Building

Building covers everything a survivor puts up in the world from the Building menu. That means walls, doors, windows, floors, stairs, fences and gates, furniture, storage, shelters, rain collectors, farm builds, barricades and wall coverings. These builds turn an empty house or a patch of forest into a safehouse. They also keep a base supplied with water, food, light and rest. Most builds train Carpentry, Masonry or Welding, and a higher skill makes the finished piece tougher.

All Crafting Categories

The Building Menu

The Building menu opens from the building icon on the left side of the screen. Categories down the left side filter the list. The game sorts builds into Carpentry, Furniture, Masonry, Welding, Outdoors, Farming, Barricades, Wall Coverings, Pottery and Miscellaneous. The list can also be sorted by name, by required items or by output.

A build needs three things. The materials must be in the inventory or in containers close by. The recipe must be known, if it has to be learned. The builder must have the skill level the recipe asks for. Some builds also need enough light to work by.

After choosing a build, the game asks for a spot. The builder then walks over and does the work. Each build takes its own amount of time. A Wood Floor or a wall takes longer than a chair or a table.

Skills and Leveling

Carpentry is the main building skill. The in-game tooltip says it allows the building of wooden constructions. It covers wooden walls, frames, floors, doors, stairs, fences and most furniture. Sawing logs into planks and barricading windows train it at the very start. Laying a Wood Floor is a cheap way to keep it rising, since each tile costs one Plank and one Nails.

Masonry covers brick and stone. Its tooltip says it allows the creation of better and stronger brick and stone constructions. The Brick Wall, the Stone Wall, their door and window frames, the Tile Floor and the stone cooking pits all use it.

Welding covers metal. Its tooltip says it allows the building of crude metal barricades and objects. Metal walls, frames, fences, gates, stairs, counters, crates and lockers all use it. Every welded build draws on a Welding Torch and Welding Rods.

Occupations give a head start. The Carpenter starts with Carpentry 4. The Welder starts with Welding 4. The Construction Worker starts with Masonry 2 and Carpentry 1. The Engineer and the DIY Expert each add a level of Carpentry and Masonry. The Handy trait adds a level of Carpentry and Masonry and makes constructions faster and stronger. The Crafty and Fast Learner traits raise the XP gained.

Each build gives XP when it is finished. Higher-level builds give more. The Good tier of the Wood Chair, for example, gives 60 Carpentry XP for two planks and two nails.

Quality Tiers and Health

Many builds come in quality tiers. The usual names are Shoddy, Poor and Good. Some builds use only two of them. Higher tiers ask for a higher skill level and give more XP. They often start with more health as well.

The Wooden Wall shows how this works. The Shoddy wall needs Carpentry 2 and starts at 450 health. The Poor wall needs Carpentry 4 and starts at 550. The Good wall needs Carpentry 6 and starts at 650. All three cost the same two Plank and four Nails.

Skill adds health on top of the base. Every point of the builder's skill adds a set amount. That amount differs by build. A Wooden Wall gains 20 per point. A Log Wall and the Wooden Stairs gain 50 per point. A Brick Wall gains 70 per point. A Wood Pole stays at 50 health at any level.

Health matters because zombies attack built walls, the same as doors and windows. A wall built by a skilled hand holds much longer against a horde. Build the outer walls of a base after the skill has risen.

The top tier also unlocks finishing work. Plaster and wallpaper ask for Craftsman level constructions.

Materials and Tools

Planks and Nails are the most common building materials. Planks can be scavenged, sawn from logs or salvaged when wooden furniture is taken apart. Nails turn up in the same places as hammers and other tools. Logs come from chopping down trees with an axe.

Primitive builds use what the forest gives. The Log Wall, the Log Stairs, the Log Table and the shelters use logs, branches, sticks and stones. Rag, Twine, Rope or Sheet Rope all work as binding.

Masonry builds use Brick, Stone Block, Stone and concrete. Welded builds use Steel Rod, Steel Sheet, Steel Sheet - Small, Iron Pipe, Scrap Metal and Wire.

Tools count as ingredients but come back after the build. A hammer drives nails for most wooden builds. A saw or an axe cuts logs for some primitive ones. A mason's trowel lays bricks and stone. A paintbrush applies paint and wallpaper. Tools may lose durability or sharpness along the way.

Wooden furniture can be taken apart with a hammer and a saw, or a hammer and a screwdriver. A low Carpentry level gives a higher chance of Unusable Wood instead of planks.

Learning Build Recipes

Most builds are known from the start. Carpentry, Masonry and the primitive camp builds need only the skill level and the materials.

Many welded builds must be learned first. The Welder Monthly magazines teach them. The April issue covers fences and gates, such as the Big Metal Pole Fence and the Small Metal Wire Fence. The May issue covers metal furniture, such as the Metal Counter, the Metal Crate and the Small Metal Locker. The June issue covers frames, walls, door frames and stairs, such as the Metal Wall Frame and the Metal Stairs.

The Welder occupation knows most of these recipes from the start. A few welded builds are known to everyone, such as the Metal Bar Barricade and the Metal Sheet Barricade.

Kinds of Builds

Defence builds keep zombies out. Barricades cover doors and windows with planks, bars or steel. Walls go up on a Wood Wall Frame or a Metal Wall Frame. Fences slow zombies down or block them. Gates and doors give a way through.

Structure builds shape new buildings. Floors cover the ground or form an upper storey. Stairs reach higher floors. A Wood Pole holds up a floor or roof above open ground.

Furniture and storage fill a base. Tables give a crafting surface. Beds give a place to sleep. Crates, counters, lockers and bookcases hold gear and books.

Camp and farm builds keep a base running. Rain collectors such as the Rain Collector Barrel and the Amphora gather water. Shelters such as the Tarp Shelter give a place to sleep in the wild. The Chicken Coop, the Butcher Hook and the Composter support farming. Cooking pits and the Campfire give heat for cooking.

Notes

• Carpentry, Masonry and Welding are the three main building skills.
• Higher tiers ask for more skill and give more XP.
• Each skill point adds health to most builds.
• Welder Monthly magazines teach most welded builds.
• Tools come back after every build.

All Building