How to Build a Base in Astroneer

This feature will tell you how to build your base in Astroneer. When you first step foot into alien territory, the concept of base building may seem intimidating. In the early going, you might suffocate from a lack of oxygen, or misunderstand what to do next after haphazardly clicking your pod and everything in the environment. No worries. These Astroneer base building tips will put you on a path to colonizing the galaxy.

Collect Resources

Resource gathering is a critical component to surviving in Astroneer. Thankfully, you learn how to do this early on in the game. To collect resources, press E to equip your tool, then press and hold the right mouse button to gather resources. Keep in mind that your tool will eventually run out of power. To recharge the tool, stop using it and wait a few moments.

Remember that you have limited space in your backpack. For this reason, we strongly suggest gathering as much Resin as possible, at least initially. This is because Resin is the first resource required to build your base.

Prevent Suffocation

It is difficult to survive in the vast reaches of space due to a lack of oxygen. Wander too far from your pod and the character will suffocate. You don’t want that to happen, so try to remain close to your pod as much as possible. When you’re in range of the pod, you’ll see a blue tether appear that delivers oxygen to your explorer.  Walk too far away and the tether disappears. You’ll be able to breathe OK for roughly a minute, and then the oxygen level will deplete. Don’t panic. Simply walk back to the pod until the tether reappears. 

To make life easier, collect the Compound resource and use it to build more tethers. To build, press Q to open your backpack and then craft the tether(s). Now that you have more tethers, walk away from your pod and put them onto the ground with T. Now you can walk farther away from your pod and continue breathing.

Build Your Base

Now that you have Resin, it’s time to build the foundation for your base. Return to your pod and look for the ports on the outside, then click one of them. You will see a platform with the word Resin. Click this to initiate the building process. You’ll need two additional Resin, so providing you have this resource in your inventory, use it up. You should now have a base extension that will let you place different facilities.

Build a Research Facility

During our play through, we chose to build a Research Facility first. Reason being, we were able to collect random artifacts and then build right away. If you go this route, you’ll need power and some Compound to get the Research Facility working; Compound is easy to find.

Open your backpack and look for a solar panel, then use one piece of Compound to build it. This will create a power source for the Research Facility.

Congratulations! You now have a base to call home in Astroneer. In the coming days, we’ll post more tips for the game to aid you in your outer space travels.