Overview
A complete overview of the new building mechanics introduced in Stranded Deep 0.07. Current as of 15/12/2015
INTRODUCTION
BUILDING PIECES
Foundations can be placed anywhere on clear land within a certain height and snap to other foundations on the four sides.
Snapping a foundation piece to an existing foundation…
When you place a foundation, you start a new ‘structure’. Structure’s cannot be built too close to another structure.
Attempting to place a foundation too close to another structure…
Walls, windows and doors can be placed on 4 sides of foundations and floors (depending on the type).
Please note, windows and doors are not available in 0.07 but will be returning soon!
Floors can be placed above foundations or other floors and also around the four sides of a supporting floor.
Steps place in a similar way to foundations.
To place steps between multiple storeys, you need a foundation or floor below and a floor on the next storey in front of the new steps. When snapping to a foundation or floor, steps will snap to the closest 90 degree angle to the direction you’re looking, so if you’re having trouble getting steps to place, try reorienting yourself so you’re looking at the foundation or floor that you want to place the steps on.
COLLISIONS AND SNAPPING
All building pieces have collision detection that will not allow the piece to be placed if it’s colliding with another object like a rock, plant, stick, tool, etc. However, the collisions are quite accurate and you can still place some pieces over objects if you’re careful. For eg, you can place a foundation over objects as long as the legs don’t collide with anything.
A foundation’s collision detection preventing it from being placed…
All building pieces snap together. Pieces snap together at the centre of where they should snap, so when attempting to snap a piece into position try to visualise where the centre of that position would be and aim for it.
STRUCTURAL SUPPORT
To place a multi-storey floor you need a foundation or floor below it with 2 or more panels to support the floor —
Additionally, you can build 1 piece outward from a supported floor and the supported floor will structurally support the piece you’re placing.
It can require some thought and planning to build a structure how you want and to fill in certain areas —
As of build 0.07, you may find you will have to place walls for structural support to be able to fill in certain areas. We realize this is a bit of the pain at the moment, as you can only build walls – which will lock the area in. This problem should be minimized when doors make a return.
We have allowed as much freedom as possible with building placement which is great for creativity, but also means you can get yourself into some sticky placement situations. Particularly if you start getting crazy and snapping multi-story floors in different configurations to the floor below —
A wedge floor above a square foundation…
A square floor above a wedge foundation…
You’re going to have a bad time…
By all means feel free to build this way, but be aware that the structural support detection is approximated and may not detect the correct level of support with weird geometry. The piece that is being placed checks for a supporting structure below itself, so if a piece is failing to place you can do a quick visual check to confirm that there is a supporting foundation or floor below the centre of the new piece your placing (or the piece that will support your new piece).
And that’s it! If you keep these basic building principles in mind you’ll be admiring your tropical mansion in no time 🙂
If you find a scenario where you think the structural support system is not working as explained above please post a bug report to let us know, however please inspect your structure carefully and be completely sure! There’s been many times when testing when we’ve sworn there were two walls… 😉
TIERS
Coming soon…