get the tours we'd all hoped would happen, but the amount of time and energy the judging team had already put into judging was already huge, and just know that at least, all the bases were evaluated on the same basis and all were given whatever time it took to make sure all of it was seen.

 

The novice evaluations that my team and I did will hopefully give some feedback to builders; we chose the novices because some novices were just starting out and really wanted feedback more than anything, and we wanted to work up an evaluation that worked well. The one we had for this was okay, but Easter Bunny and I've reworked it even more, with an eye for being able to have a structure in place to evaluate a base when someone asks for feedback, and perhaps, if the Council approves it, be able to offer recognition awards based on builder skill, not just for those with the highest score in a category. It would still be something you'd have to work to earn, and have the skills to earn, but the skills can be taught and there are lots of resources to teach you about them.

Edited by Dacy
  • Like 6
Posted

Bloomtown (Ever) builder requesting score card!
I may have to peek through my fingers to look, but I promise I won't take it personal. There were inevitably some fantastic submissions and my main goal was to show off my work to the community; achieved! 

 

Thanks Dacy + all non-Dacy judgers!

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I drawed things:

Gallery of my CoH Pantheon

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