What is the best place for base?

[Breymen]

I grew bored of building bases in grassy plateaus

[DiligentConvict]

The mushroom forest under the aurora has good local and ease of access to other biome's.
The mushroom forest has very flat land to build.

[John The Man]

It's massively far away, but there is a large mushroom forest somewhere away from the aurora with respect to the GUN. Quick access to the deep, but far away from anything on the surface. And it's deep, need a re-breather.

[Justice]

Some may suggest in red grassy pleatau. Not bad location except for Reefbacks. They may not bother you as much at 1st, but after listening to their humming so loudly near my base 24/7 they drived me insane and there was no way shut them down. Never again I will build my base in that region

[Breymen]

Originally posted by Justice:

Some may suggest in red grassy pleatau. Not bad location except for Reefbacks. They may not bother you as much at 1st, but after listening to their humming so loudly near my base 24/7 they drived me insane and there was no way shut them down. Never again I will build my base in that region

ngl I kinda like that sound they made, it's pretty chilling

[Justice]

Originally posted by Breakdown:

Originally posted by Justice:

Some may suggest in red grassy pleatau. Not bad location except for Reefbacks. They may not bother you as much at 1st, but after listening to their humming so loudly near my base 24/7 they drived me insane and there was no way shut them down. Never again I will build my base in that region

ngl I kinda like that sound they made, it's pretty chilling

while passing by and for short stop yes, but after like hearing that loud humming for 2-3 hours none stop with their microphone and right back to your earbuds, while they swim 100m close to your base, while you working building base or doing stuff in base, it won't be so chilling

[BroSkoy]

If you've been to the gun and explored the place thoroughly, then I really recommend building your base on the western side of it (eastern has a reaper). Without spoiling, it's good because later on you will unlock a method to travel faster.

[Artek [General]]

I've been considering building in Sparse Reef (where Keen's lifepod is, on the way to Floating Islands). Its a very creepy location to build in, i admit, but there's actually almost no threats except for ticks in the caves. There's plenty of various resources around, there's useful tech in the wrecks, floating island is right there....

But otherwise my experimentation showed that Grass Plateau / Safe Shallows borders are just the most optimal spot for early game, doesn't matter where. Building anywhere else is not really viable because it puts you on the other side of the map from other things.
Also living on the edges requires decked out PRAWN suit for effective resource gathering and that's just not a thing in early game.

[dreamrider]

There IS NO Best Place. That is one of the beauties of the game.
I like the 0, 0 location myself.
Others will say pick a spot on or near the junction of at least 3 biomes, for a spread of resources, plus that virtually guarantees deep water on at least one side, suitable for Cyclops.
Preferably not monster infested biomes (although some people ARE fond of being close to the Mountain biome - weird.)
Tree Cove is greatly popular for your 2nd or 'middle' base. If you don't know where that is...Just Wait. You will know it when you find it.

[Offshade]

Spots I like (apart from the obvious grassy plateaus and safe shallows):
- western mushroom forest near the big mushroom (safe, looks cool, relatively close to basic resources and entrance to lost river)
- bulb zone near the big entrance to lost river
- near or on the islands
- jelly shroom cave (small outpost for convenient magnetite and cool looks)
- cove tree (of course)
- lava zone - just because I can

[HuskyDynamics]

Originally posted by Artek General:

I've been considering building in Sparse Reef (where Keen's lifepod is, on the way to Floating Islands). Its a very creepy location to build in, i admit, but there's actually almost no threats except for ticks in the caves. There's plenty of various resources around, there's useful tech in the wrecks, floating island is right there....

The Sparse Reef is a spot that often gets overlooked because of how empty it is, but that also makes it pretty good for a larger late-game base if you just want to do some building. Close proximity to the Blood Kelp Trench and Grand Reef mean that you've got pretty easy access to the Lost River, and the Grassy Plateaus are just over the ridges to the north. There's some good resources in the cave systems, but they can take a bit of searching to find. The atmosphere is simultaneously a bit eerie and also probably the closest to a "realistic" deep-sea environment that Subnautica has: rather dark and rather empty, aside from the few reefbacks high overhead and some small fish.

The main downside of the Sparse Reef (at least in early game) is power. Most of the biome is right about at the limit for solar panels, so depending on where you build, you'll either have to use a lot of them or go with something else. Nuclear power is a good option but it's fairly limited early on until you find enough resources to keep it running, and the nearest thermal vents are all the way south on the edge of the Grand Reef. Not a problem if you have enough power pylons but it takes a while to get everything set up.

In short I wouldn't necessarily say that the Sparse Reef is an ideal spot for a base, but it's a very different region that brings its own set of challenges to make building there interesting.

[dreamrider]

If you are going to make a long Transmitter run to a Sparse Reef Base, I would run it from the JSC. Whatever the nearest entrance is.

A. The JSC has a whole series of, literally, the hottest lava vents in the game.
If you put a Platform Foundation or two out over the lava, near as you can get it, it is easy to position an array of Thermal Plants for constant MAX output.

B. The first part of the Transmitter run is down in the JSC, where it is relatively easy to establish max length (~100m) transmission segments that no near-by base is going to interfere with.

C. Nosy Crabsnakes are easy kills. Actually you should probably kill about half of them anyway, just to make the set-up work and resource hunting easier.

D. The west end of the JSC is very close to eastern Sparce Reef.

[bongerman85]

for my bases thermal power is A MUST! Therefore my bases are usually set up close to those areas. Thermal power is great, consistent not affected by depth, and no mess no fuss. My primary base is at the entrance to the lost river corridor on the border of the mountain region/koosh zone. perfect transition point, thermal power nearby and easy fast access to all story locations in the late game and a straight shot up to the surface.

at this depth it also is pretty dim here most of the time, and pitch black at night.

[penner3]

Building above the water line can be an interesting challenge. The view is entirely different obviously, and you can incorporate the rocket platform into it if you have that. You can build outdoor gardens on foundation platforms, though unfortunately there's no "patio furniture" to create a relaxing lanai. Plus you still have to build some of it under the water, since otherwise you can't use certain elements like your moonpool or water machine.

[admiral1018]

Originally posted by penner3:

You can build outdoor gardens on foundation platforms, though unfortunately there's no "patio furniture" to create a relaxing lanai.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2535023010

There can be with the prop cannon and some extreme patience.

[A Mongoose]

I'm gonna go with the Grand Reef, so long as you stick to the wall. There's plenty of spots with thermal vent clusters, you're far enough away from Ghost Leviathans that they're not a threat, and you can be extremely close to both the deepest Degasi base and an entrance to the Lost RIver cache.