Where and How to Build Your First Base
Your first base doesn't need to be big. It needs the right location and a short, specific checklist of items.
Once you have basic tools and weapons, it's time to settle down. Your first base location matters more than its size — get the location right and even a small base will serve you well.
What to Look For in a Location
You want an area with plenty of resources nearby, especially wood — if there are no trees around, keep looking, since you'll need a lot of it. Stone matters too, though slightly less urgently at first. A forest is usually the best starting biome: it gives you the wood you need and doubles as natural cover. The desert is riskier (more exposure), and the snow biome is unsuitable for new players who don't have warm clothes yet.
Other Location Factors
- Climate — building in the snow biome means it's cold during the day and dangerously freezing at night; you'll need to stay near a fire or wear a lot of clothing to survive it.
- Roads — settling near a road lets you farm barrels and loot crates along it, which helps you find new gear and progress faster. It also draws more player traffic, so the better move is building close to a road but not visible from it.
- Ocean — similarly, you can farm crates and barrels along the coast, but you'll need a boat and low-grade fuel to do it.
- Monuments — landmarks like the Power Plant, Launch Site, or a gas station offer significant loot, but they're natural hotspots for other players too. The big draw is usually a Recycler, which lets you grind items and components into raw materials like scrap, metal fragments, and cloth — genuinely important once you start researching blueprints.
Your First Base Checklist
Once you've picked a spot:
- Place a Sleeping Bag (30 cloth) near your build site first. It sets your respawn point, so if you die while farming nearby, you don't have to trek across the whole map to get back.
- Farm materials for the base — your first build is usually a small 2x1 or 2x2 foundation footprint.
- Include a triangle airlock at the entrance — this stops someone from killing you right at your door and walking straight in behind you.
- Aim for roughly 3,000 wood and 5,000 stone to comfortably cover your first build.
- While farming, start crafting: one Tool Cupboard, three key locks, two doors, one building plan, and one hammer.
How big should my very first base be?
A 2x1 or 2x2 footprint is genuinely enough to start — the goal is a locked door and a safe place to store what you've farmed, not a fortress on day one.
Why does the airlock matter so much on a small base?
Without one, a single door is all that separates you from the outside — anyone who kills you at your own doorway can walk straight in. A triangle airlock adds a second barrier that meaningfully slows that down.
Should I build right next to a monument for the Recycler?
Being close enough for convenient trips is useful, but building directly next to one usually isn't worth the extra player traffic and attention it brings — a short walk away tends to be the better trade-off.
What's the very first thing I should place at my chosen spot?
The sleeping bag, before anything else — it costs very little and immediately protects you from losing your whole run to one unlucky death while you're still farming materials for the rest of the base.