Stranded: Alien Dawn

Stranded: Alien Dawn

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The Meta-Guide of Optimized Layouts, ideal base defenses, storage design, & efficient base layouts
By Red Forman
This Meta-Guide includes the Optimized layouts and ideal designs for maximum efficiency of all difficulty modes.

Many guides are still using outdated information, or suggestions that are simply wrong.
This meta-guide seeks to clarify a lot of that misinformation, so you don't have to spend 600 hours learning the same lessons.

Guides include:
  • Base Defenses
  • Overall base layout
  • Housing layout
  • Storage layout
  • Crafting layout
  • Farming / Ranching layouts
   
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Housing Layout = optimized bedrooms, recreation, crafting & storage area, kitchen & dining, + cold-storage
For your Housing, you will want 3 separate buildings, or, 3 separate areas in a single building, joined together by hallways.
The key thing is to have the resources as close to where they are going to be used as possible. This reduces time wasted traveling to or from the stored resources and where they are going to be used.

3 Separate Areas (or Buildings)
* Bedrooms & Recreation
* Crafting & Storage
* Kitchen, Dining, & Cold-storage

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2319980705979224738/1C7BA6F2D36AF5FFB595A393DA0D062DF09C006C/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

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BEDROOM DETAILS: for maximum happiness, bedrooms should be at least 20 spaces in total size. Also there shouldn't be any crafting stations in the bedrooms, or they are no longer counted as bedrooms. If two of your survivors are a "couple", simply put their beds next to each other, so their pillows are side-by-side in the same bedroom.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2319980705979227985/2EA50DB948E9ECFF0E090176019CB2758D0DA27D/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

RECREATION DETAILS: simply have it as close to the bedrooms as possible, so all survivors can use them going to/from their bedrooms to the crafting areas.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2319980705979225095/C3C97ECC426E6D229584FB0BD277F74CC201914F/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

CRAFTING DETAILS: place all crafting benches and their respective crafting storage in the same area, as tightly as possible, to minimize travel time.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2319980705979227621/C599780DDCABFE72ED9398102F467DC079298D6B/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

KITCHEN & DINING DETAILS: have the kitchen area and dining area adjacent to one another, and as close to the cold-storage room as possible

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2319980705979229553/734D55F4ED3913C2E5215CF8712187A0A48697D8/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

COLD STORAGE DETAILS: use freezers for 95% of cold-storage purposes. Initially you'll be running the freezers individually in "ON" mode.
But later on, once you can build a concrete room, or better yet, a carbon room... you can store as many freezers in that room as you want, and you can turn the power OFF on all of them, and instead rely in the "heat-pumps" (ductless air-conditioners/heaters, or mini-splits) to do the cooling for everything in that room, which will save you energy overall. Typically you'll want 2-4 heat-pumps set at "-10 degrees" to keep the room freezing, depending on how large the room is.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2319980705979226017/DBB6FC650D6A3EB3157D08B31948353DF260395A/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

NOTE: The reason why you want to use Freezers (and NOT shelves) in your cold-storage room, is because the Freezers have better storage capacity versus the shelves, as well as being more immersive, and can still be turned on individually, for those who haven't unlocked the breakthrough technology to protect against solar flares.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2319980705979226861/6D3AA5B70C73562A9B2D9421C73490878C3CBA1C/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Base Defenses & Base layout Tips
BASE DEFENSES:
Ideally, your base entrance & exit will act as a choke-point for any hostiles. To start with, you'll only want a single entrance/exit and your perimeter walls will likely be made of wood, but you'll want to upgrade them later on as you can afford to. Also later on you may decide to add a second entrance/exit, depending on your specific location and situation.

Be aware that if you add any gate to your perimeter walls, the hostile creatures will attack those gates, so its best to use only solid walls around your entire base.

This entrance area to your base is ideally 5 spaces-wide, with fencing lining the edges, and a length that is ideally 15+ spaces long.

The most efficient defensive designs use a combination of foot "Traps" to slow down the ground units, with Fire turrets on opposing sides, towers along the edges, and 3 banks of turrets at the very end. These 3 banks of turrets should be set to the same "Circut" as the Motion Detectors. You will want motion detectors near the entrance and rear of your gauntlet of ground traps. This is to make sure that your turrets only use energy when under attack, and keeps them active until every hostile in that area is dead.
* Refer to the image below for an example of this.

The 3 banks of turrets at the end of the gauntlet can be laser or machineguns. Lasers provide the highest DPS (damage per second) and better range, but also use more energy. Machineguns are cheaper and will fine for easy or medium difficulty, or even early on on hard mode. But if you are on the harder modes, the hostile spawns will eventually become so massive, that machineguns alone won't cut it, and you'll need to use the laser turrets instead.

Beyond those 3 banks for ground-turrets, you will need to have a "safe spot" for your survivors to run to, when the hostile attacks include flying or aerial creatures. This Safe Spot should have a flat roof over the top of it, with a motion sensor in the center, and Flak Cannons around the edges of the roof.

NOTE:
You can also add 2-4 missile turrets along the sides for additional splash-damage, but realize the have a minimum range (as well as a max), and will damage your own structures if you place the "target area" too close to your walls, and their is a small delay from the the time they fire, to the time their missile impact the target areas.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2319980705979326658/D862C2B8B98B5102EBF1DE0721D91D353DED8A4D/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

BASE LAYOUT:
For the overall base design and layout, you'll want your housing area in the center, with farming and ranching areas around the perimeter, and your exterior walls around those food areas. This will act as an additional buffer against hostile attacks, to keep your survivors and stockpiles of goods as safe as possible.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2319980705979319183/69B667621D70D38DAA19C702A3E65C2A652D384F/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false
Energy production & Storage
Energy Production: Ideally, you want as sustainable of energy production as possible. This means using renewables such as wind & solar whenever possible, and as soon as possible. However, in some scenarios, they don't provide enough wind or solar to be sustainable early on, in which case you'll have to rely on either fuel generators or power-cell generators.

Once you've graduated to renewables (or you're in a scenario that favors wind and/or solar), you'll want to be sure to build enough that you're always generating a surplus. You'll also want a surplus of batteries, so in the case of an attack (where your defensive turrets will drain more energy), or in case of a natural disaster, your energy needs may skyrocket, and having 400%-4000% extra energy stored in batteries, will allow you to survive those harsh times with ease.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2319980705979551438/DABE213D5DCB21846166DC5095D02D20D5F1D2BF/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2319980705979546657/D2D18BA19356215B665F9BAB9F32172BD285C385/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Energy Storage: For energy storage needs, you'll want to produce a surplus of batteries to store at least 4x - 40x as much energy as you normally use. This buffer is important during hostile attacks or natural disasters, as your energy consumption will increase dramatically.

Also, if you place your batteries underneath a flat roof, you can put solar or wind on top of the the batteries to maximize the use of space, or footprint optimization.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2319980705979550937/CFB15D58FADD210C83A7B735C15F622C7CF07847/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

NOTE: A major boost to energy production comes from unlocking Breakthrough technologies in research, such as the Carbon solar panels and the Carbon windmills. They increase your output by 300% or more, for the same amount of space.
Food Production - Farming & Ranching Layout
Food Production:
Ideally you'll want all your food production around the edges of your main housing area, to act as a buffer against hostile attacks, as well as allow the most efficient use of space. However, all farming and ranching areas should be inside your perimeter walls, as soon as you're able to afford to build them. Typically most players will start off by building their perimeter (defensive) walls out of wood or stone, and then later will upgrade them to concrete, brick, or the ultimate protection - Carbon Defensive Walls & Fencing.

For an example of this, see the Yellow areas in the image below

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2319980705979319183/69B667621D70D38DAA19C702A3E65C2A652D384F/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Another example of food production around the edges:

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2319980705979602730/5B0924F69F7362D1B5FEC56B6FD84D5C247BC489/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

26 Comments
kev-pika 16 Aug @ 5:46am 
salut, trop stylée la base, je vais essayer de la faire
Question, combien mesure l'habitation en largeur et on longueur au centre de la base ?
Combien mesure en tout la base avec tout les éléments clôture inclut ? sa fait très grand, faut trouver un grand terrain pour cette base
Wes Abreu 4 Mar @ 12:53pm 
ADOREI!!!
Qual é essa SEED?
Sisyphus192 28 Sep, 2024 @ 5:48am 
For anyone else that may want to take a peek at the save games but had the same issue I did, use the common lib mod: https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3115193939 , it will let you load the save game without needing to have the early adopter bonus dlc.
Red Forman  [author] 27 Sep, 2024 @ 5:32am 
sorry about that :(
I'm unsure how to remove that
Sisyphus192 27 Sep, 2024 @ 5:04am 
Ah rats, I can't load D19 because I'm missing the early adopter bonus DLC.
Sisyphus192 27 Sep, 2024 @ 3:45am 
@Red Forman, thank you!
Red Forman  [author] 27 Sep, 2024 @ 1:47am 
@Sisyphus192 I will 3 save-files to your Google-drive.
The "A111" save-file is a fully vanilla game with over 257 hours into that game.
The "B11" save-file is also vanilla, but with less then 25 hours into that game.
The "D19" save-file was my last game played, that includes over a dozen active mods + 1 mod that has since been disabled. The primary mod I used on that game was the "Firefly" mod, that removed the vanilla characters and replaced them with the characters from the Firefly show. The remaining mods are listed in the saved game file, but I also included a screenshot of each.
Sisyphus192 26 Sep, 2024 @ 3:18pm 
@Red Forman, vanilla is fine, just looking for the base you have in your screenshots in this guide. I haven't played with any mods yet, are there any you recommend?

I'm not sure if steam supports sharing files... I setup a gdrive folder that you can drop it into here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19CBg-gezq4ii306L8Uou9OJ4G6fG3Q8k?usp=sharing
Red Forman  [author] 25 Sep, 2024 @ 1:03am 
@Sisyphus192 sure... did you want a saved game file from the vanilla game? or modded? or a specific saved game?
Also, whats the easiest way to share a saved game file across Steam?
Sisyphus192 24 Sep, 2024 @ 2:33pm 
Would you be willing to share a save game of your base?