Building

Geomastery features a number of new aspects relating to building. If you are clicking to place a building element, such as a wall, and nothing happens, consider the list of significant restrictions below.

Loose blocks
In general, you cannot place any block in the same form you dug it up. When you break a dirt block, it drops a ‘loose dirt’ item but you may not be able to re-place it the same spot. This is true for sand, clay, and gravel, which all drop a ‘loose’ item. Stone also drops a loose item but this is called rubble and has other origins and uses.

Loose items can only be used in building by ‘heaping’. This means that they cannot be placed unless on top of a block which is surrounded on all four sides.

Adaptive walls
There are several types of wall. All of them behave adaptively – that is, their appearance can change depending on what other walls, if any, are adjacent.
 * Pole wall
 * Log wall
 * Rough stone wall
 * Mud brick wall
 * Brick wall
 * Stone wall

While not exactly walls, frames and fences share the same properties. Both are adaptive. Frames can be used with frame vaults or with beams to span gaps.

Weight
Most building elements fall into one of three categories: light, medium and heavy. In general, a wall may only be placed on a block of the same, or heavier, weight. This means most building blocks can only be built in vertical stacks. When you need to span a gap (e.g. over a room), you need to use either beams or vaults.

This weight restriction means that heavy walls and stairs (stone and brick) cannot be placed on dirt and require rubble foundations. Rubble foundations must be laid according to the loose blocks conditions above. Stone and brick paving slabs do not require foundations, but also cannot support heavy blocks.

Single and double walls
Rough stone, mud brick, stone and brick walls can all be built in two different thicknesses. When you place a mud brick wall for the first time, a single (thin) wall appears. If you place another on the side of this block, the wall is ‘thickened’ to a double wall. The walls of a house, for example, may be made of any combination of single and double blocks. When you break a double block, a wall item is dropped and the wall is ‘thinned’ to a single wall.

Height limit
Rough stone walls and mud brick walls are limited to a height of two blocks, and such a wall can only be formed from a single on top of a double.

Beams
A beam is a special multi-block item made for spanning gaps between walls. A short beam spans up to 4 blocks and a long beam up to 8 blocks. To place a beam, click on the side of the block you wish to span from. You must have a block ready at the other end of the span, otherwise the beam will not be placed.

Vaults
Gaps can only be spanned with stone or brick by using stone or brick vaults. A vault is the only way to allow a wall to develop horizontally beyond a vertical stack. To place a vault, click on the side of the block at the top of your wall. A span of two blocks will need vaults built out from each side. A span of more than two blocks will require adding another layer to the height of the walls in order to cantilever further out. For a span of one block, the vault block will appear as a lintel which is useful for narrow corridors, doors, and windows.

Flat roofs
These are special blocks which need to be supported from underneath or connected to supported roof blocks. Flat roofs cannot be walked on; trying to walk on it will cause it to fall down. A flat roof gives partial weathering protection to crafting devices which suffer from damp.

Pitched roofs
These are special adaptive blocks which need to supported from underneath, for example, by stone vaults, frames or beams. A roof gives complete weathering protection to crafting devices which suffer from damp.