How to Manage Mother Base in Metal Gear Solid V

Last Updated: December 23, 2021

Aside from being unparalleled at stealth, Punished “Venom” Snake is also a great leader and boss. Prior to Metal Gear Solid V, this aspect of the Big Boss’s personality and background story was only touched upon on the PSP’s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. In the Phantom Pain, this micromanagement feature makes a comeback and can even be considered a game in and of itself. To get back against the people who played you like a fiddle, you (as Big Boss) and Kazuhira Miller will have to rebuild and manage the Mother Base and private army that you lost nine years ago.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Extracting Personnel

1
Finish Episode 2. This mission will introduce you to the basics of using your iDroid as well as to using the Fulton Recovery System. The latter is important because it will make extracting personnel easier and more efficient.^{[1]
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2
Take on missions, side ops, and free roam. Immediately take on a mission once you finish Episode 2. Go to the mission lists on your iDroid and choose to take the first mission or side op that you fancy. If you’d rather get familiar with Afghanistan and the controls even more, then you might also want to free-roam.

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3
Interrogate soldiers. Bases and outposts that have 4 or more soldiers will usually have specialists and prisoners. Once you’re on a mission, side op, or just free-roaming, always make sure to interrogate soldiers by pressing on the LB (XBox One/XBox 360) or L1 (PS4/PS3) when holding them up with your weapon or choking them. You should then see the location of specialists or prisoners on your iDroid’s map.
4
Fulton Extract soldiers and prisoners. Proceed to the location of the specialists and/or prisoners and use the Fulton Recovery System on them. Some specialists and prisoners will have high stats/ratings, allowing the Mother Base unit you designate them in to level up faster.^{[2]
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Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Constructing Platforms for Mother Base

1
Finish the main story missions. Your Mother Base will start out with only a Command Platform and R&D, Support, and Base Development units. By completing the main story missions, you will get to unlock units and platforms that will not only allow you to add more people to your Mother Base, but also aid you in the development of weapons, items, and equipment.^{[3]
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2
Check a platform’s availability on your iDroid. Manually check available platforms by opening up your iDroid and navigating to Base Facilities under the Mother Base tab. You should now see which platforms are available, how much they cost, and the time it takes to complete their construction.
- Miller will inform you of the creation of a unit and its respective platform’s availability at the end of a mission.
3
Construct a platform once its available. Ideally, you should have enough GMP from finishing missions and side ops to construct a platform once it’s available. If for some reason you lack GMP, then you should try to replay some of the main missions that you’ve already done or search for diamonds in enemy bases and outposts when in free-roam.
- Getting an S-Rank in a mission while completing all of its objectives will give you lots of GMP. You can also get GMP in free-roam by interrogating soldiers for the location of an outpost’s diamonds and other resources.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Managing Mother Base

1
Check Mother Base on your iDroid. Now that you have platforms for your units, you can then proceed to the oftentimes grueling task of managing them. Open up your iDroid and look for “Staff Management” under the Mother Base tab.
2
Access Staff Management. To manage the personnel for these units, navigate to their respective tabs under Staff Management by using RB and LB (XBox One/XBox 360) or R1 and L1 (PS4/PS3).
3
Browse and sort personnel. You can then press on the RB (XBox One/XBox 360) or R2 (PS4/PS3) button to sort the existing personnel under the unit you want to manage. This allows you to sort personnel based on their compatibility with their existing units.
4
Move personnel to other units. If one of your personnel has higher stats/ratings for units other than the one he/she is currently in, then you’ll need to transfer him/her there. To do so, press on the Change Assignment (A for Xbox One/Xbox 360 or X for PS4/PS3) button when the personnel’s name is highlighted and choose “Move” among the options that pop-up on your screen to transfer him/her to a unit where he/she has better compatibility.^{[4]
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Deal with Troublemakers. The Staff Management menu also gives you the option to dismiss personnel who have the Troublemaker special skill as well those with low (E) ratings/stats. To deal with these personnel, highlight his/her name and press on the Change Assignment (A for Xbox One/Xbox 360 or X for PS4/PS3) button on your controller to bring up the option to dismiss him/her.
- A Troublemaker will cause problems in the their respective units and should be dealt with lest you end up with personnel developing PTSD and getting sent to your Mother Base’s Sickbay.
- Don’t worry about dismissing a Troublemaker even if he has a high rating. As you progress through the game and upgrade your Fulton and Int-Scope, you will find it easier to come across soldiers who have higher ratings.
6
Upgrade your Fulton and Int-Scope. Move compatible personnel with C or higher ratings/stats to the R&D, Intel, and Support units. Once these units level up, navigate to the Mother Base tab on your iDroid and upgrade your Fulton and Int-Scope by going to the Weapons/Items option found under “Development.”
- Upgraded versions of the Fulton will allow you to extract vehicles, children, as well as increase the amount you can carry with you when you’re at any of the mission areas.
- An upgraded Int-Scope will allow players to analyze and determine an enemy soldier’s ratings. Aside from the Analyzer function, it will also have a directional Microphone function allowing the player to easily pick up on enemy conversations while doing reconnaissance without having to be close to a base or outpost.
7
Go back to extracting additional personnel. Once you’ve upgraded your Int-Scope and Fulton, you can proceed to extract more personnel to add to Mother Base. Coupled with the upgraded Fulton, an upgraded Int-Scope’s analyzer function will make it easier for you to identify and extract more specialists and high-level soldiers without having to resort to interrogations.
- You don’t need to be in Mother Base to manage Mother Base. You can manage your staff as well as construct platforms anywhere and anytime in-game (excluding during cutscenes) using your iDroid.