Junk

Junk is the clutter of everyday life in Knox Country: cigarettes, playing cards, receipts, cans, broken glass, animal dung and old paperwork. Most of it looks worthless, and much of it is light enough to ignore. A good part of it still has a use. Tobacco calms a smoker, scrap becomes weapons, paper feeds a fire, and dung feeds the garden.

All Materials Categories

Best Junk

The top pick for each role, by the game's own figures.

For	Name	Image	Stats	Spawn ID
Lightest	Turkey Dung		0.01 weight	/additem Base.Dung_Turkey
Heaviest	Cigarette Carton		2 weight	/additem Base.CigaretteCarton

Tobacco and Smoking

Tobacco is the most useful junk for a smoker. The Smoker trait is a negative trait that gives back 3 points at character creation. Its description reads "Unhappiness rises when tobacco is not smoked. Stress and unhappiness decrease after smoking tobacco."

Each smoke lowers stress by a set amount. A Cigarette lowers stress by 5. A Rolled Cigarette lowers it by 4. A Cigarillo lowers it by 8, and Chewing Tobacco by 10. A Smoking Pipe with Tobacco or a Can Pipe with Tobacco lowers stress by 15. A Cigar does the most overall. It lowers stress by 10, unhappiness by 40 and boredom by 20.

Smokers can make their own supply. Roll Cigarette uses any tobacco and Rolling Papers. Make Can Pipe turns an empty Pop Can, a cola or a beer can into a Can Pipe with a knife, needle or awl. Fill Pipe packs a Can Pipe or a Smoking Pipe with tobacco. Tobacco can also be grown. Dry Tobacco dries the harvest on a Large Plant Drying Rack, and Shred Tobacco turns the dried leaf into a Pouch of Tobacco.

Cigarettes come in a Cigarette Pack, and packs come in a Cigarette Carton. Take Cigarette pulls one out of a pack. Pack 20 Cigarettes and Pack 10 Cigarette Packs in Carton put them back. Tobacco also has a farming use. The Make Flies Cure recipes turn cigarettes, loose tobacco or chewing tobacco into a cure for pest flies on crops.

Scrap and Salvage

Some junk feeds the crafting menu. Scrap Wood weighs 1.0 and carves into Small Handle pieces. Sheet Metal Scrap weighs 1.0 and goes into a Shiv. Wood Splinters weigh 0.2 and burn as kindling.

A Tin Can weighs 0.2. Tin cans reinforce weapons with Can-Reinforce Short Weapon and Can-Reinforce Long Weapon. They also form the body of the improvised flashlight and lantern. Broken Glass weighs 0.5. Make Glass Shiv binds a shard into a crude blade. Melt Glass melts 6 Broken Glass in a Small Ceramic Crucible at a Simple Furnace or better. The molten glass then feeds the Glassmaking recipes.

A Toothbrush weighs 0.2. Make Toothbrush Shiv sharpens it into a prison weapon with a lighter and some tape or binding. A Camera and a Disposable Camera count as small electronics. Dismantle Simple Electronic Item breaks them down into Scrap Electronics with a Screwdriver.

Paper and Money

Paper junk burns well. Money, a Money Bundle, Paper Napkins, Playing Cards and Toilet Paper all count as fire fuel or tinder. Unbundle Money splits a Money Bundle into 100 Money.

Paper also has a craft use. Make Firecracker wraps Gunpowder in a Brochure, a Flier, Paperwork, a Handwritten Letter or Mail, with Glue and Twine. The recipe must be learned first. A Flier or a Brochure can also be read to reveal a place on the world map.

An ID Card - Blank has the tooltip "Can only be written on once." Make Blank ID makes one from two ID cards, a pen, Correction Fluid, Adhesive Tape and a blade. Other papers include the ID Card, Passport, Credit Card, Business Card, Receipt, Parking Ticket, Speeding Ticket, Scratch Ticket and Stock Certificate. Every character starts with an ID card in their own name.

Dung and Droppings

Animals leave droppings behind. Cow Dung weighs 1.0, Pig Dung weighs 0.7, Sheep Dung weighs 0.5 and Deer Droppings weigh 0.5. Rabbit Droppings, Raccoon Dung and the droppings of chickens, turkeys, mice and rats weigh even less. The Pick Up Dung option gathers it from the ground.

Every kind of dung is compostable. A composter turns rotten food into compost over time, and dung goes in with it. Compost then feeds the crops. A ranch with cows, pigs or sheep produces a steady supply of dung for the farm.

Games and Personal Items

Pastimes fill this category too. The Backgammon Board, the Checkerboard, Chess Pieces, Dice, Game Pieces, Playing Cards and Poker Chips all sit here. Carve Dice makes a Dice - Bone or a Dice - Wood from Bone Pieces or a Small Handle.

Personal items include the Comb, Cologne, Perfume, Toothpaste and the Razor. Toilet Paper has a survival use. Its tooltip reads "Equip to mute sneezes and coughs." A character with a cold can hold it in hand to stay quiet near zombies.

Locations

Junk is everywhere, but some of it gathers in set places. Tobacco stores hold cigarette cartons, cigars and Rolling Papers. Cigars also sit in smoking rooms and on police captain desks. Money Bundles pile up in bank deposit boxes, drug labs, police evidence rooms and plank stashes under floors.

Toilet Paper fills bathroom counters, motel bathrooms and toilet paper crates. Empty tin cans fill trash bins and dumpsters, and survivor safehouses leave stacks of them behind. Scrap Wood turns up in junk bins and factory tool rooms. The Checkerboard sits on bookstore hobby shelves and in rec rooms.

Notes

• A Pine Cone and a Plastic Tray also burn as fuel.
• Crayons write on maps in several colours.
• The Dog Tag weighs 0.1. A character who starts with one finds their own name on it.

All Junk