Great Base-Building Games For Resource Management
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Highlights
- Base construction and resource management are appealing game mechanics that foster creativity and problem-solving. Setting goals for building and seeing the base improve provides a sense of accomplishment.
- Many games across genres utilize base construction and resource gathering mechanics, especially in survival-focused games. The complexity of base-building can vary, from single buildings to entire cities.
- Games like Chernobylite, Frostpunk, and Valheim highlight the importance of effective base construction and resource management for survival in challenging environments. These mechanics add depth and challenge to the gameplay experience.
Base construction, in conjunction with resource management, can be a very appealing game mechanic. While it may take different forms, with varying degrees of detail, the act of setting up a functional base of operations allows room for creativity and problem-solving. It provides opportunities for the player to set goals for themselves about what they need to build next. Seeing a base slowly improve as the player gets access to better resources and equipment gives a sense of accomplishment, and it better prepares them for whatever challenges the game has to offer. It also has the advantage of allowing the player to somewhat personalize their own hub, even if it’s as simple as deciding where to place things. Throwing resource management into the mix makes it a bit more challenging, since the player inevitably needs the right combination of materials to build things they need.
Unsurprisingly, a lot of games have made a core mechanic of collecting resources to build a functional base. This is something that can work across a variety of genres: real-time strategy, RPG, first-person shooter. It is particularly effective in games that emphasize survival, which already require some level of resource gathering anyway. The degree of base-building can vary widely. It can range from simply building useful equipment in a single building to running entire cities, but the basic principle is the same. There are a lot of excellent games that have made very effective use of this simple premise.
7 Chernobylite
Chernobylite is a strange game about a survivor of the real-life Chernobyl Disaster returning to the exclusion zone in the present day. Setting up an effective base of operations is key to having any sort of success. Protagonist Igor Kymynuk has an abandoned building that serves this function, but a lot of work is needed to make it functional.
A major part of gameplay involves scavenging resources from the wasteland and using them to build things Igor and his allies can use, ranging from crafting equipment to basic comforts. Since resources are harder to find, Igor also has to find ways to produce his own, and storage space to hold more. This is especially true for food. Food rations have to be collected (or grown) and Igor regularly decides how to distribute them to his allies, sometimes not having enough to go around and needing to prioritize.
6 Frostpunk
Frostpunk has become somewhat infamous among fans of RTS and post-apocalyptic games for its extreme difficulty, mainly because it takes “base construction” to a whole new level. Set in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by volcanic winter, the player is given the task of rallying together the survivors and trying to rebuild some form of society. The “base” will eventually grow into a city with its own set of challenges.
What makes it so tough is the number of responsibilities the player has to juggle. That includes both construction and finding the neccessary resources to keep the city going. It also combines that with difficult decisions that don’t always have a clear moral path, as well as pressure of building an effective government and social infrastructure.
5 Manic Miners
In 1999, LEGO released its classic RTS LEGO Rock Raiders, based on a theme about asteroid miners stranded on a distant planet. The fan-remake Manic Miners takes the core mechanics of the original game, and builds on them to create a new and improved experience, as well as a fun homage to classic LEGO and old LEGO games. Building a functional base is important to most of the game’s missions, as each new building opens up new options for the player.
Building a base will require mining for two main resources: energy crystals and ore. Additionally, clearing obstacles (usually rubble) and building a power grid are essential. More advanced missions will throw add in complications like an oxygen limit, unstable walls, and creatures that feed on energy crystals (and will destroy player’s buildings to get them).
4 Planet Crafter
Planet Crafter puts the player in a slightly unusual position. They are sent to a barren planet with the daunting task of making it liveable for humans. Simply figuring out how to survive a seemingly inhospitable environment is a task in itself. Finding resources and building a functional base is key to getting anywhere, but it’s not going to be enough.
As the game progresses, players will find themselves needing to build machines to help terraform the environment and figure out how to create life on a lifeless world. It’s no easy feat, but given enough time and patience the player can turn the planet from an empty desert into a thriving ecosystem.
3 Raft
Getting resources and building a base is central to Raft, a survival game about navigating the treacherous waters of a flooded Earth. There is a slight twist in this game: the “base” is the titular raft which the player has to build and maintain. That means it floats, and is never fixed to one place. The player therefore has to deal with unpredictable currents.
Resources can be collected from the ocean, but that also comes with its own challenges, like avoiding sharks and not getting too far from the raft. The upside is the player gets a lot of room to be creative with the raft, which can be build and expanded on to create some elaborate designs. With enough practice an experienced player can go from a raft to a whole ship.
2 Subnautica
The popular diving simulator Subnautica sees an astronaut stranded in an alien ocean, and really throws the player into the deep end both literally and figuratively. There isn’t exactly much of a tutorial or an obvious starting objective, so the first step is pretty much figuring out what resources can be used and how. Fortunately, the ocean is full of useful materials even if it’s not always clear how they can be used.
Fortunately, with some practice players can eventually start crafting tools and eventually begin build a base. The game has a pretty decent range of options for base construction, allowing the player to have fun playing with creative designs. But resource management is still important, as failing to keep track of essential needs like food and oxygen can also be the player’s downfall.
1 Valheim
Valheim is a Norse mythology-inspired survival game about Vikings trying to prove themselves worthy of Valhalla. While there are many strategies the player(s) can use to keep themselves going, building a functional base and properly managing skills are both valuable skills. Bases in Valheim are built from scratch, meaning the player has to find suitable terrain for construction, collect resources for building, and assemble the whole thing piece by piece.
Experienced players can build some pretty impressive structures using this system. Of course, resource management is key even before players can start building. Players don’t just need resources for construction, they also need resources to craft the tools used for construction, as well as weapons to use against the many things that will try to kill them.
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