Form vs function in early-mid-late game

[Frantiq]

Does anyone else ignore the aesthetics of their structures until mid to late game? I have a lot of trouble getting myself to make a base look nice in the early to early-mid game. I know I'm going to have mass-produced aesthetic blocks and cheap diamond tools (using the crucible) later on, so why bother wasting tool durability and resources early on?

[kazerima]

I personally wait only until renewable food, but by that point I've already started creating a rabbit's warren of chaotic hallways, rooms, and mining centers that's kind of hard to really pretty up when it's all underground. This kind of means that by the time I'm already able to make early aesthetic choices, I'm kind of not incentivized to do so. I recently started up a new world though with the intent to try to make a nicer looking series of bases, but we'll see how that goes in the end.

[ion]

apart for the first days, all my build are aesthetic build only. i do ramp up the building once i get smelting going on and a saw. post some pics with your base also.

[Frantiq]

I just started a new save, barely have anything other than a dirt hovel to show, so no pictures.

Interesting that you go for aesthetics pretty early on. I agree with kazerima, things start off rough and I never wind up tidying things.

[Mesh]

I mainly build for function in the very early game, it feels impractical to do otherwise. However I hate it and as soon as I have enough iron for about 2-3 picks, after about two in game weeks, I'll start up on the aesthetics. Aesthetics to me are as important as the functional elements, often I'll refuse to advance in tech unless I build a structure to house it (I won't slap a mill stone in my storage room for instance, I'll build a windmill before I "permit" myself that advancement)

[Frantiq]

I mainly build for function in the very early game, it feels impractical to do otherwise. However I hate it and as soon as I have enough iron for about 2-3 picks, after about two in game weeks, I'll start up on the aesthetics. Aesthetics to me are as important as the functional elements, often I'll refuse to advance in tech unless I build a structure to house it (I won't slap a mill stone in my storage room for instance, I'll build a windmill before I "permit" myself that advancement)

You see I slap a mill stone in the most practical (ugly) place I can find for it, then once I have a crucible and renewable tools I might go back and make a proper windmill or something like that. I like stone brick for most of my structures, and I just can't justify spending coal/wood/time on furnacing cobble when I'll have an unlimited, free supply of smoothstone once my crucible gets going.

[Mesh]

You see I slap a mill stone in the most practical (ugly) place I can find for it, then once I have a crucible and renewable tools I might go back and make a proper windmill or something like that. I like stone brick for most of my structures, and I just can't justify spending coal/wood/time on furnacing cobble when I'll have an unlimited, free supply of smoothstone once my crucible gets going.

Yeah I understand that, most people are the same as you to be fair, including a few of the guys I play with, I get it. It just feels wrong to me to do that. It feels like I'm cheating if I slap it down in a random place haha

[FlowerChild]

I guess I'm somewhere in the middle in that I tend to expand organically outwards from my initial hidey hole, without ever really tearing anything down. I do try to make each stage look somewhat pleasing, and I often experiment with different shapes while going for functionality, but I rarely do strictly aesthetic builds.

Behold!

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That's my main base in my current world.

Like the tower in the back started as me just wanting to elevate my portal to get it away from any nearby animals, but I've been adding to it as I go with the excess output of my mob trap. The windmill in the foreground isn't functional anymore as I have a water wheel within the structure actually powering my machine. On the other hand, I also never got around to putting a roof on it. The whole thing is built around the hidey hole I burrowed into the side of that hill on my first night.

So no, I don't ignore aesthetics, but I generally don't obsess over them either.

[dawnraider]

I'm with Mesh in that I will not advance in tech without a build to house it. I have my initial hidey-hole that will have furnaces, chests, millstone, cauldron, and some animals, which is all underground. From there I make a permanent base of operations building with a ton a storage and a cauldron, with provisions for crucibles, stoked cauldrons, and a kiln. Usually that takes a long time just because of how big I usually make it, so my windmill and saws usually get built at the same time. From there I expand as needed. Usually the only temporary anything I have is a nether portal because I like to make an elaborate temple that requires a lot of late mid game materials (Quartz, stone bricks, smooth stone slabs, and iron bars all in large quantities).

[Mason11987]

FC, what's that orangish block in your tower?

[jorgebonafe]

Behold!

I used to build animal farms like that... Until one day I knocked a torch accidentally and didn't notice. I had so many sheep...
Now I always put fences around the hole.

[FlowerChild]

FC, what's that orangish block in your tower?

That would be the reason I said "Behold!" in the first place ;)

Nothing to get too excited about though. I just needed a simple block to act as a test of the extended block ID thing in my world. In order to make sure I can keep an eye out for any problems with it, I decided to... redecorate.

[rockoutwill]

FC, what's that orangish block in your tower?

That would be the reason I said "Behold!" in the first place ;)

Nothing to get too excited about though. I just needed a simple block to act as a test of the extended block ID thing in my world. In order to make sure I can keep an eye out for any problems with it, I decided to... redecorate.

I'm not sure i believe its "nothing to get excited about" i've been playing this mod long enough to know.

[Gilberreke]

I like building pretty stuff, but functional. So, for example, I will create some cool thing for the windmill to sit on, usually a windmill or a barn, but I won't create something that doesn't have a use in-game, like fake furniture that make it look like 500 people live there.

I try not to have too many random heaps of machinery, but it happens.

[EtherealWrath]

I normally go for some looks early on, its well worth the investment in a few luxurious glass windows and stone bricks. (sometimes starting on this before I have an iron tool)
Gonna be here a while, might as well make it look nice.

The inside is still a junk pile of everything and anything mind.

[MisterFister]

You see I slap a mill stone in the most practical (ugly) place I can find for it, then once I have a crucible and renewable tools I might go back and make a proper windmill or something like that. I like stone brick for most of my structures, and I just can't justify spending coal/wood/time on furnacing cobble when I'll have an unlimited, free supply of smoothstone once my crucible gets going.

I feel the exact same way as to stone brick and crucible. I personally wait for diamond tools so that this aesthetic remodeling is renewable.

[Frantiq]

You see I slap a mill stone in the most practical (ugly) place I can find for it, then once I have a crucible and renewable tools I might go back and make a proper windmill or something like that. I like stone brick for most of my structures, and I just can't justify spending coal/wood/time on furnacing cobble when I'll have an unlimited, free supply of smoothstone once my crucible gets going.

I feel the exact same way a to stone brick and crucible. I personally wait for diamond tools so that this aesthetic remodeling is renewable.

Do you wait for diamond tools alone, or diamond tools + stoked crucible?

[SterlingRed]

This is the most frustrating struggle for me. I want to develop the tech tree first as quickly as possible using resources as efficiently as possible until I have all the aesthetic design blocks I could possibly want. But I get tired of looking at dirt and cobblestone so usually whenever a farm or system needs upgraded or automated I try to build something for it that looks good. The problem is if I build the building first, I always run out of room for the redstone or something and end up having to redo half the buildings. If I build my farm / automation first, I've accomplished the function and tend to move on to something else and never make it look nice. The other thing that bothers me is as I progress through the mod, the aesthetic blocks available to me change, and my earlier builds although still functional no longer match the style of my later ones. That bothers me a lot too.

So my bases ultimately end up with a few gorgeous structures mixed with cobblestone vomit everywhere else and it's all topped off with a sprinkling of redstone circuitry poking out here and there.

[MisterFister]

Do you wait for diamond tools alone, or diamond tools + stoked crucible?

Heh. :) No, I wait for full recycling.

I chuckled only because I recognize the ridiculousness of my own OCD. By "aesthetic build" I also incorporate very Large-scale terraforming. My bases end up looking like a Stratego board.

That said, once I get a diamond pick for the portal, I immediately build a ghast-safe panic room on the other side, grab 9 netherrack for an unstoked cauldron, shoot home to stockpile a few stacks of eggs, 3-4 chests, another 2 diamonds for a sword, and then I go nether-building beelining to the nearest fortress for some blaze hunting.

[dawnraider]

So reading people's thoughts on the necessity of stone brick got me thinking. While I do like stone brick and use it a lot as accents in buildings, I use a lot of cobblestone and wood planks (especially birch) in my builds because conquest actually makes them look good, leading to it being much easier to make aesthetic buildings early game.

Examples of what I mean (warning large images (3440x1440):

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[Frantiq]

Do you wait for diamond tools alone, or diamond tools + stoked crucible?

Heh. :) No, I wait for full recycling.

I chuckled only because I recognize the ridiculousness of my own OCD. By "aesthetic build" I also incorporate very Large-scale terraforming. My bases end up looking like a Stratego board.

That said, once I get a diamond pick for the portal, I immediately build a ghast-safe panic room on the other side, grab 9 netherrack for an unstoked cauldron, shoot home to stockpile a few stacks of eggs, 3-4 chests, another 2 diamonds for a sword, and then I go nether-building beelining to the nearest fortress for some blaze hunting.

Interesting that you jump right to fortress hunting. I'll usually wait for better armor before I start doing that, I always find it too easy to die in the nether otherwise.

So reading people's thoughts on the necessity of stone brick got me thinking. While I do like stone brick and use it a lot as accents in buildings, I use a lot of cobblestone and wood planks (especially birch) in my builds because conquest actually makes them look good, leading to it being much easier to make aesthetic buildings early game.

Examples of what I mean (warning large images (3440x1440):

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That's a ridiculously nice house. I have a feeling my "aesthetic" builds are your stone age builds. I don't have any pics, but my version of making things aesthetic is just putting up walls and floors that aren't dirt, glass windows, and cleaner lighting.

[magikeh]

I'm with Fister on this one, I'll gun the tech tree to renewable diamond tools before doing much of any aesthetic work. Once at that stage though I start planning out the larger scheme of things and begin building and terraforming that base off to the side of my hidey hole. (My larger scale bases usually revolve around a village style build where each building has a specific purpose)

Also a note, it's easier to conquer nether fortresses if you bring quite a few stacks of cobble and build a lot of alcoves also blocking off every so often at head height in case of needing to run from skellies.

[Niyu]

Interesting that you jump right to fortress hunting. I'll usually wait for better armor before I start doing that, I always find it too easy to die in the nether otherwise.

I do the same, but my nether exploration consist of a lot of tunneling with very short peeks to find soulsand. And then i search for a fortress that is embbedded enought into the wall I don't need to expose myself to the ghast while getting my first blaze rods. then, once I have renewable diamonds I start stripmining stone at diamond level to build a mob farm and to replace all of the floors in my nether tunnels and fortress.

I never roam the nether without 4 pieces of blast resistant V (or IV I don't remember the maximum) steel armor, a hellfire beacon and a well grown groth.

[ion]

this is my new windmill. full auto, 8 hoppers as there isn't enough space to have water up and an rain detector. around just some useless buildings.

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last pic the red roofed is a dung factory with a night-day detector to feed six wolves twice in a day. the blue roof is like a kitchen where i cook food. under it are some villagers enslaved from 2.5k blocks away and chain walked then on a y lvl 12 tunnel from there to my base. and the building above has 2 auto pottery machines noir design. in the hill are a cactus, squid and flower farm all from one source of water

[MisterFister]

To clarify -- I speed-tech to renewable diamonds, which yes requires blaze rods, which yes requires fortress hunting.

Yes, that involves nether roof-tunneling with soulsand. Yes, locating the fortress and creating escape routes and hidey-alcoves within it with spare cobble from home. Also, I periodically run back to restock on food, and also on tools. On my current build, I performed a LOT of my nether-tunneling with stone tools, simply because I was hoarding my diamond pick and diamond sword until when absolutely needed. It was a balancing act of going back to spend a few day-cycles on restoring my cobble stockpile. Generally, I always kept a hard-safe full chest of stone tools ready to go, just to guarantee that no matter what, I wouldn't run myself out of stone for tools and end up needing to punch trees again.

I'd venture back to nether tunneling once I developed a full chest of cobble, which I transferred to my nether safe-point, with a full chest of other materials (wood for tools, plenty of poached eggs, at least a stack of torches, a stack of ladders, materials for a new portal if need be, at least 3 empty chests ready to receive netherrack, at least a fourth chest to receive other loot drops such as mobs slain or quartz, etc.) Quite boring, but quite relaxing, I think. With every cycle, I'd need to ferry the netherrack back home, feed chickens for new rounds of eggs, till crops to expand the farm, till the tools to generate more cobble, and ferry the cobble and new food out to the portal again. I think I found my first fortress within 3 cycles.

With renewable diamond tools, of course, I went back and strip mined for more diamonds and began torching for a future mob trap, and with a starting inventory of ~25 diamonds, I was able to do more nether tunneling to find my first village. On that stage, I tunneled until my tools were in need of recycling and my chests were bursting with netherrack, whereupon I went home and terraformed and redesigned. When my building efforts at home were held up by smoothstone shortages and surpluses of cobble awaiting smelt, that's when I'd return to the nether to let the crucibles and crops catch up back at home. (My first order of business in my aesthetic build is to center it around OS, to keep the chunks loaded. I'm not entirely convinced that the chunks remain loaded, but the work rhythm works for me nonetheless.)