City of Heroes Coldfront (CoH, CoV)

Welcome to my, Lil_Miss', Guide to Bases! In this guide, I hope to go over everything from Rent, to Base Objects, to Prestige and Base Thematics!

Why am I writing this Guide to Bases? Because I like them! I don't know why, but to me, Bases are a wonderful object that Super Groups can use and contribute to! Now before I go into the fun parts of Bases and Building them, I get to cover the not so happy parts... >.>

Bases are a CoV Exclusive Option. That means, if you have City of Villains on your account, you can access Bases from CoV or CoH. Should you not own CoV, but just CoH, then you can not access bases. I know, it's depressing, but it's the way it is. This can lead to akward moments when some members of the SG have CoV, but others do not. The only thing that can be done in this situation is to encourage those who do not have CoV, to gain it so they to may enjoy all the base privilages!

Prestige and You

Bases are built using a little something called Prestige. This is some number your SG has that can be earned only two ways. Defeating foes in Super Group Mode, or a direct transfer of Influence / Infamy (here on out known as "inf") into Prestige! The current exchange rate for Inf to Prestige is about 500 : 1. So for every 500 Inf you pay, you earn your SG 1 Prestige. Pretty steep, huh? Well, it's not that bad and could be a lot worse.

Now, Prestige isn't yours, per say, but it belongs to your Super Group. When you earn Prestige, it goes straight into the SG's pot where it's now impossible to tell which one or two was yours. In the Super Group menu, to the far right is a list of numbers under the Prestige Column. While that number tells how much of the Prestige you earned for your SG, you can not ever get it back from them. Once you earn it for your SG, you can't leave and take it with you because it's not yours. The Prestige column is there for a number of reasons. Bragging rights and to show who's been earning it.

Now, another way (kind of a third way, but not really) to earn Prestige, is to gain members! That's right, for the first 15 people to join the SG (including the founder), the SG gains 20,000 Prestige each. So at a maximum, that's 300,000 Prestige just for having people in the SG. Don't even have to be active people, just people. They could be you, and your 14 Alts, but the SG would still get the Prestige. Free money for people? Sign me up!

Now that we're trying to earn Prestige, and the best way to do that is to run around in tights and beat people up in Super Group Mode, how does that work? Well, from level 1 to 50, you will be earning ABOUT the same amount of Prestige. As you level, it will increase by an incredibly small amout. Why? This keeps the level 1's helping out just as much as the level 50s, kill for kill. Now the level 50 will be generating more, if only because they can kill more baddies faster, but the level 1 won't be dragging the SG down.

From level 1 to 32 you will be gaining both Inf and Prestige in SG Mode. But at level 33, you will no longer gain Inf and Prestige, but either or. If you're in SG Mode, then you'll gain Prestige. If you're out of SG Mode, you'll gain Inf. From level 25 to 32, the amount of Inf goes down, and the amount of Prestige starts a VERY slight climb per kill, that you may not even notice. So in the early levels, always always always be in SG mode, after level 25, it's not that bad, but after 32, it becomes a choice to when you want to be in SG Mode or not.

Rent, the Taxing

Ah Rent. That wonderful thing that keeps me from owning that really big flat in the city. Oh. In game. Right. Well Rent for your Base will work differently then in the Real World, so be prepared for some mental adjustments! In the Real World, you pay rent based on what you have. You could earn millions upon millions, but if you rent a small house in the country, you won't be paying much rent. Or you could earn a couple thousand a month and attempt to pay several thousand a month for that expensive flat in the city with the nice corner view and open living room.

But in CoH and CoV land, you pay Rent based not only on how big your base is, or what is in it, but also how much liquid assets you have! "Why is this," you ask? Well it's simple! They allow us to sell every base item for full price as opposed to a partial price, like how enhancements work. So if you don't like that couch there, and can't find a good place for it, no worries! You can sell it right back for full value, and there's no harm, no foul! Some little twit in your SG with base editing rights get a little carried away and spent all that Prestige on a Maze of Books Shelves when you were saving up for a work bench? No problem! Sell them back at full price!

The down side to that is when Rent comes due, you're paying for what you own, and what you COULD own. How is it related? It prevents people from abusing the system and selling nearly everything in the base right before paying rent (for full value), paying the now small rent, and then building the base back up again. So what does this mean for you?

It means rent is, on a smooth scale, goes from 0% at 0 Prestige to 1% at 1,000,000 Prestige. From there, it goes up to 2% at around 14,000,000 Prestige and 3% at around 69,000,000 Prestige. The maximum the rate is 3.8% at around 170,000,000 prestige. Now since it's a smooth scale, it means that you'll pay a fraction of a percent between 0 and 1 Million Prestige on Rent Day if you're between those two numbers.

So where do you pay this? Well, go see the NPC who you would go to to create a Base, and if you're high enough in rank, you can pay the Base's rent! Woohoo! You can give out hard earned Prestige to make sure that your stuff keeps working!

But wait! What if you don't want to pay Rent? What if you want to fight the system!? Well you can! If you don't pay rent, or are late in doing so, certain items in your base will turn off. They'll still be there, but you can't use them. Those items are things like the Super Computer (who gives out SG missions) and the Raid Teleporter, and most importantly for those PvPers, the Base Defenses! That's right! Paying late on your rent could lose you an Item of Power! Also, Rent won't accumulate over the months that you don't pay it. So not paying for three months won't make you pay three months of rent. But it will be slightly higher because your SG will still be gaining Prestige. And remember, it charges you Rent based on how much Prestige your SG has!

The Place You Stay

So now you know how you gain Prestige, and how Rent is charged... But what about this Base thing you've heard about? Well, you should get one! To do that, see the Super Group Registration (also the place you pay Rent and create the SG) and tell them you want to make a Base! And poof! You get one!

It's only a 2x2 Square at the start, but it contains the Secret Enterance (blue swirely portal) and you can fill it with any amount of Decorative Items that you can fit in there. From this room, you can build outward and create... a base! There are several types of rooms you can build, and I'll do my best to go over them all for you!

So, you walk into the base, and you happen to have Base Editing Capabilities, well in that opening room, a little window pops up. It has three buttons (yay buttons!). It reads...

Edit Base
Add Personal Item
Upgrade Plot

Each one lets you do something similar or small. If you don't have Base Editing Powers, you only see Add Personal Item

I'll go ahead and start with Edit Base, because it's both at the top, and the one I want to focus on here and now... Once you click Edit Base, your screen changes and you now have only three windows.

On the top left is a window that gives details on the room you're currently in / targeting.
On the top right is a window that gives details on the Item or section of room your targeting.
On the bottom is a window that gives details on what you can purchase.

You'll probably mostly find yourself using the bottom and right windows, while the using the left window occationally for details such as what you can place and what you can't.

The bottom window has four buttons...

Create Room
Pick Style
Place Item
Current Room

Create Room lets you, ta da, create rooms for your Base! The types of rooms varie, and are listed as Tabs across the bottom window, and they are...

Doorway - Lets you change where the doorway is that goes into a room.
Decorative - No function except for decorative items. Cheap for the space
Energy - You need power for your base so things in it will work!
Control - You need control for your base so things in it will work!
Defense - For hallways and such that are defensive. For PvP.
Transport - For Telepads and Raid Teleporters!
Workshop - For Work Tables and Forges.
Medical - You can place Medical Pads here and Res at your base instead of the Hospital
Vault - For keeping Items of Power!

Within each of those tabs, is a bunch of rooms of various size, cost, and benefits that you can place.

After that comes Pick Style! This button is a totally cosmetic change, and really only adds to the flavor of a base. >.> I personally like the Miyuki style.

Then comes the Place Item! While in Base Editing Mode, you're running around the base, and the Items you can place in a room, change with which room you're in! In the Control Room, you can place Control items in addition to the standard decoration. In the Power Room, you can place Generators and Circut Breakers. In Decorative Rooms, you can only place, you guessed it, Decorations. Some rooms that can be built are Defensive in nature, and allow you to place a Defense Item. If you plan on Raiding, you best be thinking about getting atleast one of those! Nothing says "Suprise!" like a Turret in the Control Room!

The final button is Current Room, and it gives a listing of all the items in the room! That makes it easier to mass sell things, or if you need to select that tiny phone or stack of papers to move it. Pretty useful for selling items and finding where they are.

Now, keep in mind that most items in your base require Control and Power to operate. You can place those work tables, but they won't do anything until you have some Control. And that Mainframe won't work unless you have a Generator. So the first two rooms you might want to look into is the Power room and the Control room. Atleast, if you want it operational. If you just want the decorations, then you won't need either!

Items Anyone Can Buy!

Now let's back out of Edit Base, and take a look at Add Personal Item. Now, anyone can Add a Personal Item, and it looks identicle to the Edit Base, except the bottom window has only one button, "Exit". To the right of it, is a horrizontal scrolling section that will have all the Personal Items you "own" in there. They'll have a picture of the item, the name of the item, and the price of the item.

Personal Items cost Prestige, and sinse anyone can place them, anyone can spend Prestige. But be careful! If you sell a Personal Item, the plans don't go back to the person who built it! And how do you get those plans? Why, from the work tables and Salvage! What you are building from the work tables are Personal Items, and you can place them for a cost. Just make sure to check with the higher ups in yoru SG before going around and placing things willy nilly, because none of the items you can make are decorative. Some of those Personal Items that you can make (Mission Computer, Inspiration Tree, etc) come from Super Group Badges! So get in SG mode, and stay there! The Mission Computer you get from Lackeying SG members while in SG Mode. The Inspiration Tree you gain from Healing others while in SG mode.

That's actually about all you need to know about Personal Items.

Bigger Homes and Gardens

Upgrade Plot. This is the most expensive option in the Base Editor! Clicking that button will give you two windows. The bottom window and the top right window. The bottom window shows you what kinds of plots you can upgrade into, and how big they are, and how much they cost. There are two types of plots. Hidden and Secure. I haven't figured out the largest difference between the two, at this time, but given a run to the test server, I may have more information on it in the future.

The second cheapest plot upgrade from the standard one you gain costs 1,653,861 Prestige, and adds another 3x9 section onto the end. Yeah, told you it was expensive.

The Upper Right window will give you all the stats of the selected Plot. It basically covers how many of each room you CAN have, not fit, but can have. It lets you know before you buy if you can even make a third Control Room for your base, or if you have to live with just two.

This covers, I think, the basics to building your base, managing your Prestige, and dealing with Rent. While I can't help but feel like I very well might have left something out, I can't for the life of me remember what! But if you know something I forgot to mention, or see something that's wrong, please PM me and I'll change it in a future update!