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Your base is more than just for creature comfort or aesthetics in Once Human. It’s also seamlessly integrated into gameplay, and neglecting your base is not something you want to do. Worry not, because there are some lesser-known tips and secrets to make your base and base-building more enjoyable or comfortable. Our base-building secrets and tips for Once Human have you covered.
Guilt-Free Cipher Refund
Unless you get lucky with certain Specializations, you’ll often be struggling with your Ciphers and Energy Links. However, Once Human lets you refund your Memetics, letting you get back Ciphers (and some of the Energy Link you spent). This won’t delete any structure you built that requires that Memetic.
It’s a handy hack if you really need to unlock and build something but you lack Ciphers or Energy Links. Just don’t use it liberally or you might end up running low on Energy Link– it’s not exactly a full refund.
Build on the Water for the Best Defense
As soon as the game tells you to purify the Cortexes you have, it’s clear that you need to shore up your defenses. There have been many tactics against the enemy waves during Territory Purification, but the most effective has been water.
Building on the water will cause the enemy AI to break its own pathfinding. This way, they tend to spawn in one place or one side, allowing your turrets to make quick work of them. This is less effective for flying enemies, but most of the time, the fast-moving mobs pose the most threat to your base anyway.
Gravity Matters for Pipes
As soon as you set up your water collection system, complete with the storage, you might notice that the pipe attachments indicate a movement. It is exactly what it looks like. That’s how the water or fluid will flow. It flows downward if the source is higher and the storage is lower, the opposite setup will just introduce a backflow to the source.
This is why the 1-watt Water Pump exists (to negate the effect of gravity on the fluids). However, with a smart pipe management structure, you might not need those small Water Pumps. Just treat water and pipes in-game like the real thing.
Wire & Pipe Management
Speaking of pipe management, it doesn’t have to be a web, especially if you have multiple big Water Pumps (for extraction) extracting oil or water. You can string them up together and have them flow in just one pipe to the storage (in accordance with the effects of gravity, of course).
Likewise, electrical wiring works similarly. You can simply string up wires in a single line, connecting multiple structures with just one wire to or from the power source. This can make your base look more organized and it’s easier to clean up in case you’re reworking your pipes or wires which happens often in base building in Once Human.
Pamper Your Deviants
Your Deviations can do more than if you give them the right care. You can actually check their Securement Units to see what they need so they can ramp up their abilities. Some of them require specific light bulb colors while others want music or even toys.
Of course, some Deviants sadly require electricity, and having too many of them can eat up your power budget so you have to be wise about these requirements. Regardless, it pays well to have your own Deviation room so you can fulfill multiple ideal environment checkboxes for all of them.
Section Off Your Base & Save the Blueprints
Always remember to save your base blueprints whenever you’ve built something marvelous or exhausting. This way, you can rebuild easier even if everything gets destroyed during an unfortunate attack or when the server gets wiped.
You can also save off individual buildings so you can treat your base like modular houses. Some players even create a separate tower hub for Territory Purification so the enemies won’t destroy anything else. Even if you’re not into that spread-out base structure, do remember to keep saving your base blueprint.
Most Passive Farms Aren’t Worth It
If you’re wondering whether those Acid or other passive farms are worth it, currently, in the case of Water Pump Acid farms, they’re not. It takes way too long to build them and most passive farm setups use up too much of your limited electricity budget. Even then, you still have to wait overnight or several days for a return. There’s a better use of your base-building time in Once Human.
Don’t rely on them for your main source of Acid or a specific material. Farming actively in events, Workshops, or other missions is still more lucrative and takes a shorter time. Remember, seasons only last six weeks, and you want those materials ASAP. Getting them through gameplay actively is faster.
