Guide:Bases

A base is one of the most essential things a player should build in a world. Bases are enclosed structures which usually contain houses which NPCs can live in, a crafting area, and a storage area. They are also used to defend the player from enemies. Most bases are built around a player's original spawn point (which is almost always located within a Forest biome, where the fewest enemies spawn). This is useful for players who do not have Beds, as they will spawn inside their base without having to walk to it. This is also useful in multiplayer worlds because each player will spawn inside the base upon joining the world for the first time. NPC houses can be built from all obtainable blocks, as long as there are not more than 250 Corruption or Crimson blocks nearby.

NPC Houses


An NPC house is an enclosed structure which NPCs will move into if it is considered valid housing. As multiple houses can have sharing walls, floors, ceilings and doors, multiple NPC houses usually become rooms within a larger building.

As NPCs can not defend against enemies very well, players will need to make sure that enemies cannot access NPC houses. Building NPC houses at least 7 tiles above the ground is the easiest way to defend NPCs from Wraiths at night during Hardmode. Once the player has gained access to a Lihzahrd Temple, traps are another viable option for defending NPCs. For Pre-Hardmode, you can simply place a block on both sides of your door(s) to keep enemies from breaking in during a Blood Moon.

NPCs have weapons that inflict 10 damage to enemies who get too close. However, once the world is in Hardmode, they will die to most enemies, so players should still take the same precautions mentioned above, though extra protection may be needed depending on where your base is located.

Bedroom
A base should also include a bedroom containing a bed in which the player will spawn in upon death or when using a Recall Potion, Magic Mirror, Ice Mirror, or Cell Phone.

On the PC and console versions, it is useful to assign a Nurse to a bedroom via the housing menu, as this will allow the player to quickly restore their health and remove debuffs during boss fights, provided the player has at least 4 Silver Coins during the fight and their bed is not too far away from the boss, as this will cause most bosses to despawn. Assigning the Nurse to a bedroom also allows the player to quickly restore their health after dying, as players respawn with ¼ of their health after dying (with the exception of PvP deaths).

On the mobile versions, there is no housing menu, but the player can force a Nurse into a bedroom by making the house she is currently living in and all other unoccupied houses in the world, with the exception of bedrooms, invalid. The fastest method of doing this is usually by removing any light sources from the house.

It is also important for the player to be able to quickly exit a bedroom, as staying in the bedroom for too long during a boss fight will allow most bosses to move to your location and kill the Nurse or any other NPCs located in or near a bedroom, which is rather unhelpful.

Crafting Area
A base should also include a crafting area in which the player will craft items. This area should contain the most-used crafting stations like the Workbench, Furnace, Anvil, Placed Bottle and Tinkerer's Workshop.

On the PC and console versions, it is useful to assign the Guide to the crafting area, as this will allow the player to look up recipes for items.

A comprehensive list of all crafting stations can be found here. Crafting stations

Please note that putting all crafting stations together has the downside of forcing the player to scroll through every potential crafting option to find the one that they need. Arranging the stations in a logical manner around your home will likely end up being more convenient depending on your crafting needs.


 * Clicking on the icon that looks like a hammer with dots under it next to the crafting list will open the Crafting Window which lets you see all crafting options available. Clicking on the desired item to craft will select that item on the crafting list.

Storage
Storage is achieved through the use of Storage items like the Chest and Barrel. Storage is necessary given the amount of items that can be collected during a playthrough. Using a variety of different containers can make a storage area more navigable, as can using decorative items, statues, signs, or renaming the containers. Usually players put similar types of items into the same chest(s). Some players may even wish to integrate their crafting area to provide a sort of structure.

Players may wish to organize their storage items the same way between all worlds so that they don't have to remember a new pattern for each one.

Putting all one's chests near each other allows the player to use the "Quick Stack to Nearby Chests" feature to quickly dump all items in the player's inventory into the chests they belong.

Renaming chests allows the player to see the name when hovering the mouse cursor over the chests, allowing for quick searching.

It may be useful to keep associated items in outposts near their biomes, e.g. make a base close to the Jungle, and store things you would get in the jungle in it. These outposts might include useful teleportation rooms, to quickly gain access to the biome from home and to that storage area.

Garden

 * See also: Guide:Gardening.

A dedicated garden can keep the player supplied with a steady variety of Herbs for Potion brewing. Mushrooms and herbs can both be systematically produced and gathered, providing a considerable power boost to the prepared player. Having a few potion-related crafting stations like an Extractinator can be handy for items such as Amber.

Roof Access
Often a minor consideration, but a player who spends a fair amount of time in a large base has a good chance that Fallen Stars will accumulate on the roof overnight. The player may consider adding access to the flat roof along its length to grab these. If there is only one tile between select items and the player, the player may jump and hit the ceiling and the item will go through the wall and into the players inventory. If you want to go outside but don't want to go out through the bottom it is advisable to put Actuators on the roof and hook it up to a Lever, Switch, or maybe a Pressure Plate.

Teleporter Room
A Teleporter Room may be useful for late-game players who need to get to far-away outposts quickly. Setting one up, however, will take a long time and will be very expensive to build, considering the current price of Wire and the distances that need to be covered with wire to reach places like the Dungeon and The Underworld. Hoiks make it possible to build a teleporter room where the player can enter a code and it will automatically teleport them there, without need to run along a long line of teleporters. (How to build.)

Outposts
There are two basic categories of outposts. You can build an outpost upon being ready to enter a particular biome for a first time, allowing rapid transit in and out. These outposts are minimalistic, usually just consisting of a bedroom and several chests. You can also build an outpost in a biome once you have already progressed past that point, to farm it for rare resources. These are typically more extensive, with large portions of the biome itself reconstructed to suit the player's needs. The entire creation of an outpost has been radically improved with the introduction of the Teleporter in 1.2, as players can now get to any outpost virtually instantly.

The Underworld Outpost
The Underworld has valuable resources not found elsewhere, such as Hellstone and Fireblossoms, so having an outpost there is valuable once you have progressed to that point. Players often construct Hellevators to provide easy access to the Underworld. Demons can be farmed for the Demon Scythe, Fire Imps can be farmed for the Plumber's Hat, and the Voodoo Demon can be farmed for Guide Voodoo Doll [used for fighting the Wall of Flesh (Many items in Hardmode need Emblems dropped by this boss, so it's useful to farm Dolls)]. Creating an open area with wooden platforms can help facilitate rapid farming of these creatures. It is also where the Wall of Flesh is fought, granting the player Hardmode.

Jungle Outpost
Placing an outpost in the Jungle allows the farming of various resources. Piranhas will drop the Robot Hat, and the underground variants can provide Vines, Jungle Spores, and Stingers. Players may also gather Jungle Rose, Nature's Gift, and simple Jungle Grass Seed. It can also provide quick and easy access to the Jungle Temple, which is a valuable place in Hardmode. An artificial jungle may also be created for a more controlled environment.

Desert Outpost
Desert biomes allow the farming of Waterleaf, Cactus and Antlion Mandible. Hallowed, corrupt, and crimson variants allow farming for the Dao of Pow, the Sky Fracture (Hallowed desert), and the Onyx Blaster (Corrupt/Crimson desert). A large flat area is ideal. For non-mob farming purposes, one block thick sand is enough.

Floating Island Outpost
Farming Harpies for feathers and Wyvern for Soul of Flight necessitates an accessible platform high in the sky. Players can also use an existing Floating Island for this purpose. An arena-style area with wooden platforms makes the fights easier. On top of most floating islands, there is a house containing skyware chests and furniture in which you can shelter yourself from Harpies.

Snow Biome Outpost
Building here, on the surface, is not highly recommended due to lack of anything interesting. However, there are many useful drops to farm underground including Frozen Turtle Shell and Ice Chest Mimics. Also, players may wish to build here anyway to make use of their Candy Cane Blocks and Ice Bricks. Snow is also not corruptible (but ice blocks are), so if a player seeks sanctuary from the corruption, they may want to build in a snow biome.

Ocean Outpost
An ocean outpost is one of the more useful options, good for farming valuable Shark Fin and Coral. The easiest method is to simply build on the coast. Dedicated players with good swimming equipment can build an underwater base by using pumps to remove the water from their structures. Another way to drain a base is to build walls and a roof, then dig a small pit beneath the base, one row of blocks larger than the building; once the water is in the pit, cover it with any tile. Players may also wish to place underwater light sources.

If you want to do something different, try digging a mini-mineshaft just until you bypass all the sand. Dig a horizontal tunnel 2 tiles long and dig up 3 blocks. (Be careful of the sand... Remember it is affected by gravity. Once it gets in your tunnel you can't get it out without flooding the whole base.) Once you reach this point dig 2-3 blocks across (horizontally) from the highest point of your tunnel (3-4 blocks high, if you're doing it right); then dig a shaft down. If you did it right you can now make a dry underground/ underwater base.

Another method, for quick trips to the ocean to collect loot from monsters and chests, is to extend a platform out over the ocean and use ropes to reach the bottom of the ocean, then travel up and down it to avoid drowning safely, and possibly stylize your platform as a pirate ship. There is also a crystal cavern under most oceans that is good for Hardmode.

Corruption Outpost
A base in the corruption allows the player to farm Vile Mushroom and Rotten Chunk, as well as providing a reliable location to summon the Eater of Worlds. The more valuable treasures lay deep underground; Cursed Flame and Soul of Night are both quite valuable. To capitalize on this, players may wish to clear out an area underground and connect it to their Corruption base, for easier farming of these materials.

Crimson Outpost
A base in the crimson allows the player to farm Vertebrae, Vicious Mushrooms, and Meat Grinder, as well as providing a reliable location to summon the Brain of Cthulhu. The more valuable treasures lay deep underground; Ichor and Soul of Night are both quite valuable, along with useful Vitamins. To capitalize on this, players may wish to clear out an area underground and connect it to their Crimson base.

Hallow Outpost
A base in the hallow can provide Pixie Dust and Unicorn Horns. A large, flat area is best for gathering these. Underground hallow can provide Crystal Shard and Soul of Light. Several long, straight tunnels make gathering Crystal Shards faster. Players wishing to make a base that melds with the environment may want to build with Pearlstone.

Base Defense

 * See also Guide:Base Defense, and Guide:Defending against events.

Player-made structures do not come with guarantees against the local fauna or events. With this in mind, it is a good idea to prepare defenses against a variety of possible scenarios. How much effort to invest depends entirely on the player; for example, having monsters wandering around plant farms may be no big deal but many would prefer their NPC areas to be protected. If you already built a base on the ground, and don't want to move, move your chest room within your town of NPCs, this will prevent monster spawns. Also, place Peace Candles around your house if it is large to minimize spawns.

PvP
A good way to make a defence is to use statues. By placing a statue with a one second timer near your base, you can be defended by any hostile players. Pigron Statues are especially effective, as each different counts as a different animal type, allowing you to get more than the usual three spawn limit.

Skybridge
A Meteorite crash can gouge out a huge chunk of terrain and this can be catastrophic if a direct hit occurred on a base. To protect against this a Skybridge can be built over the top of the structure to intercept the possible paths of falling meteors. When a meteorite does crash into this bridge, it will change the blocks in the affected sections to Meteorite and create a hole in your skybridge. It is advisable to patrol the skybridge occasionally to check whether it needs repairing. (This is also a good way to farm meteorites in a controlled manner). Skybridges can also be used for farming Fallen Stars, or to stop them from falling on your house. As of 1.3.1, when Conveyor Belts were added, it is now possible to make an AFK Fallen Star farm, where Fallen Stars are automatically carried to the player. Hoiks can also be utilized for this purpose.

Tower Base
A versatile and effective strategy is to build a floating tower.This would be constructed with a wide basement area for storage, a wide first floor as a generic crafting station, and additional floors above which would be 5 blocks tall and 12 blocks wide. With an area of 60, it allows NPCs to move in. It is best to build 18 rooms for NPCs as soon as possible and set your spawn point in the storage/basement floor, so you may restock items upon respawn. The tower should float at least 3-6 blocks above the rest of the terrain to make sure it can not be overrun by blood moons, goblin invasions, and other events, infected by corruption, and infiltrated by wraiths in Hardmode. This allows quick access to all your items and your NPCs all at once. Construction of other specialized homes (e.g. a house in the Jungle for the Witch Doctor or a Overground Mushroom Biome for the Truffle) are completely fine, but building a temporary tower for all the NPCs helps get more merchants sooner, which proves useful in end-game (Pre-Hardmode) and beyond.

Floating Base
Structures do not need to rest on surfaces when built from materials that do not fall (e.g. not sand). Once built, the terrain surrounding the base can be dug out to create a moat around it, preventing easy access of most monsters. The Guide: Base Defense article provides more detail. To build a floating base, get a stack of dirt or any other material, and build straight up (alternatively, an Ice Rod can be used in end-game). You should build high enough off the ground that enemies cannot get to you, but low enough that Wyverns won't spawn late-game. When you are high enough, start building in a horizontal line. Place rope on one of the sides so that you can get down. Destroy the line of dirt or other blocks up to your flat line in the air. Now, just go back up your rope and start building in your sky city! This is best done in large worlds, as you can get higher off the ground without summoning Wyverns.

Actuator Door
By using actuators and grey, brown, blue, and Lihzahrd Pressure Plates, you can create a player only door that doesn't require you to use your mouse. Setup the door as you would an active stone/actuator door and because grey, brown, blue and Lihzahrd pressure plates can only be activated by the player, mobs are unable to enter (or escape). You can provide defense using super dart traps and spiky ball traps. As of 1.3.1, where Sensors were added, it is now possible to link the sensor (Player above) to an actuated door, allowing the player to pass by a door without having to step on a pressure plate.