Do prime numbers still work in base that’s isn’t 10?

Question

I’ve started reading a lot of sci-fi and the humans always attempt to communicate with aliens using prime numbers, but if they use a counting system that _isn’t_ base10, would the prime numbers still make sense?

In: 2249

Answer 1

Physical objects can be broken up into groups of objects. A bundle of 17 sticks can’t be broken up into any number of sub groups evenly. It doesn’t matter what base you write out 17, it’s still prime. (Same for all primes)