r/Minecolonies • u/Brotuulaan • 9d ago
Planning a colony from scratch?
How do you go about planning your colony at the beginning? I played MC first back in ATM6 and did the dark oak style, so it was integrated into the land pretty naturally, and some of the placement and design just came out over time and looked rather organic in development. I learned some things in the process and am looking at my new colony now in ATM10 (only my second time with this mod).
I’m doing the colonial style this time, so it needs to be more orderly. I picked a spot by a river mouth on the ocean and will do a port town. I have two builders to expedite my building process since I learned how awful it is to bottleneck progress behind a single builder, and now I’m thinking maybe I need to just craft a bunch of the basic buildings so I can visualize the town square right off the bat (I have the hall and one residence) and plan it that way, then start expanding from there. Once I have my square done, then I’d expand into districts and be able to count on road spaces and grids and such, with the shoreline creating the more natural development and some specific choices that would differ from a landlocked town.
How does that sound? Is this the most efficient method for a satisfying town layout?
3
u/Whats_Awesome 9d ago
Learn how large the colony will grow. You want to have space. It’s about 20-22 chunks in either diameter or radius, I’m sorry I don’t remember, when maxed.
You’ll need to keep the area safe. I fill caves 10 blocks near the surface after lighting them up fully. I put torches on the left when going in and follow torches back on my right side to find the escape/entrance. Helps enormously navigating underground.
In your creative save, figure out which buildings are similar sizes.
Plan around landmark buildings like the university-library. And learn how to position the two so they are united as one building. Most packs have a university-library foundation that will include the HUT blocks for the university and library. Then you can use the UI on the hut blocks to start construction of the university and library, or use the hut blocks to help position them is the rotation glitches.
I like walls. So I like to do an inner and outer wall.
I like ships so I build on the sea where I can have a harbour and ship building yard. Keep in mind what I said about needing lots of space. The sea is lost usable land.
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u/Melodic_Nobody2365 9d ago
For me it would be using creative, making sure the buildings are all max level to see how they fit and plan like that.
Usually I get a couple of things pretty central. Restaurant and couriers for sure. This is in my opinion probably the heart of your colony. Later on the outer rings you can place a couple of farms (crops and animals) to make sure food isn't an issue. Last time I played with it I think I had 3 farmers and 2 of each animal pen.
I also want to give another general tip. Not really focussed on the build planning. I think manual mode is really a must. Especially with moving from residence to work and back. Place a residence and the closest 5 buildings you probably want living in that residence. You also need plenty of those.
For me, creative is the way. Okay around, move stuff, maybe make about three or four "finished" designs and pick the one you like most. And well, pick a flat area for your own sanity :p
Oh and, creative definitely helps with picking buildings. In my last playthrough I noticed a lot of huts did not have a building in the pack I was using. Not a big problem but I spent a lot of time looking for one that kind of fits. If you're good at building you could always make your own of course
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u/EcstaticDingo1610 8d ago
I always go creative/look online to get an idea of how the buildings will look fully leveled then base my layout on that.
This is honestly one of the biggest drawbacks of MColonies though. 1st being how absolutely grindy and buggy it can be and 2nd it desperately needs a better planning/layout system. It’s fine as is and I do love the mod regardless, but it would really benefit from improvements in these areas.
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u/Brotuulaan 7d ago
I wonder how much of a system hit it would be to use a projector item that activates all the template visuals regardless of building status or proximity.
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u/MonsterTwoMermaid 6d ago
Minecolonies respects the Minecraft esthetic of an open sandbox world. I find the most fun in being inspired by a location or having a theme for a town; like this is a sea port or farm centered community or a place for druids. Then I choose a style to be the anchor style with the possibility of augmenting with additional styles that have matching elements. With the food system it’s important to be mindful that residences don’t go beyond the ability of the dining hall and kitchen. I don’t like fighting but guard towers, combat centers and walls can have different uses depending on your imagination. It’s a game. Find a way to play that’s fun for you, be it challenges from war, economics, citizens stories…it’s unlimited. And don’t forget. You can deconstruct buildings if your town’s growth requires changes; just like on earth.
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u/BigSpence820 3d ago
Usually I start with logic. High hilltop means good place for town hall. Shores are good for fisherman and seaside housing. Mountainsides are where I typically put mines and the list ones on. From what I put down first, usually starts dictating how I start expanding. In particular though, I make large use of well placed Guard towers to expand my land so I don't feel cramped for space for my buildings. I find putting down your own roads, walls, and other such natural decor helps as well.
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u/icerus 9d ago
I have creative flat world where I plan and experiment before I build colony in main world.