Bases placement and type

[Gunner]

Just wondering how everyone handled their bases.

my technique is
3 intercept bases North Africa, Central  South America, Central Asia

1 research base North Australia

1 Manufacturing North America

each base has power comand, radar, and living quaters and stores

intercept bases carry hangers containment, plus 10 troopers, 2 interceptors, 1 gunship and 1 dropship, work shop and some engineers to keep a trickle of ammo coming in to replace that used in missions

Research base max lab and required living space, only 1 storage and containment

Manufacturing base has 2 hangers one for disassembly 1 for construction. plenty of workshops and storage

once antimatter is avalable every where get one

that way i get majority radar coverage and usually 3 to 4 planes avable for every interception

[rynait]

Hello

done several experiment on base placement, in respect to radar coverage (not counting advanced radar)...

I started with three (new revision made that difficult) placing in canada region, Russia and europe (near carpathian mountain region) in that order. This gave me nice coverage on northern hemisphere (two gaps closed off with radar towers).

Later added (having difficulty with stragetic location on south hemisphere), Africa, Australia (I think Selwyn Mountain gives good range covering most of Oceania mass), center of South america and South pole (Selecting Ross-Palmer area means need 1 radar tower south of Australia.

I suspect there is better location with fewer bases and use of radar towers.  Pining for advanced radar towers.

BTW I put first bases... leaving alone default contents, adding on heavily research. At time put in second base focusing on workshop (of course with aircraft support.) But with current releases, becomes prohibitively expensive... so rethinking location stragety now.

Roy

[homunculus]

most of what i produce in the game has 'made in hong kong' label on it, so guess where the manufacturing base is.
i think that was one of my major strategic decisions 

[rynait]

most of what i produce in the game has 'made in hong kong' label on it,

   my russian base is barely close to asian republic border. If you used the political overlay in geoscape, and see the North-eastern hump, (east of the lake) That is where I placed my second base.

However did appreciate the hong kong comment(humor)... Is always finding "asian made" products in America, oddly off  of the American technology. I am consulting the map and find the geographical location and experiment a test base there! Wait a minute, realized first base (heavy research) is in United America... and  mfg base in asian/russia area... hmm. 

thinking along this lines...
General: 'dang, we are following the 1990-2000 economic history...  those base builders contractors should be told we are in the 2080's!!'

Roy

[Sgt. Hatter]

If you save-scum a bit for good Entrance placement and few blocked segments, every base you own can fit at least 3 large hangers, have both a Missile and a Laser battery, and still hold either serve as as a research or production base.  Your initial base, which is guaranteed to have zero blocked segments, can do everything at once.

Here's how it works.  For your initial base, try to get an entrance that's as far from the center as possible, and set in the middle of one of the base's four walls.



Both of these layouts allow for at least 1 square of blocked space (2 if you omit a laboratory, 3-4 if you omit the defensive weapons as well), and the only parts you really can't move are the Workshop, Alien Containment, and Hangars.  It will support 10 workers, 10 scientists, 4 pilots (for your dropship and favorite 3 interceptors), and up to 12 soldiers.  The only problem is that storage space will be at a premium - don't keep any equipment your squad doesn't use regularly (or, optionally, omit the lab or a defensive structure to add a Storage space).

Both of these layouts  are defensively strong (enemies have to go through at least one nonvital structure to get to anything important, giving you time to react) and have an empty space near the Power Plant; that's intended to house the Antimatter Storage facility once it's unlocked via research.

It's very important for your satisfaction ratings that every base you own has detection, interception and troop deployment capability.  UFOs can show up anywhere, and you want to shoot them down and recover them as soon as you spot them.  Once you've got multiple bases, it's okay to devote one to research (remove any workshops in it for extra laboratories) and use the rest as production bases (remove the laboratory for more storage space, or remove the laboratory and a defensive structure and do some reorganization to add a second Workshop).

I typically put a base on every major continent; North America (around Wichita, Kansas, 'cuz Roswell isn't central enough), South America (a little northwest of Brasília), Asia (Ulaanbataar), Africa (Central Chad), and Antarctica (South Pole).  To cover the gaps, I place Radar Towers in north-central Australia, South Africa (making sure it covers Madagascar),  the eastern peninsula of Russia (in the middle of nowhere due south of Leningradsky), and the middle of Iceland.

This gives me pretty much worldwide radar coverage.  Since UFOs can't land or do anything on water, they can't roam overland without being spotted, and I have interceptors that can reach any point my radar can cover, they're pretty much outta luck.  My UFO Hangar usually goes next to my biggest production base; the closer a UFO Hangar is to the base that's doing its disassembly, the faster the UFO gets taken apart.  I'm not sure if that applies to research as well.  If it does, I'll establish a second Hangar next to my biggest research base; the UFO goes there for research and then gets transferred to the production hangar for disassembly.

[thunktone]

I typically put a base on every major continent; North America (around Wichita, Kansas, 'cuz Roswell isn't central enough), South America (a little northwest of Brasília), Asia (Ulaanbataar), Africa (Central Chad), and Antarctica (South Pole).  To cover the gaps, I place Radar Towers in north-central Australia, South Africa (making sure it covers Madagascar),  the eastern peninsula of Russia (in the middle of nowhere due south of Leningradsky), and the middle of Iceland.

That's weird, Witchita, Ulaanbataar and the South Pole are three of the sites I use too.

I've just been playing a "debug" (cheat) game to try out some of the new weapons. I experimented with base placement a bit and put one on every continent. This leaves one base available, which I put in northern greenland.

I only use two bases with dropships. In this game they were northern greenland and the south pole. The other bases were all manufacturing (no need for research cause I cheated.

In a non-cheating game I think I would put my first base in Witchita with a large hangar, two small, and room for two workshops and four labs. Next two bases would go in Campo Grande, Brazil and Bologna, Italy. The first of these would be research and workshop without hangars, the second would have three large hangars for saracens and two or three workshops. After a second combat team base in Ulaanbataar, this one without research, I would have to see if I could afford the upkeep on any more. I was losing quite a lot of money in the cheating game.

If I did go for the full allowance of bases again I would probably put one on each continent, including antartica and the extra one would go in Hawaii or Samoa. Perhaps some of the later bases would be little more than living quarters and advanced radar to save on costs.

As for base layout it is worth considering that large hangars and radar allow aliens to enter. I'm not sure about missile and laser batteries as no aliens have managed to land at such a base in my games. I try to group radar and large hangars around the entrance and place my living quarters around them. I quite like the idea of combining a lasaer and a missile battery in one base, I hadn't thought of that.

[Sgt. Hatter]

As for base layout it is worth considering that large hangars and radar allow aliens to enter. I'm not sure about missile and laser batteries as no aliens have managed to land at such a base in my games. I try to group radar and large hangars around the entrance and place my living quarters around them. I quite like the idea of combining a lasaer and a missile battery in one base, I hadn't thought of that.

Wait, Radar?  I know aliens can enter at the Entrance and via any Hangar (not just large ones), but they can enter at the Radar station, too?

As for my air force, most of my bases have a dropship and 3 saracens.  Although the stiletto has good firepower with 3 weapon hardpoints, and can use a small hangar instead of a large one, the saracen has the advantage of being faster and having better range, which is important early on given that UFOs are fast and your ability to locate and intercept them is very limited anyway.  It's also why I prefer Stingrays over Dragons once hybrid-technology craft are available.

Due to the fact that your administration and base upkeep costs rise with every base you establish, it's important to squeeze as much functionality as you can out of each installation.  This is why all of my bases are capable of detection, interception, and recovery, and at least one peripheral function; either production or research.

[thunktone]

Wait, Radar?  I know aliens can enter at the Entrance and via any Hangar (not just large ones), but they can enter at the Radar station, too?

Yeah that surprised me too but there is a surface entrance to the standard radar at least. There is no surface entrance to the small hangars but I'm not sure if aliens might start there or not.

Although the stiletto has good firepower with 3 weapon hardpoints, and can use a small hangar instead of a large one, the saracen has the advantage of being faster and having better range, which is important early on given that UFOs are fast and your ability to locate and intercept them is very limited anyway.

If you want to catch as many as you can then yes. I prefer to hit hard when they get close enough and let the odd one slip through. I find the terror missions more fun than crashed ufo's. Two stilleto's seem to do the job of three saracens within standard radar range and the difference in space taken up in the base is huge.

Due to the fact that your administration and base upkeep costs rise with every base you establish, it's important to squeeze as much functionality as you can out of each installation.  This is why all of my bases are capable of detection, interception, and recovery, and at least one peripheral function; either production or research.

I like to stick to two combat teams so that they gain plenty of experience. I also like to have specialised bases so that I can focus resources on getting one thing done quickly. I try to make the first base quite general purpose because though otherwise it takes too long to upgrade my troops equipment.

[starwaver]

I got a question, how do u place radar towers?

[geever]

I got a question, how do u place radar towers?

They're available in 2.3-dev builds only (not in 2.2.x). There, it's obvious.

-geever

[starwaver]

They're available in 2.3-dev builds only (not in 2.2.x). There, it's obvious.

-geever

thx

[Legendman3]

When i read everyones advanced plans i laugh because they seem so epic compared to mine. 
 I just have 1 (maybe two if i fell like it) the whole campaign make sure i attack every UFO that enters my space and 1 dropship with the best weapons i have and 2 fuel pods. I usually devot as much of the base as possible to living quarters, labs, and workshops. I usually keep a low profile and strike big

[talon]

i'm glad the the standard base placement setup has been modifed  be more useful in defensive battle

i dread the horrible setup of bases in the first x-com reminded me of the end of Return of the king when they are totally surrounded

[Edi]

I've found that my first two bases tend to be sort of jack of all trades, with mixed laboratories, workspaces and a couple of hangars, with the rest of the space taken up by hospital, living quarters, alien containment and the command and control buildings (CC, radar, power plant).

At least that's teh way it's worked out in the very hard campaign. Not enough funds to start setting up really specialized bases from the get-go, since research especially is seriously slowed down by lack of scientists.

I have no set layout, other than placing living quarters close to base entry points in case of invasion.

[Brasher]

Making several Production bases is key in the long run.  1st base is usually a hybrid in mid-north of N. America.  The 2nd base I make is in Mid-East with 5 workshops, 1 of each hanger, radar, and storage, but when I first make one, I only make a couple workshops and build up as I aquire the funds.  I also have a transport for troops there for handling business on that side of the world, which later gets transfered to next base.  When completed they start pumping out ECM units non-stop except to make ammo, defense platforms, or disassemble craft, but they're always building ECMs.  3rd base I make is a military one with hangers and troops on the border of Russia And China.  4th is research base on Britain.  Production in middle of Africa, Military in north Australia, and Military in middle of S. America.  If I'm feeling frisky, I'll build my final base in Antarctica as a production facility.