Custom Military Base Project

[Casper3141 60]

Greetings fellow Simtropians, After snooping around the STEX I still havent found much in the way of Military Bases, And ive kinda gotten tired of using my Old Ft Casper I uploaded along with the standard Army Base, Area 5.1 and decided it was time to make a Lot Pack, Using Frogface's Concrete Wall Prop pack, and my old Harrier/A10/Huey/Osprey props I messed around in LE for an hour and came up with a couple basic lots to kinda test the feasibility of a pack

Bit repetitive right now, but hope to put some time in this to make several different versions of things like, Hangers, Barracks, Army HQ, Control Towers, ect any Modders or Batters out there who wanna join me in this little endeavor be my guest, but for now ill keep working on what ive got and post progress, looking for any feedback/ideas you guys might have and Ill do my best to see it gets made

[LivingInThePast 364]

Well, I think some sort of transit-enabled entry point would be nice (all bases, at least in America, have that: others have simple checkpoints, which American bases also used to have, until September 11th forced the closure of many). And also, nearly all the bases I've seen in the U.S., including Fort Hood and one in Panama City, have tall, strong fences, not concrete walls. And if you want the military base to seem more human (and realistic) try placing in some sort of "Naval Exchange" or something. And housing. Lots and lots of housing.

[Casper3141 60]

Havent really figured out how imm gonna do the Housing, but I was planning on having a Concrete Wall version and a Big Chain Link style fence like you suggested, was also thinking about Transit Enabling all entry points and modding them to somewhat double as Police stations, maybe mod the Control Tower to trick the game in a way so the pack can act like an Airport

  Edited October 16, 2011 by Casper3141  

[VeritaScientia 150]

LivingInThePast has some good points in his post.

I'd back a modular military base project, the current MD (maxis default) military base is more akin to something the US Army would use in Iraq, its more akin to a Forward Operating Base.

What you've got there is a great start to modularity. I'd suggest looking at various military installations. But I should warn you, if you're serious about this you're in for a big project. If you ask nicely, you might be able to collaborate with the SNM people, they've put some good stuff out, other stuff I hadn't gotten to work.

I'm talking American stateside bases here, foreign military bases are different, but generally an active-duty military base is a city unto itself, depending upon the factors of the military units based there: are they active duty, reserve, National Guard, etc and are they brigades, divisions, or corps-level units? What this means is not only does a military base have a military function, but it needs facilities for the families of the troops. These are all located on the "main post", while there may be some military vehicles on the main post, only in a higher security area. Army and Marine posts will usually have some undeveloped land to let the soldiers and Marines "play" without prying civilian eyes. Base main posts aren't typically walled fortresses, however, only select parts are high-security areas, which can use the SimPeg security fence setup.

Here's what each "main post" would be like:

US Army posts are different based on what the base is designed for: if it's an armor post like Fort Hood (home to several armored units) they have armor motor pools on base. Fort Campbell, which is an Airborne base, it has a good sized airfield with many helicopters. The US Army generally placed their posts near small towns like Kileen, Texas for Ft. Hood and Hopkinsville, Kentucky for Ft. Campbell.

US Navy bases center the action on the waterfront obviously, there's the berths and mooring points for the various naval vessels, then just inland are warehouses for ship provisions like food. It's also important to note: US Navy bases that are home to carriers don't always have the carrier's aircraft there. NS Norfolk is home to several carriers, but their aircraft are based at NAS Oceana. For Naval Air Stations, they're similar to Air Force bases, but many don't have the land that an Air Force Base does. Still for Navy bases, most are very conducive to blending into an urban port development.

Air Force Base main posts are centered around the lifeblood of any airbase, the airport. They have ample tarmac space for the planes, but generally away from the airfield look generally built-up.

Marine Corps bases are usually similar to Army bases, except for Camp Pendleton which has a small port for landing craft.

For a modular base, I'd suggest these:

"PX" building, the main store of any base.

armory: medium-sized storage for small arms

magazine complex for heavy artillery shells, larger bases will have a bunker complex, more compact bases will have usually a large warehouse or have the ordinance stationed elsewhere (the USAF jets flying over New York City on 9/11 supposedly didn't have live missiles because the base they came from stored their weaponry at Fort Drum two hours away)

Headquarters building: Most are just normal low-rise office complexes, their size depends on the unit's size they're the headquarters for.

Other small office buildings that can be scattered around the main post

In the end, you can always ask permission to modify other people's ideas, don't worry about going from the ground up.

For general ideas, use Wikimapia and Google Maps to look up these places:

Fort Hood

Fort Campbell

Fort Sill

Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island

Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego

Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton

Naval Station San Diego/Naval Air Station North Island/Naval Amphibious Base Coronado (they're all very close to one another)

Naval Station Norfolk

Nellis Air Force Base

Barksdale Air Force Base

General Mitchell Air National Guard Base

Pensacola Naval Air Station.

[LivingInThePast 364]

Fort Hood has lots of undeveloped land used for training, and only a small amount of the land is used. In 2007, during a training exercise, a soldier was lost and died out on the rolling hills and trees of Fort Hood. Often times, there's parks and running trails, and in many ways, they are true cities-within-a-city.

[emperordaniel 1,281]

Just wondering, what's the name in Lot Editor of those missile launchers just below the tanks in your pic? I've been looking for them for AGES

[SAVAGExPHOENIX 955]

If you're serious about this, let me know. I was stationed on a variety of posts, including training bases, deployment bases, airbases, and of course when I deployed I went to several Forward Operating bases, ranging in size from several meters long to several miles. I can give you lots and lots and lots of pointers and direction.