In order to establish your base, and to keep the zombies from spawning inside your base, you have to build a Utility Cabinet (UC). In order to do this you need to hit the "B" button.



Select Utility Cabinets

Build one



Fill it with the required materials needed to maintain your sprawling empire (if you have decay enabled in the settings, the materials will need to be added periodically). The more stuff you build the more the utility cabinet requires.



You can also build UCs across the map to have multiple hideouts. In multiplayer other people can interact/destroy them. In solo play you just have to maintain them.

The only problem with UCs is that if you place them where something cool spawns, it won't respawn in an area controlled by the UC. So, if you like loot in a certain building just build a UC in the house next door.

The UC has an area or range that it controls, which will be outlined in an orange circle.





When you build items, make sure it is within the circle and not too close to the edge. Zombies can spawn right outside of the circle. The area they cover is somewhat relative to the size of the building. If you want a larger coverage area then you will need to build more UCs (Note: there are some bugs with UCs depending on how you place them, if they are too close to an outside wall they sometimes have a smaller radius because the game thinks they are outside of the building). This picture is compliments of Tyler - Tyler91 from discord (edited to fit steam's upload size)



Just because you built a UC doesn't mean your base cannot be attacked. Noise will generate hordes which are drawn to you. So maybe build some fortifications or walls. Additionally, if you are running around your base, you can attract nearby zombies who will either run over or shamble over to your base and start whacking your stuff to get to you.

Utility cabinet area visible ring issues - will likely be fixed soon

If you walk outside of your house and try to build something and don't see the orange ring (shown here)




It might be because you have put your UC in the basement (in the EA and not the demo). It is probably rendering the orange ring under the map. (pic and information courtesy of SteveZR963 on vein discord - edited his picture to fit steam's size criteria)

Some common questions from the discord:

Can I increase the size of my utility cabinet?
Not at this time. There have been suggestions in the discord to upgrade it or enlarge the radius, but there is only one way to increase the size - build more UCs.

Can I put UCs all over?
Yes and no. In single player you can pretty much put them wherever you want. In multiplayer that will be dependent on the admin of your server and their settings. Sometimes people will put UCs on areas that spawn weapons or ammunition so other players can't access them, or they build a base on an important building on the map denying you access.

Does it cost to put UCs all over the map?
Yes it costs the materials to build it , which are trivial. However if you put benches or storage in that area, or fortifications, depending on your settings for decay rate, you have to supply those UCs with the materials over and over. If you don't decay will begin.

What if I want decay off?
The UC will still show red for missing items, so you have to place the required items in there. However, with decay off, your UC will not deduct/use those items. So, If your UC has 4 wood scrap per hour listed and decay is off, you only need to put the initial 4 wood scrap in it for the entire time game on solo. On a multiplayer server that is up to the admin to set the settings for the server.

Now that you have established your base, now you need to create a respawn point. You do this by sleeping. You can use the beds and sofas in an existing house. You can use the bed in an RV. You can use cots or sleeping bags. You can move items from other places to your base or make them.

Basic bed stuff

If your base doesn't have a couch or bed don't worry.

Hit the "B" button and select furniture



Then select mattress and build it - don't worry, your placement isn't permanent. You can move it around once built, or replace it with something else later.

Once you have made your bed, you need to click on it to sleep.



Choose however many hours of sleep you want. **caution** if you are in a PVP multiplayer your sleep timer goes with the servers timer (varies depending on how the admin set it up). If you are playing solo, it is almost instantaneous - sleep and immediately awake.



Once you start the sleep process you will get a notification that your respawn point has been set.



So...if you have a base, travel across the map, get tired and take a quick nap someplace, when you get back to your base reset your respawn point by sleeping there.

Importance of sleep. Sleep factors into your mental state. If you get lots of sleep you may become confident. If you are not getting sleep, you will become tired. How tired you are affects your gameplay. You can become slower (lethargic), and you can increase things like stress levels. If you sleep for a long time, expect your hunger/thirst to increase. If you sleep for 8 hours, and you went to bed hungry/thirsty, you might wake up with conditions on your character. Just eat some food and drink some water and you will be fine...eventually. You might need to read a book/comic book, take some anti depressants, or smoke some cannabis to get your mind right. Usually, a book and some sleep will help. There are some skills, like the driving one, that will help to fix your mental state.

This character went to bed, not hungry at all (maybe peckish), and had a quenched thirst status, slept for 8 hours and woke up like this:



One last thing, if you are infected and turning into a zombie and are bout to die...what I do is go to my base (closer to the time of death) and remove most of my items into a box.



Then I go outside of my base and either fist fight zombies until I die or find some other way to kill myself (note: dev is considering making the ability to kill yourself in game). There were some issues with stuff disappearing in the demo. If this happens to you in solo, just go to the last auto save and reload. I'm sure that Disseminate (dev on discord) is all over these bugs, squashing them like a crazed wild man, making game play smoother for you and me.

Last note: if you are experiencing any abnormalities, go to the discord. Lots of helpful people there. If it is a bug, report it there. He reads them.