I prefer having a static base with massive amount of storage. After each run I'd fly back to base and refuel and restock. Unload the resources into individual containers. I tend to be a huge hoarder so a flying base would eventually come to a grinding halt with all the stuff i carry. I also like spawning in new ships from time to time. So having somewhere to park them is handy too. But I know of people that keep mobile and only have flying base. Just do what you ilke.

The other thing to consider is how much manufacturing you intend to do, and whether you are playing on or off line. If you are online, passive power generation will be important, and while getting power neutral with plasma generators is quite possible now, depending on the size and amount of constructors you plan on running, you may still be reliant on fuel. Whereas a well placed space station within 1.5 - 2 AU of the star and 24 solar panels will support several gardens, constructors, deconstructors, food processors and furnaces without dipping into fuel reserves, and you can still add the turbines to further increase the number of things that can be running when you log off.

If you're looking at the nomad life, I'd check out some of the module carriers where you can have a basic platform for hauling ships and use the individual docked modules to support the manufacturing and food production on their own (hopefully passive) power supply

In single player, a Carrier. Far easier. You often have to travel around a lot, more so in RE2 if you want to trade for all those things you need. Even if you have a base between Polaris and Zirax space (generally just inside Polaris Territory) then you'll still need the equivalent of a carrier to farm Drones, or do the object 82 mission (when Progenitors are unlocked).
In a lot of ways RE2 encourages the nomadic lifestyle.
I'm in the process of updating my Helios MSC 2 Bay varient for RE2 which I'll publish as soon as its done (should be next week sometime), and my Helios PGM varient.
The PGM is the production/farming/storage module for the Helios Carriers, 81 grow plots, 8x320K(in the original, most of these are now larger by default), 8 Advanced and 4 small constuctors, 2 deconstructors, and in the RE2 variant 2 Universals. With the 2 Advanced Plasma Turbines(upgrade) its runs at -3.4KW quiescent. It'll actually be able to run more production at -ve power then the RE1 version because the Advanced Plasma turbines are way more powerful than Solar Panels in RE. This will hopefully be done by the end of the weekend.

I don't like being tied down to one area so definitely a carrier, just a simple CV to stash heavy stuff and ships I don't need.

A carrier ship will be useful either way. How you build it will depend on your play style.

Carriers are handy, you can plonk a repair platform on it and repair your combat CV on the fly without having to limp home to your main base, or pay through the nose at a Polaris station for them to do it for you.

Originally posted by gilesey:

Carriers are handy, you can plonk a repair platform on it and repair your combat CV on the fly without having to limp home to your main base, or pay through the nose at a Polaris station for them to do it for you.

That's a nice update in RE2. Means you don't have to have a spawnable repair base in the factory which you can't spawn at a 'star'.

Originally posted by nevryn:

Originally posted by gilesey:

Carriers are handy, you can plonk a repair platform on it and repair your combat CV on the fly without having to limp home to your main base, or pay through the nose at a Polaris station for them to do it for you.

That's a nice update in RE2. Means you don't have to have a spawnable repair base in the factory which you can't spawn at a 'star'.

Additionally with the new repair platform installed in your carrier or even just your favorite CV, it will repair all your SV/HV's and ITSELF. If it's in a carrier it's more useful because it will repair the carrier itself and any ship you dock on it, CV/SV/HV. A regular base has no ability to repair itself, it's all manual repair via your multi-tool.

I like to explore the galaxy and don't like to return much to systems I've already visited unless I've a reason because of some side mission. I do like the idea of a planet side base to call home if I ever find a planet I really like and it has easy access to all the resources I use. Still looking though. So I've built a massive CV I call a mobile base. It has a dozen or so constructors, a deconstructor, and about 32 container controllers each of which supply 640K storage a piece. I can easily dock several of my specialty CV's to it. I usually warp into a system, look at the map of the system to see what type's of planets there are to explore and if I think it's worth the time and effort I'll park my "Mobile Base" at the star and take a CV of the type I feel would work best for the type of system I'm in. For example, is it a system better for resource mining, or one more suited to POI hunting.

Still, as most have said, it all depends on how you like to play. Perhaps there's room for both types of bases in your galaxy?

Gimme a base on a planet with a view.
Something to build onto infinitely (and elaborately) without needing to think about thrust or CPU; where I can dump all my resources so the rest of my ships can move at max speed. Also somewhere to fall back to in the event that a Tovera/Eradicator ruins my main ship.

Originally posted by Vermillion:

Gimme a base on a planet with a view.
Something to build onto infinitely (and elaborately) without needing to think about thrust or CPU; where I can dump all my resources so the rest of my ships can move at max speed. Also somewhere to fall back to in the event that a Tovera/Eradicator ruins my main ship.

Couldn't agree more. I usually spend a long time trying to find that good view. And I love tinkering with my base.

I too use a base. I actually like planetary bases but orbital bases can be more convenient to get back to.

A lot of my playstyle is specific to a multiplayer server I play on. It's a great server and I can't see myself playing anywhere else do to the community and activity. I'm super casual as of late but still enjoy the Reforged Eden multiplayer experience vs solo single player game.

The server I play on they have CPU / Volume enabled but shield penetration turned off. Shield's function like they do in RE1.

Play through usually goes something like this:

Build HV for tree trimming / fridge access. Level up a bit off tree harvesting.

Add 3 mining drills to HV, mine planetary nodes accordingly.

Build little base on starter planet to craft things in a small constructor

Gather resources for Small Vessel (short range SV for hauling)

Continue to mine the starter planet and surrounding asteroids until I get enough resources to build a CV. I'll spawn in a very cheap CV to do some initial mining and exploration. I try to do the starter missions for the RP / immersion factor. Eventually I'll start doing easy POIs on the various starter planets to get some Advanced Upgrade kits - to build the first CV laser miners for my play through. When the POIs are respawning I'll mine, rinse/repeat.

I build a centralized space base after leaving the starter planet. Nothing too elaborate to start... just a small safe place to store my goods in orbit of a planet or moon. Generally I look for planets or moons with an orbit of 2.3 AU or closer to get maximum solar output. I like a centralized base vs a mobile base to avoid risking all my assets when doing early game asteroid mining. (my starting mining CV initially only has around 6500 shields)

With the changes to CPU and thrusters I feel like Mobile Bases aren't real viable as a "Core 7" ,

Later in the play through I genuinely only build a planet base for fun. Sometimes I build a planet base for a Hydrogen extractor farm early on. Since it takes platinum to make those Hydrogen extractors it seems less viable or important now.

Once you have a set of eight CV laser miners on a CV I feel its all downhill from there. As you acquire more resources you'll be able to do more advanced POIs as you'll have better armor and weapons generally, build whatever combat CV you want, more extensive bigger end game mining CVs, HV tanks for POI shield bashing, SVs specifically designed to a specific function, etc

Hope this helps,

Xarq

I could have built the Xeno Helios at core 7 if I'd not put the repair pad on and reduced 4 of the drive thrusters to advanced, so core 7 is eminently do able.. just depends on the compromises you're prepared to make.

Originally posted by nevryn:

I could have built the Xeno Helios at core 7 if I'd not put the repair pad on and reduced 4 of the drive thrusters to advanced, so core 7 is eminently do able.. just depends on the compromises you're prepared to make.

Is that this one ? https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3363660931

Originally posted by Xarq:

Originally posted by nevryn:

I could have built the Xeno Helios at core 7 if I'd not put the repair pad on and reduced 4 of the drive thrusters to advanced, so core 7 is eminently do able.. just depends on the compromises you're prepared to make.

Is that this one ? https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3363660931

yes