Good area to build a base

[Mythical Beyond]

I'm having a hard time finding and or deciding where to build my first base. HELP!

[spoggie]

For early playing I'd suggest somewhere next to water as it's easier to collect water for boiling and cooking and a place to put a better water purifier when you get plans.
My first CAMP was in the Toxic Valley.
A short walk to the Grafton train station passing 3 random spawn points.
Seafood abounds and the ground is strewn with dead logs to be harvested for wood.
It was such an undesirable location for other players that it never got blocked when I logged in.

[AtmaDarkwolf]

for first build early game, pick spot near water AND about equal distance from all the major 'free teleport' spots (IE center map area) so that u can make small jumps to any of the free fast travel points(the vault, craetor, etc) to save caps. Later on anywhere u want is good (but avoid spots near rifts if u want to avoid scorchbeasts tearing up your camp) or near molerat spawns(who always teleport directly into your garden and eat the veggies)

[Celtacross]

For starter, stay on the forest area, and near water source and woods. Later on, you'll see during your exploration, some places had resources node. Go place there depending what you need.

[いか]

Hi first time baser!

Charleston. Rail Road Station, the big pond and that's the best first base aside from an actual first base which obvious is WAY better than playing this but here we are.

Build a 4 block foundation and now you have instant access to the vendor, water and even better? Crops ..okay those aren't that great.

Anyhow that's where I post day one and it's the place I will always have base 2 as.

[Celtacross]

Sigh... ok, not many give good advise about good placrs to put camp. So I'll break down a bit:

for earlier: stick to the forest everywhere, but don't put near Wayward because that places is bit contested by players aswell. Bit west is a good choice as long as near water sources and near farm etc or sawmill, easy to access resources.
Later on, when you notice, there's resources deposit littered everywhere, pick one that you believe will be your main sources so you can became a bit more self sufficient. Be careful that somtimes, that area is patrolled by hostiles, and depending on your area, can be tricky. Forest still the safest one, followed by Toxic Valley/Ash Heap, Savage Divide, The Mire, Cranberry bog then Skyline Valley.

Places that I say not to put your camp: near train station, yeah seems close to vendor, but once you able to fast travel to major civilization area, that no longer matter. Those places I mean is: Crater (Toxic Valley), Foundation (Savage Divided), Whitespring (Savage Divide), and Nuka World (Ash Heap). There's three extra aswell for free fast travel that is Rose Room on Savage Divide, Rusty Pick (Ash Heap) then BoS Base Atlas (or whatever, on Savage Divide).
Continue: Near fissure site, yeah, usually those location is patrolled by the worst of all monsters you can think of, and frequently for that.
Lastly: take a look when someone launch nuke, see where they land usually, so avoid those area aswell if you don't want to keep repairing your base after someone decide to nuke it to trigger events (Usually near Monongah Mine, southwetst of Nuka world, and Fissure Site Prime to the far south east of map).

[Vinnolo]

any place next to water or near a train station is a good place

[PrimusNephilim]

I build all my bases next to resources, some bases I put an effort into, some are just a simple structure so I can pull the resources :)

[NIkto Barada]

some place that has what you need and noone else is willing to nuke you for it or demolish it to get rid of you- wanna have water? pick a small puddle ish lake - sameish for res- theyre pretty rare . cliffs have 3 less sides from where spawns can attack you so also good.

[OGPG]

The Bog. Super safe and Beckett loves it there.

[Ranger.Wilson]

As a new player you might want to consider a Junk Resource spot. This is to help repair your weapons. I always had problems having enough screws and springs. So, it's good to collect them early.

I would say North of Point Pleasant along the river is pretty good where there are junk resource spots.
You can also farm the cultists at Point Pleasant and use their workbenches to scrap their weapons and armour once you pry it off their warm corpses.
Water can be collected from other player bases (that's what I did at least)

Also, just east of Vault 76 and between North Kanawha Lookout and Route 59 is a place where you can put two resource collectors. It's on a side of a cliff and will give Copper and Iron. It's also quite close to Gorge Junkyard which is a good workshop to take over early game.

Use https://fo76map.com/ for a better understanding of where static resources in the world are and potentially where you can place your base, or plan to put your next base.

However, the answer sort of needs more details in your question.

What determines a good base (location), depends on what you are trying to achieve and what camp items you have to use.

Do you wish to optimise resources?
Do you want traffic for your vendor?
Do you want to make it a lore friendly incorporating buildings or features of the world?
Do you want your base to be hidden away from other players and enemies?
Do you want to make it simple or complex?
There are many more questions you could ask, but as you start thinking of your base you can answer more of your questions.


Personally, I like my bases to have a little bit of everything, and just compromise on some items or part of the layouts. I also like to choose a location that is not around the same geographic locations on the map as my other bases. (I think this is obvious why)

But also, it's in your and everyone else's interest to want to know how to allocate your spawn point for your camp.
The spawn point is 6 tiles (floor spaces) North of where you initially place your CAMP module. This is important for many reasons.
Kiki B made a video two years ago covering this
https://youtu.be/oMO6uOOoZqI?si=Bwvjg3nTJ_IcQpd4&t=140