I’ve already explained why creating a base is one of the obvious long-term/endgame goals in Project Zomboid, and why setting one up outside of the city of Louisville is generally an excellent idea. Louisville does have some cool buildings and plots, however, that would make for a phenomenal base!
Honestly, I fully understand and appreciate the appeal of basing out smack-dab in the middle of zombie-infested Louisville. Camping out in the wilds or on the outskirts of smaller settlements found in Knox Country can get boring after a while. This will never be an issue in Louisville, however, where the number of zombies per square foot of real estate roughly equals its real-world price in the early 2020s.
All cheekiness aside, setting up a base in Project Zomboid‘s Louisville is not for the faint of heart. I highly recommend checking out Destructoid’s overall best HQ locations for Zomboid if you’re a newbie or simply don’t want to deal with an infinite number of zeds around you at all times. If you’re dead set on living in Louisville, however, or simply want a forward operating base of some sort, I’ve got some excellent picks ready for you.
Top 10 best base locations in Project Zomboid’s Louisville
#10: Red Oak Apartments – 13520×1530
Zomboid‘s Red Oak Apartments are a phenomenally handy base if you can stomach clearing it out floor by floor. Defence is relatively simple and straightforward, with only a grand total of three total ingress points to worry about. Figuring out how to block these off while still retaining easy access to the roads will be a challenge, to be sure, but the prize is well worth the investment in my book.
With four floors’ worth of usable space, plenty of loot, and an awesome ground-level garage all packaged into one, Red Oak Apartments gives you a huge amount of value. Don’t forget about a huge number of stocked storefronts being virtually across the street from the apartment complex, either. Leveraging it all in practice is going to be a challenge, for sure, but this could easily serve as your base for months to come.
#9: Enclosed Storage Facility – 13670×1620
For the utilitarians, this particular Louisville storage facility may well be a dream come true. Fully enclosed with a tall metal fence and with a construction that naturally lends itself to a spawn-denying airlock, this spot gives you plenty of open space to really do whatever you want. And, since the storage lots are fairly customizable in their own right, you can easily turn them into custom garages, crafting facilities, and other important tidbits.
While you’ll be hard-pressed to come up with enough room to grow a whole garden by default, expanding the storage facility to include the nearby parking lots shouldn’t be too big of a hassle. Note that, while this particular storage is extremely useful in Build 41, Project Zomboid‘s Build 42 may make it effectively useless. That’s because B42 will allow zeds to take down regular metal fencing, as featured above. We’ll have to wait and see how that pans out, though.
#8: Block-Sized Compound – 13420×1730
The huge central block of apartments featured on the screenshot above is more-or-less the single best community hub for large multiplayer servers. Much like its smaller, more highly rated (for the purposes of this list) alternative at entry number two, this fancy apartment block does hold everything you need for long-form survival in Project Zomboid.
In fact, this particular compound-to-be is way more useful due to its inner courtyard/s and a larger number of connected apartments. Its downside? It stretches across multiple overworld tiles, which means a single player won’t be able to keep the whole zone de-populated on a regular sandbox playthrough. In multiplayer, this is a non-issue, and you’ll be happy to have enough room for every player to make themselves at home.
#7: A Totally Empty Lot – 14180×1220
Here’s a weird one: if you’ve got a particularly handy survivor avatar, like a Carpenter or a Builder, you may wish to try your hand at building your base from the ground-up. Well, this particular lot lets you do precisely that, with the added bonus being that there’s virtually no zombies anywhere in sight.
Realistically, this spot is likely just an unfinished spot on the Louisville-adjacent overworld map, but boy howdy is it useful. You’re really close to Louisville, have a road ready to go whenever needed, the river nearby, and a delightful dearth of the undead! Granted, setting up your own bespoke building is no mean feat and may be beyond your scope early on. Yet, even a simple camp seems like an obvious boon in this spot.
#6: Big Empty Warehouse – 12700×2105
I love warehouses in Project Zomboid. This entire plot of land is a perfect choice for those who want to be right in the middle of hardcore zombie-slaying action, but also be able to build their own base almost from zero. Featuring heaps of open space inside a fully enclosed (albeit with a mere chainlink fence) plot, this warehouse is going to give you more than enough opportunity for expansion.
Crucially, you can quite easily turn the warehouse into an impromptu garage and workshop. Roof access comes with this building by default, too, making it possible to farm infinite amounts of rainwater in late-game. You’ll need some imagination to make the most out of this one, for sure, but it’s an excellent skeleton.
#5: Riverfront Mansion – 12020×2590
Another obvious choice for an experienced Louisville resident, this riverfront property houses not just an awesome mansion, but also a fully enclosed and bricked-up courtyard, cast iron fencing at the front, and a detached three-bay garage. How’s that for being prepared?
Jokes aside, solo players will be hard-pressed to find a better Louisville base. If you’re not keen on actually modifying and rebuilding your base, and if your survivalist isn’t particularly handy, this lot will absolutely help you weather the worst of the zombie apocalypse in style.
#4: Scarlet Oaks Distillery – 12020×1990
There are no two ways about it: the Scarlet Oaks Louisville distillery is one of Project Zomboid‘s best headquarters locations. My problem with it is that the facility is rather large and cumbersome for small player groups and solo survivors to actually leverage.
If this is a non-issue, or if you’re keen on doing a frankly ridiculous amount of organization, Scarlet Oaks will give you just about everything you could ask for in a Zomboid base. Realistically, your only problem here is that you need to quickly block off both of the large entry gates to prevent new zombies from coming in. From that point onwards, you’ve got your hands full with clearing the building out and figuring out what to do with its massive rooms and courtyards. It’s hard not to see the appeal, really!
#3: Firestation #3 – 13680×1770
Firestations are almost universally a beloved choice for player housing in Project Zomboid, and it should be obvious why that’s the case. Between axes, crowbars, and thick clothing, the fire department is an obvious go-to spot for looting! Yet, one of Louisville’s three fire stations is substantially more charming and handy than most other ones.
Featuring two (optionally separable) buildings to expand across, this fire station gives you an easy way to block it off from new zombies and ready rooftop access for water collection and scouting purposes. Its huge parking lot is also handy for near infinite reasons, and you’ve got everything you could possibly wish for within walking distance. Including a tennis field, because why on earth not?
#2: Central Apartment Block – 12840×1470
This particular apartment block made its way onto my general Zomboid base list as pick #8 for good reason. It’s (relatively) easily defensible even though it’s smack-dab in the middle of Louisville, and there are loads of looting opportunities within spitting distance from it. You do need to methodically fence-off all the passageways between different buildings to protect it, of course, but this is a piece of pie compared to most other locations in the game.
Compared to the bigger city block/compound featured earlier in this article, this particular block is more tightly knit together and substantially smaller. This may sound like an issue at a glance, but the truth is that it’s big enough to support all of your survival needs for months to come in Zomboid, without being large enough to extend into multiple spawning tiles. Unlike some other spots on this list, this one also has plenty of room for future expansion and other players on a multiplayer server, making it even more interesting.
#1: Gated Community – 14150×2640
The safest, most boring choice of all. Don’t get me wrong, the gated community at the outskirts of Louisville is a phenomenal base location. Much as with the second pick on this list, it made its way onto my overall top-ten list of Project Zomboid bases for its flexibility, utility, and sheer charm of the place. The reason why I’m personally not excited about it, though, is that everyone knows about this spot and most veteran players will have already based out of it.
If this doesn’t bother you in the slightest, you’re in for a real slam-dunk with this package. A three-plot set of houses kept safe from all nearby zombies by a cast-iron fence, high-end multi-floor houses connected by a lovely little roundabout, and a single gateway to protect them with? That’s a list of wins right there. Setting up a spawning airlock is easy as pie, too, and since the homes are some ways away from the main road, you’re generally not going to get too many zeds around you in the first place.
Published: Dec 4, 2024 09:51 am