Last week, I found two nice hotspots and a power hotspot near a factory. This week I finally got round to putting in a base. I set up the generators and extractors first, then I needed to create something to shelter in while visiting this cold planet. I didn't have time for anything complicated or fancy and sometimes you just want a simple base you can visit to collect the resources, but I also didn't want to drop a prefab or crude shack. Then I realised that, because the dioxite resource was right beside the factory, I had another option…

Well, this is cosy

And this looks cool

I was happy with this solution; it saved time, is very cosy in there, and I liked the idea of a base with its own sentinel guard unit. It was only after placing the nomad dock and stepping back to admire the scene that I remembered something important; that door is going to regenerate. Most times I visited, I'd have to blast my way out and either have a fight or hide. Now, sometimes a ready-made sentinel fight would be just what I was looking for, but more often it wouldn't (and the alarm noise is annoying).

Then I had another idea…

Adding a 6 next to the factory's 5 was an unexpected bonus joke

Now I don't have to go outside at all. if I just pop in for the resources, I just grab them and go. Now I have a sneaky base, guarded by sentinels, and nobody need know I'm there. Well, except for the dock and landing pad right outside.

There is a lake in front of the factory…

A lake with possibilities

It's close enough and deep enough to hide the other end of a short-range teleport hop, a landing pad, a roamer dock and any other little thing I might want to add. It would be even more super secret and I'd still have the option of breaking out for a fight when I wanted to. The problem is "any other little thing I might want to add"; when I devote any kind of attention to a base, I often go a bit over the top. I'm showing some discipline for once – I really do have other things to be doing – but this is going to niggle at the back of my mind for some time. So I thought I'd ask: what would you do?