6 Tips to Build a Better CAMP in Fallout 76

Get Wood

Whether you’re just starting off, or putting the finishing touches on your post-apocalyptic mansion, you’re going to need a lot of wood in Fallout 76. Wood is required to build foundations, and foundations are required before you build important wood-based things like floors and walls.

Here’s how to get wood easily in Fallout 76.

Besides pencils, screwdrivers, and some weapons (like baseball bats), you won’t find a lot of stuff that you can scrap for wood during typical questing and exploring. So, try to find one of the many lumber mills that dot the map where there are wood piles a-plenty. And, if you don’t have much room in your inventory, set up your CAMP close to one of these lumber mills to quickly re-stock when needed. You can always move your base quickly and easily later.

Build Essentials First

While your base can eventually grow to become as extravagant as you want, remember that the main purpose of it is survival. Workbenches, a cooking station, a bed to sleep on and a Stash Box are the most used and thus the most important CAMP amenities in Fallout 76. Get these things built first and then move on to a water source, crops, and defenses.

Here’s how to build your CAMP in Fallout 76.

Pace Yourself

Unlike Fallout 4, your base has some limits in Fallout 76. Keep an eye on your “budget” in the top right corner of your CAMP-building screen. This is your limit to how many items you can construct for your base. You don’t want to reach the maximum before you’re done and be left with an unfished, unguarded mess of a campsite.

Similarly, don’t worry if you’re a few hours into Fallout 76 and you still haven’t found that perfect CAMP location. You don’t need to build a mansion right from the start, and you might not have the perfect location from the start. It’ll benefit you to build simply at first, and move your base strategically as you progress in the game.

Lock Your Door

Pretty simple; but you overlook this handy feature, and someone might steal some precious goods from your base. Here’s how you do it. When you’re building at your CAMP, switch to the “modify” setting (what you use to move things around that you’ve already constructed). Next, aim at one of your doors, and an option to put a lock on it will appear at the bottom of your screen. You can put locks on other containers as well, and can change the rank of each lock from 0 to 3 on the lockpick difficulty scale.

Know Your Enemy

Don’t build your base in an area where enemies could spawn that are much higher level than you. Even if they might not be there when you start your base, they might appear later, and you’ll have a fun time dying endlessly while trying to retrieve your remains/pack-up your CAMP.

While other players cannot take anything from your Stash Box, they can use your workbenches, steal anything lying around (or in unlocked containers), and generally mess around if they feel like being trolls. Locking-off any areas that you want to keep off limits is a good basic deterrent, but consider investing in some turrets for when things get spicy.

Here’s where to find workbenches in Fallout 76.

Live Off the Land

As the old realtor saying goes: it’s all about “location, location, location”. While you can always move all the materials you’ve built for your base, or even re-create an exact replica of your base with a blueprint, there are certain campsite locations that offer better amenities than others.

Building near a main road or a town, will allow you to easily trade with other players. Or, if you’re interested in solo-survival, look out for mineral deposits that you can continuously mine for crucial base-enhancing supplies. There are even junk piles out there that you can “mine” junk from too! Your base could be placed in forested areas for easy access to wood, or used as a strategic location for free fast-traveling. There are many different benefits from many different locations, so don’t be afraid to move your campsite around throughout the game!

For more tips, tricks, and guides be sure to check out our Fallout 76 Guide Wiki.