Base lighting guide: lamp types, coverage, and power cost

Lamp types and power requirements

All four basic lamp types in Abiotic Factor share one important characteristic: none of them require electrical power to operate. They are toggled manually on and off.

No lamp in the base game draws from your power circuit. This means full base lighting costs zero power and should never be deprioritized due to power budget concerns.

Coverage strategy

Effective base lighting follows one rule: no room you enter regularly should have dark corners. Dark areas create visual uncertainty during Assault Events and make it harder to identify enemy approach vectors.

Placement priorities:

1. Crafting area: Tri-Lamp centered over the workbench cluster for maximum visibility during crafting
2. Storage room: Standing or Sconce Lamps at each wall segment so you can read container labels
3. Entry corridors: Sconce Lamps along the walls at even intervals because these are the paths enemies use during Assault Events
4. Perimeter rooms: At minimum one lamp per room you use as a buffer between your base and the sector

Lighting zones

Break the base into lighting jobs instead of placing lamps randomly.

The crafting core is the highest priority because it is where players spend the most time and where route recovery happens after a bad run.

OX Lamp use cases

The OX Lamp's four directional beams make it less useful for area coverage than the other lamp types. It works best:

• At base entry points where you want targeted visibility of an approach direction
• In long corridors where a centered area lamp leaves dark far ends
• As a supplement to other lamps in larger rooms

Don't use it as a primary lamp for rooms you need full coverage of.

Farming lamp materials

Standing Lamps and Sconce Lamps are craftable early with basic metal and glass components. Tri-Lamps require slightly more resources but are worth prioritizing for high-traffic areas due to their brightness. Check your Crafting Bench for exact material costs: they vary by bench upgrade tier.

Crafting lamp materials

Materials required for each lamp type vary by bench upgrade tier. General guidance:

Exact recipes are shown in your Crafting Bench recipe list. Check your current bench tier to see which are available.

Lighting and the Assault Event connection

During an Assault Event, enemies approach from room entries toward the Crafting Bench. Poor lighting in corridors between the entry point and your bench reduces your ability to track enemy movement. This matters specifically during events where multiple enemies approach simultaneously.

A lit corridor lets you see:

• How many enemies are incoming
• Which direction to focus your defense devices
• Whether a Chopinator has been bypassed

This is the practical survival reason lighting matters beyond aesthetics. A dark corridor during an Assault Event is a information gap at the worst possible moment.

Placement test

After placing lamps, test the room the same way you would test defense:

1. Stand at the Crafting Bench and look toward every entrance.
2. Walk the storage route and confirm labels are readable.
3. Follow the retreat path without using a handheld light.
4. Turn at each doorway and check whether the next segment is visible.
5. Add a lamp only where the test fails.

This avoids both under-lighting and visual clutter. The goal is readable movement, not filling every surface with objects.

Co-op lighting rules

Co-op bases need clearer lighting than solo bases because players move through the same room at different times and under different pressure. A dark corner one player remembers may be a surprise to another player.

Lighting is cheap compared with lost gear or confusion during an event.

Stop condition for lighting investment

Stop adding lamps when:

1. Every room you use regularly has no dark corners
2. Every approach corridor to your bench is fully lit
3. Your crafting material supply for other priorities is stable

Lighting has no power cost and no ongoing resource drain. There is no reason to stop short of full base coverage once you have the materials.

What not to use lighting for

Do not use lighting as a substitute for a better base room, Portal Suppression, or defense placement. Lamps improve visibility. They do not fix a base with too many entrances, blocked exits, or a Crafting Bench placed directly in the enemy path.

If a room remains hard to defend after it is fully lit, the issue is layout, not lamp count.

Final checklist before leaving base

Before each run, take 10 seconds to verify your base lighting is fully active:

1. All lamps in the crafting area are toggled on
2. Entry corridors have no dark segments longer than one room width
3. Storage room is lit enough to read container labels
4. Any new rooms added to the base since the last session have been lit

This takes less time than dealing with an enemy that spawned in a dark corner you missed.

See also

• Power Grid Star Topology
• Base Defense Setup for Beginners
• Storage Organization and Crates