Originally posted by Faceplant8:

I just renovate a nearby shack enough so I can sleep, cook, and craft because I know I wont be there long.

In the Black Forest I look for a tower ruin that has several copper rocks around it and is reasonably close to water.

If you're like me, you're going to go through several "main bases" in the game, so I wouldn't be too concerned at the beginning finding the perfect spot.

That's pretty much the same thing I do. There's usually a ruined house or hut nearby. Put down a workbench, fix it up, build a chest and bed. Then I'm ready to roll from there.

If you build your own island with piles of dirt or rock far enough from the shore, but not so far where you can't see the bottom of the water. Then you won't have to really worry about monster invasions. The game won't really know how to path the mobs properly, and if you do get an invasion most of the time they won't even make it to your island before the timer on the invasion runs out. They basically spend all the time during the invasion trying to swim to you. Also your base won't take damage if you're not there. So during an invasion you can just hop into a portal you built to some random shack you found. Hang out there until it gets an invasion, then go back to your base. The game won't do two invasions at once, and the second one will cancel out the first.

My main base is in the meadows, quite far away from the boss stones, there’s first outpost, also i have built outposts in every biome and at the boss locations and the trader, all connected to main base via portals.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2771037046

Base near big open water is easier to manage but anywhere else is not too breaking. It will take few extra steps to set up away from your base harbor perhaps with smelters too and run around with metal bars. Or even small forge and portal away with crafted items.
Stone ring is least of troubles here. Can build portals rather early into game and all its needed for is to hang few heads and occasionally swap buffs.

I start with setting up a small base not too far away from the spawning start-point. Just enough to get some decent food and gear production going, then I go scouting for a nice area to actually plan a big base that will cover 90% of what I need and will be easy to defend against raids. :)

I start with a simple shack, usually up on a rock for defensibility, until I kill Eikthyr.

Then I look for a good place next to a black forest close to a copper node. Good idea to have water nearby for tin too. This will make trips back and forth while smelting bronze easier.

After you have bronze nails, you can build a karve and explore further, ideally for a base location with multiple biomes nearby.

Don't worry too much about distance because while you are in the bronze age you will have access to materials to make portals, but you can't take ingots or ores through them without modding your game. That means either transporting ores, probably by ship, or building smaller bases close to resources.

Originally posted by Suzaku:

I find a nice open spot in the meadows near the ocean shore, with black forest usually within ~30 seconds of running distance. Your average pests won't be a threat, the view is nice, and ocean-front property will have great resale value.

^^ This

preferably build near but not right on top of ocean. its your highway unless you like exploits, mods and or cheats.
I usually build a yurt before, sometimes after eikthyr usually near the stones to make a portal jump later. Once i find a decent section of black forest i setup shop approximately within render distance. Then i build my hall and outbuildings about 4-12 metres away from ocean based on the storm tide hoping I'm not building on a lake. with yurts as my outposts i expand outwards into each biome.

I just renovate a nearby shack enough so I can sleep, cook, and craft because I know I wont be there long.

In the Black Forest I look for a tower ruin that has several copper rocks around it and is reasonably close to water.

If you're like me, you're going to go through several "main bases" in the game, so I wouldn't be too concerned at the beginning finding the perfect spot.

I generally set up a small-ish shack somewhere in the meadows, somewhere near the standing stones, but along the water if possible.

This is always a temporary "camp" for me, just good enough to get me through the Eikthyr battle, and usually make a more permanent home in the Black Forest, under the Elder Altar.

I dig out all the land under the altar and set up my main base there for 2 reasons... SAFETY (one of the safest base locations Iv'e seen), and proximity to copper mining... (way easier to haul copper / tin back to a base within the same biome)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2855621495

Note: in this screenshot, I was in creative mode in order to place stone walls, but when I actually play, the walls remain dirt (or wood), until I unlock the stone cutter... Still safe either way.

Generally I stick with a simple layout, with a fire in the center and all my work stations and storage around the edges...

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2434836833

Other times I really take time to make it fancy under there...

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2858877780

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2858869195

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2858867908

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2858966733


There's no real "right or wrong" place to build your base, as long as it can be made safe against the eventual raids that will happen during the normal progression of the game.

I like stone work & raised terrain effects so my first base is throwaway. I build where it makes sense, usually ocean access, black forest access, reasonably defensible, usually in meadows. I will renovate a shack if one is handy.

Originally posted by OSIDE Italian:

Do you build right next to the megalith stones or is it alright to set up shop away from them. I adventured around and found a meadows/black forest/mountain area but its far from the stones. I'm also nowhere near a ocean so I don't know if im setting myself up for a crap start.

I build the bare minimum until I feel I have enough resources/gear to sail to another island/continent. I usually skip black forest if I can and sail to a place where I can easely spot swamp crypts from the distance. Then I land there and build a bigger base there and go through the black forest so when I'm finished I have a swamp close by.

Running 5 mins for copper and back is nothing compared to sailing for 20mins, find a swamp with no crypts, sail for 10mins for the next swamp, find a couple of crypts then wait for the wind to be favourable again and sail for several minutes back to base with your iron.

I find a nice open spot in the meadows near the ocean shore, with black forest usually within ~30 seconds of running distance. Your average pests won't be a threat, the view is nice, and ocean-front property will have great resale value.

After setting up a Main Base I then put up teleport device to and from the megalith stones for easy access.

You can set up your Main Base near the stones and once you can use the teleport device then you can set up more bases anywhere you want.
Best is close to the black forest so you don't have far to go because early game you will spend a lot of time in the forest.

I run around the island scouting a bit looking for the ocean. That way I can set up a port right on the shore. Later on you can set up a portal hub and have a portal at the spawn. So no need to build next to spawn if the spot is not ideal.

There is a lot of sailing involved later on if you plan on bringing ore back to a central location. A spot on the shore is ideal unless you don't mind using a cart to haul over land.