Looking for Dino Pen tips!

[Nimi]

I just started playing about a week ago. 50 hours in on an unofficial server. I am lvl 60 with a lvl 185 Argent, lvl 160 Argent, and a lvl 130 Trike. I did everything on my own. I am currently building a metal base and the dino pen I have created is getting too crowded. It's basically just a box of wooden walls 3 stories high with wooden spikes on the outside.

I read from someone that each dino should have a separate pen. Why is that? Also, not sure if I should build it in stone or wood. My base is kinda in the middle of a busy intersection where a lot of T-Rexes, carnos, spinos spawn. I've seen a couple of alphas near my base also but so far have not killed my dinos.

Advanced tips are highly appreciated!

[I Want MY Burd]

Having separate pens just makes it harder for raiders to find and kill all your animals at once. If alphas are spawning nearby, definitely go with stone and get metal ASAP. They don't normally attack bases (from what I've heard), but if they aggro on you, wood will not protect you.

[El_Firulais]

Actually your dinos dont need pens, you can make them for a better organization of ur dino buddies, the size of the pen its proportional to the type of dino, for example raptors, paras and tigers can be in a pen 2 stories high and 2 foundations, that gives you enough space for mounting and dismounting.

Since my passion its to tame and build, i have several dinos, i like to keep mates close, (female, male) specially if u farm eggs for cooking kibbles, you can check my sc for the argentavis nest, or the tigers pens, there is a terrific location for a good operational base, try always to use foundations, that will give you the chance to use ceiling, keep your dinos always in neutral with short aggro range, that will secure them with high odds of survival in case of Alphas Attacks, if u have a good wall protecting ur base u will have to use the behemoth gate (metal or rock) if u have Mammoths, Megalodons, Brontos, Plesiosaurs, i think the TREX its bugged and can go across the regular dino gate, u wont need the behemoth gate for it.

As advanced tip i recommend you to move ur arse to a few locations i know very well and u can be very safe there, despite the fact that Trexes, Carnos, Megalodons are regular there, here u can find the better spots in my personal opinion for ur base http://prntscr.com/8370hd
they are easy to protect with walls, and cliffs, also the water its the natural wall that will give you all the odds to save ur sorry arse in case carnivores are chasing you, my personal favourite its the one in the gulf of the bottom right side, NOT the gulf, sarcos are regular there and TRexes packs, raptors too but they are easy.

The point in the mountain lat 42 long 38 aprox its smaller, the only problem its to find the path that will take ur non flying dinos to the mountain top, onse there NOTHING will disturb you there, perfect spot for metal and rock farming, crystal its regular and the obsidian its scarce, the big problem its wood, but you can use 2 argentavis, one 4 u, other for hauling cargo, their weight cap its good, not a bronto or a trex but still an awesome number for a flying creature, the path to the top can be difficult, lots of pulmonoscorpius, tigers, a few Trexes and argentavias are territorial but i assume you are a badass and like the challenge, the only way to get there for a non flying its the path, you can cover it with a dino gate, since is a pain in the neck to get there a mammoth or a bronto, well, if u up to the ridiculous challenge go ahead, but u will fail, you cant, the path its narrow, thats why a regular dino gate will do, also rock will never be a problem, build with rock and lots of firepits, the weather its really cold, at nights can go down to -5º.

Remember to check my SCs, they are not the great ♥♥♥♥ but will give you a glimpse of what to do with the game resources.

Other Tips:
Try to build a STRONG bastion for an ankylo with forges and mortar & pestles for concrete and metal bars crafting, 3 stories high and rock, wood or thatch will be a waste, too weak in those areas, try to find something very close to the mountains, remember, those areas are tough, leave ur ankylo hopefully 100+, mine its 180, in neutral with a short range aggro area, that way u can craft metal structures with some ease.

Mammoths are great for wood collection, keep always one nearby a jungle biome, even better close to ur base.

Brontos are perfect for berries collection, park one next to a big rock, or u will break ur sorry arse getting down from it lol

Trilobites, dont spare any, pearls and oil are not easy to get resources, specially if u dont have a high level megalodon or plesiosaur, you will need the oil for the fabricator use, the pearls for the Spinnosaurus saddle, if u go for the achievement and the adrenaline of taming all, go for it, its a hard catch, its a very balanced dino though, lack of HP and strenght vs the TREX still a good dino

Tigers are an amazing mount, sometimes u need them for inland incursions or just for fun, they are fast and strong, always keep them mated, the bonus will make u unstoppable.

If u dont have a bronto, trike will do its job, with less berries gather but still a great number.

Stegos are terrible gatherers, slow as hell and not very well defended mounts, but u will want a mate, the eggs are needed for kibbles.

Narcotics are never enough, dont throw the rotten meat, and always farm narcoberries, a TRex 100+ can take up to 600 narcs, a plesiosaur 100+ can take up to 1.2k narcs, do the math.

Charcoal its needed for the ammo, if u cook, or light a campfire or any torch, keep all the charcoal u get, need a lot for the bullet stacks.

Argentavis have a hauling option with right click, use it on raptos with high level to get a lot of exp, u can haul raptors, dodos and dilos, use them for exp or to move them to safer areas for taming.

Thats all i can recall for now, im sorry for my english, is not my mother tongue.
Have fun and cya in the ark.

[Troa Barton]

You can go with thatch as long as they don't get aggro on you or your dinos through line of sight. If an egg couple spawns too close though they will chew on your walls.

Make your walls higher, 4 was the standard before alphas. They are taller so I would go 5 just in case.

If you're really paranoid or have too much free time obviously go metal. A one high metal wall cannot be breached by an alpha raptor and a carno can't walk over it. Stone atop will slow down an alpha Rex, the only way to truly keep them out is either all metal or give them no reason to attack.

If you want to save resources and still go metal spam gateways, you get more wall for your time that way.the issue is you can't have any gaps and a metal door is 4 tall.

As far as spikes go, if you don't have a metal wall make sure to have a good gap between your walls and the spikes. That way if they aggro on the spikes they don't accidentally break in your yard.

Personally I have an all metal base with a garage atop the frozen tooth. It's got a lot of turrets in kill zone formations with 2 rexes, 2 mammoths, a spino and a flock of leveled dimorphodons just sitting casually outside. There's an alpha Rex spawn just downhill, a alpha carno spawn further down, and a alpha Rex spaw on the other side. it doesn't concern me.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=497399453

The best defense is a good offence on terrain I can't wall in without losing the metal spawns.

[Nimi]

That's a really nice looking base, Barton. Thanks for all the helpful responses! I will definitely take that into account. One last question though. Should I put my Argents on neutral? Someone told me that all flyers should be put on passive otherwise they will bug out and fly away.

[Troa Barton]

Originally posted by Escape The Peace:

That's a really nice looking base, Barton. Thanks for all the helpful responses! I will definitely take that into account. One last question though. Should I put my Argents on neutral? Someone told me that all flyers should be put on passive otherwise they will bug out and fly away.

Thanks :)
I don't trust the ai of the birds in a fight, they attack downwards without gaining any altitude. They also fly off to land and then walk for a bit which can put them over your walls and get them killed. Not to mention everything aggros on them. Too much of a liability.
I lock mine in the second story pen.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=497399326
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=497399172
If not in a full enclosure I'd leave them on passive on a roost of some kind.
For the birds though I would reccommend building a garage for them preferably out of metal if you can.