Definitely check out this site. It'll be added to over time the creator said, as people contribute. It's a list compiling data about artifacts, caves, sea loot drops, Dino spawns and more. It's really easy to read and well put together. Props to them!https://sites.google.com/site/jagidspage/ark/thecenter
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I noticed people were wondering where the safest spawn was. I'd have to say the south tropical island & north jungleis my favorite starting out. North jungle is a little emptier than the rest, but if you want to find some ruins ASAP, pick the South or Middle jungle.
No place is really void of aggressive Dinos, every area has at least a coupleraptors, dilos or wolves in the case of the west spawns,but as long as you stick to the beaches while getting set up, the jungles & the south tropical island are definitely your best bet.
The blue obelisk is also located on the south tropical island. So if you need to upload/transfer anything, it's very close to that spawn.
AlsoQuoting some postsI made in another thread...
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Here is a map with all known cave entrances and sea loot drops:
Theres also a cave inside the bottom of the floating island that's missing on the map... There are a couple entrances onthe bottom that you can fly up into.
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One thing about the center is that most resources have multiple sources and are very spread out, which is a good thing,as this means where youbuild is more of a design choice/personal preference rather than how close you are to metal nodes etc. like with the Island.
That being said...
Mordor/volcano island is a pretty neat place. It's located in the north and is the Centers version of Carno/dead island. Wolves, dimetrodons, Rexes, Spinos, Carnos, raptors and argies are plentiful, and even gigas can spawn. Despite the aggressive Dinos and extreme heat, the fact it has pearls, oil, obsidian, charcoal, metal and crystalmakes it a great building spot. There's also two caves on this island. The larger one on the east side of the island often has red drops containing master craft.
The west side of the map houses the vast grasslands and pine forests. Lots of flat land for larger builds, with tons of rhinos, argies, mammoths, wolves and elk. Ive noticed not as many people on my server build here for some reason, despite it being gorgeous, and the two snow biomes are close by. The glacier with penguins for organic poly is in this area as well.
The "center"of the map (60, 20) is the floating island. Only accessible by flyers, but a great location to build if you don't mind that and your server allows it. Lots of metal, crystal, a little bit of obsidian.Frequent alpha spawns. Also beaver dams in the pond there, and pearls and oil in the lake below it.
East side of the map is the tropics and the jungles. The ruins are found in the south and middle jungles, and the rivers that run through them is large enough to swim most aquatics through. One of the most popular building spots, as the ruins are very sought after. The largest one I know of off the top of my head (and where I built my base) is at 70, 50.But there area few other very nice & large ruins just south and east of those coords. Roughly 70, 60 and 77, 50, to name a few.But thesouth tropical island (the one that almost looks like a manta) has an awesome natural water pen on the east side, akin to the one found on Herb island on the Island map, which makes it a great location as well.
Lastly, there's the underworld. Another flyer accessible area. Gorgeous, fully underground. But a pain getting Dinos in and out of. The coords for the entrances is in the link above.
Tl;dr, therereally is no where you shouldn't build...Lots of amazing places. Just explore and get a feel for the map, and pick a place you like best.As mentioned, it's just personal preference and whether or not you mind having to rely on flyers to get there.
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Metal- Metal is pretty evenly distributed around the map and can be found almost anywhere. The tops of peaks/mountains in the jungles,thetropical islands, the "Center"/Floating Island, "Batman"/Monster face island,theSnow biomes, caves, etc. all have a couple nodes. But theCenter (60, 20) & what we call "Batman" (95, 66 roughly)seems to have the highest density.
Silica pearls- TheOcean, beaver dams, the deep rivers running through the jungles, the steam pools on Volcano island, the small cave on Volcano island (32, 44),the pool/lakeunder the floating island.
Oil- Can be found in many of the same areas as pearls. Ocean, rivers, lakes, steam pools, as well as the two snow biomes.
Organic polymer/penguins- Iceberg in the pine biome, between the two snow biomes. (Near 60, 0 on the map)
Obsidian- Volcano island definitely has the highest density.
Charcoal- You can harvest charcoal from the burnt/charred trees on volcano island.
Crystal- Near most metal and obsidian nodes. Center island, Batman, Snow biome, tops of jungle peaks etc. etc.
Chitin- There's quite a few scorpions and spiders in the South jungle cave (78, 60 is the main entrance), can easily bring a saber or wolf in there and farm a decent amount of chitin. The large volcano cave at 27, 65 also has a decent amount of scorps, spiders and beetles.
Paste- The swamp can be found around 60, 40, circling around the floating island,but Beaver dams are so abundant on this map that's been my go-to source for cementing paste. Many of the smaller ponds in the jungles each have about 2-6 dams up at a time,and there is also a pond of water on one of the levels of the floating island that often has beavers.
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