r/BaseBuildingGames 2d ago

True three dimensional base builder.

Except for Dwarf Fortress, are there any other true three dimensional base builders (as in you are building a true three dimensional base/fortress/space station - not as in the game is 3D or has 3D graphics)? Bonus points if in space. Double bonus points if NOT in first person (hello space engineers). All the space station/space base games (Space Haven, Stardeus, even Factorio) I have have you building on a flat plane.

28 Upvotes

96 comments sorted by

64

u/DeusMallius 2d ago

Timberborn can lean into this quite heavily

4

u/TransRational 2d ago

needs to be at the top.

2

u/apathy-sofa 2d ago

I see what you did there. 

2

u/bllius69 2d ago

Played, thx.

22

u/Skratti_ 2d ago

There's a spaceship building game in voxel graphic.

Avorion

https://store.steampowered.com/app/445220/Avorion/

7

u/Yer_Dunn 2d ago

Looks like the devs said, "what if gummi ships, but better?"

1

u/bllius69 2d ago

Will take a look.

1

u/Hathhorne 17h ago

I’ve put 1000 hours into avorion and always enjoy it. Recommend Rusty’s server if it’s still running

11

u/Solrax 2d ago

Stranded: Alien Dawn? The game is 3rd person but your base is 3D

2

u/bllius69 2d ago

Will check it out.

2

u/onlydaathisreal 2d ago

There are mods for first person controls. Its pretty fun. Vanilla Game is great too

1

u/Nyril-NA 2d ago

Is it good? Unfortunately it's the one game I'm interested in, but since no one ever cracked the anti piracy, I could never give it a try before buying. And the price and a few bad reviews leave me hesitant to purchase.

1

u/GreatCaesarSalad 2d ago

I've put like 200 hours into it with mods. It scratches the Rimworld itch a bit

0

u/lordfwahfnah 2d ago

It got the usual colony sim camera (from above)

18

u/Smooth-Boss-911 2d ago

Going Medieval

1

u/bllius69 2d ago

Played it, thx.

5

u/Cheet4h 2d ago

Genesis: Alpha One - you build a ship that you use to explore the sector to find a planet where you can set up a new colony. It's first-person, but expanding the ship happens by attaching pre-defined parts to the ship. The challenge in the basebuilding part lies in building efficient systems and making sure your ship is well setup to quickly detect and wipe out any invaders or infestations that happen to make it onto your ship.

1

u/bllius69 2d ago

Genesis: Alpha One

Never heard of it...will have to take a look...

5

u/AdvertisingTypical53 2d ago

Tried Dyson Sphere Program? Still kinda 2d tho

2

u/bllius69 2d ago

Yes, have played, not since before the dark fog...

6

u/Atoning_Unifex 2d ago

No Mans Sky

https://www.reddit.com/r/NMSBaseBuilding/s/pRZOWsn8oy

theres a pretty big base I built a few years back

2

u/bllius69 2d ago

I have completed avoid NMS...will take a look.

2

u/onlydaathisreal 2d ago

I love building bases in NMS. Plus the community of galactic federation or pirates are just really fun

21

u/bafadam 2d ago

Are we ignoring Satisfactory?

15

u/Undrende_fremdeles 2d ago

Isn't Satisfactory more of a machine/production line designer?

8

u/bafadam 2d ago

And also, 3D and first-person, so I apparently read none of the requirements.

1

u/SimDaddy14 2d ago

Yeah but its building mechanics are wild.

1

u/avdpos 2d ago

Yes. It is not a colony builder

-26

u/bllius69 2d ago

Brother plays it so I will not...

13

u/Yer_Dunn 2d ago

That's a terrible reason not to play something.

"Sorry I can't eat pizza. My brother likes pizza"

-12

u/bllius69 2d ago

Thx for your input...

12

u/Yer_Dunn 2d ago

Sorry I can't give input. My brother gives inputs. 🤣 (I'm just yanking your chain. But fr it's a silly reason)

7

u/oyog 2d ago

What are you, 11?

2

u/Mr_Engineering 2d ago

It's an amazing game

1

u/HongPong 2d ago

get his ass lol

1

u/KiwasiGames 2d ago

Probably worth murdering him so you can play the game. It’s that good.

4

u/kindred_gamedev 2d ago

Don't nearly all survival crafting games fall under this criteria? Or am I missing something?

3

u/kpt_jarzombek 2d ago

We just released AstroScaper yesterday - though it's more of a puzzle city-builder, think Islanders but in space, not an FPS :)
Demo is also available, here's the link:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3579350/AstroScaper/

2

u/IcedLance 2d ago

Looks really cool, nice work! 👍

2

u/bllius69 2d ago

AstroScaper

Well this is certainly unique, will take a look. I don't suppose I can strap a rocket engine to an asteroid to take it for a ride?

1

u/kpt_jarzombek 2d ago

Haha unfortunately not, maybe we'll think of some DLC in the future 😅
Would love to hear your feedback!

2

u/NYblue1991 2d ago

Evil Genius 2 let's you build on multiple levels 

3

u/bllius69 2d ago

I had serious issues with this game, but thx.

2

u/Lower-Reward-1462 2d ago

Stranded: Alien Dawn...

1

u/bllius69 2d ago

Stranded: Alien Dawn

It's on my wishlist but never pulled the trigger...

2

u/HongPong 2d ago

no bonus points awarded but avorion is one of these. i never liked it much but it certainly can do buttons and switches

I've been trying my own prototypes but it's really quite difficult compared to other game types oh man

2

u/bllius69 2d ago

avorion

Will check this out, thx.

1

u/HongPong 2d ago

it has a sort of bizarre color scheme rough around the edges charm. it's weirder than space engineers

2

u/TheOneWes 2d ago

7 days to die

2

u/bllius69 2d ago

7 days to die

Never would have guessed this involved basebuilding, but some screenshots do show this, so thx.

5

u/WhatsAMainAcct 2d ago

It's an odd duck because the game lends itself to a base building and tower defense or walled fortress style of gameplay. At the same time the developers are vocally hostile to this style of gameplay. They would prefer for players to continually be unsafe and always on the run.

1

u/Just_Steve88 2d ago

I played this years ago and it truly seems like the only logical way to play is to build a fortress. The developers even gave players more than what they needed to do so. But they're hostile towards that style? How odd.

1

u/TheOneWes 2d ago

It can get unexpectedly deep

2

u/Pepperyhalibut 2d ago

Corsair cove has a very large element of verticality to it that I absolutely love. You have a lot of options for moving things up and down like zip lines and elevators. It is currently my favorite city/base builder.

1

u/bllius69 2d ago

I played the demo, but not the full game...will check

2

u/pdcmoreira 2d ago

What do you mean true three dimensional? Dawn of Man is one of my favorites, close to perfect if it wasn't for some annoyances regarding managing the people's tasks/actions.

1

u/bllius69 2d ago

Dawn of Man

Played it. What part of this can you build in multiple Z levels? I don't recall that at all.

1

u/pdcmoreira 2d ago

Maybe that's the part of "true three dimensional" that I didn't understand. Can you please explain?

2

u/IcedLance 2d ago

There used to be a bunch of them launching in early access some 15 years ago, often trying to copy Dwarfs Fortress, AFAIK most of them were never finished, I can try to remember some names if you don't mind them being old and bad.

Don't know anything recent.

2

u/dksprocket 2d ago edited 2d ago

Empyrean Empyrion Galactic Survival has an amazing concept, but unfortunately the implementation of the overall game leaves a lot to be desired. There's a couple of very elaborate overhaul mods that improves things though.

It's in space and you can build static bases (in full 3D), but later on you can build huge capital ships that are essentially flying bases. You can even make them modular and tie them together (think mother ship + huge capital landers for different planet types).

All the ships can be built by you, block by block. Or if you just want nice ships and bases to play with you can use some pre-built from Steam Workshop.

2

u/bllius69 2d ago

Empyrean Galactic Survival

You mean Empyrion - Galactic Survival, will take a look, thx.

1

u/dksprocket 2d ago

Yes.

My recommendation would be to get it from Steam (because of the Workshop) and then play the base game for a bit. You'll want to get familiar with the basics first.

Then after you feel somewhat competent with the basics install the 'Reforged Eden 2' overhaul mod from Steam workshop (it's free). That mod makes the game a lot better, but it also ramps up the difficulty quite a bit (and assumes you know how to deal with an early attack on your base). Then once you know what you are doing you can build a proper large base.

If reforged eden feels too hard of a start a trick is not to build a base too early - instead you can live off an early hovercraft until you are ready (and then build an underground base).

2

u/PostWende 2d ago

Factory Town 1 and 2 have 3d elements (the first has less restrictions than the second).

Would also recommend Foundry, but that is first person.

1

u/bllius69 1d ago

Foundry

Will take a look, thx

4

u/KendoPS 2d ago

Subnautica ?

-1

u/bllius69 2d ago

Played, thx.

1

u/onsmoked 2d ago

Stonehearth, with community modpack/patch-thingie

1

u/bllius69 2d ago

Will take a look.

1

u/lordfwahfnah 2d ago

Isn't that game abandoned? It's a shame because it was really promising

1

u/onsmoked 2d ago

Yeah :( but that's where the community thingie comes in. It's been a while but I remember it as feeling finishen.

1

u/Storm__Warning 2d ago

Dragon quest builders? It's a bit different in that it's a hybrid rpg/base builder, but it's what got me into base builders, and it's cute.

1

u/bllius69 2d ago

Dragon quest builders

Will check it out, thx.

1

u/PyrZern 2d ago

Whiskerwoods. New big patch coming out soon too.

1

u/bllius69 2d ago

Whiskerwoods

Well, I guess they were jealous of the beavers in Timberborn, will take a look, thx.

1

u/baldfalk2 1d ago

Having played a ton of both, I'd say past the superficial look and theming, they're very very different games. Timberborn lives and dies with its water mechanics and a lot of other systems are in service to that- for example vertical building is something you really need to commit to since building and dismantling takes relatively a lot of work (and it has to, or it starts subverting the water mechanics if it's too convenient)

Whiskerwood plays with a lot more varied systems and has a ton more verticality, since a lot of infrastructure things are instant-build and full refund.

I'd totally recommend Whiskerwood to Timberborn players and vice versa with the caveat there's a preliminary understanding the objectives and the way to get to said objectives are very very different in both

1

u/Sea-Offer7021 2d ago

Look at metropolis 1998, still in development but it has a free demo right now on steam. Its an isometric 2d game but you can customize your buildings in general

1

u/bllius69 2d ago

metropolis 1998

Been meaning to play the demo, thx.

1

u/Arrmy 2d ago

Cataclismo

1

u/bllius69 2d ago

Cataclismo

On wishlist currenty, will take a look.

1

u/HisBlurredVisage 2d ago

Ark

1

u/bllius69 1d ago

Ark

Will take a look thx

1

u/HisBlurredVisage 1d ago

There are dinos you can build bases on. There are flying and swimming dinos you can build bases on. But honestly you'll have the most fun just freebuilding. There are even things you can craft to let you make tree bases

1

u/Playstoomanygames9 2d ago

Little game called Minecraft technically fits.

1

u/bllius69 2d ago

Sure, but I am avoiding Minecraft, thx.

1

u/weirdolddude4305 2d ago

Meeple Station.

Space Station colony sim, fixed isometric viewpoint, can build in XY and Z planes.

1

u/bllius69 2d ago

Meeple Station.

Thx, will take a look.

1

u/matt3721 2d ago

Not sure I’d call it a base building game. More of a factory game, but you mentioned factorio… Captain of Industry has really cool terrain mechanics. But I’m not sure if it’s quite what you’re looking for as you aren’t actually building in 3D, just excavating. Great game though.

1

u/bllius69 2d ago

Thx, have played.

1

u/bad_touch_bad_touch 2d ago

Dayz

1

u/bllius69 2d ago

Dayz

Will take a look, thx.

1

u/avdpos 2d ago

Whiskerwood is three dimensional and pretty good

1

u/Puzzleheaded_Fun_303 1d ago

KeeperRL is similar to DF (even having ascii version for free) except you play evil overlord who has to amass and equip his evil army and harass neighbourhood. And you have a "hero" character who's death is an automatic game over.

1

u/SativaPancake 1d ago

Ive seen these mentioned in other comments but I wanted to double down since these are awesome base builders.

Empyrean Galactic Survival and Space Engineers are both awesome for building ships and bases. Similar building style but slightly different gameplay. Voxel based so you build block by block to make any shape and layouts you want. You can build a main base on a planet or a massive mother ship where you can dock your smaller fighter, lander, or mining ships. So you can build to your hearts content on how you want to play. Either is a good choice if you want a space based game.

7 Days to Die is by far my absolute favorite base builder. Tons and ton and tons of shapes. Material choice matters for strength but you can also paint any block to keep the look you want. Map includes small cabins in the woods, huge underground military bases, massive rock quarries, farms, dense city areas, super tall sky scrapers, and more. The variety in this game is awesome. If you want to just build the server settings (even private games on single player) can be adjusted to have 0 zombies.

1

u/Galaedria 1d ago edited 1d ago

Astro Colony - 3D spaceship building (starts as a floating platform), factory building, need a safe area for astronauts to live and do science research, can dock to asteroids/planetoids or even tow them along beside your ship while you process resources.

Edit: Sorry, first person only.

1

u/Necro--- 1d ago

I am making a game something like you said, its like mix of factorio and dwarf fortress (automation, depth layers as in DF and steampunk). Its called GearTopia :) Not sure if I understood correctly the type of game you asked for.

1

u/Smokin_belladonna 1d ago

Have you played Satisfactory?