Base Off: Places Wild CELEBRATION!

Hello, everyone, I'm Achikah and I adore base decorating.

For me, besides my friends, base decorating has kept me engaged with DCUO throughout the years. It's been an outlet of creativity and enjoyment, and one I am immensely passionate about, both for my own creations and seeing the creations of others. So, in light of this, I have started a contest to help encourage fellow community members to find their passion in building/decorating while hopefully inspiring others in the process. Welcome to

Base Off!

For those new to Base Off, it's a bi-monthly base contest, meaning every 2 months, a new contest will start with its own set of rules. The participants are given 6 weeks to create a base for the contest under specific themes/restrictions. The next week will be for touring, judging, and announcing the winner, and the last will be downtime for me to set up the next contest.

So, now that you know what Base Off is about, let's get into the current contest!

Contest Guidelines

For the next installment of Base Off, your theme will be...

Places Wild!

With 2023 coming to a close, so is this year's round of Base Offs, and thus I want to send it off with another Free-For-All base celebration! That’s right, the theming of this Base Off is simple- just show me your best base!

However, there is a liiiittle bit of a twist...

Along with the usual three prize pools, there's also an additional fourth prize pool known as the Wildcard winner. This spot will be chosen not from myself but from a guest judge who has complete control over how they'll choose the Wildcard winner. They can make up their own rubric for judgement, choose a secret theme to adhere by, or go full chaos mode and let chance decide by pulling a random name from a hat- whatever the guest judge choose is what goes!

This winning parameter is to remain hidden throughout the competition, known only to myself and the judge for the entirety of the event only to be reveal when the winner's are being announced. This makes the Wildcard live up to its namesake: a random, luck of the draw winning position that is equally up for grabs by any decorator who enters!

For the introduction to the wildcard spot, I couldn't think of a better guest judge than one of the wiliest wolves I know:

Lycan Sotvier!

Lycan is no stranger to Base off and has been one of the biggest supporters from day one in a multitude of way, both in front of and behind the scenes. On top of being there for myself, he's also been a very generous benefactor to the Base Crafters community as a whole, offering up a plethora of items to help out in both base and character creation to any in need of assistance. He's an avid decorator himself, creating a number of varying bases, and hosts his own base tours on his YouTube channel, The Phoenix Syndicate.

Rules

There aren't many rules to Base Off, but there are a few:

• One base entry per decorator.
• Bases that have already competed in prior Base Offs cannot be re-entered.
• Try your best!

Judging Parameters

Base Off is intended to stoke the flames of creativity. So, above everything, I want you to tell the story you've envisioned with your base. However, this is also a competition, and as the sole judge of such, I’ve designed a set of criteria I’ll be focusing on to choose a winner:

• Creativity- How inventive is your base: How the layout works, what story is told, how furniture is used; pretty much any and everything dealing with unique experiences and creations when viewing your base.
• Craftsmanship- The layout and flow of the base, as well as how it's put together: are the dividers lined up accordingly, are clipped items cleanly clipped, can rooms/halls be accessed as they should, etc.
• Logic- How believable is your base: do items work together constructively, does it make sense for them to be there in relating to the base's theme, do the rooms sync up in a logical progression, are items that are meant to serve the theme/room able to do so believably in the context given.
• Storytelling- How immersive and enthralling is the base's narrative: is there a story being told, if so how engaging is it, how does the layout/pacing progress, etc.
• Aesthetics- The overall visual presences of the base: how is furniture being used to create an atmospheric or cinematic experience.

Like all forms of art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and like anyone else, I have my own personal tastes and opinions when it comes to décor. Because of this, you may gravely disagree with the outcome of the contest, which is understandable. However, I am the final say in deciding the winner and wanted to offer as much transparency to the judging process as possible. So, below are past Base-Off winners, as well as a link to my base tour playlist to help you gauge what my sensibility and tastes are when it comes to decorating.

||Diving In| |Days of Summer| |NotLD| |ADID| |Lofty Ambitions| |Seaso-NO| Lights Camera Craftion| | DotD||

Prizes

What would a contest be without fabulous prizes! Each Base Off will offer different prize pools and include rarer items for avid builders such as out-of:-season pieces and elite furniture drops, as well as some stylish accruement for your characters.

However, much like A Decade in Decor, there are so many prizes within the packs, I'm giving them their own separate post! Check it out below!

Deadline

January 31st, 2024 is the deadline for entries to be in, meaning you'll have roughly a bit over 10 weeks to plan, prepare, and finalize your entry. After that, the next week will be used for my own personal touring for judgement. The first initial tours are expected to be streamed from my Twitch Channel the following Friday, February 2nd, with the winner’s announcement the Friday after, February 16th, on my YouTube Channel.

Entry

To enter, add "Achikah" and "Lycan Sotvier" to your base generator permission once your base is completed and post a comment on the provided Youtube video announcement above, message here in this thread, on the Base Off entry thread in the Base Crafter's Discord, or you can reach out to me in game at “Achikah” through the mail. After you’ve done so, I will message you back in confirmation.

Note: If I have not replied to you, I have not seen your entry! So please, if the deadline is looming, reach out again and contact me!

The comment should contain which server you’re on (EU/US), character name (spelled as it would be in game in its entirety), and the name of your base. Subscription to the channel isn't required but would be greatly appreciated.

Again, only EU/US PS/PC will be consider for this judging pool, but any Xbox/Switch users wanting to participate are more than welcome to post their entries here for everyone else to see.

Any further questions or comments are welcome here, as are Works In Progress for anyone willing to share.

With that, a new Base Off has commenced!

Happy decorating all, and may the best builder win!

-Achikah

Prizes

This time around for Base Off, I've created Prize Packs for each winning entry! Below are the packs you'll receive if you're crowned a finalist as well as what's within each pack.

US Prizes

First Prize

x1 Investibriefion Pack

x1 3/4 World Omni Pack

x1 Elite Furniture Pack

x1 Orrery of the Multiverse (Regular or League Sized)

Second Prize

x1 3/4 World Omni Pack

x1 Elite Furniture Pack

x1 Orrery of the Multiverse (Regular or League Sized)

Third Prize

x1 Elite Furniture Pack

x1 Orrery of the Multiverse (Regular or League Sized)

Wildcard Prize

If Lycan selects a US entry as the Wildcard winner, you'll receive a custom prize pack tailored by him that includes:

x1 Elite Furniture Pack

x1 Luxurious Toilet

x1 Pull Chain Toilet

x1 Mystical Tree Stump

x1 Atlantean Throne

x1 Amethyst Hookah

x1 Jade Hookah

x3 Rock-Celtic Wolf

x1 Black Hole Accessory

Base Off is also for our EU friends here on the game! If an EU contestant wins one of the three prize pools, the following items will be allotted instead:

EU Prizes

First Prize

x1 Investibriefion Pack

x1 Demonic Occultist Pack

x1 Elite Furniture Pack

x1 Neon Lexobyte Chroma Pack

Second Prize

x1 Demonic Occultist Pack

x1 Elite Furniture Pack

x1 Neon Lexobyte Chroma Pack

Third Prize

x1 Elite Furniture Pack

x1 Neon Lexobyte Chroma Pack

Wildcard Prize

If Lycan selects an EU entry as the Wildcard winner, you'll receive a custom prize pack tailored by him that includes:

x1 Elite Furniture Pack

x2 Luxurious Toilet

x2 Mystical Tree Stump

x1 Amethyst Hookah

x1 Jade Hookah

x1 Babbling Brook Sets

x1 Last Sun Material

Prize Pack Contents US

Below are the list of prize packs for the US side as well as their contents, each containing one of the items listed beneath it.

Investibreiftion Pack

Replica Urgrund Weapon Rack

Spectrum Poster

Green Lantern Memorial Statue

Apokoliptian Cannon

Nectar of the Gods

Red Lantern Banner

Black Lantern Banner

Shakespeare Bust

Bottle City of Kandor Pedestal

Third World Omni Pack

Fourth World Monitor

Forth World Wall Monitor

Third World Server

Third World Portal Panel

Third World Pipe

Third World Fluid Tanks

Third World Ventilation

Third World Hyper Conductor

Elite Furniture Pack

Coolant Beam

Coolant Beam- Vertical

Crown of Thorns Portal

ARGUS Containment Field

Holographic Phoenix Cannon

Mossasaurus Skeleton

Crime Bible Replica

Arion's Gate- Active

Prize Pack Contents EU

Below are the list of prize packs for the EU side as well as their contents.

Investibreiftion Pack

Replica Urgrund Weapon Rack

Green Lantern Memorial Statue

Apokoliptian Cannon

Nectar of the Gods

White Lantern Banner

Savage Stronghold Cannon

Lavish Bed

Bottle City of Kandor Pedestal

Demonic Pack

1 Otherworldly Demon Skull

1 Demon Worm

3 Walls of the Damned

3 Impaled Damned

2 Pool of Lava

1 Flash Museum Fire Sign

1 Throne of Skulls

Elite Furniture Pack

Coolant Beam

Pillar of Eternity

ARGUS Ceiling Cannon

Atlantean Spear Rack

Spindrift Suit

Amazo Terminal

Phoenix Cannon Hologram

Clocktower Window- Large

Aroin's Gate- Active

For clarification, there is only one loot pool for Base Off currently, meaning US/EU are competing against one another.

For all my tl;dr friends, or just for clarity's sake, here's a more concise blurb of the contest and its guidelines.

Base Off is a reoccurring bi-monthly base competition to foster a community of creativity and discussion amongst DCUO base builders. Every 2 months, a new contest will start with its own set of rules. The participants are given 6 weeks to create a base for the contest under specific themes/restrictions. The next week will be for touring, judging, and announcing the winner, with the last used for downtime to set up the next contest.

Base Off: Places Wild!

Contest Parameters: Show me your best base!
Starting Date: November 17th, 2023
Deadline for Entries: January 31st, 2024
Initial Livestream of Entries on Twitch: February 2nd, 2024
Winner Announcement Video on Youtube: February 16th, 2024

Entry: To enter, add "Achikah" and "Lycan Sotvier" to your base generator permission once your base is completed and post a comment on the provided YouTube video, on the official forums (in the Base Off thread or a DM), in the Base Crafter's Discord entry thread, or on the game itself. The comment should contain both your server (EU/US), character name on game (spelt accurately), as well as the name of your base. Note: if I have not confirmed your entry with a reply I HAVE NOT SEEN IT, so please resend or contact me again.

Note: Only EU/US PS/PC users will be eligible for this current contest.

How much in-game cash would you take for any fourth world base items you have? Or do I have to REALLY win them?

That wildcard judge thing sounds totally fun! There's always a judge in a group that gets mad because somebody doesn't like something and they think it's the best. It will be interesting to see what happens with this...

Character Name: Zoe
Server: EUPCPS
Base Name: Metro Uni

This is a School\University type of base. Hope you enjoy the tour! Gave you both access.

Haha! Well, for the EU side I couldn't get the prize pack quite finalized for a Fourth World pack, mainly the actual Fourth World part is what's alluding me. I might have a few extras of the Third World omnibus pieces though if you're in need I can send over though. Just let me know which ones you're looking for.

And ya! I'm really excited for the Wildcard addition and a guest judge spot. New perspective are always nice to have, as is collabing with other community members. =)

Oooo, yay! I love a good museum! Got you added to the tour list, super looking forward to seeing it. =D

Awesum, we get to pest Lycan with his own question, so.....

Are we there yet? xD

Museum was last time, this time a University =D This is very awesome that you got Lycan to join you on judging this time. I'm excited to see how it all turns out

It still sucks that’s I have so many creative bases I made that I can’t showcase because I’m still shunned out of this part of the community….

LMAO!

Hey, Lycan, I'm gonna leave this here, ya know, just in case you need to borrow it:



XDD

Oh, that's right! I misread, I'm so sorry. The last few weeks have been such a blur. Maybe a good study session will help calm things down in the ol' noggin, haha!

And me too! If everything goes well, it opens up a whole new opportunity to work/collab with other community members, which is really cool. Excited to see how things play out, and, of course, to see all your guys' bases, as usual. =D

RyThe2nd
Us pc
The House

Oooo, nice! Got you all added to the tour list, sir. Looking forward to checking this one out and thank for the entry! =D

Now that I have my computer up and running again, you KNOW I'm entering, I don't care if I win or not, I just love the vibe with the community and the sheer support that you experience from everyone. Plus, it gives me an excuse to do something different and actually finish an Alt's base

So... with that in mind, I'm entering my Bank toon...

Server: US PS/PC
Character name: Bankof Ashicus
Base name: The Bank.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!! can't waait to see what you all create!

(Achikah, tho, not Linda)

As a big proponent of giving lore to all the storage mule characters out there, this is SUPER GREAT!
Got you added to the entry list, can't wait to visit! =D

Hey now, I thought we all agreed to bother Lycan this time around! What is this treachery!?
XD

hey hey hey



Are we there yet?

I think I’m ready…
VIGILANT BATECTIVE: STATELY MANOR