How to Build/Upgrade Home Base in State of Decay 2 – Finding Building Materials, Important Buildings

In this guide, we have detailed everything you need to know about building/upgrading your Home Base in State of Decay 2. We have detailed everything about building and upgrading your Home Base.

Be sure to check out our other State of Decay 2 Guides for more coverage on the game.

In this How to Build/Upgrade Home Base in State of Decay 2 Guide, we will guide you on how you can build and upgrade your Home Base in State of Decay 2.

Home Bases are vital for survival in State of Decay 2 as they provide safe areas for your community to rest at. You can create different types of facilities and structures at your Home Base that allow you to self-sustain your community.

We have curated this How to Build/Upgrade Home Base in State of Decay 2 Guide for you in which we have detailed everything there is to know about building and upgrading your Home Base.

We have detailed what sorts of buildings you can build, which resources are required for the construction of these buildings and how you can upgrade your Home Base.

Home Base in State of Decay 2

Base Building is an easy task in State of Decay 2 once you have secured enough resources. At the start of every map, you will be given a short tutorial after which you will be required to head to a specific location and set up a Home Base.

This Home Base will serve as a safe zone on the map where you can relax and bring back more survivors to make a self-sustaining community.

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When you reach the Home Base location, all you need to do to start a Home Base is clear the entire area of any zombies. Once the zombies have been eliminated, you can claim that territory as your own and establish your Home Base there.

Initially, your Home Base will be very small and will look more like a camp but you can expand it later with different buildings and structures.

Explore the wild to bring back more survivors to your base camp and expand your base. Each Home Base will allow you to build a specific number of buildings to expand it.

Your first Home Base will only allow you to build three structures so that is the maximum expansion allowed for it.

As more survivors join your Home Base, you will be required to move out of your initial Home Base and look for more safe locations around the map.

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Explore the map to build more Home Bases that are much bigger and they allow you to build additional structures to help you survive the zombie apocalypse.

To add more structures, simply go to the space marked with dotted lines and interact with it. This will open a menu, which will show you all available buildings that you can construct, and their resource requirements as well.

Finding a Home Base Location

When you start a map, the first Home Base location will be automatically revealed to you once you complete the tutorial but as you explore the map and want to make Home Bases more accessible from any side of the map, you can find and make new Home Bases around the map on specific sites.

You can located a Home Base location easily by climbing to the top of any lookout tower and looking around. If you look around when you are at the top of a lookout tower, you will see a certain number of question marks around you.

These are points of interest. Discover all of them and it will eventually reveal more Home Base locations for you on the map.

Finding Building Materials

Building Materials are used to develop different base structures in your Home Base. You can find them easily throughout your journey in workshops, under-construction buildings or even in sheds.

They are marked on your map with three wooden beams so that you can easily locate them and collect them.

Always make sure that you have a good amount of building materials at hand because they are required for your Home Base’s upgrades and expansions.

Important Buildings

Although all buildings are equally critical for your Home Base, some of the buildings are a necessity and you will not survive long without them.

You must build these buildings as soon as you get your Home Base. These include Infirmary, Generator, Water Filter and enough number of beds for the survivors. Infirmary allows you to treat the sick and craft cures for infected characters.

You can also craft medicines and painkillers at the infirmary so it is vital for your survival.

Without an infirmary, you will continue to lose people and you might even die yourself if you are infected with the Blood Plague early in the game making you lose all progress with that character.

Generators provide electricity to your Home Base and help other buildings to function properly.

Water Filters purify water and provide the community with clean water. This can also be used for electricity generation. Finally, as you progress through the game, you will get more and more survivors.

As you get more survivors, your community will continue to grow which means they will need a greater number of sleeping accommodations. You must have enough accommodations for all the survivors in your Home Base.

Complete Buildings List

Below we have detailed all the available buildings that you can construct in State of Decay 2, materials that are required for their construction and how can they help survivors.

Buildings Usage
Workshop Allows you to craft explosives and repair damaged weapons. Requires three building materials.
Kitchen Allows you to craft food. Requires five building materials.
Staging Area Building a staging area reduces the build time required for all structures in that Home Base. Requires five building materials.
Forge Allows you to craft melee weapons, materials and parts. Requires ten building materials and two chemical cases.
Auto Shop Allows you to craft, repair and upgrade vehicles. Requires ten building materials and two circuitry scraps.
Sheltered Beds Provides beds for two survivors. Requires three building materials.
Outdoor Beds Provides beds for two survivors in the outdoors. Requires three building materials.
Infirmary Allows you to heal characters and craft medicines, cures and other medical items. Requires three building materials.
Barracks Improved accommodations for survivors. Requires five building materials.
Garden Provides food on a daily basis. Required five building materials.
Still Allows you to craft fuel items and provides the whole base with water.
Farm Provides food on a daily basis. Requires five building materials and one box of seeds.
Hydroponics Provides food on a daily basis. Needs water and power to operate. Requires five building materials.
Fighting Gym Grants you a fighting and health bonus when used. Requires five building materials.
Shooting Range Grants you a stamina and shooting bonus when used. Requires five building materials.
Latrine Boosts morale across the community. Requires one building material and one chemical case.
Lounge Boosts morale across the community and has one bed. Requires five building materials.
Watchtower Allows to secure a certain part of the Home Base as it can allow an armed guard in it. Reduces the threat level across the Home Base. Requires five building materials.
Rain Collector Allows to gather rainwater and provides water to the whole Home Base. Requires one building material.
Generator Boosts morale and provides power to the complete Home Base. Requires five building materials.
Solar Array Provides power to the base but without the noise. Requires ten building materials and ten circuitry scraps.

This concludes our How to Build/Upgrade Home Base in State of Decay 2 Guide. If you want to add anything to this guide, feel free to use the comments section below!

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Ali is a passionate RPG gamer. He believes that western RPGs still have a lot to learn from JRPGs. He is editor-in-chief at SegmentNext.com but that doesn't stop him from writing about his favorite video ...