There’s a lot to manage in Undead Lab’s newest game, State of Decay 2. From the needs of your community to the actual infection rate of survivors, everything leads back to having resources. Collecting and using items to benefit your people is one of the core foundations of State of Decay 2. While many of your resources will be found exploring the world or trading with survivors, it’s possible to establish areas that automatically produce important goods. This is tied to the Command Center that you will establish at the start of every game. Here’s how to upgrade your base and where to find new ones in-game.
Upgrading Your Base
In State of Decay 2, players can upgrade their home base after meeting specific requirements. This won’t happen until at least a few hours into the game, so don’t fret until you’ve elected a leader for your survivors. After this, you’ll need to establish an Outpost somewhere within the world before the first upgrade can take place.
Go to the Command Center – usually at the bottom floor by the stairs – and interact with this area. A menu will open up and there should be an icon of a house with an arrow shooting out of the roof. This is where you can upgrade your base, view what benefits this will offer, and what it takes to actually obtain this goal. Remember, bases cannot expand the number of build squares available. Instead, they will offer both passive and active bonuses for your community. Upgrades also raise morale, which is always important.
There are also a lot of facilities you can add to your base, however, these will require building materials to construct. Every home base will have open slots – designated by orange outlines – that you can place a facility in. Simply hit the prompt that appears when you step into the outlined area and select what you want to build.
If you want to have more slots to build different amenities such as a garden then you’ll need to venture out into the world.
Finding a New Bases
If you do want to expand then you’ll need to venture out and explore the various towns. We recommend finding a radio tower or billboard first so you can survey the area and get a better understanding of the terrain. After spotting all the locations, open your map and look for a symbol that resembles a castle. Any place with this symbol can be turned into an Outpost, however, some areas may already be occupied.
If there is a colored outline then it’s occupied and you’ll need to decide if it’s worth taking over. This can be done by force or by slowly recruiting everyone that works there. The former is certainly the fastest route, but it will cost you resources and potential workers for your community. We recommend just paying the 100 Influence cost and just manually recruit the various allied community members.
You may need to win their trust first by answering calls and solving their requests. Once this is done, simply speak to one of the NPC allies and you’ll have the option to recruit them. While this might seem tempting, you can still use their base as a place to drop off supplies. Instead, look for castle icons on the map that are marked white. Not only can you view the requirements to actually own this base, but what facilities it offers and how many open spaces it has.
Remember, you have to physically venture out to the base and clear it before you can assume control. Simply interact with the white flag by the lantern and confirm that you do want to move to this command center. Once you move all of your survivors and parked vehicles will come with you instantaneously. This makes it quite easy to get operations up and running but consider moving only when you have around 40 building materials.
Many bases cost at least 1,000 Influence to purchase, so don’t worry about moving into a new base right away. Instead, focus on establishing outposts that will benefit your community regardless of where you move. Even if it takes several hours, being able to have a facility up and running right away will save you a lot of headaches.