Palworld Base Guide: How Many Bases, Types & Unlocks

On default settings you can run up to four bases in Palworld 1.0, each staffed by up to 30 working Pals, with base progression capped at level 35. Extra bases unlock at base levels 8, 15, and 25, and everything is anchored to one structure: the Palbox. This guide explains how the whole base system fits together, so you can plan a network instead of a single crowded camp.

How many bases can you have?

Base count and worker capacity both scale with base level. Values below reflect default world settings, per the current Palworld wiki:

Base level reached	Max bases	Working Pals per base
1	1	1
8	2	8
15	3	15
25	4	25
30	4	30 (cap)
35	4	30 (cap)

Working Pal slots grow one per level until the cap at 30, while base count only moves at levels 8, 15, and 25. Level 35, new in 1.0, adds no extra capacity — it is a completion milestone.

On Custom difficulty, World Settings sliders can raise both limits. Community consensus puts the slider maximums at 10 bases and 50 workers per base, but treat that as a performance tradeoff: more active bases means more simulation load, and the game warns it can hurt frame rate.

The Palbox is the base

The Palbox unlocks at Technology tier 2 for 1 point and costs 1 Paldium Fragment, 8 Wood, and 3 Stone. Placing it creates a cylindrical base area with a radius of roughly 35 meters — about 9 foundation tiles across, with 8 safely usable — and a vertical build limit of around 16 tiles. Structures inside the boundary are protected from decay.

Placement rules worth knowing before you commit:

• The ground under the Palbox must be within about 15 degrees of flat.
• The Palbox is a fast travel point, and in 1.0 you can fast travel directly from the map while inside base range.
• If the Palbox is destroyed, the base goes with it and structures begin to decay (when decay is enabled in settings).
• The Palbox also stores up to 960 captured Pals and revives defeated Pals on a timer.

Base types by role

The strongest 1.0 pattern is one job per base. A base that tries to do everything does everything badly.

Base role	What it exists for
Main production	Crafting lines, furnaces, power, bulk storage
Mining	Ore and coal nodes inside the radius
Breeding and ranch	Farms, ranches, breeding pens, cake supply
Oil	Crude Oil Extractors, generation, refining
Staging	A small forward post near new regions like Sunreach

Site selection is its own decision — terrain, nodes, and raid approaches matter more than scenery. Use the role-first checklist in How to Choose a Palworld Base Location before placing anything expensive.

Palbox upgrades and unlocks

You raise base level by completing the base missions listed at the Palbox, then confirming the upgrade. The mission list doubles as a progression spine:

• Early levels force the fundamentals: chests, beds, a feed box, a campfire, a hot spring.
• Mid levels push production: assembly lines, and a Power Generator at level 11 — the point where electricity becomes part of base planning.
• Level 20 asks for a Crude Oil Extractor, which ties base progression directly into the late-game material route covered in the Crude Oil Extractor Setup Guide.
• Levels 31-34 layer on 1.0’s ancient-civilization structures, such as the Ancient Power Generator and Ancient Material Synthesizer.

In 1.0 the maximum base level rose from 30 to 35 (Early Access had already moved it from 25 to 30). Base level also gates visiting merchants: up to 18 specialized merchant types can appear depending on your base level.

Base raids and defense basics

1.0 rebuilt raids from a single attack into a wave-based system, per the official release changelog:

• Enemies attack in successive waves, and you earn rewards for defeating all of them.
• The attacking faction depends on the region — for example, the Free Pal Alliance raids Crescent Moon Shore while the Eternal Pyre faction raids Mount Obsidian.
• Defense structures no longer consume ammo.
• Raid enemy level scales automatically to the level of the Work Pals assigned to that base.
• A Negotiator now visits and can cancel an incoming raid in exchange for Gold Coins.
• A Gold Coin Assembly Line at the base triggers its own dedicated raid event.

Raid enemies spawn roughly 50-150 meters from the Palbox, so approach routes belong in your site plan. Base Pals fight intruders by default and repair damaged structures after the raid. Note that summoned raid bosses are a separate system from base raids — see the Hartalis Raid Guide and the 1.0 boss route guide for those.

Planning your base network

Once the second base unlocks at level 8, split roles immediately. A practical 1.0 network:

1. Main production base on the flattest serious space you control.
2. Mining base directly on ore and coal — easier than in Early Access, since 1.0 increased overworld ore distribution.
3. Breeding and ranch base on boring flat ground once level 15 lands.
4. Oil base when the extractor mission approaches at level 20.

Each base then needs its own internal plan: zones, worker paths, and storage. Read Palworld Base Layout Ideas for general spacing rules and the Production Base Layout Guide for factory-style flow. For the wider 1.0 context, the Palworld 1.0 overview covers what else changed.

Common beginner mistakes

• Building key structures outside the radius, where they decay.
• One mega-base doing every job, with workers crossing the map all day.
• Choosing terrain for the view instead of the 15-degree Palbox rule and worker paths.
• Building directly on resource node spawn points.
• Raising worker caps in World Settings to compensate for a bad layout.
• Ignoring raid approach routes until the first wave walks through the production line.

Bottom line

Four bases, thirty workers each, level 35 cap — those are the default 1.0 numbers. Unlock bases by leveling the Palbox, give every base one job, and let the wave-based raid rework influence where you build, not just what you build.