The Forest Best Base Locations

The Forest Best Base Locations

Latest posts by James Gibson (see all)

One of the best things about The Forest is the freedom to make each playthrough your own, improving on previous playthroughs with each attempt. Not only do you get better at handling the cannibals and mutants, but you also get better at building bases to rebuff their constant attacks, especially in the late game.

As with anything in The Forest, your base should slowly progress as your character spends more time looking for Timmy. This allows the player to spend more time at home without worrying about their defensive perimeter being torn down by mutants or cannibals.

During your first game playthrough, you will be so concerned with setting up your base that you will likely settle somewhere close to the downed airplane. However, in this guide, we will use the knowledge I have gained through extensive playthroughs to advise you on The Forest best base locations and places to settle in the game.

Let’s jump into the good stuff and see which base location is right for you.

the forest bird's fly view

What Is a ‘Good’ Base Location Anyway?

What works for one player will not necessarily work for you. The way you play the game and decide to put your focus on it will change everything about the optimum base location for you.

For players who want to speed through the game, pick up everything as they move, and survive on the run, a minimalist base may be for you. However, the exact opposite can be true for players who love survival games and the mechanics that come with such games. Of course, there are always those players who love the sandbox nature of the base-building system, and each of these players will prefer certain base types and locations.

Despite this, every player will want a base with the following amenities:

  • Good and easy access to hot spots on the map.
  • Access to fresh or drinkable water in or near the base.
  • Reasonable distance to cannibal camps, which can provide vital supplies of materials such as rope.
  • Limited cannibal and mutant access. However, as the player progresses through the game and gets better access to traps and the like, this will become less important.

The Islands

the islands the forest

As you step away from the plane crash wreckage separating you and your son, you will find yourself centrally situated on the main island. However, as you explore the island’s surrounding locations and coast, you will find several islands that could make brilliant base locations.

While many of these locations are scattered around the main island, the player should only settle on the bigger islands, the biggest of which is found on the northwest coast.

If you like the sound of an island base, there are a few positives and negatives about these locations that you should consider first:

Positives

  • As these islands are cut off from the main supply of mutants and cannibals, you will rarely have to deal with them attacking or tearing down elements of your base. Spawn rates on these islands are meager; in some of my playthroughs, they did not spawn at all.
  • As they are islands, the player is surrounded by an infinite water supply. To use this, ensure you find yourself an old pot around the mainland. With this in hand, you will be able to collect the sea water and boil it until it is safe to consume.
  • When you gather a decent supply of food or set up some form of a garden, these islands can quickly become fairly self-sufficient.

Negatives

  • Supplies, especially building supplies, can be minimal on these islands, and there is no easy way of transporting logs from the mainland to these locations.
  • Islands further out from shore are almost impossible to thrive on due to the amount of transport time.

Floating Bases

floating bases the forest

Easily one of the safest and most unique places to settle is in The Forest in the middle of one of the large ponds that appear throughout the map.

There are many great locations for floating bases in the game. All of these can be great for players who already have got a small and functional base setup.

I found that floating bases were best used in the later stages of the game, those times that you need to hang around your base, but waves and waves of horrid mutants keep setting off your traps and banging down the walls you spent so long building and placing perfectly.

Unfortunately, as with every truly good thing in life, there are some drawbacks or adjustments you must make to thrive in a base like this. The simple things will become slightly more difficult as you have to swim most times you leave your base, adding annoying seconds onto mundane tasks that are tiring at the best of times.

Positives

  • The best thing about these locations is that cannibals and mutants cannot spawn on or in your base, leaving your home literally unreachable and safe from attack.
  • The player will not need to spend time and resources constructing defensive walls or perimeters to protect their inner walls.
  • Due to being placed in the middle of a lake, water is in pretty good supply. This infinite supply can come in handy, especially if you get your hands on an old pot.
  • Once fully operational, the player will not need to leave their base for anything except the main quest line.

Negatives

  • The amount of time it takes to transition from swimming to walking can get quite annoying when you must do it every time you want to run in and out of your base quickly.
  • The size of the lake will limit the size of your floating base unless you want to bridge over onto land, which defeats the purpose.
  • Getting logs onto these bases when beginning your build can be very annoying and challenging to maneuver.

The Snow Biome

the snow biome the forest

My very first playthrough of The Forest was pretty straightforward. Yes, I did die a lot more than I am proud of; however, I did figure out pretty much everything on my own without the help of Google.

Sadly though, this streak was brought to an end when I ventured further north on the main island. As I walked and encountered more open ground and lush green fields, I thought that this area would be perfect for a base later in the game. Despite this, I kept walking, trying to find some more parts for my pistol.

This walk left me confronted with a wall of ice. As a series of cannibals were pursuing me, I ran head-first into the area and was immensely surprised when I started taking damage from the cold. This damage brought an end to my winter excursion.

In more recent times, I have learned to push my survival skills and the mechanics of The Forest a little further as I progress through the main game, using my developed knowledge of the game to tame the wild tundra and make it my own, setting up one of my favorite bases here.

While many players will avoid this location out of fear of the elements and their character’s continued breathing, once you get your hands on the warm suit via crafting, this area is practically safer than most spots on the island.

I set up base on the foot of the mountain, near the downed plane’s cockpit. From here, I was able to find a lot of natural resources and some helpful mushrooms.

Positives

  • Due to the insanely cold climate on the foot of the mountain, the player will be free of cannibal and mutant attacks. It seems even these creatures can’t survive here without a warm suit, making this base location perfect for late-game players.
  • The different climates can be very nice to look at and a welcome change of scenery when in the late game stage.
  • As you would expect, a lot of natural resources are available here, just like on the rest of the peninsula.

Negatives

  • The player will certainly die if they try and set up a base here without the warm suit.
  • The warm suit takes a long time and a lot of exploration to find the animal pelts required to craft the finished suit. This makes a base in the winter biome almost exclusively a late-game build.
  • Being that far north on the island takes you away from the majority of cave systems distributed across the map.

Treetop Base

treetop base the forest

While I am not going to demean you by explaining where and when you can set up a treetop base, I will say that these bases are best situated as close to the hotspots of the map as possible, allowing the player to quickly navigate between resources centers, caves, and all other essential spots.

When looking to set up your first treetop base, there are a couple of things you must think about first. To start, you must decide whether you prefer using the prefabricated treehouse models that the game has provided you with or whether you want to build everything from scratch and really put your own twist on things.

I suggest that if this is your first treehouse base build, maybe stick with the prefabricated units from the survival guide and build out from there. However, should you be an old hand at George of The Jungle style operations, have at it and go crazy – just make sure that you don’t wind up using your own trees as kindling anytime soon.

Positives

  • Virtually limitless building space, allowing you to construct something truly amazing and perfect for your next playthrough of this survival game.
  • The cannibals are basically a nonissue when building up in the trees. These zombie-like creatures cannot get to you while up in your treetop mansion.
  • You can play around with the height and verticality of your base when suspended in the trees, allowing you to have some fun with the shape of your finished creation.

Negatives

  • If the player expands their treetop base too far, you risk coming into a highly patrolled area of the island, allowing cannibals to attack them whenever you decide to leave their base.
  • There is a risk that the player can mistakenly chop down one of the trees that supports their base, causing the entire structure to come tumbling down through sheer stupidity or a simple lapse in concentration.
  • When I built my first treetop base, I could not stop myself from constantly walking off an unfinished edge, resulting in my character plummeting to the forest floor below.

Geese Lake

geese lake the forest

This location is a fan favorite. Many of the megabase builds you will see online will begin here, using the natural landscape surrounding the area as a perfect staging ground.

The Geese Lake may be one of the best locations for beginner-base builders in The Forest as it has the perfect amount of water and land to build on. A natural cannibal defense then buttresses this in the form of a brilliant cliff wall. This almost flat wall acts as a frame for your base’s initial structure, but it also protects you from enemies. Anyone who has ever played strategy games such as Civilization will know the benefits of this.

Positives

  • The cliff wall at the side of the lake acts as an impenetrable barrier against cannibals and mutants. Perfect for players roleplaying as proper survival game aficionados.
  • As this is called the Geese Lake, there are plenty of geese nearby, providing an abundant food source.
  • The lake’s water also acts as a great source of hydration when combined with an old bucket.

Negatives

  • So many popular player bases are located here that it ruins the fun of trying to be creative.
  • The back wall, while defensive, does hamper your ability to build upwards.

The South Beach

the south beach the forest

I would like to follow up my entry on Geese Lake with another base location players love to utilize for its natural fortification against the horrid island inhabitants. However, this time, players must use ocean water to their advantage.

When I built my first base, I chose here due to its proximity to the initial plane crash site and the abundant supply of loot the suitcases there provided, but I also liked having a natural defense. You can, as I did, build your walls to fully encircle your base right up to the water’s edge, and this means that the cannibals cannot get to the back side of your fortifications.

Here, you will benefit from the great and central location of South beach, leaving you a stone’s throw away from a cave entrance and the abundance of resources in the form of trees and water. For food, you will get plenty of turtles washing up on the island, which you can use for food and to turn into water catchers. Lastly, this base location is very close to the boat that lists just off the shore.

Positives

  • The sea at your back acts as a natural barrier.
  • There is an abundant supply of every required resource here.
  • Great location near a cave entrance, a cannibal camp, and much more.

Negatives

  • Due to this base’s location, the player will suffer from many cannibal and mutant attacks.
  • Turtles tend to crawl through player structures, breaking the immersion quite a bit.
  • The land is slightly annoying to build on as the beach is on a decline.

Something a Bit Different

Yacht Base

yacht base the forest

Just off the shore from the south beach location, you will be able to see an unmanned boat floating listlessly a short swim away. Thankfully though, the boat will stay in the same spot throughout your playthrough, thus serving as the perfect location for a little offshore getaway.

While the Yacht does have some cool little secrets hidden away behind a locked door, it is effectively useless in terms of the main story, so the player may as well make some use of it by having it feature at the heart of your new base, using the boat itself as a possible sleeping area for the player.

You can either connect this base to land or treat the boat as a staging area to build a floating bastion of safety from those horrid cannibals – each choice has its own ups and downs.

In the end, though, if done correctly, the player can have something completely unique and out of the norm for most Forest gameplays.

Positives

  • Whether you connect this base to the shore or not, the distance from the main island and the size of the Yacht itself pretty much secures you from all mutant or cannibal attacks.
  • The Yacht has a bed and everything sitting ready for the player, thus allowing you to live in some form of normality within the boat’s luxurious living space.
  • Once the secret door is opened, you increase the amount of living space the player has.
  • The building space when out on the water is practically unlimited.
  • You are surrounded by water, therefore finding something to drink shouldn’t be an issue.
  • The Yacht is also filled with empty bottles, perfect for a little Molotov cocktail factory.

Negatives

  • There are sharks in The Forest, especially around this south beach location; therefore, when journeying between the yacht and land, you may get a few sharks bites every now and then.
  • While this build can be accomplished fairly early on in a playthrough, you will not become self-sufficient in this base without a lot of work and building.

Beach Hut Village Base

beach hut village base the forest

One location that always seems to go unnoticed is the Beach Hut Village, found on the Northwestern side of the map. This location features a fairly substantial rock wall to the rear and the sea to the front, acting as perfect natural barriers to cannibal attack, especially when buttressed by a few walls here and there.

This base location is perfect for multiplayer sessions wherein multiple survivors need to find somewhere to lay their heads at night. Due to the number of premade and cool-looking beach huts at this location, I think you would be crazy not to use them as focal points of a massive base building operation. After all, most of the hard work in terms of fortification is done for you, allowing you to plop down a couple of cleverly placed walls to give yourself an enormous base.

Positives

  • As mentioned, this base is protected by a rock wall to the rear and the sea to the front, allowing the player to focus their defensive efforts on the more exposed areas.
  • As you are already beside the sea, a supply of water is not going to be an issue.
  • There are already premade structures to base your structure around.

Negatives

  • The huts are quite spaced out from one another; therefore, linking them all together in a fully protected base takes a lot of work and wood.
  • The huts themselves may not be entirely aesthetically pleasing to everyone.
  • The base is not situated in a very convenient location with reference to caves.

Full Send Sinkhole Base

full send sinkhole base the forest 

To round up this entire thing, why don’t we talk about the biggest possible base build in this game? The Sinkhole is a location that most people who have played The Forest will be familiar with, as it is literally the seat of some of the most important developments in the main story.

When you first come across this massive hole in the ground, the sheer scale of the thing might be a little intimidating at first, never mind thinking of constructing a base over the mouth of the thing.

If you decide to take on this massive task, you will need to spend a great deal of time literally planning out and gathering the supplies to put down the perimeter and general outline of the base before you can get into the fun and creative portion of the build. Thankfully, the sinkhole is surrounded by trees, so this one resource will be easily gotten, assuming you have the time to sink into the project.

Next, you will need to consider whether you want your base to be covering the entirety of the sinkhole’s mouth or just a specific portion. This will really come down to how much time and dedication you have for this game. Maybe you’ve just been laid off, or maybe your sick, either way, with enough spare time, anything is possible.

Positives

  • When you complete this base, the feeling of accomplishment will be like nothing else.
  • If you decide to take trees from the surrounding area of the sinkhole, the sheer amount of wood you will need will result in a piece of deforestation that will be nothing less than impressive to look at.
  • With the amount of space available in this base, you will be able to let your creative juices fly.

Negatives

  • The sheer amount of time it takes to set up a good base here is more than most players will be able to dedicate to it.
  • There is not much in the way of natural structures to protect your base. Therefore, you’re going to need some traps and defensive structures around your entire base.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Is The Forest okay for younger kids?

Answer: Many younger gamers want to get their hands on The Forest after the game rose to prominence via the YouTube community. However, the game focuses heavily on survival-horror elements and does not shy away from gore, making the title justified in its 18+ rating.

Question: Do you ever find Timmy in The Forest?

Answer: When you journey through the main story of The Forest, you will eventually find the dead body of Timmy in one of the final caves. The player is then faced with the choice of sacrificing others to save Timmy or not.

Question: Does the SOS sign do anything in The Forest?

Answer: The SOS sign is in the game merely for immersion purposes, and it does not actually do anything in the game, no matter how long you leave it there.

Conclusion

So, there you have it, a list of all the best base locations in The Forest. Hopefully, through this list, you have found the perfect base location for you and your next build – after all, isn’t that why we are all still playing the game by this point? Regardless, thank you for your attention, and I hope to see you again soon.

Read More: Sons of the Forest Base Ideas: Creative Blueprints to Get Building!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top