Are you thinking about how to manage your base in The Alters? This large structure acts as your mobile hub throughout the campaign. While the environment outside already has potential threats, you still need to be mindful of what happens inside your home away from home. Our guide has several tips to aid you with this particular facet of the game.
How to manage your base in The Alters – Base building and modules guide
Once you have access to your mobile base, you’ll notice that several modules/rooms are already active. As you progress further into the campaign, though, you have to focus on what you can add to your hub. This is done via the terminal in the Command Center.
- Build – The build button allows you to add new modules/rooms.
- Expand – The expand button increases the available space in your hub, allowing you to plop down more modules.
These actions require all sorts of resources that you can find on the planet, including metals, minerals, organics, and even rarer byproducts from anomalies. Some can be obtained by hand, while others require you to scan and mine deep deposits.
Note: You can recheck the layout of your hub at any time by opening the Base Overview screen.
How to place down new rooms and modules
The Alters’ base building screen in the Command Center lets you organize and reposition modules/rooms as you see fit. You may also refund the cost of a room if you no longer need it. However, you should look at how each module is connected–i.e. all rooms need to have a green outline, which means there’s a path that leads to them.
Please note that not all rooms are available at the start. Several can only be unlocked once you’ve completed the research task in the Lab.
You can make changes to your base’s layout in the Command Center.
The most integral rooms for your base
If you want to manage your base in The Alters, then you should take note of the functions of each room. Modules like the Airlock (i.e. where you enter/exit your base), Captain’s Cabin (i.e. where you sleep), Communication Room (i.e. where you make calls), Command Center (i.e. where you rearrange rooms), and Elevators are, naturally, integral throughout your run. Other modules also offer unique functions:
- Research Lab – Allows you to unlock and research techs once you have a Scientist.
- Workshop – Lets you craft tools and consumables. You can have more than one Workshop in your hub.
- Quantum Computer and The Womb – These modules let you examine Jan’s life paths to “birth” new clones.
- Machinery – Needs to have a Radiation Filter activated at night or during Magnetic Storms. This prevents Jan and his alters from suffering from radiation sickness.
- Infirmary – Jan and his clones can recover from injuries and radiation sickness. If you already have a Doctor, then the recovery speed of characters also increases.
- Greenhouse and Kitchen – The former is used to grow crops, while the latter is used to cook food. Your food can either come from organics or from the crops that you’ve cultivated. Likewise, each character consumes one meal per day, so you should always have more than enough to go by.
- Dormitory – This is where your alter clones sleep. You should have one in place to improve conditions in your hub.
- Recreation: Social Room and Gym – Your alters can relax or exercise to help with their motivation.
- Contemplation Room – This is where alters go if they feel unmotivated or dejected. The Shrink will be able to counsel them, whereas the Guard will be able to discipline them.
- Storage – The number and size of Storage rooms you have also increases the amount of resources that your base can hold. You don’t need a lot of these early on, as four or five tend to be enough. That said, any excess resources that are gathered will be lost if there is no space available.
- Recycler – Once researched, this module nets you +5 organics per day depending on the number of people in your base.
How to rearrange modules in your base
A few hours into the campaign, you should take some time to properly manage your base in The Alters. Ideally, you should look at the layout of your hub so you can reposition everything according to your needs. Here are our recommendations:
- Airlock – Use the Airlock as the central fixture since this is where you spawn in whenever you fast travel back to your base.
- Elevators – From the Airlock, one elevator shaft should span the entirety of the base from top to bottom. We believe this is preferable to the default configuration, which requires navigating two separate shafts.
- Command Center, Workshop, Research Lab, and Communication Room – These should be fairly close to the Airlock and main elevator shaft due to how often you’d revisit these areas.
- Quantum Computer and The Womb – Both should be adjacent to one another as they’re related to birthing new alters.
- Kitchen, Dormitory, and other recreational spaces – Alters tend to hang out and rest in these rooms, so it’s a good idea to have them close to each other in case new dialogue options appear.
- Machinery – Just remember to always have extra Radiation Filters that are active. You can also “uphold” a certain number of these so you don’t have to worry about last-minute crafting.
- Storage – You can leave these near the bottom of the hub.
Note: You don’t need to go to each production-related room if you just want to add a craftable item to the queue. Instead, you can do this via the Production menu, before having an alter complete the task via the Assignments menu. However, if you want to manually craft the items yourself, then you have to visit these rooms.
Reconfigure and reposition modules so that it’s easier to navigate the interior of your base.
Base Navigation System: Structures and mass
Progression throughout the campaign entails moving your base before the burning sun scorches everything around you. Here’s a quick summary:
- The Base Navigation System tells you all the information that you need. This can be accessed via the panel at the right-hand side of the Command Center.
- Every structure/module that you add increases the total mass of your base.
- Moving your base to a new region–which also causes the story to advance to the next chapter–requires two things:
- You must complete the main objectives in the chapter/region.
- The amount of organics resource that you have in your storage is equivalent to the total mass of your base. For example, if your base’s mass is 300, then you must have 300 organics.
In the end, you have to decide when to have more modules. You can have a lot of modules early so you can make use of their functions, but you should also consider how this would affect the total mass and the organics that you still have to mine.
That does it for our guide on how to manage your base in The Alters. Since we’re already talking about what goes on in your mobile habitat, then we might as well discuss how to increase the happiness of your characters. You can also check our beginner’s guide for more survival tips.
Can you help Jan Dolski and his clones stay alive throughout their ordeal? Well, if you need more tips, you can head over to our The Alters guides hub.
