Mother Base (Seychelles)

"In addition to mercenaries and former government soldiers, [Mother Base] is also home to researchers and other civilian personnel. Together, they form a group without borders, ideologies or isms, with no regard to age, gender, nationality or race."

- Militaires Sans Frontières briefing



Mother Base was the base of operations for Diamond Dogs, a mercenary unit composed of surviving members of the Militaires Sans Frontières. Like the MSF before them, Diamond Dogs' Mother Base was an offshore plant comprised of several connected struts. It was located near the Seychelles off the eastern coast of Africa.

History
At some point during the 1980s, Diamond Dogs managed to situate themselves on an offshore plant modeled after their doomed prior base. Ocelot aided in the construction work for the plant, and returned after rescuing Big Boss and sending him to rescue Kazuhira Miller from the Soviets in Afghanistan to retrieve a lead regarding XOF, also giving advice to Snake via radio.

Functionality and development
Similar to the old Mother Base in the Carribean, the new Mother Base at Seychelles contained at least seven sections, each relating to a specific function for Mother Base.

Behind the scenes
The Mother Base mechanic returns in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Although similar to the base building mechanic from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, it is far more extensive in The Phantom Pain. Specifically, the player can assign staff during a mission via the iDroid, actually visit Mother Base and interact with it, and make Mother Base in their own manner (in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Mother Base's final design was pre-decided). In the latter, it more closely resembles the Mother Base minigame from Ground Zeroes' companion app. In addition, the player can also customize their own Mother Base's colors, with orange, sky blue, and hot pink being color choices for Mother Base.

The player can assign staff during a mission via the iDroid as well as visit the base in person and manage the base with a greater depth than was offered in Peace Walker.

During the main story of The Phantom Pain, Mother Base can be attacked in retaliation to the player's actions. It has been heavily implied that The Phantom Pain will also feature a multiplayer mode that will allow players to show their Mother Base design to friends. In addition, the player can also ambush other players' Mother Base. The defending player can personally interrupt the infiltration, however.

Hideo Kojima stated during interviews after the 2015 Taipei Game Show that Mother Base in The Phantom Pain will feature a zoo to house recovered animals. He also revealed that the Mother Base infiltration game mode is entirely optional and Mother Base can be enjoyed offline if the player wishes.

Journalists covering gameplay of The Phantom Pain have confirmed that, besides the Mother Base in the main game, the online version has a similar mechanic called the Forward Operating Base. A promotional pamphlet for The Phantom Pain implies that the Forward Operating Base is the only part of a player's Mother Base accessible during online mode. The Official PlayStation Magazine and Official Xbox Magazine confirmed that the Mother Base was near Africa, more specifically around the Seychelles archipelago. It also revealed that certain actions by the player can cause lowered morale among the troops, particularly if Quiet is among the members of the base or if the player is gone from the base for far too long. Both sources also implied that similar to Dark Souls, the invasions on Mother Base can be switched off by the players.

The site JunkerHQ implied on their Twitter account that Konami was working on a gameplay demo relating to Mother Base development.

Layout
The layout of the Diamond Dogs' Mother Base is determined and customized by the player, and as such there is no standard canonical appearance. However, the following components are true of all Mother Base builds shown thus far: It is unknown if the interior of Mother Base is accessible during multiplayer game modes. However, two interior locations have been confirmed so far: There has been no mention yet as to the new Mother Base's capacity to hold Metal Gears. However, Mother Base can hold weaponry with nuclear strike capability as the player can obtain nuclear weapons throughout the game. In addition, the E3 2015 trailer briefly featured a Metal Gear at the base, as well as what was presumably the Metal Gear ST-84.
 * Unlike the previous Mother Base, it was built from irregular-octagon shaped struts.
 * At least one (two simultaneous confirmed possible) Command Strut (of which two varieties are known), plus a variety of Regular Struts connected via bridges, some of which can stretch for great distances with bridge columns or smaller struts along them. Struts under construction are not always connected, however.
 * At least two colors of the paint scheme can be customized, as well as a custom emblem for multiplayer distinction, featuring an image and two words. (animal, adjective, same animal).
 * Cranes (which in the Ground Zeroes app were used to salvage resources from the seabed). Multiple cranes can be seen attached to a single strut.
 * Large storage tanks, silos and other buildings on top of Regular Struts. These assets appear to be mix-and-match in placement, with tanks and silos taking up 1/4 of a strut, and an unknown grey building taking up 1/2 of a strut.
 * Space for at least five helicopters (including Pequod).
 * One helipad per Regular Strut, two per Command Strut.
 * One unknown custom colored building on the edge of each Regular Strut.
 * Security measures such as cameras (static, rotating, gun), laser barriers, spotlights and combat drones.
 * Jeeps and APCs can be recovered back to Mother Base via Fulton Recovery and are stored on the base's struts. The vehicles can also be driven by the player and NPCs.
 * Some artillery weapons can also be equipped on the base after being retrieved from a mission (via Fulton Recovery), which can be used for defense.
 * Shipping containers, obtained via Fulton (which can be stolen by other players during the Mother Base multiplayer infiltration mode).
 * Some of the struts also contain enclosed lifeboats.
 * Shooting Ranges located on the upper and lower decks of Struts, where the player and NPCs can train.
 * Recovered non-player characters (such as extracted soldiers and even wildlife) populate Mother Base.
 * Critical non-player characters such as Ocelot can be found in Mother Base (Ocelot in the Command Strut).
 * Hangars - Where many scenes from trailers have been set, such as the torturing of Huey Emmerich and Quiet, as well as a scene in which shows Big Boss mounting a combat mech.
 * Main Area - An open space where several Diamond Dogs soldiers are seen fighting and rioting.
 * Possible photos of the Animal Conservation Platform can be seen in the onboard Snake's helicopter in the beginning of the E3 2015 gameplay video demo