Guide: Base Location Tier List

So you want to make a base to store all your workbenches, start a Hydroponic farm, or a colony, but you're unsure of where exactly to put it? This tier list should help you out.

Some items to consider when placing a base are:

Average Light: How much light does this world get? This is important as it determines the viability of Solar Power as a passive energy source. Planets with good light will get more out of them, while planets with poor or non-existant light will get nothing from them. Keep in mind this rating is not consistent, it is an average. One Primeval World might have great light, while the next one over may have very poor light.

Average Wind: The more the wind blows, the more reliable Wind Turbines are. A planet with clear weather >70% of the time may be great for exploring, but it will mean this particular power source is not exactly viable. Again, this is not consistent, and is based on weather percentages.

Tier: A higher tier planet will produce more Research than a lower tier one, and since you will spend a good amount of time in your base, it stands to reason that you should try to pick a planet with as high of a tier as possible.

Hazards: What hazards will you face on this planet and how do they affect you? A floran for example will have trouble setting up shop on a hot planet while such things are of no consequence to a novakid. But environmental hazards are not the only type of hazards. Surface Burrowers, Earthquakes, or Meteors may make building difficult or even impossible without a shield generator to protect it, which requires more power. While there's certainly nothing stopping you from building your base anywhere with the right equipment, the need for such equipment (and the power to run it) might have you looking for alternatives elsewhere.

(The below does not cover Super Dense, Shadow, or Dark variants of worlds, as the latter are just existing worlds with a higher tier and darkness gimmick tacked on, while the former two are also covered by the Unknown entry (Super Dense is just an unknown world with less random hazards and higher gravity, while shadow is the same but with darkness as a hazard)

• Average Light: C
• Average Wind: A
• Tier: 5-8
• Hazards: Cosmic 1, Earthquakes (rare), Insanity Storm, Surface burrowers.
• Overall Rating: A
• Notes: Very good for a late game base location. Cosmic can be a problem early on though. The Sea variant is better due Aether accessibility.

• Average Light: S
• Average Wind: D
• Tier: 3
• Hazards: Radioactivity 1
• Overall Rating: C
• Notes: An acceptable mid level location if none other exists, especially for Novakids or other radiation-resistant races.

• Average Light: S
• Average Wind: C
• Tier: 4
• Hazards: Cold 2
• Overall Rating: B
• Notes: One of the few infinite sources of fresh water (Oceans are less viable for this due to them having Salt Water instead of regular water) makes these oddly ideal for a growing operation. You might consider a full time base here if you are an Avali or other highly cold-resistant races.

• Average Light: D
• Average Wind: D
• Tier: 4-6
• Hazards: Insanity, Poison Gas
• Overall Rating: F (D on Sea version)
• Notes: Even if you are trying to build up Madness, we recommend you build a base somewhere else. The Sea Version gets a small boost in rating thanks to being an infinite source of Pus, which can be used in many Infinite mixing recipies. Even then though, it's better to just set up a small pumping operation rather than a main base.

• Average Light: B
• Average Wind: F
• Tier: 1-6
• Hazards: None
• Overall Rating: C
• Notes: In vanilla these were good places to set up a base due to nothing happening here. In Frackin however there are more much better 'barrens' that make the normal ones not really worth it, unless you really like the rock scenery for some reason.

• Average Light: c
• Average Wind: c
• Tier: 2-4
• Hazards: Acid Rain (occasionally)
• Overall Rating: C
• Notes: Good place to find Algae but not really the best place to put a base. There are better planets.

• Average Light: B
• Average Wind: B
• Tier: 4-5
• Hazards: Radioactive 3, Poison Gas, Sulphuric Rain, Lightining Storms
• Overall Rating: C
• Notes: Good for mining, but not so much for base building, especially since solar panels are now based on time of day rather than direct light.

• Average Light: B
• Average Wind: D
• Tier: 1-3
• Hazards: Lightning storms (rare)
• Overall Rating: C
• Notes: A decent but not great place for an early game base. Good source of Organic Soup however.

• Average Light: D
• Average Wind: S
• Tier: 5-6
• Hazards: No Oxygen, Molten Rain, Fire Rain, Enemy Spawns.
• Overall Rating: D
• Notes: If you build a base here, make sure you use plenty of turrets to ward off pesky robots, and make sure you build your base out of material that is neither flammable nor turns into hot metal. The rating goes up by one or two levels if you build underground to avoid these problems however, but make sure you use a Drain to make sure the molten rain doesn't flood your bunker. Wind power is second-to-none here and it is entirely viable to power a base here solely on it, which is what keeps it out of the F tier.

• Average Light: S
• Average Wind: C
• Tier: 1-3
• Hazards: Desert Heat
• Overall Rating: D
• Notes: Deserts are very much early game location. Wind is feast or famine: you either get a world with constant wind or none at all. However, this early on there really is no good reason to pick it over your starting world.

• Average Light: A
• Average Wind: S
• Tier: 1-3
• Hazards: No Oxygen, Cold 1
• Overall Rating: B
• Notes: The moon variant might actually be worth switching to thanks to the combination of great light levels and wind.

• Average Light: A
• Average Wind: B
• Tier: 3-6
• Hazards: Bandits (non-respawning)
• Overall Rating: S
• Notes: This is the the best planet type to put a base on, hands down, bar nothing. If you find a planet with a weather combination of Windstorms, Misty Rain, and Hurricane; or Storms, Rain, Misty Rain, and Drizzle; or Rain, Storms, Luminous Rain, Misty Rain, and Drizzle, you are pretty much set for the whole game, especially if they are in the upper tiers. The first variety has constant wind, while the other two do have mostly good wind. All types have excellent solar. The only real hazard on Eden worlds are the powerful bandits that inhabit them, but once they're killed they're gone for good and nothing else will bother you.

• Average Light: S
• Average Wind: D
• Tier: 2
• Hazards: None
• Overall Rating: C
• Notes: While there are viable alternatives to your lush world early game, this really isn't one of them.

• Average Light: C
• Average Wind: C
• Tier: 3-8
• Hazards: No Oxygen, Cold 2, Satellite Rain, Earthquakes
• Overall Rating: F (D if no Satellite Rain or Earthquakes)
• Notes: You need to rely on good RNG to get a good frost moon. Even then, there are better options for mid and late game locations.

• Average Light: D
• Average Wind: B
• Tier: 4-5
• Hazards: Cold 2, Fire Storms, Freeze Storms
• Overall Rating: F
• Notes: You get the worst of both worlds here: very gold, and burning weather at the same time. There is little reason to put your base here.

• Average Light: c
• Average Wind: B
• Tier: 2-3
• Hazards: Poisonous weather
• Overall Rating: D
• Notes: Some have better than average daylight, usually worse. There is very little reason to move to one of these especially this early in the game.

• Average Light: S
• Average Wind: C
• Tier: 1
• Hazards: None
• Overall Rating: A-
• Notes: The world you start on. It has an abandoned house to start you off, and just about everything else you need to start your base early game. This is the standard by which all other planets are compared to. Wind and rain can be a dice toss however, as it can vary between being constant or non-existant. This world is your cradle, but like all cradles, it is heavily recommended you grow out of it and move on at some point.

• Average Light: C
• Average Wind: S
• Tier: 5-7
• Hazards: Pressure, Heat 3, Cold 3, Long drops, Ghosts
• Overall Rating: D
• Notes: While the wind might be S tier, this only applies to the immediate surface. Most of the stuff you want like Metallic Hydrogen is several layers down, which count as being 'underground' which means no wind and no solar. Ghosts hunting you/spawnkilling you means that this is also a no-go.

• Average Light: D
• Average Wind: C
• Tier: 2-4
• Hazards: Poison 1, Slime, Unstable Ground, Poison Gas
• Overall Rating: D
• Notes: Not a very good place to put a base on, unless you find a good subbiome. But even then there are way better choices.

• Average Light: D
• Average Wind: A
• Tier: 5-6
• Hazards: Cold 3, Hail, Earthquakes (rare)
• Overall Rating: D
• Notes: Very good for mining, but not great for base building, even on higher tiers.

• Average Light: D
• Average Wind: C
• Tier: 5-7
• Hazards: Heat 3, Firestorms, Meteorites, Earthquakes
• Overall Rating: F
• Notes: The hot counterpart to Ice Wastes is an even worse choice for a base location than their cold counterparts. The only reason you even want to visit this place is for Pyreite but that's about it. Even putting it underground might not save you as there's still the threat of earthquakes and burrowers.

• Average Light: D
• Average Wind: B
• Tier: 4-5
• Hazards: Radiation 2, Gravity Rain
• Overall Rating: D (B for Fission-focused bases)
• Notes: You can combo an Atmospheric Condenser with a fission reactor to make a self-running base, though you can do something similar with Toxic worlds and more efficiently. Might be worth considering if you are a X'i or other highly-radiation resistant race. Otherwise, look elsewhere for your new home.

• Average Light: S
• Average Wind: D
• Tier: 4
• Hazards: Heat 1, Radiation 1
• Overall Rating: D
• Notes: Just pick a Rainforest instead. It's everything Jungle is but with more rain and less radiation.

• Average Light: C
• Average Wind: C
• Tier: 6
• Hazards: Heat 3, Meteorites
• Overall Rating: F
• Notes: The only useful thing about Lava worlds are the infinite lava pools. However, you can also find this in the cores of most (but not all) planets you can travel to, including your starter world, making such a base here redundant.

• Average Light: F (Obviously)
• Average Wind: B
• Tier: 4-5
• Hazards: Ghost, No Oxygen, Darkness, Insanity Storm
• Overall Rating: F+
• Notes: Unless you have gone the full madness route and unlocked the Nocturn Array, there's no good reason to develop here. Even then, a Penumbra or Midnight world might be a better choice. In fact, just locking it in a dark room works well enough on its own, so there is no reason for such a base in the first place. The only two saving graces are infinitely generatable Trianglium (though you can just go to an ice waste or tar pit to mine it en-mass) and being one of the few places with Effigium (though higher level Corrupt sub-biomes also have it.)

• Average Light: B
• Average Wind: D
• Tier: 1
• Hazards: No Oxygen, Ghost, Space Debris
• Overall Rating: D
• Notes: Moon bases sound cool but the lack of wind, and possibility of block-destroying weather makes this tenuous at best, and that's not mentioning the ghost. In fact, once you get past early game, the only thing you'll really need Erchius for is BYOS components.

• Average Light: F
• Average Wind: S
• Tier: 5
• Hazards: Cold 2
• Overall Rating: B
• Notes: Despite the lack of light for solar, Midnights make for fairly decent late game bases as the constant wind makes up for it. Other than the cold, there aren't any other hazards so this also works in its favor, especially if you are cold-resistant.

• Average Light: A
• Average Wind: C
• Tier: 3-4
• Hazards: Acid Rain, Gravity Event (uncommon)
• Overall Rating: A
• Notes: A great candidate for an early-mid game base. Lack of hazards and abundance of materials makes them a good location.

• Average Light: D
• Average Wind: B
• Tier: 4-5
• Hazards: No Oxygen, Cold 2
• Overall Rating: D
• Notes: Like most ocean worlds, build space is scarce. Most have a severe lack of light, and there isn't much reason you'd need to mass extract the Liquid Nitrogen itself as it's not used in much.

• Average Light: S
• Average Wind: D
• Tier: 3
• Hazards: None
• Overall Rating: C
• Notes: They now produce Salt Water rather than regular water, which while useful in some applications, means they're unsuitable for mass-growing operations.

• Average Light: F
• Average Wind: D
• Tier: 3-5
• Hazards: Insanity Storm (unfommon), black sludge blocks, poison rain
• Overall Rating: D
• Notes: Not really a good location for a base considering lack of renewable resources. The only advantage it has over lightless is the lack of spooky ghost and oppressive darkness.

• Average Light: D
• Average Wind: C
• Tier: 2-3
• Hazards: Earthquakes (Common)
• Overall Rating: F (D on non-earthquake worlds)
• Notes: On most of these, Earthquakes make any attempt to build here a futile effort at best, as they will quickly destroy your hard work. Best look elsewhere for an early or mid game base. Even on ones without Earthquakes, they are just a slightly better/worse Forest.

• Average Light: C
• Average Wind: B
• Tier: 3-4
• Hazards: Proto Poison
• Overall Rating: C
• Notes: Wind is hit or miss, as is light. Nice place if you're into weird stuff.

• Average Light: B
• Average Wind: C
• Tier: 2-4
• Hazards: Tropical Heat 1
• Overall Rating: B
• Notes: The better Jungle. A good location for a mid game base. The rainstorms can be taken advantage of if done right. Wind is hit or miss, as is light.

• Average Light: D
• Average Wind: A
• Tier: 3-5
• Hazards: Heat 3, Earthquake (common), Fire Storm, Sulphur Storm
• Overall Rating: F
• Notes: It's a worse Desert. There's not much to say here.

• Average Light: A
• Average Wind: D
• Tier: 1-3
• Hazards: No Oxygen
• Overall Rating: D
• Notes: A better Lunar. No ghost. Still not great.

• Average Light: S
• Average Wind: D
• Tier: 3
• Hazards: None
• Overall Rating: B
• Notes: A pretty decent location for a mid game location. Not the greatest, but you can definitely do worse.

• Average Light: C
• Average Wind: S
• Tier: 6
• Hazards: Heat 2, Poison Gas, Meteorites (rare)
• Overall Rating: D
• Notes: There's little reason to build here. If you really want to get your Mad Max or Fallout vibes on, pick a Wasteland world instead.

• Average Light: F
• Average Wind: S
• Tier: 3-5
• Hazards: No Oxygen, Ghost, Darkness
• Overall Rating: F
• Notes: A worse Lunar. If you want a moon base, go somewhere else.

• Average Light: S
• Average Wind: D
• Tier: 3
• Hazards: Cold 1
• Overall Rating: D
• Notes: Nothing wrong with a snow world, but nothing good either. Consider a Mountainous, Tundra, or Arctic world instead if you want to shack up in the cold.

• Average Light: D
• Average Wind: B
• Tier: 5-6
• Hazards: Poison Gas, Plasmic Distruption, other effects (if you use strange sea mods)
• Overall Rating: C
• Notes: The only reason it gets higher than D or F rank is because of the importance of Plasmic Fluid in many applications. Even if you don't set up a permanent base here, it is recommended to set up an extraction operation.

• Average Light: C
• Average Wind: A
• Tier: 3-5
• Hazards: Acid Atmosphere, Sulfur Storms, Earthquakes, heat waves, meteorites, Doomwyrms
• Overall Rating: F
• Notes: More trouble than its worth. To make matters worse, going underground will not save you as this is one of only two planets where Doomwyrms can spawn, which will wreck your underground base VERY quickly.

• Average Light: S
• Average Wind: D
• Tier: 1-4
• Hazards: None
• Overall Rating: S
• Notes: The Better Barren. This type of world was very specifically made for you to start an early game or mid game colony. It resembles a lush world in every way except for the lack of enemies, hostile weather, or subbiomes. Lack of wind can be a problem but consistently good light makes this a non-issue.

• Average Light: C
• Average Wind: D
• Tier: 3-5
• Hazards: Heat 1, Cinder Showers
• Overall Rating: D
• Notes: Not really worth it. The only value it has is as a source of Oil or as a Trianglium mining operation.

• Average Light: D
• Average Wind: B
• Tier: 4-5
• Hazards: Poison Gas, Sulphur Fog, Hail
• Overall Rating: D
• Notes: There really is no good reason to build here. Dark Water is not particularly useful to infinite-extract, and there's nothing else of interest here.

• Average Light: C
• Average Wind: B
• Tier: 4
• Hazards: Poison 2, Radiation 1, Poison Rain
• Overall Rating: C-
• Notes: Very icky, Poison is quite useful in a number of applications. However, it can be very easily acquired more safely elsewhere.

• Average Light:
• Average Wind:
• Tier:
• Hazards:
• Overall Rating:
• Notes:

• Average Light: S
• Average Wind: D
• Tier: 5
• Hazards: Cold 1
• Overall Rating: B
• Notes: The better Snowy. Unfortunately, other than tier, there really isn't a whole lot better about it. The lack of hazards makes it a decent candidate for a base, especially for a cold-resistant race.

• Average Light: ?
• Average Wind: ?
• Tier: 7-10
• Hazards: Temporal Instability (guaranteed), Any base planet hazard, 2-4 random non-weather hazards (too many to list), missing layers (sometimes), false surface biomes. Seriously, if a hazard exists, it can be found here.
• Overall Rating: F∞-
• Notes: The hazards makes building anything here a waste of time. The only real way to colonize one of these is to terraform it. And in all honesty, it's not worth the effort.

• Average Light: F
• Average Wind: D
• Tier: 6
• Hazards: Heat 2, cinder showers, meteorites (rare)
• Overall Rating: F
• Notes: There's even less reason to build one here than on Lava worlds (themselves an F tier)

• Average Light: F
• Average Wind: D
• Tier: 1-3
• Hazards: Heat 2, No Oxygen, Meteorites (rare)
• Overall Rating: F
• Notes: Volcanic but even less reason to build here.

• Average Light: C
• Average Wind: C
• Tier: 3-4
• Hazards: Heat 1, Earthquakes (common)
• Overall Rating: F
• Notes: It's Primeval, but even worse. If you don't like having bases spontanously vaporizing due to earthquake, look elsewhere.

• Average Light: C
• Average Wind: B
• Tier: 3-4
• Hazards: Sulphur Fog, Poison Gas, Gravity Rain
• Overall Rating: B
• Notes: The better Scorched. Or rather, Scorched without the scorch. Or rather, Mad Max: The Planet. Other weather can make building here problematic, but definitely not undoable. Might be in the top running for your mid game base choices.

• Average Light: F
• Average Wind: F
• Tier: (Depends on host planet)
• Hazards: Depends on host planet, but weather threats do not apply. Lack of teleport ability on survival or hardcore mode.
• Overall Rating: A-
• Notes: A great early game source of copper, iron, tungsten, core fragments, silicon and carbon. Whether you extract core fragments to craft throwable dynamite, craft Carbon Pickaxes out of the above resources or simply find gathering early-game resources a nuisance, it’s the best of the places.Obviously requires a set-up of pumps, extractors, centrifuges and dynamos to be worth it.

• Average Light: F
• Average Wind: F
• Tier: 3-4
• Hazards: Proto Poison
• Overall Rating: D
• Notes: Only found on Proto Worlds. Only useful for infinite Liquid Protocite, but that can be acquired through infinite mixing with water anyway.

• Average Light: F
• Average Wind: F
• Tier: 3-5
• Hazards: Depends on host planet, but weather threats do not apply. Lack of teleport ability on survival or hardcore mode.
• Overall Rating: D-
• Notes: Liquid Nitrogen is not that useful and only has a handful of applications. There is no need to mass extract it especially when Nitrogen Seas are a thing.

• Average Light: F
• Average Wind: F
• Tier: Depends on host planet
• Hazards: Ghost
• Overall Rating: F
• Notes: Useless

• Average Light: F
• Average Wind: F
• Tier: 3-5
• Hazards: Insanity (no, going underground won't save you)
• Overall Rating: F
• Notes: Only useful for mass gathering pus, in which case you might as well just stick to the surface of an atropus sea.

• Average Light: C
• Average Wind: F
• Tier: 1
• Hazards: Nothing (or at least let's hope not!)
• Overall Rating: C-
• Notes: Yes it's a place you can put a base, especially if you BYOS. This is often referred to as 'Ship-Nomading.' However, you will most certainly need a reactor of some kind to make power since space provides no wind and very little light. Also since it's tier 1 the science generation will be poor. The only reason it doesn't get a lower rating is due to extreme convenience.

• Average Light: C
• Average Wind: F
• Tier: 1
• Hazards: Nothing (or at least let's hope not!)
• Overall Rating: D-
• Notes: Exactly like your ship but far more expensive and less convenient. The only reason it's not straight up F+ is that it allows for extremely convenient Beekeeping since all types produce resources here, for... Some reason.