Workstations

Workstations are the built benches, racks, forges, kilns and machines that unlock advanced recipes. The game's guide explains that building workstations lets a survivor create more advanced recipes, from furnaces to churn buckets and drying racks. Many of them turn raw farm, animal and stone products into finished goods. A settled base grows around its workstations. The Blacksmith is the best occupation for workstations. It starts with the most Blacksmithing skill.

All Crafting Categories

Mechanics

A workstation recipe only appears when the character stands at the right station. The crafting menu then shows the recipes that station offers. Some recipes accept a range of stations. A recipe marked "Primitive or better Forge" works at any forge, while "Advanced Forge" needs the top model.

Each station is built from the Build Menu with its own materials and tools. Some need a skill level, and many must be learned first. The Blacksmith occupation knows the forges and furnaces from the start. Magazines teach them to everyone else.

Smithing

Forges shape metal. The Primitive Forge is "For very simple metal forging." It takes concrete, 10 Stone and a Stone Anvil. The Simple Forge allows "more advanced metal forging, including metal armour." It takes 30 Stone Block, concrete, a Blacksmith Anvil, a Wooden Bucket and a Log. The Advanced Forge handles "the most advanced metal forging, including metal armours, blades, and tool heads." It adds a Large Bellows to the Simple Forge recipe.

Furnaces melt metal. The Primitive Furnace is "For smelting iron items." It takes 6 Clay, 4 Stone and concrete. The Smelting Furnace smelts iron and turns sand into glass. It takes 40 Stone Block and concrete. The Blast Furnace adds a Large Bellows and is the station for steel.

Charcoal feeds them all. The Charcoal Burner is "A metal barrel used to burn Logs into Wood Charcoal." It takes a Metal Drum, an Orange Barrel or a green barrel with 4 Stone. The Charcoal Burning Pit is a dug pile that does the same job. The Dome Kiln takes 40 Stone Block and makes Coke from charcoal. The Grindstone is "For sharpening metal blades." The Metal Bandsaw cuts metal blocks and tires.

Pottery and Stone

Kilns fire clay. The Small Kiln and the Large Kiln each take 20 Clay and a masonry trowel. They fire bricks, pots, jars, tiles and molds, and turn Limestone into Quicklime. The Pottery Wheel is "Used to turn Clay into objects like bowls and pots." The Pottery Bench is "A covered table for sculpting long clay objects, and general crafting." The Hand Operated Press is "Used to press Clay items, and turn Seed Paste into Oil."

Grain needs grinding. The Stone Quern is "For grinding grain into flour." It takes a Stone Wheel, two Small Stone Wheel and a Medium Handle at Masonry 1. The Stone Mill grinds "grains and seeds into flour or paste." The Cooking Pit is "A classier way to cook food and stay warm." It takes 10 Stone Block at Masonry 2. A Simple Cooking Pit needs only Masonry 1.

Fibre and Cloth

Flax and wool become cloth through a chain of stations. The Large Plant Drying Rack dries "larger plants like Wheat, Barley, and Rye." The Small Plant Drying Rack dries "smaller plants like herbs, peppers, and flowers." Simple versions of both racks use only sticks with twine, rags or rope.

The Ripple Comb is "Used for rippling Dried Flax." The Scutching Board is "Used for scutching Rippled Flax." The Heckle Comb is "Used for heckling Scutched Flax." Each is built from Plank and Nails with Carpentry 2 or 3. The Spinning Wheel spins "Thread or Yarn from Flax or Wool" and needs Carpentry 5. The Simple Loom is "For weaving cloth from Thread or Hemp" and needs Carpentry 3.

Animal and Leather

The Butcher Hook lets a survivor "butcher animals more easily, while getting leather and more meat from them." It needs Carpentry 3 and a Large Hook. The Softening Beam removes flesh and fur from a hide. The Tannin Barrel tans defleshed leather. Leather Drying Racks come in small, medium and large sizes for rabbits and calves, for pigs and sheep, and for adult cows.

Farm animals have their own builds. The Churn Bucket is "Used to turn Milk into Butter." Wood feeding troughs need Carpentry 1 or 3, and the Metal Feeding Trough needs Welding 3. Chicken hutches give hens and turkeys a safe place to sleep.

Water and Compost

Rain collectors are "An open container which can collect rain if outdoors." The Rain Collector Crate and the Rain Collector Barrel each use Plank, Nails and garbage bags or a Tarp. The crate needs Carpentry 3 and the barrel Carpentry 5.

The Composter "Turns unwanted and rotten food into compost over time." Its tooltip adds that compost is collected with a Sack and used to fertilise crops. The Composter (Shoddy) needs Carpentry 3, and the Composter (Craftsman) needs Carpentry 6.

Notes

• A Metal Drum can also "collect water and make charcoal."
• Appliances such as the Coffee Machine and the Toaster also work as stations for a few food recipes.
• The Grindstone takes 4 Plank, 4 Nails and a Stone Wheel.

All Workstations