Site Selection
Choosing a Location
Your base location determines everything — resource access, defensibility, expansion room, and long-term viability. Choose wisely early to avoid rebuilding later.
🎯 Key Factors to Consider
Every base location is a trade-off. Prioritise what matters most for your play style
Resource Proximity
- Water — essential for cooking stations, brewing, and farming. Build within running distance of a river or lake. Carrying water manually is a time sink you want to automate away
- Trees — constant demand for logs, planks, and fuel. A location near dense forest reduces gatherer travel time significantly. Open plains force long hauls
- Ore Nodes — early game you need copper, tin, and iron within safe walking distance. Mid-late game you will set up remote outposts, but an initial ore cluster nearby saves hours
- Stone Deposits — often overlooked but stone is used in foundations, walls, and upgrade paths. A nearby cliff or rocky outcrop is ideal
- Clay & Sand — required for brick production, furnaces, and ceramic crafting. Check local deposits before committing
Terrain & Build-ability
- Flat ground — the easiest to build on. Large flat areas let you place consistent foundations, align walls cleanly, and plan symmetrical layouts. Ideal for main bases
- Hillside building — possible but requires stepped foundations and more structural support. Can create interesting multi-tier layouts but is harder to align automation lines and windmill connections
- Elevation changes — use terrain height to your advantage. Building on a rise gives your archers better sightlines and makes windmill placement easier
- Clearance — leave at least 2-3 foundation tiles of clear space around your outer walls for patrol paths and future expansion
Defensibility
- Cliffs — one side protected by a sheer drop is a huge defensive advantage. Raiders and barbarians cannot approach from that direction
- Water barriers — building on a peninsula or island limits approach angles. Enemies must wade through water, slowing them down and making them easy targets
- Chokepoints — natural funnels between rocks or trees force enemies into predictable kill zones. Place your gates and traps at these bottlenecks
- Open sightlines — avoid locations where trees or terrain block your view of approaching enemies. You want to see raids coming from all directions
🌲 Cloud Mist Forest
Lush, dense, resource-rich
- Best areas: Central river valley near the giant tree — flat ground, abundant water, and close to early ore spawns
- Pros: Unlimited wood and water. Plentiful clay and stone. Easy access to early copper and tin nodes
- Cons: Dense trees block sightlines. Barbarian patrols are frequent in forested areas. Building space is more limited by vegetation
- Tip: Clear a wide perimeter around your walls. Trees provide cover for enemy archers and make it harder to spot incoming raids
🏜 Shifting Sands
Open desert, harsher resources
- Best areas: The central plateau near the oasis — flat, open, good sightlines, and proximity to iron and salt deposits
- Pros: Excellent sightlines in all directions. Open terrain makes defensive planning easier. Abundant iron, salt, and sand
- Cons: Water is scarce — you will need wells or water hauling routes. Wood is limited; plan for imported timber or charcoal alternatives
- Tip: Build near the oasis but not so close that patrols path through your base. The open terrain means windmills perform exceptionally well here
Materials & Upgrades
Building Tiers
Five tiers of building materials, each with different durability, raid resistance, and visual style. Upgrade in-place using the Building Workshop.
🏗 Tier Comparison
Upgrade costs scale significantly per tier. Plan your material stockpiles before committing to an upgrade
| Tier | Materials | Durability | Raid Resistance | Unlock Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thatch | Thatch, Fibers, Sticks | Very Low | None — breaks in seconds to any attack | Starting |
| Wood | Logs, Planks | Low | Minimal — stops minor attacks, fails quickly against torches and axes | 1 |
| Stone | Stone, Clay Bricks | Medium | Moderate — resists torches, takes significant damage from siege tools | 15 |
| Metal | Iron Ingots, Metal Parts | High | Strong — requires dedicated raiding tools to breach. Resists most PvE attacks | 30 |
| Reinforced Metal | Steel Ingots, Advanced Components | Very High | Extreme — the toughest material in the game. Even dedicated raiders need significant time and resources to breach | 50 |
Upgrade Costs & Benefits
Upgrading a single piece from Thatch to Wood costs roughly 2× Logs per foundation/wall. Thatch → Stone costs approximately 5× Stone + 2× Clay Brick per piece. Stone → Metal jumps significantly — expect 50+ Iron Ingot equivalents per large room.
The durability increase between each tier is roughly 3× the previous tier. Reinforced Metal has approximately 10× the durability of standard Metal.
Tier Progression Strategy
Most players build first in Thatch (it is free and fast), then upgrade critical rooms to Wood as they gather logs. The jump from Wood to Stone is the biggest value upgrade — it triples your base survivability against both PvE and PvP threats.
Metal and Reinforced Metal are late-game investments. Prioritise upgrading your outer walls and gate first — interior walls can stay Stone longer.
Floorplan & Organisation
Base Layout
A well-organised base layout saves you hours of running between benches, chests, and farms. Plan your zones before you place a single foundation.
📐 Core Zones & Placement
Divide your base into functional zones connected by clear paths. Keep related zones adjacent
Recommended Zone Map
| Zone | Adjacent To | Contents | Recommended Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workshop | Storage, Power | All crafting benches, workstations, repair bench. The core production hub | 5×5 foundation minimum — 7×7 for late-game with all powered machines |
| Storage | Workshop, Sorting | Filtered chests, dump chests, sorting tribesman station. All material storage | 3×4 minimum — expand as you add material types |
| Defenses | All outer walls | Walls, gates, traps, archer towers, Statue of God. Perimeter protection | 2-tile thick wall corridor around entire base |
| Tribesmen Quarters | Dining Hall | Beds, bathhouse, outhouses, chairs, dining tables, decorative items for mood | 3×3 per 4 tribesmen — they share sleeping areas |
| Farm / Breed Area | Granary, Water | Farmland plots, Capybara Pens, Turkey Coops, Beehives, Fertiliser Bucket | 6×6 minimum — expand as your food demand grows |
Doors & Windows
Place doors on interior walls only — exterior doors are a weak point in raids. Use gates for exterior access. Windows provide archer firing positions but also give enemies a way to see inside. Place windows on upper floors only for safety.
Double-door entrances (two doorways side by side) prevent pathing bottlenecks when multiple tribesmen try to pass through at once.
Multi-Floor Building
Second floors are excellent for tribesmen quarters (keeps them out of the way of production) and for windmill placement (higher altitude = more wind power). Staircases take 2×2 tiles and need clearance above.
Third floors and above are rarely necessary for function but can be used for dedicated archer platforms overlooking your perimeter.
Windmill & Solar Spacing
Windmills need 3 tiles of clear space on all sides at blade height. Walls or trees within this range block wind and reduce power output. Place windmills on rooftops or a dedicated elevated platform away from other structures.
Leave 2 tiles of space between buildings for pathing and future cable/shaft routing between windmills and powered benches.
Fortification
Defense Design
Raids in Soulmask scale with your base size and tribe count. A well-designed defense system keeps your base safe without requiring constant attention.
🏗 Available Defense Structures
Soulmask offers a variety of traps, barriers, and artillery for base defense
| Type | Examples | Best Use |
|---|---|---|
| Ground Traps | Groundspike, Sticky Trap, Iron Peg Board | Place in chokepoints and doorways. Deals damage to enemies who walk over them. |
| Explosive Traps | Combustion Can Trap, Explosive Can Trap | Triggered area damage. Effective against groups. Place behind doors where enemies cluster. |
| Arrow Traps | Arrow Trap | Line-of-sight automated defense. Fires projectiles at enemies within range. |
| Barriers | Wooden/Stone Barrier, Wooden/Metal Anti-Climb Thorns | Slow enemy movement. Direct enemies into kill zones. Anti-Climb prevents wall scaling. |
| Roadblocks | Bronze/Iron/Steel Roadblock | Heavy gates that block passages. Higher tiers have more HP. |
| Artillery | Crossbow Tower, Siege Ballista | Manned or automated high-damage weapons. Best on elevated platforms overlooking approach routes. |
🛡 Wall Types & Thickness
Not all walls are equal. Choose based on the direction of expected attack
- Outer perimeter walls — minimum 2 walls thick on all sides. Three walls thick on the most exposed side (facing open terrain or known spawn paths). Double-layering forces raiders to breach two separate walls
- Interior walls — single wall thickness is fine. Use Stone or Metal for the inner keep that contains your most valuable benches and storage
- Foundation walls — use foundation pieces as a secondary wall layer. Foundations have higher durability than walls and cannot be bypassed by digging underneath
- Reinforced corners — corners are the weakest structural point. Add extra pillar supports and double-wall corner sections
Gate Placement & Airlock Design
Never place a single gate as your only entrance. Build an airlock — two gates with a small enclosed space between them. Close the outer gate before opening the inner one. This prevents enemies from rushing your base interior when the gate opens.
Place gates on the least exposed side of your base. Avoid having gates face known barbarian spawn points or open plains where raiders can charge directly.
Trap Corridors
Create a narrow, winding corridor (2 tiles wide) lined with spike traps, bear traps, and caltrops leading to your gate. Raiders and barbarians are funnelled through this kill zone. Place archer platforms overlooking the corridor for overlapping fire.
Spike traps need periodic repair. Assign a tribesman with the Repair Bench to auto-maintain traps in the corridor.
Statue of God Placement
The Statue of God provides a protective aura that damages enemies and buffs friendly tribesmen within range. Place it in the centre of your base so its radius covers the maximum number of structures. Upgrade the statue at the Building Workshop to increase its aura range and damage output.
One statue covers roughly a 7×7 foundation area. Large bases need multiple statues placed with overlapping radii.
Armed Tribesman Patrol Routes
Assign tribesmen with ranged weapons (bows, crossbows) to patrol your outer walls. Set their patrol route using the command table — a loop around the inner perimeter ensures all sides are covered. Equip them with quality bows and at least 100 arrows each.
Melee defenders should be stationed at the gate airlock and trap corridor exit. Ranged defenders on elevated platforms deal the most damage before enemies reach the walls.
🌡 Fever Bar & Invasions
Fever is not a combat resource — it is a passive meter that determines when your base gets raided by hostile NPCs
- What builds Fever — Fever accumulates passively from activity around your Bonfire, including work at outposts like the Logging Yard, Collection Yard, and Excavation Pit, plus general crafting and Awareness Strength gains from your tribe. The gradual increase signals that hostile forces are becoming aware of your base
- Full Fever bar triggers an invasion — once Fever peaks, hostile Barbarians and other enemy factions attack the Bonfire area, attempting to capture nearby working Tribesmen and disrupt your operations. This is the only way base invasions happen
- Checking your Fever level — open the tribe panel with J and go to Tribe Defence to see your current Fever and invasion status. Every "point of interest" near your base, including barbarian camps and portals, can act as a separate invasion trigger with its own Fever meter
- Invasion scale — intensity scales with your base's territory size and the number of tribe members online, typically arriving as 2-3 waves with roughly 4-5 barbarians per online player
- Bonfire targeting — during an invasion, attacking forces make a beeline for the nearest Bonfire. Keep battle-ready tribesmen geared and stationed nearby at all times, since invasions can happen while you are doing something else entirely
- Non-patrolling tribesmen are passive — tribesmen not assigned to a patrol route will ignore invaders and continue sitting at the campfire. Only patrol-assigned, armed tribesmen actually fight back
Workflow Optimisation
Automation Layout
The distance between your crafting benches, storage, and farms directly affects production speed. Optimise placement to minimise tribesman travel time.
⚙ Bench-to-Storage Proximity
Every tile of distance a tribesman has to walk to fetch materials is lost production time
- Crafting benches directly adjacent to storage chests — place your Carpenter's Table, Loom, Forge, and Craftsman's Bench within 2 tiles of their respective material chests. Tribesmen will not walk more than a few tiles if the materials are in range
- Dedicated chests per bench — each production bench should have its own filtered chest containing the raw materials it consumes most. A Carpenter's Table chest should hold logs and planks; the Forge chest holds ingots and fuel
- Output chests — place a second filtered chest on the opposite side of the bench for finished products. This prevents finished goods from clogging the input chest
- Aisle clearance — keep at least 2 tiles of open floor between bench rows so tribesmen can path freely between benches and chests
Granary & Farm Placement
Place your Granary at the edge of your farm zone, no more than 3 tiles from the nearest Farmland plot. The Granary tribesman needs line-of-sight access to all assigned plots — avoid placing walls between the Granary and the fields.
Fertiliser Buckets and Beehives should be within 4 tiles of the Granary and Farmland. The Granary tribesman collects from both automatically when in range.
Conveyor & Belt Routing
Soulmask uses conveyor belts and ropeways for item transport between stations. Run belts at ceiling height (1 tile below the roof) to keep floor space clear for tribesman pathing. Route belts along walls and above doorways.
Use sorting splitters at belt junctions to direct different materials to different chests. A single belt can carry multiple item types if split correctly.
NPC Workstation Access Paths
Tribesmen need unobstructed paths to every workstation they are assigned to. Check pathing by watching a tribesman complete a full work cycle. Common blockages include: stairs too narrow (use 2-wide stairs), doors too small (use gate-style doors for workshops), and furniture placed in aisle space.
Efficient Chest Filtering Setup
Create a filtering hierarchy: one dump chest per zone (workshop, farm, entrance) with no filter and NPC deposit enabled. Assign one sorting tribesman per zone to move items from the dump chest to the correct filtered chests. This centralises sorting and keeps production chests clean.
Use colour-coded chests or naming signs to identify chest contents at a glance. Red chest = ore/metal, Green = plants/food, Blue = water/liquids, Brown = wood/stone.
Energy Infrastructure
Power Routing
Windmills are the only power source for advanced production benches. Proper placement and routing are critical — a single mistake leaves benches idle.
💨 Windmill Placement
Height and clear air are the two most important factors for power output
- Height matters — windmills placed on rooftops or elevated platforms generate 30-50% more power than ground-level placement. A rooftop windmill can output 180 power vs 120 on the ground
- Clear air — no walls, trees, or other structures within 3 tiles of the blades at their height level. Check the power reading after placing — if it is below 100, relocate
- Open biomes — Shifting Sands bases consistently get higher wind output than Cloud Mist Forest due to fewer obstructions. Plan windmill placement accordingly
- Multiple windmills — keep at least 3 tiles between windmill bases to avoid airflow interference. Stack two bases vertically to double output from a single blade slot
🌀 Blade Types
Two blade types with trade-offs in durability and unlock timing
| Blade Type | Unlock | Materials | Durability | Power Output |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wooden Blade | Bronze Pit Bonfire — Production Base tab | Hardwood planks + rope | 1,000 — degrades while running, cannot be repaired | 100-180 (varies by height) |
| Metal Blade | Iron Pit Bonfire — Windmill Technique node | 15× Metal Plate + 5× Metal Part + 10× Iron Ingot | Significantly higher than Wooden — lasts much longer | 100-180 (same as Wooden — durability is the only difference) |
Shaft vs Ropeway Connections
Power Extension Shafts — rigid direct connections, best for benches in a straight line from the windmill. They are clean, predictable, and easy to troubleshoot.
Power Ropeways — flexible connections that can route around corners and over longer distances. Ropeways are better for multi-room setups where benches are not in line with the windmill.
Battery & Power Storage
Soulmask does not have batteries in the traditional sense. Power is used in real-time — if the windmill is not spinning, benches stop immediately. There is no stored power buffer.
Mitigation: Always keep spare Wooden or Metal Blades in stock. A broken blade means zero power until replaced. Assign a tribesman to monitor windmills and replace blades through the Repair Bench maintain stock system.
🔧 Power Troubleshooting
Common issues and fixes for windmill-powered bases
| Problem | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "Not powered" on bench | Rope not connected to the gear icon — connected to wall or frame instead | Find the gear symbol on the bench and re-connect the rope to that exact point |
| "Insufficient power" | Single windmill split across too many benches (need 100 per bench) | Disconnect benches or add a second windmill. Stack two bases for higher total output |
| Bench stops mid-production | Blade degraded to zero and disappeared | Check windmill for missing blade. Replace from stock. Keep spares via Maintain Stock |
| Power reading is 0 | Windmill placed in a sheltered spot with blocked airflow | Relocate to open area or rooftop. Remove nearby walls. Higher positions produce more power |
| Tribesman won't work bench | Power divided below 100, or bench not fully connected | Give each powered bench its own windmill connection. Check gear icon connection |