Base Location at Ragnarok

[nordstern]

hi,
currently i am playing singleplayer Ragnarok. The reason is, i have no friends who play ark anymore. And i have a 1 year old kid at home so pause is essential.

I like a huge open area for the base with as much ressources next to it as possible. For example to fly 10min to get iron or wood is not an option but for biopolymere its ok, because you do not need huge masses of it and it weights nothing so you can gather huge amounts.

After looking several videos and discover the map (with many deaths from cold^^) i have seen some good locations but i am unsure which one is the best:

- next to the castle at viking bay the flat area. It has stone, wood and cement. Iron is more far away or difficult to get (argy +anky does not work every time). Also the wyverncaves are at a great distrance and snow is also accessable. But the location is at the side of the island, so if i want to other locations its a long journey.

- above the castle: more isolated, longer ways to farm without a flyer. The same then above.

- On the side of the bridge in the canyon. Snow but not to cold. Need flyers to farm. but more centralized. Greater distance to the wyverneggs.

- In the water next to a beacon and a small island. Their is a huge area flat but under water. But you can walk on hit, not swim. Huge area, but on the coast and far away from the wyvern eggs or normal bioms without mash, coastal or argentavis areas. Also metal, stone is more far away.

- On the desert coast next to a river is a huge flat area... but desert. Their is nothing huge to tame or farm next to it.

- The huge flat area next to a beacon: looks really great, but is a giga, alpha-rex and Carcharodontosaurus spawn. And knowing they are arround can make farming difficult or you must hunt them down before farming. I plan to build with metal, so the base is save.


Their is also a good cave (i hate caves which a tiny, uneven, angular or depressed. Their ins only one i like and these is in the north east under a waterfall. But the terrain their is falling down, so i can not build outside a huge flat area. Also the ressources of iron, stone and wood is more far away. Not the spots, the spots between eachother. But the wyvern and redwood is near and also the ocean. But the side of the island make travel to other locations a long term thing.

And there is a sea of ice... but i am not sure its possible to build their because ragnarok gets colder then any fur can compansate.

What do you think and prefer and why or do you use another locations for a huge, flat building areal?

I currently tend to the first location, because i used another location (on the hill next to the huge waterfall in the middle north position before it gows down to the tundra/ash area). So i know this area. We (clan with 3) desided not to go their because their was another base above the castle with gigas, etc and we played on pvpve (2 evenings pvp if online) and did not want to steel their farming spots or make them angry. There were to other clans one in the castle, one in the cave to the artefact and they raided both in the past.

Thanks

nordstern

[🦊 Hermit]

I'm not fully sure of the locations you are describing in #4 and #6...could you perhaps give some coordinates or more description so it's a little more clear?

Personally my favourite building spot on Rag is the Heru Ur Rise, a big mountain peak to the west of the big waterfall and south of the ponds with all the beaver dams. It's central to most important areas on the map (except the desert, but there isn't much reason to go there anyway), has a lot of trees and rocks, is very close to the canyon for metal and crystal and has the dams in the river for cementing paste. And Viking Bay is just to the north west past the castle for silica pearls.

The down side to that location is that it isn't a giant flat area, which you seem to be looking for. There is a reasonably flat patch at the foot of the mountain, but it isn't enormous, so I'm not sure what size of location you are looking for, or whether that spot would be big enough. I have some screenies of a base I built there on my main save though, might give you an idea of whether it would be of use to you:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1441298930

I located my main base on the mountain peak, which is somewhat uneven and small, as can be seen here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1441305016

But beneath that I had a lower courtyard for larger dinos, and as you can see from the screen, it's big enough for a decent sized rex army plus some quetzals. I didn't even use very much of the space available when I was there, I could have fit more into it if required.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1441306036

But that may be a bit small for you, idk. So failing that, I would recommend the Hidana region, in the west just south of the canyon bridge, and just across the river from the green obelisk. There's an absolutely massive grassy plain there, big enough for even the largest of bases. It has redwood forest close by for wood, a few snowy mountains to either side for stone, and the canyon's metal and crystal deposits are just a flight away to the north. It's also got pretty good access to the whole northern and southern sides of the map - the only places which are a long way away would be the Highlands in the NE and the deep desert in the SE.

That location would be a distance away from the Highlands wyvern trench. However there is actually a second spot for wyvern nests in a cave just to the east of these plains, towards the border of the desert biome. Getting your eggs from in that cave might be more dangerous than the trench as you can't just fly upwards out of the area, but the cave is filled with water rather than lava so you may be able to dive under the surface to avoid the wyverns catching you. Also they struggle to fly in the tight confines of the cavern, so getting them stuck on rocks might be easier too.

That would be my suggestion based upon what you seem to be looking for. Just somewhere to consider, your call.

[Sir Crashalot]

I had a base on the large sandy outcrop area on the south coast, near the swamp.
Enough nearby wood, stone etc. to keep you going, access to sea for building an aquatic breeding pen and a nearby resource cave hidden by rocks that has a decent amount of metal and obsidian nodes.

However, it is a long way away from a lot of areas that you would probably want to visit often but Rag is a big map so either way, you will have to do long journeys.

[nordstern]

the 1st suggestion:
I know it. Our mainbase was on the other side of the waterfall :-)

For me its not flat enough, because i like to tame more creatures like mammoth, a pack of sabrewolfs and direwolfs, etc. Only because the they cool. And i need space to seperate them. Stacking dinos like chicken in cages are not mine.

The desertcoast is 83:56 i think

The ice lake is 37:62 (rounded)

The giga-spawn location (6 i think) is 57:35

And the cave but with not flat area arround is 19:78

The flat area in the water is 25:17

[Mathius]

The plateau south of the Castle in the swamp (where the Dark cave comes out and the artifact of... the Immune? is found) is very flat. We built a massive two story base with room to breed Gigas, Rexes, and Wyverns there when I first opened my server in 2021, using the stock building tools (long before I had ever used mods.) I did have to do some jimmying to raise the pillars a bit in one spot to keep it flat, but I used regular stone foundations on about 99.5% of it. (had to fudge a ceiling or two near the ramp to the lower area)

It's close to viking bay, there is a large trench nearby full of metal where I was able to just about black lock my Anky, it's close to Beaver dams and the forest below. You can go over the mountain and hunt Mantis for polymer, or farm obsidian on the nearby cliffs.

It's referred to as "Mejo Plains" in game (press or hold H for the extended hub). It's not a good spot if you insist on water dinos in the same area. We bred Basilos in the cave in viking bay.

If you want to be closer to the center of the map there is another massive spot in the Redwoods south of the Murder Snow where you can put like 100 foundations in a row, it's entirely flat. But it is still cold there, despite not being in the murder snow. It's not far from a pond where you could build a water pen and plenty of metal and obsidian farming on the Desert Mountain. It's called "Ingrid's Pass"

I don't have time to get coords tonight, but the first location is approximately 25 45 judging by the map on google and the 2nd about 40 60

[🦊 Hermit]

Oh right, so when you say 'beacon' you're meaning the obelisk towers? My bad, I misunderstood. Most people refer to the supply drops which fall from the sky as beacons, and the large towers which float over a computer terminal as obelisks.

However in that case, the sixth spot you mentioned with the giga spawn is the second location which I suggested, right across the river from the green obelisk. It is indeed true that a giga/carch can spawn there, however if you are building out of metal as you say then that shouldn't really be a problem, and if you are gathering using your argentavis then it shouldn't be able to attack you when farming materials either? If all else fails, you could kite it over the cliffs to the west or south, drop it off the plateau and it shouldn't be able to climb back up again, meaning it would no longer be an issue.

[the7thguest]

Rag is my main map in my friends cluster and my base location is the whole islend in the south west, the ones with the harbor ruins on them.
Plenty of space, nice ruins to build into and only herbivores spawn nearby.
Consider using Awesome Teleporter if you want to minimize travel times for ressource gathering.

[nordstern]

Thats tp far away for my interests.

I know but i call the beacons a pod, because a beacon should be permanent.

@Mathius: is this the place were i said... next to the castle and/or over the castle?

I flow to the area you thought. I am not sure what you mean. Not the icelake in the dead area. So their are two other not frozen lakes which i think can be overbuild. And their is a plateau but i am not so sure how big it is. I saw it and looked a short time but had to fly home because night i can see nothing and with a pteradon you can not fight. So you must go to a base or save spot fast.

Are Griffins nerved? In 2018 i used them to steel dragon eggs and escape easily by racing down to the valley. But i made some testflights and it feels slower than i thought. Can i still escape with it?
Also in 2018 i entered the dragonnests via the lavacave. But many say this is a base location. Does this mean their is no connection anymore between the lavacave and the nestvalley of the wyvern? I want to steel an egg as fast as possible because they are faster and i can fight with them. Currently i have to deside to fight (argentavis), tame (argentavis) and have speed (Pteradon) or speed and a but fight with the Griffin. A quetzel is slow and i do not find one. I killed two with my argantavis (lvl15 and lvl25) to get a better one... but i have not seen any since this.

[Mathius]

Originally posted by nordstern:

@Mathius: is this the place were i said... next to the castle and/or over the castle?

The plateau (22,42):
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3482136740


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3482136666

The trench with metal in it (24,41):

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3482136465

The other base location I was talking about south of the murder snow (46, 60)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3482136588


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3482136415

And the nearby lake (46, 63)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3482136536

Originally posted by nordstern:

Are Griffins nerved? In 2018 i used them to steel dragon eggs and escape easily by racing down to the valley. But i made some testflights and it feels slower than i thought. Can i still escape with it?

Griffins were nerfed, but I think it was pre-2018. You can fly faster by gliding downward. I am not great with them, but I do remember people in 2019 on my official Ragnarok server using them to clear the trench.

[nordstern]

Can i not cut down the trees on the plateau? Your 5th picture. And yes this was the plateau i saw but had not time to have a bigger look on it.

I stole the eggs with the griffin and later my wyvern. With the pteradon i lost three of them. I survived but i had to walk home without mount and it was tricky and long. But i lost never a wyvern or griffin in the wyvern cave. Since this i tend to use pteradons only for scout. My best currently has lvl269 (wild was 150) and has 175% speed and 1.200 stamina but it is a oneshot. And this is the problem have with it. And if you did not loose your mount in the cave with all eggs and escaped alive you have not lived^^

How can i force the anyklo to farm metal while it is above my argy and i fly to the spots?

[Mathius]

Originally posted by nordstern:

Can i not cut down the trees on the plateau?

The Redwood ones, no. That's why my base kinda turns a bit. Any smaller ones, yes.

That was my single player base.

The first few pics near the castle were of my first base on my server.

Originally posted by nordstern:

How can i force the anyklo to farm metal while it is above my argy and i fly to the spots?

If his weight is under 50% he'll harvest them when you bring him by with an Argy. Otherwise, it's not really possible without a tribemate.

But you can force him to move while overweight with a whip, which helps instead of trying to position him with an Argy.

There's more metal outside the trench as well. We have slightly boosted harvesting rates (3X) and I used to blacklock our Anky just by going through the trench, around the corner and back up the hill.

[🦊 Hermit]

Originally posted by nordstern:

Also in 2018 i entered the dragonnests via the lavacave. But many say this is a base location. Does this mean their is no connection anymore between the lavacave and the nestvalley of the wyvern?

There are two lava caves on that shoreline, quite close to each other. One leads into the trench, the other is just a small platform over a lava pool where a base can be built.

[nordstern]

ok... i was in the cave between the two lavafalls and the rock before it.

Only to check an option: the cold Death areas in ragnarok... what do i need to get no damage their? Is it possible. Because i think the icelake and the plateau next to the castle are my favourites. They are relative central.

But the best spot i think is the spot with tiny water on the coast or next to it a huge flat beach areal. But both is far away from the wyvern or polymere spots. Does the 2nd wyvernspot have eggs?


Is their a possibility were i can build metal, but it looks like stone or clay? because i hate the look of the metal structures and they reflect even inside light really bad sometimes. But i need them to protect my base...
I know that stone matche smost of the times too. But we can never know. I had the situation that a 140 alpha rex was in my starterbase. He droped down from the mountain to the vicing bay and from their he fought its way over time to my base. I killed him at the end, but he killed my lvl 314 Argentavis before i could react and i killed him with my bronto, the 2nd argantavis and riding my 289 spino (was a lvl150 wildtame). But not before he killed my main argentavis with 1600 stamina, 7.000 health, 2400% damage and 2600 weight. It was a nearly perfekt argentavis. The last points should go to the health... maybe if i had did this further he had survived. And he nearly killed my triceratops and ankylo and got my bronto 2/3rd hp down. So even in eares were no alphas should be its better to be save than worry.

[Mathius]

Originally posted by nordstern:

Only to check an option: the cold Death areas in ragnarok... what do i need to get no damage their? Is it possible. Because i think the icelake and the plateau next to the castle are my favourites. They are relative central.

To survive the murder murder snow (not to be confused with the murder snow) you need crafted fur(not primitive) and how much depends on a few things. The first of which is the hypothermic rating of the armor you're wearing. The greater the number, the more cold you can withstand. Don't confuse this with hyperthermic, which is how much heat you can withstand. I think good fur armor can be found in the Desert Drops on rag. (ironically). Or at least the wiki implies that it's available in deep sea crates, which is what those are.

If you put points into fortitude it means you can survive colder environments, but short of getting insane with your levels, fortitude isn't going to let you survive alone. I supposed I could mindwipe a character over 100 and see how many actual level ups it would take in fortitude to survive without armor, but that feels like a lot of work.

Another option is to tame an otter and pump points into melee and carry it on your shoulder. This will increase your hypothermic protection. You can of course breed otters for melee mutations if you want to increase this.

I have always put a lot of points into fortitude, and with a good otter I can survive the murder snow, but you need some kind of combination of them. Even in my base on the redwoods plateau, I used to run cold most of the time if I was just running around my base naked.

Originally posted by nordstern:

Does the 2nd wyvernspot have eggs?

If you mean the wyverns west of the desert in the southwestern cliffs, then yes, there are wyvern eggs, about 5-7 spawn locations, I forget how many, but they're all inside a cave, which entrance is located at 68.7, 42. https://ark.wiki.gg/wiki/Wyvern_Cave_(Ragnarok)

This is tricky because the entrance gives you just barely enough room to clear the opening on a flyer. You can of course opt to swim into the cave, or take a water dino, but that leaves you limited to which eggs you can reach. In addition, it only spawns eggs from the wyverns inside that cave, so you'll have to clear it out to get the eggs to cycle, unless you use the command to wipe the nests and do a dino wipe.

There are also any number of interesting ways you can deal with this via cryopods or if you use dino storage v2, that would also work.

https://ark.wiki.gg/wiki/Wyvern_Cave_(Ragnarok)

Originally posted by nordstern:

Is their a possibility were i can build metal, but it looks like stone or clay?

Not without mods. You might want to look into Castles and Keeps mod if you go that route. I believe they take raw unrefined metal to craft, so they likely have the same rating as metal.

I've only played on one server that had this mod and I never messed with it, but some people built some really nice looking structures with it:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1814953878&searchtext=castle+and+keep

[nordstern]

Thankt. I will have a look on it. Thats really disappointing the basegame has not the feature. Simply because their are paintings. So why can we not paint such textures on structures... only dinos and signs.

[nordstern]

what do you think about 65:50... i discovered it were i was forced to recover stamina. From the air it looks like a normal wood. But if you land their is incredible flat. Maybe the biggest flat area i have seen. I am not sure but i think more than 60x50 foundations... But you must clean it up.

But its not so far to the ocean or wyvern-eggs near the vulcan or the polymer spot.

Only the gigaspawn or maybe the icelake is bigger.