New Player Building Codes

So, you've joined up and you're smart enough to check the wiki, eh? That makes you better than most of the players already! Good job! Hopefully you're checking this before doing any work on your base, because the architects who designed and built it probably won't appreciate your random nerdpoles and mines right outside (or under) your walls. But what else is there? There are a lot of things that aren't covered by common sense- base building has evolved a long way.

The Principles of Base Design
There are several important things to consider when building or improving your base. I will address each of these below:
 * Attackability- How easy is it for people to break in?
 * Defensibility- How quickly and effectively can defenders get to defend the attacked area?
 * Mobility- How obnoxious is it to move around your own base?

Attackability
​Obsidian  -> Stone        ->   Cobble ->   Gravel     -> Air Doublestep       Furnace     Everything Smooth brick     Brick       Else It is very important to make it take a long time to break in. A long time means they have to spend more TNT, which means they have to bring more TNT, which means you get a bigger bonus for killing attackers, and you have longer to wear them down as they attack.
 * Put Obsidian under doors. Iron doors are as strong as what they are placed on. If your team doesn't have any obsidian, go get some.
 * Make walls at least three Stone thick. Use Stone Brick whenever possible since it can be moved and replaced easily by other architects when situations change.
 * Don't build stairs up your walls! Attackers love to look for things like gatehouses, fences, or personal homes to hop up on your walls which gives them much greater mobility around your base. Really bad stairs might allow them access to your roof, and from there your armory is easy pickings.
 * DON'T DIG IN YOUR BASE. Virtually every base or plot has mines and caves under it, that's just a law of Minecraft. These make easy access tunnels to your inner walls, and when maps start bricking them up is generally priority 1. Don't go dig them out again. Don't build new holes someone will have to brick in. Dig somewhere at least 200 from base.

"That's all well and good" you say out loud through a orange haze of cheeto dust, "But what about this most excellent defensive method I've thought up? Let's build them everywhere!"
 * Pits: Since enemies can't build or destroy things, a simple 2 or 3 deep pit is essentially a prison. Sure they are easy to avoid normally, but they are extremely hard to avoid if you're dodging arrows and defenders. These are low-effort, no-cost defensive measures so you see them often: but they are a pain in the neck to dodge constantly in everyday base use. Put them in low-traffic areas that attackers will likely have to pass through. For bonus hatred from everyone, bonemeal the grass for camoflage.
 * Trenches: Similar to pits, just dig a really deep trench. Cheaper than a wall and just as effective.
 * Cactus Walls: Utterly ineffective but you see them everywhere anyway. Place a TNT at the base of a cactus and it will dissolve completely and instantly, then you can pick the TNT up again. They see some use as a passive defense where TNT use isn't expected, like at outposts. But really, don't count on them.
 * Punji Pits: Put a cactus at the bottom of a pit. Attackers are pinned and killed. Sounds great right? Sure, but you lose all the loot and friendly players who fall in will hate you and eventually sabotage them. Use with caution.
 * TNT mines: A waste of TNT. Don't even think about it.
 * Lava: Placing lava has been disabled on this server, sorry!
 * Gravel Drops: These are questionable of value, as they dump a shitload of gravel on a attack pathway to block it from being attacked, but require that defenders actually trigger it right (and not trigger it early or when there is no raid), and that attackers are actually using that attack direction. They require a lot of time and maintenance for little defensive value.
 * Murder Holes: Making a 2x2 gap in a wall and putting halfbrick on the floor makes an impassible window that you can shoot attackers through. But, halfbrick blows up easily so you've basically made a hole. Make certain that if they want to use your Murder Hole as their attack route, it's harder than using the main door they're already bombing. If that's the case, why bother?
 * Arenas: Make an easy-to-access arena that attackers would like to assault to get into your base, but make the exit difficult to breach and the walls hard to climb. Defenders can easily pick off the attackers from elevated, covered positions and there is no cover in the arena. These are great for outposts, but for main bases they are essentially a security hole unless designed well.

''I've heard people call Pits and Punji Pits "murder holes". Those people are retarded. Don't be like them!''

Defensibility and Mobility
The general idea is you should be able to get from spawn to anywhere in base in 30 seconds or less. Multiple, winding pathways everywhere will ruin this number. Asymetric, random bases will confuse defenders.

But you have to balance this with Attackability. If you have clean boardwalks that go everywhere, they're just highways for attackers. Your base's chief architect likely has this already designed and implemented. Don't fuck it up!
 * Skydrops: Red base uses these (or used these, if we're not on Map 3 anymore)
 * Gatehouses: For normal highways and wall tops, place gatehouses regularly to keep attackers from moving wherever they want. Place stairs going up them from behind so defenders can move across them with no slowdown- this also gives them another angle to repel attackers from.
 * Spout: From a higher area you can have stairs that lead down but not connect to the lower area, making a one-way unattackable pathway. Make certain that it is one-way and unattackable when you build it, though!
 * Arrow Towers: When you're building an arrow tower, the idea is to provide your defenders with a place that is high-cover, elevated, AND has a good view of valuable territory. If you can build your tower so that defenders can see the attackable wall, you're golden. Not too high though, since archery at range is tricky business and we both know there's maybe two people on your team who can pull it off and everyone else are dumbasses.