Solo Building tips?

[goldenpsp]

Hey all,

 

I'm relatively new to epoch and on the one hand I find the modular building pretty amazing.  At the same time I am finding it highly frustrating.

 

Any tips/tricks for building solo?  Most notably trying to line or square up wall sections?  I find that it is very difficult lining up walls without a spotted as you are limited with your camera.

 

I thought about putting down a temp floor section as an aid to square up 2 walls.  When I tested shooting the floor to destroy it later it blew up in my face.  So I am concerned it would also damage my existing walls.

 

Any thoughts tips etc?

[Richie]

With some luck maybe Maca will release this :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fEK9BOBMy0

[goldenpsp]

That would be awesome. Any tips until then?

[Eegore]

 Once I've set a wall and want to square up another I just drop an item on the ground at the angle I want the non-adjoining end to face. 

[Kivuli]

Use the ALT key to free look from every angle you can.

[goldenpsp]

but of course.  Why didn't I think of that.  Free look is very limited and still makes it really hard to get 2 wall sections squared up.

[Grinchen]

Use a compass?

 

I use it all the time when placing out walls and other stuff.

 

 

Use the compass to get the angle, then use ALT + Mouse to look around to see if its in the ground or near another wall and whatnot.

[Eegore]

Use a compass?

 

I use it all the time when placing out walls and other stuff.

 

 

Use the compass to get the angle, then use ALT + Mouse to look around to see if its in the ground or near another wall and whatnot.

 

  Yeah I forgot to mention that the compass is how I angle myself to set items on the ground at specific angles.

 

  Good call.

[DrScandalous]

If you're struggling with zombies bugging you while you're building, it may be worth building a temporary stick fence around the building area to keep them out of your base while you're putting things together. 

[veeshan]

Solo building is always easier if you use the clipping as a guide. By this, I mean intentionally overlap the modular building items until you get a flush fit, then you can move it so it is less overlapped at that point. For instance, in order to make perfectly level floors, there is a point where the new floor is visible through the old one, but a single ctrl-pagedown will make the floor vanish beneath the previous one. You want the one where you can see the floor (this is easier with metal floors than wood IMO). Btw, on floors you want a little overlap just to be safe. Cinderwalls are also easy to line up because of the mortar lines. Like the floors, to get them even, look for the "bleed through" and tweak until it's semi visible, but a slight movement will make it not visible through the previous wall.

A lot of it is practice, but once you are used to it, you can place down a large volume of building items in a very short amount of time.

edit: Oh yes, your player position (standing, crouch, prone) can be helpful. For walls to make sure they are flush with the floor, it helps to be prone and use alt-look to see if you have it level on the floor /w no visible gaps.

[Mercules]

Yet another tip. There are keys assigned to zoom your vision in and out some. You might want to reassign them to something easy to reach and zoom out a bit which while using the free look can give you a pretty good view of what is happening. Something as large as a Shed can't be lined up very well this way, it is just too big, but Walls and such can be. Don't be afraid to stop the construction over and over until the placement is right.