Knowing where to set up your base to play the game is always one of the most important parts of survival games. It determines your proximity to competitive resources, access to any important NPC locations, and more. The Sons of the Forest is no different, with the player needing to get to some key resources, bunkers, and caves to progress the game, get new tools, and more. So, knowing good places to set up camp is an important part of your adventures. Here’s a closer look at the best base locations in the Sons of the Forest.
Here we show you where you can expect to find some of the best base locations in Sons of the Forest.
Best Base Locations in Sons of the Forest¶
Below, you’ll find various places to consider the best base locations in Sons of the Forest. They’ll have noticeable strengths, and not too many weaknesses to them. However, don’t take any other location as not viable, as you can have fun building a base almost anywhere you want, and not have to worry too much about things. There’s also a general theme that no matter where you establish a base, there are always going to be weaknesses, or some level of a long walk to reach places. Again, the places below will have many unique strengths, be better situated, and largely offer you a better experience than others.
In another section, you will have the best locations for creative playthroughs in peaceful mode, where you can freely build without worrying about survival or enemies. These areas typically have flat land, or it has a great scenic aspects to them.
Food Bunker Area Base¶
The areas near the food bunker are very flat and filled with food and medicine plants.
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Lots of berry food sources and wild animals | Flat open land makes it harder to defend |
| Plenty of nearby Chicory and Arrowleaf | Slight trek to natural  Aloe Vera and Yarrow farms |
| Close access to some early game labs, trackers, and caves | Long way from other early game caves |
| Not too far away lake water source | |
| Not too distant nearby cannibal villages |
Arguably the biggest strength of this location is the abundance of food. You’re trading fish for plenty of 
Blueberries, Deer, 
Squirrels and Rabbits, making it a great area to survive the winter. You can also revisit the nearby Food Bunker area, and get the respawning food in the mess hall, like 
Ramen Noodles, Bacon Bits, 
Raw Meat, and more.
If you need meds, Arrowleaf and Chicory spawn in the fields close to the bunker and the lake, while Aloe Vera is more inland towards the larger lakes. Meanwhile, Yarrow is more inland towards the larger lakes bountiful near the Beach Cave. You will have to go out of your way to get the medicine plants, but it’s pretty easy.
When you want to start going for a journey to the caves and bunkers, you’re not too much in a bad position. You get access to the nearby Beach Cave, and of course, the food Bunker. When you need to venture out, finding the Leisure Bunker, its 
3D Printer, and its nearby Aloe Vera farm is easy. However, the Slingshot / Shovel cave, and the Rope Gun cave are fairly big walk, which is one downside.
Another mixed point is water access. In almost every season, you can visit the nearby lake to the south and get fresh water. However, it will freeze in winter, so it will be slightly harder to get fresh water when needed. Although, there will be places you can go to get fresh water by looking for areas with flowing water still present.
The other downside is that this is a largely open area, and so, will require lots of defense to manage correctly. Luckily, there’s lots of logs in the area, so it’s not too bad. You’ll need to create a wall, defensive sticks, and traps to keep it secure. You may even want a watch tower inside the base to pepper enemies with arrows.
Map Link: Food Bunker approximate area.
Forest Helicopter Crash Site¶
This area has more than enough food, defense, and plant access to make the hard mode playable.
One of the three possible Helicopter crash sites is right next to the cave you get the Rope Gun. If you start in the woodland area then you’re in luck. As this is arguably one of the best starting base locations in Sons of the Forest, thanks to its abundance in almost everything you need for hard mode.
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Strong defensive location thanks to the large river | The lake freezes in winter, so it is harder to defend if you don’t fortify the waterfront. |
Easy access to herbs that make  Energy Mix+ |
Few nodes of Aloe Vera |
| Flowing Water, even in Winter | |
| Very close access to 3D printer and Rope Gun Cave | |
Close access to Stun Baton and  Can Opener Tent |
|
| Rope Gun Cave has respawning Time Bombs, Rope, Zipline Ropes |
The biggest strengths of this location are that it offers plenty of food, water, and earl game medicine nodes. If you get efficient animal traps going, you can get deer plenty of times, especially if you guide their running paths into traps. You can also get lots of fish via 
Kelvin ready for the Drying Rack and prepare for winter.
If you need medicine, there’s a few nodes of Aloe Vera and Yarrow too, which means you can get some basic meds early on in your wall planters and start getting a steady supply of meds going over a few days. You’re also in prime position to make Energy Mix +, thanks to the abundance of Fireweed, Devil’s Claw and Chicory near the surrounding streams north and east of your position.
The other strength is that ts near some respawning loot. The cave has a Stun Baton outside, and there’s Stun Ammo inside the cave. There’s also some respawning bombs, flares, Zipline Hooks, the Rope Gun, and many more items to utilize via saving, closing the save and reloading. However, there’s a few mutants in the cave to be mindful of.
The other strong factor is that it is close to most POIs and progression caves, bar the Beach Cave and Food Bunker. It means you can get to the 3D Printer easily, and get you the flask, sled, and whatever else you need, and more.
Lastly, you have a solid defense. You can use the river to defend one-half of the base or go above the water source and choose to defend the cliffs instead. Either way, you have several natural defense points to manage, Do be warned it does freeze over winter, so, that becomes a land bridge to your base if you’re not careful.
Map Link: Forest Helicopter Crash
Central Lake¶
This are of the map has plenty of plant resources, animal spawns, and sits close to most major early game POIs.
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Lots of plant resources. | Not directly close by, but very short walks away. |
| Can expand onto the lake in winter. | Not much flat land around. |
| Distance to story points and other areas. |
The Central Lake is the area where all those streams connect to form the large lake in the central west part of the island. This massive lake has an abundance of fairly close by resources to make herb remedies with, along with plenty of food spawns. The only one you really lack is Arrowleaf, which you may need to trek towards the Food Bunker and Beach area to get lots of those supplies.
The only issue with this location is that it’s not too flat to make decent base structures with. However, if you need to expand, you can move into the lake in winter, as it consumes less logs to build support for structures in the lake, as they are put on stilts, rather than log support beams in the lake.
The other added benefit of this location is the situation from all the major early game story progression points. You’re never too far away from Maintenance A, the Shovel Cave, or the Rope Gun Cave. The Beach, and Food Bunker take slightly longer to get too, but they are not out of the reaches, especially if you have ziplines or the sled to make down hill movements easier.
Map Link: The Central Lake
River Island Base¶
This small island in the lake is very defensible 75% of the year.
If you’re in a position you want a safe base against cannibals, and the mutants when your save goes into the weeks and months, then the river island is fit for you. Beginning construction on here is relatively annoying, however, you can float logs over to the island, and even zipline logs over there too.
The biggest perks of this are that you can go find your desired location for tree chopping, and one with enough altitude to create a zipline over to the island. This will make constructing here much easier.
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Really defensive for all seasons | Tested in Winter |
| Winter allows easy land expansion | Need to wait till winter to do so. |
| Resources surround the island’s lake | Need to ferry Logs over via the water or ziplines |
| Solid location to get to most early game POIs | Will need to build a bride or constantly swim to destinations |
The other good thing about this location is that all over the lake are cannibal villages, solid Aloe Vera farms, and you’re not far from treks to large meds for Yarrow, Horsetail, Devils Club and Fireweed as well. So, you can get decent runs for advanced medicine, and begin farming it on the island.
It’s also a semi-decent spot for early-game progressions. You’re somewhat close to the 3D Printer Cave, and the Beach Cave, but a slight walk to the Shovel Cave, and a far walk to the Rope Gun. Of course, you need the Rope Gun to get started effectively building over on this area, so, it’s a base you’re looking to do later on from the start.
As for food, you’re fine. Set Calvin to fish in the area, and make sure you build a bridge so he can get to your island. Otherwise, he’s waiting to winter before he gets to camp with you. You also have access to Deer that spawns near the lakes, as do Rabbits and Squirrels. So, you have plenty of food. If you’re desperate for non-perishables, there’s the Food Bunker nearby, which spawn Ramen Noodles, and other nice items to grab.
The only issue is when winter arrives, you will have the lake frozen over. However, you will have at least ten days to fortify the island. If you want to expand, winter is a good time to do so, as when the ice melts, you will have buildings with struts going down. So, expanding like that is safe, rather than wasting more logs to build support underwater.
Map Link: Lake Island area
Best Base Location in Sons of the Forest for Creative Projects¶
If you intend on building a large creative base, then you have the following options
- The Crashed Plane
- The Golf Course
- The Lakes
- Southeast island
These areas provide a large amount of flat land you can easily create huge projects. In addition, there’s enough access to trees in the areas you can ferry logs from nearby woods, hills, etc easily.
(1 of 4) You can wall off the beach and make an island kingdom for a creative project.
The Crashed Plane¶
The Crashed Plane is an area near the Maintenance B Shaft. It is here you will come across a crash plane along a long and flat area of the hill, which is clear of trees and other structures. If you wanted to use this flat land area for a project, then it is a good idea. Also, trees are very easy to come bay, thanks to the nearby cannibal village, the hills above you can zipline or roll logs down, and then the ones below you.
Map Link: Crashed Plane
The Golf Course¶
Your key strength in building bases around the Golf course is that you have lots of flat lands. You can also go downhill via the various beach areas, so you can add them to your projects.There’s also access to the mountains, which adds more flat land, and even more mountain projects if you wanted to add those into the mix.
The only issue is some areas of the golf course are barren, so, getting trees could be more tedious than necessary, depending on where you set up. However, you have so much space you can do mega projects no matter your chosen area.
Map Link: Golf Course flatland
The Lakes¶
In the main area of the map, players will find several streams from the mountain, with a large lake. This are is large enough for players to do a creative water village, or make a poolside resort. There’s also other area you can build for a good lake area, such as the one with the island mentioned above. Also, there are typically a lot of trees nearby, so you can easily get a reactive project going around these areas.
Map Link: Approximate lake area
Southeast Island¶
The Southeast island is a baron part of the map, which has a slight land-bridge by a beach. If you wanted to build an absolute kingdom, with proper walls, villages, and other massive projects, this is arguably the place to do it.
At the time of writing, the early access launch doesn’t seem to have focused on the island. So, it’s rather barren. It makes it the perfect petri dish to level the place down and do whatever you like. If Endnight ever adds boats back in the game, then this spot will only get better as there are plenty of beach and sea access points.
Map Link: Southeast Island
This concludes our list of the best Sons of the Forest Base Locations. Once again, we’ve pointed out these areas we think players will gravitate towards. However, you can really setup anywhere you want and go from there.
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