The best first base in Core Keeper is a compact, readable hub built around the Core or a convenient early waypoint. Keep one main walkway unobstructed, put general storage beside the stations that consume it, separate noisy or high-traffic activities such as smelting and farming, and reserve an open edge for the stations and rooms you will unlock later. This approach gets you productive quickly without forcing a complete rebuild when your workbench ladder and station collection grow.
Prefer not to run the server on your own PC? Godlike.Host offers hosted Core Keeper servers with free DDoS protection and up to three free backups a day.
What your first base needs to accomplish
A starter base has four jobs: let you craft without crossing the map, keep raw materials easy to find, provide a safe place to process food and ore, and leave enough room for the next stage of progression. Decoration can wait. During the opening hours, every tile should make a task faster or keep a future option open.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Core Keeper (Nintendo Switch) | $44.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
|
Core Keeper - Xbox Series X | $28.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
|
Core Keeper - Compatible for XSX / One - UK PAL | $44.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
|
Stonemaier Games: Wingspan by Elizabeth Hargrave | A Relaxing, Award-Winning Strategy Board Game... | $55.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
|
Core Keeper - Compatible for PS4 - UK PAL | $34.99 | Buy on Amazon |
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
- Short trips: Place the base at the Core or another early waypoint that you naturally return to. The closer your storage is to your workbenches, furnace and cooking pot, the less time you spend hauling items.
- Readable traffic: Establish one clear route from the entrance to the most-used chest and crafting stations. Do not fill this route with furniture, production machines or decorative walls.
- Separate work: Keep general storage, crafting, smelting and cooking, farming, and later specialist rooms in recognizable zones. You can still share a central storage wall, but each activity should have a clear home.
- Room to grow: Leave an empty, roughly rectangular area along one side of the base. New benches, duplicate machines, farms, livestock facilities and merchant rooms can occupy that edge as they become relevant.
The game’s station catalog expands from a few basic benches to multiple workbench tiers, anvils, furnaces and kilns, cooking equipment, automation tables, livestock workbenches, and seasonal or specialty stations. A layout that is comfortable for the first tools but has no open floor will become a storage problem quickly.
Choose a site before placing walls
Start at the Core or a dependable waypoint
The Core is the natural reference point for a first hub. If your exploration route makes another early waypoint more convenient, use that instead. The important characteristic is repeat access: you should be able to return with ore, crops and loot, unload them, process what matters and leave again without navigating a maze.
#1 Best Overall
- Uncover the mysteries of the core: descend into a vibrant world in Core Keeper on Nintendo Switch, a co-op adventure for 1-4 players. Explore a dynamically generated underground filled with secrets, resources, and legendary challenges. Mine for precious materials, create powerful tools, unlock unique abilities and build your foundation to thrive in this ever-evolving world. Will you be a master miner, a craft prodigy or a terrifying fighter? The choice is yours!
- Explore a diverse subworld: No two adventures are the same in the procedurally generated world of Core Keeper. Each biome has its own ecosystem and challenges. Navigate the living walls of the Clay Caves, brave the crystal-filled shimmering border or discover the secrets of the ancient caves. Build a sturdy boat and explore the depths of the mysterious Sunken Sea. Every corner whispers of the past - tell the story and discover the true power of the Core.
- Build your underground paradise: Unleash your creativity and make your own way in Core Keeper. Create the ultimate foundation, from a cozy cottage to a bustling mining center, with a variety of materials and decorations. Customize your character's look to your playstyle and choose from a wide range of outfits and powerful armor pieces. In creative mode, experiment with unlimited resources and push the boundaries of building bases. Expand your experience even further with a thriving community and a wealth of player-created mods.
- Adventure awaits, solo or with friends: Embark on a solo adventure at your own pace, discover hidden secrets and build your dream base. Core Keeper also shines in seamless 2-4 player co-op. Collaborate, share resources, overcome challenges and create a shared world with your friends. Celebrate the changing seasons, trade with merchants, breed cute animal lovers, make music on playable instruments - the possibilities are endless. Do you want a dedicated world for your crew? Host your own server and discover at your leisure
- Word Core Keeper: Core Keeper offers an unforgettable experience for sandbox adventurers. With limitless possibilities, engaging explorations and a vibrant online community, there's always something new to discover. Take on legendary Titans, automate tasks with ingenious machines, master a wide range of recipes and discover the secrets of this forgotten world. Take on the challenge, explore the depths and build your legacy in Core Keeper, coming soon to Nintendo Switch!
Clear only the footprint you need
Remove enough obstacles to establish the first walkway, station clusters and storage wall. Avoid excavating a huge decorative hall before you know which side will become your expansion edge. A small, legible grid is easier to change than a large room whose walls commit you to an awkward traffic pattern.
Mark an expansion edge
Decide where future growth will go before placing furniture. The edge can be a long empty strip or a few connected rectangles. Keep it accessible from the main walkway, but do not use it for permanent storage just because it is empty today.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
The workbench ladder and what it means for your layout
The documented progression moves through Basic, Copper, Tin, Iron, Scarlet, Octarine, Galaxite and Solarite workbenches. You do not need every tier in the starter room immediately, but the sequence explains why a flexible crafting side is better than a finished-looking workshop. As each tier becomes available, it can join the same cluster or occupy the next reserved section.
| Workbench tier | How to treat it in a first-base plan | Layout implication |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | Your first crafting gateway | Place it where you can reach your main materials and future benches without blocking the walkway. |
| Copper | The next tier once copper is available | Leave a neighboring tile or short run for the upgraded bench and related metal-processing access. |
| Tin | Later progression tier | Keep the crafting side extensible rather than rebuilding the entire room. |
| Iron | Later progression tier | Use the same organized bench row or cluster so recipes remain easy to locate. |
| Scarlet | Later progression tier | Reserve enough wall or floor space for additional high-tier stations. |
| Octarine | Later progression tier | Preserve the expansion edge; do not consume it with temporary chests. |
| Galaxite | Later progression tier | Keep a clear route between high-tier crafting and shared materials. |
| Solarite | Later progression tier | Treat the original starter footprint as the beginning of a larger production hub. |
The Basic Workbench is placeable and provides early recipes for a Furnace, Cooking Pot, Wood Chest, doors, fences, floors and the Copper Workbench. That list makes it the first anchor of your base, not merely another table to place temporarily.
Build the first base in this order
- Place the Basic Workbench. Put it beside the planned crafting side of the walkway, with open tiles nearby for the Copper Workbench and other benches.
- Add a Furnace. The early progression loop is to collect copper ore, process it into Copper Bars in the Furnace and use those bars for your first metal tools. Keep ore and bars close to this processing area.
- Add a Cooking Pot. Put it on the processing side rather than in the middle of the crafting path. Food ingredients and crops can then move from storage or the farm into cooking without crossing the workshop.
- Place your first Wood Chest. A chest beside the entrance or central walkway gives you a fast unload point. Add category chests as your inventory fills instead of scattering single chests in every empty corner.
- Craft the Copper Workbench when copper is available. Keep it beside the Basic Workbench so the two form one understandable crafting cluster.
- Use stronger tools to reach stronger resources. The early loop is deliberately recursive: craft a workbench, make better tools, mine tougher walls for stronger resources, then use those resources to craft the next workbench tier.
This sequence produces a functional hub before you spend materials on decorative rooms. It also puts the stations that matter first in positions that remain useful after expansion.
Rank #2
- MINE RESOURCES - Forge your own path through the underground. Delve deep to harvest precious resources and unearth hidden gems. Craft tools to help you survive, from pickaxes, fishing rods, and shovels to traps, bombs, and mortars. Upgrade your arsenal and equipment with advanced tools like the mighty Obliteration Ray, and automated machinery to streamline mining, smelting, storage, and more. Level up your skills and unlock powerful weapons to conquer the depths.
- DISCOVER AN ANCIENT WORLD - Explore diverse biomes with unique ecosystems and long-forgotten lore. From the living walls of the Clay Caves to the crystal caverns of the Shimmering Frontier, discover more about this mysterious world as you uncover the secrets of the Cavelings. Build a boat to set sail across the Sunken Sea, race across the Desert of Beginnings, and encounter the remnants of ancient civilizations.
- BUILD, CRAFT & GET CREATIVE - Create a totally unique base using a variety of different materials and customisations. From the ultimate adventurer’s lair to a cozy underground cottage, shape the underground your way. Customize your character’s appearance and choose from an array of powerful armor and unique outfits to suit the moment.
- BATTLE TITANS - Face legendary Titans that hold the secret to this long-forgotten world. Sharpen your combat skills against a variety of monsters and mini-bosses, spend talent points to level up your abilities, and plan your strategy to conquer these colossal creatures of the underground. Discover rare and powerful loot to help you on your journey and power up the Core.
- EXPLORE WITH FRIENDS - Enjoy the adventure solo or team up in 2-8 player drop-in/drop-out online co-op. Play your way and explore at your own pace — celebrate the seasons, trade with merchants, hatch your new best friends, design the ultimate base, automate resource gathering, host your own dedicated server, create music on playable instruments and discover an unforgettable sandbox adventure.
A starter layout that stays readable
| Zone | Place here | Keep nearby | Why it works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry and central walkway | Clear path and the most-used general chest | Basic access to every cluster | Prevents routine trips from becoming obstacle courses. |
| Crafting side | Basic Workbench, Copper Workbench and later workbench tiers | Tools, building materials and frequently crafted inputs | All bench-based recipes are found in one predictable area. |
| Processing side | Furnace, kiln or other smelters, and Cooking Pot | Ore, bars, crops and food ingredients | Raw materials move from storage to processing in a short route. |
| Storage wall or room | Broadly labeled chests | Shared access to crafting and processing | Categories remain visible and easy to extend. |
| Farm edge | Crop plots and their working space | Seeds, crops and cooking ingredients | Farming traffic stays out of the central workshop. |
| Expansion edge | Empty floor at first | Future farms, livestock, merchant rooms, automation and specialty stations | New systems can be added without dismantling the original hub. |
Think of the plan as a spine with branches: the walkway is the spine, storage is the shared interface, and each activity branches into its own zone. Exact room dimensions are less important than preserving that relationship.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Storage: categories first, optimization second
Use broad categories that match how you play
Start with a small set of labels rather than a chest for every individual item. Useful categories include ores and bars; blocks and building materials; crops and food; tools and armor; and valuables. These labels reflect the major decisions you make at the base: smelt, build, cook, equip or save.
Keep high-use inputs beside their consumers
Crafting stations can draw materials from your inventory or from nearby chests. Put frequently consumed inputs in chests beside or immediately around the station cluster that uses them. For example, ore and bars belong by the Furnace, while crops and food ingredients belong by the Cooking Pot. Building blocks and common crafting materials can sit along the crafting wall.
Do not treat player-reported distances as a specification
Community players describe compact arrangements in which several stations share central storage, and some report exact tile distances. Those measurements are anecdotal and may change between game versions. If a station does not use a material from a nearby chest, move the chest closer, confirm the item is actually in that chest, and test again rather than relying on an old distance claim.
Add a temporary unload chest
A general chest at the entry prevents ore, seeds and building blocks from being dropped randomly while you are busy. Sort it into permanent categories during a dedicated organizing pass. This is faster than interrupting every expedition to decide the final home of each item.
Rank #3
- UK account may be required for any online features
Design each work area around its traffic
Crafting cluster
Put the Basic Workbench and its upgraded successors together on the crafting side. Keep at least one unobstructed approach so you can use the benches while carrying materials from shared storage. Anvils and other equipment that support crafting can join this cluster as they unlock. The goal is a single destination for tool, weapon, armor and building decisions, not a separate room for every bench.
Smelting and cooking cluster
Furnaces, kilns or other smelters generate a different rhythm from bench crafting: you load raw materials, wait for processing and return for the output. Group these stations so ore, bars and fuel-related supplies are not mixed into the general workshop. Keep the Cooking Pot in the same broad processing zone but give food ingredients their own chest category, preventing crops from being buried under metal.
Farming edge
Place crop plots beyond the main workshop, close enough that you can carry harvests to storage or cooking in one trip. Leave working space around the plots so adding more crops does not force you to move the storage wall. A farm is an expansion surface, not a reason to fill every open tile on day one.
Merchant and resident rooms
Later progression can make dedicated merchant or other resident rooms useful. Reserve them on the expansion edge rather than cutting bedrooms into the starter workshop. Keeping these rooms separate preserves the clear crafting and processing routes you depend on every visit.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesLivestock and automation rooms
The station catalog includes livestock workbenches and automation tables. These systems deserve their own section because they add equipment and storage that do not belong on the basic crafting wall. Place them beyond the farm or along the far side of the reserved expansion area, with a route back to general storage.
Rank #4
- Bird Collecting: You are bird enthusiasts - researchers, bird watchers, ornithologists, and collectors - seeking to discover and attract a beautiful and diverse network of birds to your wildlife preserve.
- Build Your Engine: Gain food tokens via custom dice in a birdfeeder dice tower, lay eggs using egg miniatures in a variety of colors, draw from over 170 unique bird cards and play them. Each bird extends a chain of powerful combinations in one of your habitats. Earn points, play new birds, help others, and many other abilities!
- Award Winning: WIngspan is the 2019 winner of the prestigious Kennerspiel des Jahres award, along with many others!
- High Replayability: WIth 170 unique bird cards, 26 bonus goal cards, and 8 goal tiles, Wingspan provides endless opportunities for bird combinations and goal achievements, making this a great gift for families, teenagers, students, couples, and anyone who loves birds and nature.
- For families, solo gamers, and game groups alike: This medium weight, set collection and hand management strategy game for 1-5 players has a 60-90 minute playing time with only a 6 minute setup time. Great game for couples, solo gamers, 2 players, family, and friends. Includes swift-start pack for first time player guidance.
Seasonal and specialty stations
Seasonal or specialty stations are easy to ignore until you need them. Do not reserve a permanent centerpiece for them in the starter room. Leave flexible floor along the expansion edge so a temporary station can be placed, used and later rearranged without disrupting the workbench cluster.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Plan for progression instead of a perfect first build
Players commonly report that starter layouts change as new stations and storage needs appear. That is practical community advice, not a hard game rule, but it matches the documented growth of the station catalog. Expect at least one reorganization when the Copper Workbench joins the Basic Workbench and another when processing, livestock or automation equipment starts competing for space.
Phase 1: functional hub
- Basic Workbench
- Furnace
- Cooking Pot
- One entry or general chest
- A clear walkway and a marked empty edge
Phase 2: organized production
- Copper Workbench beside the Basic Workbench
- Separate chests for ores and bars, building materials, crops and food, tools and armor, and valuables
- Additional smelting or cooking capacity on the processing side
- A farm area that does not cut across the main route
Phase 3: specialist expansion
- Higher workbench tiers in the same crafting sequence
- Anvils and specialty crafting equipment
- Merchant or resident rooms
- Livestock workbenches and automation tables
- Seasonal stations and extra storage on the reserved edge
At each phase, move a chest or wall only when it blocks a route or a station cluster. Rebuilding is normal; rebuilding the entire base after every unlock is avoidable if the expansion edge remains open.
Common layout mistakes and practical fixes
Filling the center with decoration
Symptom: You must weave around furniture to reach the workbench or chest. Fix: Keep the center as a walkway and move decorative pieces to the perimeter until the station catalog stabilizes.
Scattering stations across the map
Symptom: One crafting task requires several unrelated trips. Fix: Bring the Basic Workbench, upgraded benches, anvils and shared crafting materials into one recognizable cluster. Keep only genuinely separate activities, such as farming or livestock, outside it.
Best Value
- UK PSN account may be required for any online features
Putting every item in one chest
Symptom: You can unload quickly but cannot find ore, food or tools later. Fix: Split storage into broad categories before adding more furniture. Category names should describe what you retrieve, not where the item came from.
Trusting an old chest-distance measurement
Symptom: A station fails to draw a material that a community layout says should work. Fix: Move the relevant chest immediately beside the station and retest in the current version. Treat player measurements as version-sensitive guidance, not a guaranteed specification.
Building a giant room too early
Symptom: Large empty halls make storage and station locations harder to remember. Fix: Use a compact grid now and expand one edge at a time. The station ladder gives you a reason to keep future floor available, not to excavate it all in advance.
Leaving no route between farm and kitchen
Symptom: Harvests pile up far from the Cooking Pot or food chest. Fix: Keep the farm on a branch connected to the processing side, with a clear return path to food storage.
A quick test for whether the layout is working
Run the same short routine after each major unlock: return from exploration, unload into the general chest, move ore and crops to their category chests, smelt or cook, craft the next tool, then leave. If that loop requires crossing another room, moving furniture or searching several unlabeled containers, change the layout before adding decoration.
- Can you reach the most-used chest without crossing a machine cluster?
- Can ore travel from storage to the Furnace and bars return to the crafting side without crossing the farm?
- Can crops reach the Cooking Pot without being mixed into ore storage?
- Is the Basic Workbench still easy to approach after adding the Copper Workbench?
- Is the reserved expansion edge still empty enough for a new room or station group?
- Can you identify every chest category without opening several containers?
First-base checklist
- Choose the Core or a convenient early waypoint as the hub.
- Mark one unobstructed main walkway.
- Place the Basic Workbench on the crafting side.
- Add a Furnace, Cooking Pot and Wood Chest from the early recipe set.
- Process copper into Copper Bars and craft the Copper Workbench when available.
- Group high-use chests beside the stations that consume their contents.
- Label broad storage categories: ores and bars; blocks and building materials; crops and food; tools and armor; valuables.
- Keep farming and processing traffic out of the central walkway.
- Reserve an open edge for higher workbenches, merchant or resident rooms, livestock, automation and specialty stations.
- Reorganize when a route becomes slow, not whenever you unlock a decorative item.
Bottom line
Build the first Core Keeper base as a compact production hub, not a finished mansion. A clear walkway, a clustered crafting side, a separate processing side, category-based storage and one deliberately empty expansion edge will support the Basic-to-Solarite workbench progression and the later arrival of farming, resident, livestock, automation and specialty stations. Keep chest placement close to the stations that use each material, verify behavior in your current game version, and accept that one or two reorganizations are part of normal progression.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
