Hi, I’m new here and to CDDA and I was wondering if any of you had good places for bases. I already have a makeshift sort of base at the very outskirts of a town in a gun store with very few zombies around; I also have loaded it with lots of supplies.
Mansions. No joke. My last character (who I’d still be on were it not for a freak motorcycle accident) did fantastic. Break some windows on a hallway end, install doors. Doors or walls inside. Turn one or two bedroom/display rooms/whatever into your base, board up the windows. Vortex generator for indoor power if you have the mod, otherwise foldable solar stuff with jumper cables (requires experimental). Plenty of room for storage, secure, usually outside of towns well enough.
This is the last screenshot I have of the interior; I only converted one room, I died before I could get a second. As you can see, loads of space to work with.
A good base if you’re determined to loot a town dry or catch up on your reading would be a fire station, thanks to that big heavy gate. Other than that? The refugee center, farm or anything underground.
It’s honestly a better bet to just slowly convert a working car into a mobile home of death though–at current.
**Back before Amigara faultlines got nerfed they were pretty much the only thing worth building a perma base around. Made one real comfortable once.
If you are just starting out, the starting evac shelter is decent. They nerfed the light from the evac shelters PC though. For extended survival, the previously mentioned mansion or a fire station are great. Hotels are good. got a pool of infinite water. I think their are multi-story ones if you use the experimental Z-levels. being above ground level is just as good as being below it I think. Once you’ve got a good hang of the game though, you should try setting up your own place. I usually set up near a river, might try digging my own cave system at some point, but that would take a lot of resources.
Labs. They’re secure even above-ground and the lower levels are absolutely safe. Computer terminals are common enough that you can set up an easily accessed craft room. They tend to be near forests for foraging, plus the sub-levels will have plenty of resources and books. There’s almost always a supply of freshwater, too!
Thanks for all of these responses! I have a refugee center nearby, so I’ll probably hole up there in the meantime. Just as a small question, do any of you guys know where to find mansions? Are they located away from towns, or fairly near? Thanks! And as of labs, Womble, do you know if they are guarded by anything? I have a few science id cards but I was kinda afraid there would be like turrets or something.
If you open the lab with an ID card, you won’t find a turret guarding the main door. Doesn’t mean that there won’t be turrets below though… But if you are very careful when you open a new door, you can survive and it’s worth it.
Thanks!
If you’re worried about turrets in labs, just turn off your light. Rooms with turrets in them will show up as lit even from the outside.
in experimentals firestadions are now useless because you are traped with exit on only one side and zombies can wreck walls just by accident (i live in city and im deaf just because of colapsing buildings) for living in city gun store can be good but you are traped too just like in firestadion try make base somewhere where is not too many windows and 2 exits personaly i like garage connected to home
for living outside of city is good to chose a sewage threatement plant it have pernament source of light, underground and its close to both forest and city it have 2 easy to defend exits too and parking lot for few free car parts alslo big room with sewage can be turned into garage
your base will slowly turn into warehouse where you only go to unload all your loot and restock because your base will be mobile
LMOE shelters work quite well, since most of the basic necessities are already in place.
I think that was my fault - I pointed out that you could wall up the fault except for one space and make it STUPID easy to farm artifacts… and almost immediately, they became one-shot only. It was kinda sad 
I vote lab, especially an ICE lab, as you can easily store all of your food without worrying about it rotting. That feature alone (much less all the other nice things) makes them far and away my favorite.
Glad to hear other people are enjoying that foldable mod. I was thinking of making a second/expanded one where EVERYTHING is foldable at the basic part size (like solar panels, for instance). Seriously, if you can just part it out and take it with you, there should be SOME way to take it with you whole (if it’s small enough).
Here can totally see someone folding up a Deathmoble and have it to heavy to pick it up to unfold it…
also minor detail and probably a oversight
4 pipes is worse then 1 in every way i guess…
Wow, I’m surprised at all of these people commenting on this. I really am grateful for your help. Sorry for the extreme influx of newb questions, but do you guys know where labs would be? Any general tips would also be appreciated. Thanks.
Labs are always connected to road, when your find a crossing explore all directions shortly before you make a decision with path to follow for longer
No one has mentioned my new favourite- Military Bunker. A quick bit of electronic study will net you EMP grenades, or random military crates will usually net you one or two. Two is enough to take out the turrets and by the time you have EMP grenades you have electric jackhammer. From there its one extreme makeover away from a perfect base with a beautifully stylish modular basement.
you actualy only need one military id and pickaxe or something to break terminal or door eventualy a reinforced glass
As for those EMP grenades, I’m not sure if I could accurately throw a grenade far enough to stay out of the turrets reach, but I guess I could train prior to it.
Practice throwing by literally throwing away things that you don’t need. It’s fun and practical.
throwing bootle of clear water sometimes is better idea than firing a gun