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Quick Answer

  • Lush (Paradise) planets are the best all-around choice: no weather hazards, low or absent sentinel aggression, and abundant common resources.
  • Before placing your Base Computer, use the Survey Device (a multi-tool upgrade purchased with Nanites from Iteration: Eos on the Space Anomaly) to check for nearby hotspots. Electromagnetic power hotspots and mineral deposit hotspots are what make a location truly productive.
  • A good base placement sits centrally between a power hotspot and a mineral hotspot so both fall within your base's operational radius.
  • You cannot place a Base Computer within approximately 300u of another uploaded player base. Scout the area before committing.
  • Each save supports up to 400 planetary bases, so you have room to spread functional bases across multiple planets.
  • For passive income, prioritize planets with high-value mineral deposits such as Activated Indium, but only if you plan to build an automated mining operation.
  • Your main "home" base should prioritize comfort and access: calm weather, a trading post nearby, and a teleporter network connection.

Overview

Choosing where to build in No Man's Sky is among the most consequential decisions you'll make. A poorly chosen planet turns every build session into a battle against storms, sentinels, or toxic air. A well-chosen one lets you focus entirely on construction, farming, and exploration.

There's no single "best" planet in the universe. The right location depends on what you want the base to do. A scenic home base has different requirements than a dedicated mining outpost or a quick teleporter hub.

If you're still working through the basics of what a base actually is, the No Man's Sky Base Building Guide for Beginners covers the fundamentals before you worry about location optimization.

Planet Type: The First Filter

Lush and Paradise Planets (Best for Home Bases)

Lush planets, and the rarer Paradise subtype, are the community's near-universal recommendation for a permanent home base. They share several key traits:

  • No environmental hazards. You won't burn through Sodium managing heat or radiation outside your walls.
  • Low or absent sentinel activity. No constant harassment while you lay foundations or gather materials.
  • Common resources are plentiful. Ferrite Dust, Carbon, Sodium, and Oxygen are readily available for early construction.
  • Paradise planets go further. Low sentinel activity is actually a defining requirement of Paradise classification. Standard Lush planets can occasionally spawn more hostile conditions depending on difficulty settings, but Paradise planets are consistently calm, making them the ideal home base environment.

How to find them: In the Galaxy Map, look for yellow (G and F-type) star systems. These have a meaningfully higher chance of containing Lush planets. Scan planets from space before landing: the planet description in the scan panel will flag weather severity and sentinel level, saving you a wasted landing. Our paradise planet hunting guide covers the full search method, including the Catalogue trick that steers your warps towards lush systems and the galaxies that are seeded to produce them.

Once you have picked a site, level it before you place anything. A flattened pad makes prefab parts snap cleanly and saves an hour of fighting the grid later: see the Terrain Manipulator guide, which also covers the terrain-edit budget that decides whether ground you carve out stays carved out.

Other Planet Types Worth Considering

Planet Type Pro Con Best Use
Lush / Paradise No hazards, low sentinels Mineral deposits vary Home base, aesthetic builds
Frozen Often low sentinel, scenic Cold hazard outside Secondary bases if resources suit your goal
Radioactive Uranium and Copper abundant Radiation hazard Resource outpost only
Scorched Condensed Carbon, Di-hydrogen Heat hazard Short-stay mining outpost
Barren Minimal interference Scarce resources, bleak Teleporter relay hubs
Exotic / Weird Visually stunning Unpredictable hazards Aesthetic showcase bases

Hazard protection is a non-issue inside your base structures. Your buildings shelter you completely. The hazard penalty is the time spent walking between structures or gathering outside, so harsh planets become much more tolerable once your base is self-contained.

The Survey Device: Your Most Important Tool Before You Build

No planet choice is complete without running a Survey Device scan. The Survey Device is a multi-tool upgrade purchased with Nanites from Iteration: Eos on the Space Anomaly. Once installed, activate Surveying Mode on the ground to begin scanning.

The scanner detects three types of hotspots:

  • Electromagnetic Power Hotspots: Used with Electromagnetic Generators to produce power. Higher-rated hotspots (A or S class) generate substantially more power per generator. If you want to run a power-independent base without a forest of Solar Panels and Batteries, an S-class electromagnetic hotspot is the goal.
  • Mineral Deposit Hotspots: Required for Mineral Extractors. These determine which ore your extractors will pull and at what rate. The specific mineral depends on the planet's biome.
  • Gas Hotspots: Used with Gas Extractors to farm Oxygen and other atmospheric gases passively.

Hotspot placement strategy: Hotspots tend to cluster in groups on a given planet, though spacing and count vary. A smart approach is to locate two or more nearby hotspots, then place your Base Computer at the geographic center so all hotspots fall within your base's maximum radius. This lets you run extractors and generators from a single base without needing to extend your boundary significantly.

For an in-depth look at running extractors once you've found your hotspot, see the automated mining and supply depots guide.

Picking a Location for Passive Income Bases

If your goal is maximum Units per hour rather than aesthetics, location selection becomes a calculation rather than a feeling.

Activated Indium Planets

Activated Indium is widely regarded as the most profitable mineral you can extract passively. It exists only on extreme or hazardous weather planets orbiting blue star systems: the harsh conditions are part of what activates the stellar metal. If you're setting up a dedicated mining operation, you'll want to:

  1. Travel to a blue star system (requires an Indium Drive installed in your ship).
  2. Scan planets from orbit for Activated Indium in their resource list.
  3. Land and run the Survey Device until you locate an Activated Indium hotspot. Ideally S-class.
  4. Find a nearby electromagnetic hotspot for power.
  5. Place your Base Computer centrally between the two.

Since these planets have active weather hazards, your base will need to be self-contained, but once it's running, you spend minimal time outside. This approach is covered in much more depth in the Activated Indium Mining Base guide, but choosing the right planet is the prerequisite that makes everything else work.

Gas Extraction Bases

Oxygen and other gases have reliable, steady trade value. If a planet scan shows Oxygen gas hotspots in an otherwise calm environment, that's a solid secondary base for passive income without the complexity of ore pipelines.

Practical Location Checklist

Run through this before dropping your Base Computer:

From orbit (planet scan):

  • Weather severity — is it calm or extreme?
  • Sentinel level — passive, low, or aggressive?
  • Resource list — does it include what you need?
  • Star type — blue stars only for Activated Indium

On the ground (Survey Device):

  • Electromagnetic hotspot within reach (and what class is it?)
  • Mineral deposit hotspot within reach (what mineral, what class?)
  • No uploaded player bases within ~300u of your intended placement spot

Environment check:

  • Flat or buildable terrain nearby?
  • Trading Post or Space Station accessible via teleporter for selling?
  • Visual appeal — will you enjoy spending time here?

That last line is worth more than it looks. A base sited purely on hotspot classes is a factory you visit and leave. If you intend to actually live somewhere, weigh the view, the weather, and the sound of the place: a ByteBeat rig wired to the lights turns a good location into somewhere you want to come back to.

FAQ

Can I move my base if I pick a bad location?

You can't physically relocate a Base Computer, but you can pick it up and redeploy it elsewhere on the same or a different planet. Picking it up deletes the base and removes all placed parts, so it's effectively starting over. It's easier to scout thoroughly before committing than to rebuild. Use a save point before placing your Base Computer so you can reload if the location doesn't work out.

Do I need to live on a paradise planet, or can I survive harsh worlds?

You can survive anywhere with your Exosuit's hazard protection, and your buildings fully shelter you from the environment inside. Harsh planets are a legitimate choice for dedicated outposts. The practical cost is the extra Sodium you consume traveling between structures outdoors. For a main base you'll visit frequently, the quality-of-life difference of a calm planet is significant.

What is the base placement distance restriction?

You cannot place a Base Computer within approximately 300u of another player's uploaded base. The game will display an "unsuitable location" message if you try. Scout around the area. If you see another player's base nearby, move further away before placing. This restriction only applies to uploaded bases, not every base in the game.

How many bases can I build?

Each save file supports up to 400 planetary bases (plus your freighter base). The per-save object limit is 16,000 base parts total, and any single base you want to upload to the server must use fewer than 3,000 parts. These are very generous limits for most players, but dedicated builders working on elaborate multi-base setups should keep an eye on their object count.

Does it matter if my base is on the same planet as a portal?

It's convenient but not required. With a teleporter network set up, you can fast travel from your base to any Space Station and then use portals from there. Building near a portal just saves a few steps. If you're planning heavy portal use, the portals and glyphs guide explains how the system works.

Should beginners prioritize hotspots from the start?

Not necessarily. If you're still working through the early game, pick a calm, lush planet that feels good and start building. You can always establish a second base on a hotspot-rich planet later once you have the Survey Device unlocked. Over-optimizing location before you understand what you want to build is a common trap. The early game checklist can help you sequence priorities better.

Key Takeaways

  • Lush and Paradise planets are the safest and most comfortable choice for a home base, no hazards, low sentinels, good resources.
  • Always run the Survey Device before finalizing a location so you know where your power and mineral hotspots are. Unlock it with Nanites from Iteration: Eos on the Space Anomaly.
  • Position your Base Computer centrally between nearby hotspots to maximize the range of your extractors and generators.
  • Activated Indium bases belong on blue star planets: and those planets will have extreme or hazardous weather, so plan your base to be self-contained. An Indium Drive is required to reach blue star systems.
  • Harsh planets are viable outposts: your buildings shelter you from the environment, so the only real cost is resource consumption outdoors.
  • Scout distance restrictions: roughly 300u clearance from other uploaded player bases is required before your Base Computer will place.
  • You have room for up to 400 planetary bases per save, so specialized outposts (mining, gas, teleporter relays) are encouraged.