What’s The Best Base Location In Subnautica? 

Gets the cure Sets up a rocket Disables the defenses Gets hypnotized by tree cove and never leaves

Conclusion: the cooler the biome, the more it wants to kill you (except the tree cove).

Hey, for the Bulb Zone, you said it's 5/10 in convenience. I think it's way better in that category since you can eat the bulb bush samples, an almost infinite source of food. Also, theres a lot of ''hell holes'' or heat vents (holes in the ground that are really hot), so you can place thermal plants in them and have free, unlimited energy.

I'd honestly probably bump both islands down a safety point because although they may not be very threatening, they do have hostile creatures in the form of those crab thingies.

My primary base will always be at the intersection of safe shallows, kelp forest and grassy plateaus, near the Jelly shroom cave entrance. Along with a secondary base location in the room right before the Tree Cove in the lost river, which is at maximum Seamoth depth. Both locations are rich in resources (even table coral) and are honestly very convenient too in their own ways.

Personally, I like to build my starter base in the grassy plateaus because they are loaded with basic resources. After that, after I complete the story, I make a base in the lava zone because there you have access to almost every resource in the inactive lava zone, and then ion cubes in the primary containment facility for all my ion batteries

I personally love the quiet ambience of the sparse reef, and its honestly safer than the shallows because at least theres no crashfish. Right next to a lot of the important areas too and it looks great imo

Nice to see the Northern Blood kelp so high on the list! By far my favorite biome and base location. “This biome matches 7 of the 9 preconditions to stimulate a homely feel in humans!” 😂

I’d bump the grassy plateau up especially with the resource points. Not only is there quartz, sandstone and limestone almost everywhere, the jellyshroom caves nearby add onto the resources. Id say it deserves the kelp forests spot.

me wanting to build my base somewhere different but always building it in safe shallows because subnautica scary😔

Alternative Solution: Become a Cyclops-hermit

The Bulb Zone is highly underrated in terms of beauty. The amp eels and bulbs at night make the black ocean water look like a starry night sky. 10/10 ambiance!

I'm the kinda guy to build bases everywhere. Specifically just the scanner room for the most part. That scanner room is great for finding reasources

Surprised that the Grassy Plateau ranked so low. I loved the ease of access, plenty of space, spectacular views of the sweeping terrain, the low moans of the Reefbacks offering ASMR and an alien view as they swim overhead.

I'm a backrooms-base kinda guy ;) Great video!

Honestly, I have a favorite base location and I routinely build the main base there. I don't have coordinates but it's a Safe Shallows area to the East of the Seamoth Bay where I will lay down my initial room then build out into the Grassy Plateaus so it overhangs. Around the immediate area you have, Safe shallows for table coral and shrooms, 5 wrecks of varying size, 2 kelp forest biomes and 2 access points to the Jellyshrooms one of which being the Degasi entry point. Further afield you are near to the Grand and Sparse Reef, The Tench and the Crag Field. Materials 4 Days. And you get to watch the Reefbacks meander and sing their songs, while the Sandsharks and Stalkers prowl.

You forgot to mention a few places but anyway I prefer Sparse Reef for main base: resources, safety, space, access to the Lost River, some important wrecks.

My most preferred location is the hydro vent facing the floating island, near the mushroom cave entrance. It has space for Cyclops parking and an eventual hydrothermal recharging area. In addition, it has a good vantage point for Reef Leviathan watching from an observatory

the thing about the kelp forest is I like having a scanner room to find me all the stalker teeth 🙂

Ok probably one of the best places to build your main base (and where I personally put my first base in almost every playthrough) is the northwestern mushroom forest. Now one of the first reasons it’s really good is there are no hostile creatures in it, and though it is bordering the dunes, that’s actually more of a bonus than anything, because it might seem like you might accidentally get into the dunes, it’s pretty easy to spot if your in the dunes or not. Now for resources, it might not seem to have many resource outcrops, but if you look for them on the cliff walls you can find a good amount of shale and sandstone outcrops, and if you have a drill arm you can even get a ton of copper from large deposits. Now probably the best part about the northwestern mushroom forest is it’s actual location. Now before I mentioned that it borders with the dune, but it also borders with the bloodkelp zone, the grassy plateaus, and the kelp forest. Now the grassy plateaus is really good because it has many resources that aren’t available in the mushroom forest. Now the blood kelp zone might seem like a bad thing, but it isn’t too dangerous if you know what you are doing, and if you go to the end of the large wall that blocks the underwater islands and go downwards, you can go straight to the lost river which is extremely convenient. [SPOILER WARNING] another really good part about specifically the northwestern mushroom forest is it actually has a phase gate that goes to the primary containment facility. Now this fact is very useful because it allows you to not only have an easy way to get ion cubes from the PCF, but also to get to both the inactive lava zone and the lava lakes extremely quickly.

Bro the Great Mushroom Tree is the best location, change my mind. Great style, total safety from reapers, all 3 rock formation types, multilevel options, right on the edge of a bunch of other biomes and their resources, lategame teleporter for mushroom biome is in your backyard, plenty of room to park a cyclops fleet, and just a short hop over to the lost river.

I built a small base in the Tree Cove, originally just for the view, and 1000% agree on your scores. If it weren’t so far from the surface, it would really be perfect. Even with the smaller scale of resources, it’s basically right next to the most resource-rich biome anyway, and you don’t have to go up to the surface to get to it. It’s just that you… basically do have to get to the surface to do literally anything else. So that stinks.

For the grand reef, im killing the crab squid by ramming the seamoth on them after like 3 shot (same for warper),you can clear a good perimeter that way and simply avoid the zone where the ghost is

I was playing the Death Run mod and went to the Mountain Island for the typical lithium visit. Went into the underwater caves to see if there was anything else, and a reaper had clipped through the walls of the cave and was stuck inside. The section it was in was just large enough for it to sort of swim around, but still small enough that I could swim the hell away from it without being chomped. So, moral of the story, safety is a 10/10 without glitches, much less with.

The tree cove has always been my favorite, and I'd argue it's the most convenient location for late game. Direct, easy access to the lava lakes is nice, and the lost river lets you quickly travel across the map. Combine that with the fact the two adjacent biomes have every resource you need, so you can make an entire megabase without ever leaving the area. The nearby bladderfish are just the cherry on top.

Bro watching 0:47 gave me PTSD. I watched my friend play Subnautica for the first time a while back, they had done almost everything, just needed to get the cockpit for the rocket and then they would be done. They went through the mountains and found that area. Skip ahead a few seconds later and we're both panicking, 30 seconds of oxygen left and stranded in the middle of the cave. That area is a literal underwater maze. We got out though, albeit with 3 seconds of oxygen left.

I would have given at least a 7 in resources for the mushroom forest. Although it is somewhat lacking in drillable resources so it does get beat out by places like the tree cove (which has proximity to the lava zone and lost river, which are both brimming with them), I was able to pick up pretty much every resource in the game from my scanner room in the northwestern mushroom forest, and it makes up for the few things it doesn’t have (such as rubies) by being adjacent to biomes rich in them. Of course you have to go deeper to get nickel, crystalline sulphur, and kyanite, I still found it to be the best surface biome for easy access to a variety of resources. At least the northwestern mushroom forest, I’ve never tried the other one. Besides that, this was a great video! I just picked up the game again recently and have been looking for a good challenge to try in my current playthrough, and setting up a base surrounded by reapers sounds like a lot of fun. If you haven’t done it already, I’d be interested to see a video like this for Below Zero.

For me the best base location is the grassy plateau next to the sparse reef, above a jelly shrimp cave entrance

You mentioned below zero at the end, will you make a similar video for that game? Bonus points if you figure out the trick to allow you to build your base inside one of the Vent Gardens.

Jellyshroom bases are terrible you will go insane leaving and entering your base to get one more quartz or some shit

on one of my playthroughs I built in the sparse reef. it was an excellent location. I was even able to park and construct my cyclops without needing to reposition anything.

That shot of a base in the crash zone with two reapers right outside just reminds me how weirdly many game mechanics Subnautica has. Creatures don't attack seabases; they can't see them. But your seabase can be damaged if you run into it with the cyclops, and it will flood, similarly to how it will flood if you build too much without reinforcement.

I think tree cove should be lower, because although the biome itself may be safe, in order to get to the biome at all you have to through the blood kelp reef and the lost river. And both have dangerous enemies on their way there. Same goes with exiting out of it.

The kelp forest deserves a severe ambiance penalty. Plants clipping through my base and cyclops rip me out of the game in a heartbeat.

For me, the grassy plateaus is the bes it is easy to navigate, and open for some bioms with a blood kelp entrance that goes to the lost river and to the lava zone and an entrance to the jellyshroom caves and a bit close to the grand reefs, and it contains a lot of fragments for most starting equipment like the seamoth the scanner room and the bioreactor and a lot of wrecks, and bieng very cool with the red grass and good visibility at night, also being very safe with only biters and sandsharks the only hostiles in the biom, its very close to the lifepod and mostly the perfect place for a base

Kelp forest and safe shallows are my favourite looking ones i love the calm and peaceful style.

I like to put my base next to the gun island on the kelp forest side, it’s really convenient after you’ve got the teleporter’s up and running

Tree cove is def the best, it includes calm colors and is the safest location to be at, just hook up a thermal plant, get some bulbo seeds and your good to go

I'm a vanilla fan. I stan the shallows. Part of my base extends into the kelp forest to allow the cyclops to be near. For a mix of convenience and pleasant ambiance, it's hard to beat the shallows

Thanks to this list, I’m moving from the ugly grassy plateaus to the bulb zone. Packing up my stuff when I get home from school

After expanding from the starter shallow base, I usually go for the grassy plateau near the BK trench & within swimming distance of a kelp forest, though my current one is set up near the north east wreck in the main grassy plateau. Below the surface, I usually set up on the rock with the dragon bones, since it's a good hub.

Hot Take: The best base location is inbetween Kelp Forest, NE Mushroom Forest and Bulb Zone. Best access to copper in the game with outcrops being abundant in the Kelp, while Large deposits being in the Mushroom Forest and in the Lost River which is also farely accessible. Style points for being close to Sammy the safety Reaper too. P.S. For a general location, its Sparse Reef supremacy all the way baby

i usually prioritize resources and convenience above all else and i found that putting my base at the border between the northern blood kelp zone and the mushroom forest, with the dunes a short swim away, gave me the perfect combination of resources. i had everything i needed to craft reactor rods and the countless pieces of tech that needed plasteel. all with easy access to the lost river

In the Dunes just north of the Blood Kelp Trench there’s a heat geyser for thermal energy and plenty of open space for a big base. There’s a reaper nearby but it’s near the surface and hasn’t bothered my base since it’s like 300 meters deep there. The convenience is great since you’re right on the border of 6 different biomes, the Blood Kelp Trench, the Sparse Reef, the Sea Treader’s Path, the Grassy Plateaus, the Safe Shallows and the Northwestern Mushroom Forest and if you’re feeling gutsy you can explore north into the Dunes.

Me with my base at the dunes at the start of the game 💀

My go to place for my base is that one area of the grassy plateaus that is sandwiched between the crash zone and the crag fields. There is some dangerous creatures around, and not a lot of reasources right there, but its pretty close to other major biomes and is overall quite safe. Not to mention lots of room to expand

for a base i would always pick a non-cave biome and have a secondary base in the tree cove as a sort of refueling station. the tree cove base doesnt need more that a thermal generator and a powercell charger but it's a nice place to take a break to charge the cells on your way to the lave zone, a trip i have had to make several times. a base in the tree cove helped me imensely with that

You underrated the sparse reef. For resources it has: Copper, Quartz, titanium, gel sacs, lead, silver, gold, ruby, lithium, and uranninite. This means you can easily get everything for your base in one place. Especially reactor rods, so basically unlimited energy.

Great narration. I just subbed. The tree cove areas "Convenience" ought to be higher as it's a major chill out and preparation base just before the nightmare fuel awaiting you at the next level of depth in your quest towards the bowels of hell.. 3 or 4 thermal vents giving limitless free energy for quickly evaporating body fluids, even the still suit has problems replenishing along with vehicle battery charging.. It's basically end game base camp for my end game preparation and certainly suits my nervous disposition. Cheers.

In my opinion the best biome is the observatory because you can put it anywhere.

I love the northwest grassy plateaus for being in such close proximity to basically everything you need for the first half of the game. I barely have to spend 5 minutes venturing out of the base to completely restock on food and water for the next several long excursions to other parts of the map, and being so near the other biomes means resources are a quick jaunt away. As a bonus, I put a max-range scanner room there and since it hits the edge of several biomes, I know where everything I need is right away. It's cozy, convenient, and just plain efficient. That said, I really should branch off and try some other zones soon!

i usually build my starter base so i have moonpool above mushroom cave entrance and access to both grassy platoes and kelp forest, then at first possible occasion move my base to edge of junction biome (that part of lost river with dead sea dragon) and tree cove to have nice view of tree cove, only danger are river prowlers, there is also easy access to teleporter in that part of lost river connecting to blood kelp trench as well as access to inactive lava zone via tree cove, its just perfect location

For some reason. Im liking the Sparse Reef lately

I’m realizing now I entirely missed a couple optional biomes. I didn’t recognize half of these.

I always make bases in the tree cove, being right in the center of the lava zone and surface, I’d say it’s quite Convenient, and thermal vents for an easy power source. And with a few outdoor growbeds you have everything you need.

Right before the hole that leads to the ILZ that you get to from the mountain entrance of the Lost River. You never need to craft the cyclops. Can get to the ILZ/ALZ and back again with just the PRAWN and there's plenty of heat vents nearby for free power. Also can make a ghost leviathan observatory lol.

"Hey that starter base looks just like mine." - A bunch of people, probably. Myself included. I built a huge base on the westernmost safe shallows that's right between kelp forest, grassy plateaus, shroom forest, and dunes. Very convenient.

I'm still building all my bases in the void to piss off the ghosts

I just discovered the tree cove today and immediately thought that I need to build a base there because it’s so pretty! Also this list was really good, and the editing and flow of it was great to! Thanks for making it! 😊

My fav base ive ever built was at the ledge where the mushroom forest meets the blood kelp. It was fantastic on so many points, its safe, has access to multiple biomes easily, plenty of resourses, looks cool af wherever part u look (mushroom forest or blood kelp) and its easily accessible

Doubt you'll see this but can you do a version for Below Zero? Starting my first play through on it and it would be very useful (Nvm, just found 50 people ask the same question in the comment section lol)

Honestly, I was surprised to not see the Grassy Plateaus higher on the list. I agree that safety is pretty high because all you have to worry about is the little fish that attack you every now and then and just avoid the sand sharks. Convenience I also agree with seeing how central it is on the map. I don't really pay attention to ambience that much and all it really is that there are the reef backs that whale all the time and the occasional roaring of the sand sharks. Resources I don't agree with because with where reasonable locations to build your base are in the Grassy Plateaus you would have easy access to the shallows and the creep vine forests also you have the worm cave that will have resources in it as well. Style I kind of agree with because the redness is a little nice with all the blue around you and its simpler and easier to work with in terms of base design and location.

Pretty early on in my first play through I made a base in the northern Blood Kelp forest, right next to lifepod 2. The feeling of knowing you're in danger but not even sure how much, the desperation to get enough resources to keep the bioreactor going, and then exploring the lost river with a control room's drone cameras because I was too scared to go down there at first was awesome. Later on in the game I'd cruise right by on my cyclops and thought "oh you sweet summer child" as I went to hunt down leviathans.

I always build in the dunes on the edge of the crater. The scenery down there is always so alluring to me, and I love how convenient resource gathering is.

i have a double reaper base in the craig field. or the mountains, i play on ps4 so i can’t find the names for the zones with console commands. but it’s perfect, i’ve got an observatory at both ends and when i get to the area, the reapers spawn in, and they hang out at opposite ends of the base. super spooky but really cool!

I've found that the most optimal base location for me is in the Mushroom Trees on the port-side of the Aurora, somewhat close to the Bulb Zone. There's limestone, sandstone, shale, scrap metal (and also fragments to scan for titanium), tons of lithium, quartz, salt deposits, and it's also close enough to the natural island that utilizing the teleporters there isn't too inconvenient late-game. Only real downsides are the risk of encountering Reapers if you stray the wrong way, the radiation if you haven't repaired the drive core yet, and the Cyclops might be a bit hard to utilize effectively there (I never use the Cyclops, so this isn't a problem for me, at least).

One of my favorites to make was my sub-base in the molten lava endgame zone. Just far enough down the Pit of Despair that leads to it guarded by the two ghost leviathans, but far enough back in the tunnel that the fire breathing leviathan always patrolled back by then. *Very challenging* to build, but man it was a great view. Also loved making a side-base to collect the materials from the passive leviathan walkers powered entirely by bioreactor leviathan poop. The lava area does get some significant convenience points of being a short jaunt away from that teleport network, *a short jaunt past a fire breathing leviathan of course,* but if you have a fully upgraded grapple suit it's manageable.

I always build my main base either atop the blood kelp (the music is just too good to pass up) or in the mushroom forest near the big tree (I think it's relatively close to all the most important places). My secondary base is always near tree cove.

I always establish a base in the Tree Cove, specifically towards the back near the thermal spires and the entrance to the inactive lava zone. It’s beautiful, safe, has resources aplenty (and you can always pop out into the Lost River for more) and you can get free recharges on the Cyclops if you have the thermal generator and leave it parked close to the thermal spires.

It would be interesting to see how the placements might change if, instead of 1-10, the biomes were instead ranked in each category from worst to best individual, with the lowest point total becoming the best overall.

I think the mountain island deserves a sharp increase in convenience and in resources due to the fact that the water surrounding it boasts a huge amount of shale nodes and lithium as well as the fact that the containment platform contains a teleporter that leads directly to the thermal plant giving insane convenience for going back and forth between the inactive lava zone and the mountain Island, no way on earth would I consider either convenience or resources to be below at least 7, its certainly my top pick due to it essentially being a hub for any and all story progression through the use of teleporters.

The real best base location was the friends we made along the way... It's the primary containment! The fauna doesn't ever attack you, you can get straight to the shallow areas via the portal, it has cool ambience with the fauna and flora, it has good resources as you can take some ion cubes from the fabricator and also jump through any of the portals to get to many locations, it has really good style as it's unique and interesting!

Mhm the Tree Cove needs to be way higher in convenience. Because you not only need to go to different locations on the surface but also to the Active Lava Zone for those ion cubes. And since the Lost River has exits in very important and ressource rich locations i'd say convenience is 7/10. But other than the Tree Cove I love the border between the Sparse / Grand Reef and Sea Traders Path. Somewhere in the middle between those three. All three are ressource rich. Easy access to the Lost River and relatively safe after the warpers get neutral. The crabsquids are way lower in the reef's caves and the ghosts are quite far from the biome border. But a towerbase in the Shallows is important. I need to see the sunsets over the ocean. Every now and then.

My favorite location is at the edge of the dunes near the kelp canyon. Flat, thermal vent, sea treaders, lost river access, shallow enough to get light, the works. Sparese reef and path are great for farming resources. Only problem is that it's tecnhically in the dunes, so there is a reaper just at the very edge of yelling distance but he's never given me trouble. Bonus points if you get an observatory overlooking the drop-off down to sea treaders.

Best base location in game is the Cyclops. Besides that, a home in the shallows. Navigating a Cyclops through need not be a problem and it is one of the most stylish locations. Great colors. And shallow so easy access to free solar power.

i have built in the inactive lava zone before, although it was more of an outpost to charge cyclops batteries, scan for resources, and track the sea dragons.

My favorite base i have ever built was under the floating islands. Due to the fact that there is many flat areas, many resources, and multiple boxes with fragments.

I personally build a base in the tree cove biome because it is the prettiest place to live and it is close to the lost river and an entrance to the inactive lava zone so resources aren't a problem and once your arrive you really have no reason to leave unless you want to build a rocket.

I personally think that setting up a base by the QEP is the best, because you are right by the lava zone, and everything else ( through portals ) and the reapers can be gotten rid off easily but most of the time don’t attack you. You only hear a distant roar sometimes.

I agree with building over the blood kelp trench, there’s a bridge going over the trench where I have base built on, and if you go directly down from the bridge you will find 2 entrances to the lost river!

Spots I used: Edge of sea treaders path (brought up at 5:05) and the top blood kelp trench (like what he said at 4:40) due to there being vents there for power, flat enough for a base and good for resources due to the traders and blood kelp trench nearby. There are some warpers near the blood kelp spot but you can easily avoid it and a reaper towards the far vents/wreckage as well but that is easy to avoid as well. At the edge of the tree cove in the lost river and the inactive lava zone, bit of trek to set up but you can use the lava vents for power and it's decently safe spot for a small base to be able to go in and out of the lava zones to explore.

There's another style perfect 10 base local. I call it Lost River Falls. It's right before the Ghost Tree Cove and provides this perfect eerie atmosphere with these beautiful green "waterfalls" and several fossils. It's free from leviathans. And polar opposite of the Cove in beauty. Also convenience is less of a factor if you build little way stations anywhere you need to be near. With two or three mini bases in your favorite places.

Honestly I find the Koosh Bulb zone to be the best location. There is this one arch, next to a lava vent, in a small crater, that provides the best place for power. It doesn't take too much to build up a spot for solar power, plenty of koosh bulbs for food, water, and bio matter for bioreactors. Lots of resources both rare and mundane.

I recently started placing my Base in the Northwestern Grassy Plateus, directctly at the border to both the Kelp Forest and the Mushroom Forest. Placing it there works well into the late Game, and often nullifies the Need for a second Base alltogether

Thanks, this is the vid I've been waiting for. Just subbed.

Left and straight down when going through the corridor from the Mushroom Forest to the Underwater Islands is a great spot. There's a decent plot on the left side edge right on the border of the Blood Kelp Zone. You get a nice mesh of bloodroots on floating Islands. Oh, and the Tree Cove is essentially right below you. You have a straight shot through Blood Kelp, Lost River into the Tree Cove, etc. etc. after that. Can be at the Lava Castle from my base in 2 minutes or less probably.

Honestly missing the most important category. Power generation. No solar and no heat means either draining the ultimately limited supply of nuclear power in the world or micromanaging a bio reactor with crops or if you aren’t insane a fish farm.

Right next to the cave enterance to the the mushroom caves in the red grass biome. You’re in the red grass: the best source of quartz, few feet away from the kelp forest, where you can get loads of crafting materials and you have easy access to the shroom caves where the most effective bioreactor material is. (Oculus)

I think building a Base at the Edge of 2 or 3 Bioms is underrated - I build my base on Edge between Grassy Plateau, Jelly Shack Caves and the Kelp Forrest and it was great since I got access to the 3 Bioms and their resources :)

I will say one of my favorite spots I built a base aside from the lost river tree cove was in the bulb zone. Specifically, directly above the cavern entrance to the lost river. Basically I built a living space just above sea level, a long stretch of vertical connecters down to a 2nd floor that had my seamoth docking space, and most of my power generation (bio reactor and a connection to some thermal reactors), and then another long vertical connecter down to the seafloor where I had a prawn docking space, some exterior grow beds providing the plant resources outside of the biome, and some good fast access to the lost river. Bit of a pain setting up, but well worth it.

I like building in the Jellyshroom cave, if you place a lot of vertical connectors it becomes easy to go to and from the surface.

I’m partial to the lost river, I built right outside the entrance to the cove tree, on the same plateau as the skull. Made for a solid set piece + literally every resource in the game is available with a prawn drill (and a bit of a hike for Kyanite)

Really love your videos. Keep going!

I built in the fungal forest in my most recent play through and its the best I’ve ever done. I love it and it is a very good spot.

I had a playthrough where i just built bases everywhere, which is A solution. I feel my best strategy has been just having 2 cyclopses. One for mobile bulk storage and one for exploration/resource gsthering.

I think the crash zone deserves more love as the left parts are extremely safe, apart from a few sandsharks, and being near both the mushroom forest and grassy plateaus means you have plenty of resources

Ngl, the kelp forests are one of my favorite biomes in the game. They just look beautiful, in my opinion. And being so close to the safe shallows, they collectively have a good abundance of basic materials that I'll need a lot of for base building in a fairly small area.

The mountain island is underrated imo. In my 2nd game I built my main base right next to the portal exit in the water just outside the enforcement facility moonpool. It has close access to most important resources and my preferred lost river entrance is close by just over in the blood kelp biome. It has easier access to almost everything through the portals as you progress. Including the enforcement facility and the island itself. Which each connect to the inactive lava zone and the floating island respectively. It's also close to thermal vents just a bit away. Though there are reapers beyond the vents, the base is safe. And the closest reaper can be monitored with a scanner or observatory from a safe distance. So the relative less safety is made up for in style. But I also had a secondary base in the tree cove, because it's just too good of a location to not.

When I first started to subnautica, I build my base at mushroom forest, and I found it very good base location because there is so much cyclops and seamoth fragments, a kelb forest nearby with safe shallows being close too , and If you want energy you can go gather it with thermal energy in dunes (you need to watch out for reaper :D ) and you can get bacis and mid game material from there so easily so I finished story for 5-6 times and everytime I build my base there and I still think there is not better base location, mushroom forest is a safe place with enought materials and If you want to go lost river or smthing like there you just need to go full right and you will be there, You need to go aurora, you can go forward and its there

I always build my first base in a junction of sorts between the shallows, plateaus, and kelp forests. After that, I tend to build one in the Sparse Reef.