Having difficulty keeping the zombies away from your base? Build a cheap and sturdy palisade wall to keep those greens away for now. Having issues with the local sniper? Build battlements and walkways on your palisades to protect you while you take potshots from your wall. And finally, did a mega zombie really have the audacity to breach your compound during the horde? Show that chonker your war cry while you shoot it safely from your newly built machiculations. More coming up as I bring medieval architecture and more to the future apocalypse.
Now for the basics. Constructables are building pieces placed by the master building tool. Deployables are items such as sentry guns and doors. I will also be using the building materials and expanding upon some of NarcolepticHound’s Building Bible. For all I know, this could be the Building New Testament. For those who didn’t click, the materials are wood, bricks, sheet metal, and concrete. This post also takes inspiration from other building systems, such as Rust’s. However, I make sure not to entirely rip off other games so Unturned II’s system can be unique.
New Concepts
Claim and Upkeep
Okay. I did say I wasn’t going to rip off other games. Unfortunately, Rust’s claim upkeep system is centuries ahead of nearly every other upkeep/decay system I’ve seen. It would be a crime not to take this aspect and improve upon it, as the tool cupboard nails the balance of letting abandoned bases decay, but also keeping that one clan member who logs on out of spite from keeping their megabase afloat just because they logged on for a minute. This system is easily tweakable, being configured in the server settings.
To improve upon this, two new systems can be put in place. The render system (which I will get into more detail with later) has the possibility to add long-term base progression and longer player investment, while a variable upkeep can reward players who maintain their bases well and punish those who do not.
Variable upkeep is my idea to add three different stages of decay to a base depending on the resources present inside of our Unturnified tool cupboard. The first stage is complete decay, which will slowly remove health from constructables and destroy them. The authorized players have not logged for over a week to cause this and there are no resources left for maintenance. The second stage is partial decay. There are no resources left, but some of the authorized users have been recently online. The base will slowly decay to about 50% or lower health. The third stage is maintained, with there being enough resources to keep the base up and running for a day or two.
There are all these features, yet there is no proper name for this workhorse. I dub this the workbench, one of the most vital features of a base that can be upgraded to facilitate higher tiers of construction and crafting. It will have a limited storage capacity, which can be upgraded by creating storage containers for each material type that work in tandem with the workbench.
The workbench can have features that further extend base building capabilities, such as automatically repairing damaged parts (by consuming small amounts of materials) once a variable timer has finished counting (a minute or few for minor damage, an hour or two for major damage). It can also allow upgrades that draw from a configurable resource pool, prioritizing the materials the player has on their body before drawing from the pool. The workbench’s features can be used by those who have authorized it before, which means it will require a lock to be secure. Like in Rust, there should also be a feature to purge this list.
Finally, the workbench will claim everything within a range of about 10-25 meters of its connected constructables. Non-authorized players will not be able to build in this area. All constructables in this area will be maintained and expand upon this claimed area.
Strong/Weak Parts and Stability
Every constructable will have strong and weak parts similarly to Rust. However, unlike Rust, I think that it would be more interesting and forgiving to add a small amount of weaker parts to each building piece depending on the type of constructable and material.
For example, the inside struts of wood walls and ceilings would be vulnerable to attack, compromising structural integrity if they alone were attacked. This makes destroying wooden constructables by hitting the inside struts much quicker than hacking at the tough logs on the outside. Sheet metal will share the same weakness.
Bricks and concrete on the other hand will be much more difficult to attack. Bricks can have two ceiling variants, one being supported by vulnerable wooden beams, or the other being vaulted, a trade off of space for strength. Concrete will be the strongest, having barely any weaknesses due to its nature.
Structural integrity needs to be present to keep bases within reasonable limits. It can be a simple system, allowing ceiling to only be placed so far out from a foundation, or a more complex one that takes height into account. Whichever is used, make sure triangles have about double the stability that a square does, since the length of 2 placed together is about the same as one square ceiling.
Alternate Constructable Placements
With so many proposed additions to constructables, there needs to be a way to keep the master building menu from becoming too crowded. This system is actually going to be heavily inspired from Minecraft, as the form of stairs changes based on direction placed and the blocks placed next to it.
Now ramps and sloped roofs can have inside and outside corners. Triangle sloped roofs can fit together without clipping. Machiculatons and walkways (half-ceilings) can fit together nicely. This can even be used to combine large and small door frames into one slot. Small can be built by looking at the center, and large can be built be looking towards the edges of the build hologram.
This system has huge potential to allow for a deep and diverse selection of building pieces. Many of the ones I will propose use this system. The possibilities are quite enormous here!
Renders
Finally, we’ve managed to get through this massive wall of concepts. Or did we? Vsause theme plays.
Finally. Renders. For those who didn’t know, a render is a surface applied to a building. Most modern buildings heavily use renders. Did you know that drywall was a render that is applied over the wooden studs that make the frame of your house? Stucco is also a render, although it isn’t as cool of a render as the one I am going to present.
The render I am presenting is the one similar to the ones used during the middle ages. It is made of quicklime and sand and is white in appearance. This makes it a good surface for creating murals and other art. Castles and other buildings during the middle ages were rendered inside and/or outside, as it improved the water resistance of materials it was applied and obscured whatever was beneath.
In Unturned, renders should be applied to building pieces as a more long-term form of base progression. Renders obscure what material type is underneath it, strengthen it slightly, and decrease upkeep. Renders can be used on any material, but take time to set. Renders can also be decorated to degrees much further than other surfaces. Do note that renders can only be applied to constructables.
Renders are applied by combining the prerequisite materials and applying them using a trowel. Renders can be crafted in the mortar and pestle. A concrete mixer can be used for more efficient recipes. Lime will need to be scattered across the map though. Lime should be fairly cheap to acquire. Renders should not be difficult to acquire, but instead timely to apply. I will not define a setting time, but instead open it for discussion.
Renders will have to be applied on two sides of some constructables (walls for instance). This gives players aesthetic options and the ability to cut costs if necessary. The decorative options available to renders will be superior, allowing players an option to paint on walls if they have a specific tool. Other surfaces can only be scratched or spray painted.
As a final note, renders may encourage more fair raiding practices because of the bonuses it applies. It would be a smarter move to more cheap to raid a base while the render is still being applied/setting and risk pvp, instead of offlining a base that is tougher and more difficult to raid.
New Constructables
Battlements and Machiculations
Battlements are the replacement of U3’s Ramparts. Ramparts truly only serve on function in U3: aesthetics. The conversion to battlements will allow both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations to use battlements, as they provide proper cover and room to shoot for its user. Here is a picture of a battlement below.
Machiculations are a variation of a battlement that extend out over the wall further than the typical battlement. These can be placed by moving a battlement in the master building tool (I’m going to call it MBT from now and on) over open air that is attached to a ceiling with a wall below it. Machiculations will have further alternate placements, such as inner corners and so on. Once again, MAHCHICULATIONS image below.
Machiculations will offer huge defensive options to the player. As you can see, those holes in the bottom allow players to peek down and through the battlements. Imagine the slaughter there’d be if the horde ever dared to set foot near your base!
Ceiling Frames and Murder Holes
Ceiling frames will have their own unique place in the MBT. They can be placed between foundations (they will have an alternate triangle version as well) and in between ceilings and snapable to walls. These can be used to hold collapsing ladder hatches/stairs and other accessories.
Murder holes are a variant of the ceiling that can be selected if the player aims for the center of the hologram. Murder holes are small holes in the ceiling that can be used to murder the unfortunate victims below. A player may not even have to expose themselves while using one, having the option to lob explosives, heated liquids, and rocks through them. A picture is below.
Sloped Roofs
Sloped roof tiles placed in wall slots. Finally, one can have a decent looking tiled roof and not the sodding ramp. One is meant for vehicles. The other is meant for roofs. Let it be that way. Heck, make it so ramps placed in wall slots make sloped roofs. It will be beautiful to see the day where I can make a proper sloped roof in Unturned. Also these have a purpose in making rainwater collection easier. Why have a flat roof with water catcher spam when you can funnel it through gutters to your reservoir?
Windows: Horizontal, Vertical, and Slit
Lets give windows some variety. Center aim will make a slit similar to the image below. Horizontal is the one we have in Unturned already, and vertical is like the one we have in Unturned but turned 90 degrees.
Slit windows will be very useful for personal defense, but they won’t be able to be accompanied by the gun mount I’m planning on going into detail with later.
Walkways
Walkways are half ceilings. Take a normal ceiling and chop it in half. Viola. You have a walkway. These would have snap positions in what would typically be the center of a square foundation. A worthy addition for the walkway would also be a stair that takes up only half of a foundation’s space. A ladder could do the same as well. Walkways can also be used to make hoarding-like sections by placing walls on the hanging edge and adding a ceiling.
Palisades
Palisades are like the log cabin style of wood we have in U3 except not at all, as the logs are placed vertically. Players will have the option to place palisades alternatives with all wooden wall variants as long as they aim at the base of the wall when placing on a foundation. Palisades are also placeable by default when a player holds a wall over terrain and not a foundation. Palisades can only be stacked two high with a battlement on terrain.
Palisades are cheaper (requiring raw not refined materials) to make than other wood structures and stronger. However, they can only be built one story high on foundations. Palisades will be every player’s go-to compound wall because they are cheaper to make than foundation spam.
Pillars
Hecking pillars should no longer be required to build walls. They still should serve the purpose of supporting the corners of open structures if there are no walls to hold pillars. I believe this should be so because pillars feel very unnecessary. They artificially increase the base building time by sucking up resources and being literally everywhere.
Vaulted Ceilings
Vaulted ceiling for bricks and concrete because they look heckin epic and and don’t require a very shifty looking metal beam that definitely wasn’t salvaged from a rusting 40 y/o toyota hilux. Vaulted ceilings are very strong and must have a enough variants to create a smooth interior. For all you know, you could find the secret to who Benson truly is underneath these ceilings. Photo below that I totally didn’t rip from google images.
Summary
TLDR
New Concepts
Claim and Upkeep similar to Rust’s tool cupboard in the form of the “Workbench.” Also has extra features serving as a crafting station, resource pool for building, and automatically repairing damage after a timer.
Strong and Weak parts on building pieces. For example, the support beam on the bottom side of a brick ceiling is weak. The outside brick is strong.
A Stability System to keep base building more tame and interesting. Can be a simple or complex system.
Alternate Placements for every item in the Master Building Tool similarly to Minecraft’s stairs. For example, inner and outer corners for walkway (half-ceiling) pieces.
Renders are a new lime-based material used to obscure the weaknesses and strengthen building pieces that takes time to set. Renders also open up possibilities for enhanced customization, by allowing full-scale painting for flex.
New Constructables
Battlements are basically ramparts but with alternating cover that protects the player better.
Machiculations are battlements extended out from the wall with down facing shooting holes.
Ceiling Frames are frames for ceilings that can items like trap doors put in them.
Murder Holes are small optional holes in ceilings that players can murder zombies or other players with.
Sloped Roofs are ramps but much better looking.
Vertical Windows are normal windows but orientated 90 degrees making it vertical.
Slits are really small windows perfect for shooting through.
Walkways are half-ceilings. These are good for using on compound walls.
Palisades cheap wooden wall variant that is stronger but requires a connection to the ground.
Pillars should no longer be required, but instead optional for support.
Vaulted Ceilings are really cool looking curved ceilings that are stronger but require more space.
That’s all for now. I did the edit pass I mentioned earlier this morning and added a TLDR for those who wish to see a slightly smaller wall of text. Deployables next!
- MAHCHICULATIOOOONS!!!
- What is Machiculation?
- Bruh Moment (Null)
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