Why do people base at the oasis? (long read)

[Lennard]

tl;dr: many aspects of basing at the oasis are sort of pointless and provide little advantage compared to lots of other good base locations.

I play on public servers a lot and I see lots of people that base in the oasis. And I genuinely don't understand why.

I mean the oasis desert is quite barren. There are no trees, no grass, no saplings, no rabbits, no moles and It's in one extremity of the map. Which sometimes makes it stand far from important things like pigs and beefalo.  You also have to relocate most of the things you need. It's also kind of weaker compared to its dragonfly variant. There are no hounds which can be farmed, no tumbleweeds(which can provide you with lots of grass and twigs and give you some occasional random loot which can be useful), and no dragonfly or its setpiece. So you can't use magma to heat your thermal stone. Some people say it risky because of the burning tumbleweeds but if that's your problem then just make some stone walls a few units away from burnable stuff or make it far from any magma so that the tumbleweed burns down before it reaches you.

 

Now I get it. It's used during summer when the lake fills, things don't smolder, and it's a bit cooler and it's closer to the antlion. However, these aren't that necessary.

If you plan ahead and put burnable stuff close to each other and use your space efficiently and in an organized manner, Than you can usually cover the whole base with 2-3 flingomatics. It's not that bad to craft and refilling it isn't really a chore. Just cut a few trees every few days and you'll get enough logs for it. 

The oasis being a bit cooler is kind of pointless when you base there. I mean everywhere else is hotter(except caves) and when you have a base at oasis ou probably have an endothermic fire there as well. So whenever you come back to the base you'll probably just fuel the fire to cool yourself down and the oasis being a bit cooler will become kinda pointless.

However, the main reason why people base there is because there's the lake which fills during summer. So they can fish there for long periods of time, and it's closer to the antlion. But why do you need an entire base just because of that? You can just set up a small outpost there instead. All you need is one firepit, one endothermic firepit, a few chests, one crockpot and icebox, one birdcage, some trees, and about 10 saplings and 10 grass tufts. And maybe one spider egg for monster meat and something else you may need. That's it. These are things you can easily get by like day 55. And if you can stockpile some food in the icebox you can just stand next to the endothermic fire all day and just fish. Then eat than fish again. What's even weirder is that most people just kill the antlion as soon as he spawns without trying to appease him at all. So I mean you are just doing it to get the blueprint for the googles. And from what I read from the wiki It's not that rare. You probably can get it after a few days of fishing.

 

That's at least what I think. If you have any more knowledge than please try to change my opinion on this.

[Maxposting]

Public server = rush for blueprints every single day of summer.

[Sweaper]

Most people are sheep and follow a guide without thinking straight. Then we have those that follow the ones who already have a base.

Having a base is completely optional for survival anyway, so do whatever you want/need in the public server.

[SpookyXy]

You can base anywhere you want and make it work; I just like how the Oasis looks.

[me real life]

55 minutes ago, Bothead said:

I mean the oasis desert is quite barren. There are no trees, no grass, no saplings, no rabbits, no moles and It's in one extremity of the map. Which sometimes makes it stand far from important things like pigs and beefalo. 

All of these things can simply be relocated to the oasis desert, except for rabbits which aren't even slightly important outside of a couple of crafting recipes. The main appeal of the oasis desert is that it's a large biome completely immune to wildfires, the most destructive seasonal hazard (especially in a multiplayer context). Sure, you could just limit the size of your base and keep flingomatics fueled all summer, but that's the thing, you don't have to in the oasis desert. You can just make a base however you want as long as it fits within the biome.

[Szczuku]

35 minutes ago, Sunset Skye said:

(snip)

That's all true but the red flag imo is that you don't know where Antlion is going to spawn. If it happens to be near your storage or farms then you'd have to move them or just accept that you're never going to fight antlion

[Owlrust]

You can plant lureplants without worrying about eyeplants (I think). Aside from that, the oasis has far less risks than the dragonfly desert with nearly the same advantages; not to forget that (it being a desert and all) it's a pretty well organized area. No need to clear anything in the area, or fuss with land generation.

I don't "personally" enjoy basing in the oasis, but hopefully I added a couple more reasons to the mix that people would want to base there for. 

[Terribad]

Oasis is worth a minibase, and fine to do whatever you like with it. I rarely build out farther than the grass turf immediately surrounding the lake until after summer 1, and I can see where antlion is.

Oasis is a fine spot. And public servers can have real problems with fire if they make it to summer. I agree though, as a final location Oasis is often pretty far away from the action. It all depends on your layout and wormholes though.

When I'm looking for a base I often look at swamp first, as they can be highly productive. Moon base evergreen Forest and the most central downspout nearest the ruins are my favorite summer base spots, but I spend a few days at the Oasis every summer fishing crumpled packages (to save for winter's feast) , and farming sandcastles.

[Mike23Ua]

This is a small area that’s really not big enough to BE a Base, if you move far enough away from the puddle of Water you’ll end up stuck in a sand storm, and the water will dry out after Summer so it’s not all that great of a place.

There are a handful of blueprints you can fish out of the waters here, as well as some pretty Christmas decorations but I have yet to actually pull something truly Worthwhile up from out of this Water. Endless fish until it dries out again maybe??

I guess people simply just base here due to the fact that it never catches fire? You can still become too hot, but at least the tiny bit of trees here don’t catch a blaze.

It is a nice looking little Area & the Succulent Potted Plants look nice to put around your base, But depending on the character your playing as.. (I was playing Wurt) Its probably better to Base someplace else.

[ToXic Cur3]

3 hours ago, Bothead said:

 

Now I get it. It's used during summer when the lake fills, things don't smolder, and it's a bit cooler and it's closer to the antlion. However, these aren't that necessary.

 

 

It's true of what you are saying and I agree but peeps base their just for the smolder free aspect and the oasis looks well in a base, it is fun to base in areas you usually do not set up 

[me real life]

22 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

This is a small area that’s really not big enough to BE a Base, if you move far enough away from the puddle of Water you’ll end up stuck in a sand storm, and the water will dry out after Summer so it’s not all that great of a place.

The desert goggles allow you to walk normally in the sandstorm, which makes the entire biome suitable for a base because anything in the oasis or the sandstorm are immune to wildfires.

[Mike23Ua]

5 minutes ago, Sunset Skye said:

The desert goggles allow you to walk normally in the sandstorm, which makes the entire biome suitable for a base because anything in the oasis or the sandstorm are immune to wildfires.

Yeah I figured that out, but as Wurt it’s still better not to base here- Luckily though my Swamp Base is Right beside the Oasis. I’m chalking it up to Lucky world Generation but still-

those hats do look hella freaking cool placed on your Merm Army though! 

[AnitaCoffee]

Not all Oasis's are so far removed from everything else. Best one I had was right beside PK, & spider rock biome was above it. Only wish the swamp had been closer.

But yeah, I don't always base in the Oasis, but sometimes, like above, it is the best place. Easy to build on, less worry about smolder, and it's pretty.

[Terribad]

31 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

This is a small area that’s really not big enough to BE a Base, if you move far enough away from the puddle of Water you’ll end up stuck in a sand storm, and the water will dry out after Summer so it’s not all that great of a place.

There are a handful of blueprints you can fish out of the waters here, as well as some pretty Christmas decorations but I have yet to actually pull something truly Worthwhile up from out of this Water. Endless fish until it dries out again maybe??

I guess people simply just base here due to the fact that it never catches fire? You can still become too hot, but at least the tiny bit of trees here don’t catch a blaze.

It is a nice looking little Area & the Succulent Potted Plants look nice to put around your base, But depending on the character your playing as.. (I was playing Wurt) Its probably better to Base someplace else.

Well, if you save your crumpled packages for winter's feast, they each have a chance of giving you a festive light. This is the best drop from the Oasis.

[GetNerfedOn]

Personally, as a player who has played the beginning years of their DST life in forest-only worlds due to computer specs not making the cut to run caves, I base mostly in oasis because gears are super scarce, and I usually get that "Harp Statues and 1 Knight" set piece or none at all, with my gear priorities being on iceboxes before Salt Boxes existed (and even then, Salt Boxes cannot store Honey among many other things, and I categorically refuse to store my food in chests). Gravedigging and tumbleweeds gave me two or three gears in the first year alone, and tumbleweed farming is an occupation I'd like to take up once i've got more pressing things like surviving the first year in general done and over with, aand it doesn't always work, mind you. Therefore, in this niche case the smolder-free aspect is a godsend for me.

Plus you're near several semiabundant sources of meat, sanity, and the only source of Volt Goat Horns and Electric Milk in the game. Despite the apparent lack of resources, Oasis is a solid place to base in due to its general lack of threats, closeness to several unique resources, two of which are immovable, and the smolder immunity. All situational, but still all beneficial.

 

[LunarCat]

I (personally) would base at the glommer statue because its near pig king and caves, and pigs that can be used for food and pig skin (or 049-2s if you are playing the 049 mod) and you have somewhere to run off to when summer comes around

[TemporaryMan]

4 hours ago, Bothead said:

But why do you need an entire base just because of that? You can just set up a small outpost there instead. All you need is one firepit, one endothermic firepit, a few chests, one crockpot and icebox, one birdcage, some trees, and about 10 saplings and 10 grass tufts. And maybe one spider egg for monster meat and something else you may need. That's it. These are things you can easily get by like day 55.

Wait, that isn't an entire base?  I guess I build kinda light...

[Axelocke]

"Guys, base at oasis"

"Oh, cool. What's near Oasis?"

"Oasis"

"Any biomes of interest nearby? Swamp, bees, pig king?"

"Just a dark forest with no spiders or berry bushes."

Xx_iNSaNExSnIPER_xX was killed by Starvation. They became a spooky ghost!

pablo.jhames2008 was killed by Starvation. They became a spooky ghost!

sorry, i just wanted an excuse to make a meme. <3

[CameoAppearance]

It's a convenient landmark that people need to know the location of anyway, and there's no wildfires. Considering that you can make a base in any location work with enough landscaping, it's as good as anywhere else. It's not my personal first choice, which would probably be near the biggest crossroads of roads and wormholes on the map, but it works fine. 

[fpx007]

4 hours ago, Szczuku said:

you don't know where Antlion is going to spawn

As a player who often set base in the oasis desert, I can definitely tell you that you can actually spot the Antlion spawner even before the first summer. There is a small set piece featuring several small barren turfs, and the Antlion just spawns at the central point of this set piece.  So actually, you can avoid building structures around it, and even set your arena ahead before its first spawn.

[00petar00]

There's really no need for such a big rant about oasis bases on public servers. There are so many new players that would actually burn the base and not having to refuel flingomatics is a big plus.

Not a good spot if you aren't on a public server and i find the best spot to be in areas with roads/wormholes, preferably closest to all the resources you need.

Its fine to make a minibase if that is what you want to do, if i am planning a to play on a world for 500-1000 days, i usually have a minibase there. Overall first two summers can be spent in caves without any troubles and actually big profit. Yes, you can clear ruins on day 12-13 with any character but there's no need to rush, when i play on my long term worlds i always leave ruins for first summer, at the second summer i look for atrium.

[Bird Up]

9 hours ago, Bothead said:

The oasis being a bit cooler is kind of pointless when you base there.

I don't think the oasis is actually any cooler than anywhere else, could be wrong tho.

Oasis bases in public servers are usually bad because they tend to be super far from portal, so it's hard for people to find the base early on, and the oasis often times is a dead end biome. Not always, but it's likely.  Public servers don't often get to summer, but when they do, they often get reset during summer. The cacti in oasis are a lot less useful than it used to be before kelp/stone fruit were introduced. Kelp and stone fruit make better veggie fillers. Dried kelp gives good sanity. It's nice to kill the ant lion early in summer to prevent earthquakes, so I guess basing oasis is nice for that, but it's pretty niche. Not useful until day 56ish. 

I try to base around dragonfly or triple mac tusks most of the time.

[Toros]

Oasis base is great, particularly for your first year and because of the lack of smouldering you can have a solid summer base if you decide to base somewhere else more permanently.

I like both deserts as bases because cacti are easy sanity and pierogi, and oasis having no smouldering and free gears from tumbleweeds both solve the same problem.

It’s not overrated for first summer or for public servers though, not even a little bit.

[ShadowDuelist]

Megabasers like Glermz seem to start at oasis since it lets them play around with their designing art, without worrying about placing flingos and beaking the mood of their creations. And the fact that Oasis has the volt goats nearby, seems to be a plus to some people (specially Warlys). Personally I hate the sandstorm, even when I already got the goggles.

I always thought people based in whatever biome made it easier for them to overcome whatever annoys them the most, or the other way around, they base in a biome that has what they value the most.

What annoys me the most is not being able to do stuff in complete darkness, I'm usually highly bothered by Winter's eternal nights, and having to use so many lightbulbs for my lantern/headlamp. Therefore I usually try to settle at the moonbase, where I can have a permanent lunar staff giving me light.

TL; DR: I base where I am less annoyed, but maybe that's just me.

[SonicDen220]

Volt goats and cactus are enough of a reason for me.
The only annoyance of oasis desert is buzzards.