Ark Survival Evolved Base Design Tool

Building is a primary component of ARK: Survival Evolved. By chopping down forests full of trees and mining metal and other precious resources, you can craft the parts to build massive multi-leveled structures composed of complex snap-linked parts, including ramps, beams, pillars, windows, doors, gates, remote gates, trapdoors, water pipes, faucets, generators, wires and all manner of electrical devices, and ladders among many other types. Structures have a load system to fall apart if enough support has been destroyed, so reinforcing your buildings is important. All structures and items can be painted to customize the look of your home, as well as placing dynamically per-pixel paintable signs, textual billboards, and other decorative objects. Shelter reduces the extremes of weather and provides security for yourself and your stash!

You can rotate building props by hitting the Use key (default E ) while in placement mode.

1 Building Tiers
- 1.1 Thatch
- 1.2 Wood
- 1.3 Adobe
- 1.4 Stone
- 1.5 Green House
- 1.6 Metal
- 1.7 Tek
2 Storage Structures
3 Crafting Structures
4 Farming structures
5 Auto-decay
6 Notes
7 References

Building Tiers [ ]

There are seven tiers of building in ARK: Survival Evolved. Each tier has varying durability. See the List of creatures that can damage structures for a comparison of each tier's susceptibility to damage by various creatures.

Thatch [ ]

Thatch is the lowest of all building tiers. All the thatch building Engrams can be unlocked by level 3. Thatch buildings are relatively cheap, but the trade-off is that they provide little to no protection against other players or dinosaurs. If any decent kind of protection is needed, it is recommendable to upgrade to the wood tier as soon as possible.

Wood [ ]

Wood is the second building tier. All the essential wood building Engrams can be unlocked by level 10 (although some of the non essential Engrams can only be unlocked in higher levels). Wood buildings are relatively expensive, and require between 20 and 80 wood for each part. However wood provides much better protection than thatch against other players and dinosaurs since wood buildings can't be damaged by stone tools and have roughly 10 times as much hp.

Adobe [ ]

Adobe buildings are comparable to wood structures as having the same HP and similar traits. However Adobe requires its own category because of its unique trait of having increased protection from Hyperthermia. Please note that this form of adobe is associated with the Scorched Earth engram and not the Primitive Plus variant.

Stone [ ]

Stone buildings have the same durability as wood buildings, but there is one major difference: Stone buildings only take 1 damage from metal tools, as opposed to the approximately 20 damage that wood buildings take. Included in the Stone tier are reinforced structures such as the Reinforced Wooden Door and the Reinforced Dinosaur Gate.

Green House [ ]

Greenhouse parts are a special building part used in the creation of a Greenhouse for boosting the growth of crops. These glass parts are incredibly weak and even take damage due to punching.

Metal [ ]

Metal structures can only be damaged by explosives, Tek Rifle and Tek Saddle Projectiles. The amount of explosives needed to destroy these is immense making them the structure of choice for important buildings.

Tek [ ]

Tek Structures can be damaged by Arthropleura projectile attack.

Storage Structures [ ]

Crafting Structures [ ]

Farming structures [ ]

Auto-decay [ ]

Since v180.0, on all servers (except some private servers), all structures and tamed dinosaurs auto-decay. This means that if nobody in your tribe logs into the game every few days, your structures and dinosaurs may disappear. In general, higher-tier structures will last longer than lower-tier structures. On official servers, auto-decay timers follow these rules:^[1]

Thatch : 4 days
"Utilities": 4 days
Tamed Dinosaur : 8 days
Electrical Cables: 8 days
Wood : 8 days
Stone : 12 days
Greenhouse: 15 days
Metal : 16 days
Vault: 16 days
Tek buildings : 20 days ^[2]
Tek Cloning Chamber : 20 Days
Tek Generator on the ground : 40 Days
Tek Transmitter on the ground : 40 Days
Tek Teleporter on the ground : 40 Days
Cryofridge on the ground : 40 Days
Tek Dedicated Storage connected to another Tek Dedicated Storage: 80 days ^[3] ^[4]
Tek Trough : 80 days ^[5]
Tamed Dinosaur in a cryopod: as long as the lifetime of the cryopod and the container it's stored in.

There are some exceptions to the above times for certain items. Isolated (non-connected) foundations or pillars may have a shorter timer. ^[6]

Only vaults and Tek Dedicated Storage will last longer than the foundation they sit on. The decay timer for a vault will reset whenever it falls.^[7]

All other structures will be destroyed when the foundation they sit on is destroyed.

Notes [ ]

When placing structures any trees and rocks inside a 75-meter range that are removed will not return. (This is as stands prior to update 175.0, when the required range was decreased.)
Reinforcing walls i.e. double stacking side by side. To do this you need to place two wood or metal fence foundations side by side. This is a great way to increase the durability from raiders and add an extra layer of protection from griefers/raiders.
Placement of metal spikes can be put on top of your roofs as well, this helps to stop people who have flying mounts or parachutes from breaking in.
Shelters provide the same insulation (~112 Hypo, ~57 Hyper) regardless if the shelter is made of thatch, wood, stone, metal, or any combination (tested on v195.1). Exception is the Adobe tier.

References [ ]

↑ https://survivetheark.com/index.php?/forums/topic/399078-official-servers-structure-decay-rates/
↑ https://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/3223871682617285221/
↑ https://survivetheark.com/index.php?/forums/topic/500282-dedicated-storage-decay-timer/
↑ https://survivetheark.com/index.php?/forums/topic/399078-official-servers-structure-decay-rates/
↑ https://survivetheark.com/index.php?/forums/topic/500282-dedicated-storage-decay-timer/&do=findComment&comment=2759546
↑ https://survivetheark.com/index.php?/forums/topic/495639-what-are-the-current-structure-decay-timers/&do=findComment&comment=2739498
↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/ARK/comments/ackmt2/what_is_the_decay_time_on_vaults/

v · d · e Gameplay Mechanics

Games/Franchises

ARK: Survival Evolved (Mobile) • PixARK • ARK Park • ATLAS • ARK 2

Building & Development

Building • Building Guides • Farming • Cooking • Electricity • Item Quality • Spoilage • Blueprints • Inventory • Tribes • Spawn Locations • Leveling • Creative Mode

Items

Armor • Consumables • Resources • Structures • Weapons

Environment

Game Modes • Single Player • Survival of the Fittest • Game Persistence • Environmental • Difficulty

Exploring

Maps	The Island • The Center • Scorched Earth • Ragnarok • Aberration • Extinction • Valguero • Genesis: Part 1 • Crystal Isles • Genesis: Part 2 • Lost Island

Features	Coordinates • Flying • Swimming • Obelisks • Supply Crate • Loot Crate (Deep Sea) • Biomes • Explorer Notes • Dossiers • Caves • Artifacts • Boss Arenas • Ascension • ARKs • CrossARK Transfers • Missions (Genesis: Part 1, Genesis: Part 2)

Character

Character	Levels • Engrams (Mobile, P+) • Survivor Profile • Emotes • Whistling • Hairstyles • HUD

Attributes	Health • Stamina • Oxygen • Food • Water • Weight • Melee Damage • Movement Speed • Fortitude • Crafting Skill • Torpidity

Condition	Status Effects • Diseases

Creatures

Domestication	Taming • Domestication • Aggression Level • Breeding • Mutations • Incubation • Imprinting • Mate Boost • Weight Reduction

Stats	Base Creature Statistics • Base Creature Speeds • Base Damage • Creature stats calculation • Level Weight

Attributes	Energy • Charge Capacity • Charge Regeneration • Charge Emission Range

Data Lists	Carryable by • Immobilized by • Can damage

Other	Temperament

Miscellaneous

Achievements • Chat • DLCs • Weapon Mechanics • Stasis • Raptor Claus • HLN-A • Chibi-Pets