State of Decay 2 – How to Build a Home Base

If you’re hoping to survive the zombie-infested world of State of Decay 2, you and your fellow survivors will need to find a way to make a new base. Killing zombies can be fun, but there is a time when lone survival isn’t enough. Building your home base is just as important as knowing how to fend off the undead. This guide will go over how to build a home base in State of Decay 2 as well as how to upgrade your base to ensure your survival.

How to Build a Home Base

State of Decay 2 eases you into the base building mechanics by giving you a simplified version to sink your teeth into before it gives you more tools to play with. At the start of the game, one of the first things you will do is establish a base of operations.

After the tutorial, you’ll have to travel to your new home. Once you rid the area of zombies, you can start setting up camp at your new home base. It’s small, but it’s enough to familiarize yourself with the basics of how to build a base. This new base is where you and your fellow survivors will call home, at least for now. 

Your home base in State of Decay 2 is where you can change characters, swap supplies, craft equipment, and heal up after a long day of zombie slaying. The home base can also be upgraded with add-ons to help you throughout your journey.

Home Base Facilities

Your initial base of operations will have three slots available where you can construct additional facilities to upgrade your base. One can be found in the front yard, with the other two slots in the backyard. To add a new facility to your home base, stand within the space defined by the dotted lines, then press Y to bring up the facility options. 

After pressing Y, you can then choose from an assortment of facilities. Hovering over a facility will show you its cost and requirements. Some facility options may be unavailable to you at first, but don’t worry. Facility options will unlock as you gain obtain new skills and grow your community. 

What Facilities Should You Build?

When choosing a facility to tack onto your home base in State of Decay 2, consider the needs of your community when trying to decide which ones to build. We suggest building an Infirmary first, as this is where you can recover your health and treat illnesses like the Blood Plague after returning home from an arduous zombie-killing session.

Your survivors will also need somewhere to rest up so that they can sleep and recover stamina after a long day of fighting zombies. Build Outdoor Beds or Sheltered Beds for your home base as soon as possible so that you can change characters and allow your survivor to sleep when the time comes.

You may also want to prioritize facilities that help provide a steady source of water and food for home base residents. A Rain Collector costs one building material and will provide water for everyone in the base. Likewise, a Still will not only provide water, but can also be used for making fuel items. If you have some seeds handy, you can create a Farm that will provide your home base with food each day. 

Of course, if you have the necessary resources, you can always opt for the Latrine. It only costs one building material and some chemicals, and it helps boost base morale, for obvious reasons.

Keep in mind that building facilities based on needs and wants of survivors will allow you to complete community goals and allow you to earn influence. Building facilities based on the needs and desires of your community can also help improve the base morale in State of Decay 2.

After you have built new facilities for your home base and have filled all available facility slots, you may be tempted to settle down and stay put. However, this initial home base doesn’t have everything you need, especially as your community continues to grow.

As you take in more survivors in State of Decay 2, you will eventually need to move out and claim more home base locations to accommodate the needs of the community. Other bases with more slots and more options for community growth are scattered around the world, so use your first home base as a practice run for determining which facilities work best with your group of survivors and how to manage your community as a whole.

Figuring out how to build a home base can be a bit overwhelming at first, as there are various aspects you have to manage, such as food, resources, and the well-being of fellow survivors. However, once you learn how to build and upgrade your first home base, you will be ready to construct even better ones to suit your band of survivors in State of Decay 2.