As you play State of Decay 2, your communities are going to grow and encounter a host of infestations, hordes, community ally missions, and resource runs. Your survival will primarily depend on how well you build up your home base and what maximum resource storage you have for crafting and facility maintenance. As you might imagine, adding survivors to your ranks means your peeps will eat more of your food and require more medicine to both heal and prevent sickness. No one ever said that being your own Rick Grimes (The Walking Dead) was easy!

Base building is no easy task so having great flexibility to build what facilities you want is key. This is especially true after you’ve beaten the game once or twice and have Legacy Boons (permanent benefits like instant power and water to all facilities without resource costs from your Builder). As you build and start planning for growth, you’ll quickly realize that every base doesn’t have the storage for endless rucksack storage. In fact, each of the bases will only have or allow but so many bunkbeds before you need to reserve other open slots for other facilities. That key decision to build a facility takes time (due to needing ‘influence’ to require your community to build it) and makes a lot of noise so making that decision to move to another base (and have to rebuild them all) is not one to be taken lightly.

To save you the time, here are our recommendations for the best base in each of the three territories or maps that State of Decay 2 offers.  As we look at your options, there are going to be two stages of the game you’ll want to consider: Mid game (essentially up until you take out all Plague Hearts) and End Game (after you take out Plague Hearts and begin taking on your Leader’s Legacy missions). Your endgame base will more often than not be the largest and most expensive base available (requiring 3500 influence on each map) of which there is only one. Still, your midgame base will be more of a decision.

Drucker County

The beginning base on this map starts very close to the endgame base. Choosing a good mid game base is a bit of a toss up depending on how long you want to wait to move on any map. In Drucker County, though, this decision is pretty easy. The beginning base sits on a hill and is near a gas station which is a pretty good outpost to have. Located in the North of the map, it will last you for quite a while thanks to a decent amount of structures nearby to loot.  

Drucker County Mid Game Best Base

MIKE’S CONCRETE

Starting Facilities:

• 1 Sheltered Beds
• 1 Sheltered Beds 2
• 1 Machine Shop - (automatically repairs vehicles)
• 4 Parking
• 1 Huge Fuel Storage
• 1 Backup Generator

Personally, I waited until I could afford Mike’s Concrete which is kind of in the center of the map and has a lot of existing facilities (including HUGE fuel storage) and 5 open slots. Of these open slots, two of them are large and the other three are small (2 outdoor and 1 indoor). The key to this base is the combination of the machine shop (which repairs vehicles) and the backup generator/Fuel storage combo. Since fuel is hard to keep on hand given the need for explosives to take out plague hearts quickly and gas tanks for vehicles you have, this storage is priceless. Not only that, the generator is temporary power that requires usage of the fuel regularly as well. This base will last quite a while and, again, it’s location will help as you build alliances and hunt for resources.

Drucker County End Game Best Base

BARRICADE STRIP MALL

Starting Facilities:

• 1 Employee Bathroom
• 1 Sheltered Beds 2
• 3 Parking
• 1 Tae-Kwon-Do Gym
• 1 High-End Kitchen
• 1 Urgent Care
• 1 Laundromat (Clearable)

The Strip Mall is just north of where your starter base is. This base is excellent in that it has a built-in kitchen, gym, and Urgent Care while leaving you 4 other spaces to build facilities including 3 large spots. As one of the best bases in the game, you’ll be able to build up your survivors (the gym) as well as have the space to build enough facilities to build and repair equipment and vehicles. During base defenses, the roof is a great vantage point as well since the wall and gates are scalable by the zeds on every edge of the base.

Cascade Hills

Starting off on this map is annoying because your beginning base is isolated on the far south eastern side of the map. As the story unfolds and you get going, you’ll be getting requests from communities all over the map. As a result, driving about and trying to get to them all from the starting base is a hassle. You’ll want to quickly build up your community to leave this starter house as soon as possible.

Your midgame choices might lead you to want to go to the Bridge Fort (which is cheap at 500 Influence) and almost centrally located or even the Church on the Hill (1000 Influence).  While both bases are relatively easy to acquire and allow for better access to the whole map, neither really have attractive built in facilities. Watchtowers and bell towers that are in both bases only really affect the threat level. That can be managed by having well equipped survivors.

Cascade Hills MID GAME BEST BASE

Corner Office

Starting Facilities:

• 1 Chic Eatery Kitchen
• 1 Overlook
• 1 Sheltered Beds
• 2 Parking

A better base to have by midgame is the Corner Office. It is surrounded by a decent number of buildings which makes resource hunting less of a chore. Also, just south of it in walking distance is a powerstation that can be saved up for to provide constant power to your HQ at all times. This base stands out over the Church on the Hill because of its proximity to other buildings as well as its built-in kitchen which is a better baked in facility than the bell tower that the church has.

Cascade Hills END GAME BEST BASE

CONTAINER FORT

Starting Facilities:

• Firesafe Storage 3
• Parking (3)
• Workshop 3

By the endgame stage of your community, location is less of an issue since you’ll probably have made enough allies and outposts to have safe spots all over the map. As a result, the ultimate base is the Container Fort. With 2 large slots, 5 small ones, containers as walls so that zeds can’t climb over, and a built-in workshop, you’ll want for nothing once you set up shop here. To sweeten the pot, if you still haven’t secured a powerplant for constant power to your community, there is one nearby to secure as an outpost as well.

Meagher Valley

This map is pretty easy to get around since there are few hills and cliffs to worry about. It also feels a bit bigger than the other maps but has a good density of spots to scavenge despite which area on the map you reside. With that said, selecting a mid game base is difficult as there are a few good offerings here.

Meagher Valley Mid Game Best Base

Mazarra Farm

Starting Facilities:

• Country Kitchen
• Well House
• Crewhouse
• Grain Silo Storage
• Parking (2)

Impatient players will want to jump to the Mazarra Farm. With a lot of open slots, food storage, and a kitchen at a price of 1000 influence and 5 survivors, it is a pretty decent choice. Those who can wait a bit longer, at 1500 influence and six survivors will take you to the Brewing Company. There you’ll have a Water tank and 6 open slots to really craft a good home for a bit. It is also close to the starting spot as well. I tend to lean towards the farm since food generation and storage is a prime concern. Both bases are centrally located on the map so location isn’t much of an issue.

Meagher Valley End Game Best Base

WHITNEY FIELD

Starting Facilities

• Sheltered Beds 2
• Announcer Box
• Fortified Bleachers
• Outdoor Beds 2
• Outdoor Beds
• Parking (4)
• Fortified Bleachers

For your endgame delight, a baseball field in the southern edge of the map has all you need. With 3 Large slots, plenty of built-in beds, and 2 more small slots for epic facility choices, this base is well equipped to handle what you need. There’s a lot of parking so once you get your Machine Shop and/or Auto Shop, you can keep your vehicles in good repair as well as upgrade them. Also, the high number of open slots will allow for good food generation once everything is built up. The only real concern is that with all that open space inside, there are scalable gates that allow for zeds to climb up and run through your base. Still, the fortified bleachers make for good sniping posts to keep things relatively safe.

However and wherever you end up when you take on the legacy missions, always make certain that you take advantage of every outpost available to you. If you don’t have the Builder’s legacy boon, water and power outposts will make the morale situation at your bases a snap. Last of all, always make certain that your survivors are fully stocked with the best weapons and explosives you have before you take on the endgame mission. Doing so will guarantee you can take them and their gear with you to the next map!