Crafting in Build 42

• One crafting window. Search by what you have or what you want to make. Filters narrow it down, and a Favourites tab keeps your regulars close.
• Choose your ingredients. When a recipe accepts several inputs, you pick which one to use, so you are not forced to burn your best materials.
• Craft in bulk. Make several of an item in one go. When everything is in place, right-click shortcuts skip the window entirely.
• Workstations matter. Simple things are made from your hands and bag. Anything serious needs a surface or a device: a workbench, a furnace, a kiln, an anvil.

Since 42.21 you can also search inside workstation menus, and the game tells you when a search finds no recipes instead of showing an empty list.

Occupations give you a head start: a Blacksmith starts with Blacksmithing, a Welder with Welding recipes (fixed in 42.21), a Carpenter with real Carpentry since the 42.16 rework.

• Found in the world: kitchen counters, workbenches in garages, forges in some rural buildings. Right-click one to see what it can make.
• Built by you: from a simple crafting table up to stone furnaces and kilns, as your Carpentry and Masonry grow.
• Fuel and heat: furnaces, kilns and campfires need fuel and time. Charcoal, made in a charcoal pit from logs, burns hotter than wood.
• Drying racks and shelters are workstations too: they turn hides, meat and crops into materials and food that keep.

Build workstations near your storage. Crafting pulls from nearby containers, so a tidy workshop saves hours of carrying.

1. Day one: sharpen a stick into a spear, carve a wooden mallet, knap a stone knife and axe. All of it from branches, rocks and flint off the ground.
2. First week: a hammer, saw and nails unlock carpentry. Planks become walls, crates, barricades and rain collectors.
3. First month: clay from riverbanks and a kiln give you pottery and clay walls. A charcoal pit feeds a stone furnace.
4. Long term: scrap metal and iron into a furnace, then an anvil and blacksmithing: forged tools, weapon heads, armour. Welding joins and repairs metal.

You do not have to climb the whole ladder. Many survivors stop at carpentry and loot the rest. The deep tree is there for when the loot runs out.

• Some melee weapons now track the handle and head separately, plus the sharpness of any blade.
• Heads can fly off a worn weapon. A broken spear can still be used as a weaker weapon.
• Sharpen blades on a whetstone, and replace a cracked handle instead of binning the whole tool.
• Maintenance skill slows wear. The Tinkerer trait, new in 42.16, gives +1 Maintenance.

• Skill books multiply the XP you earn. Read the matching volume before you grind.
• Magazines teach specific recipes, from generators to advanced cures and crafts.
• VHS tapes teach skills on a TV. Tapes for Blacksmithing, Welding, Knapping, Pottery, Tailoring, Electrical, First Aid, Aiming and Animal Care arrived in 42.17.
• Occupations and traits start you with recipes you would otherwise have to find.

Sit down to read: it is faster since 42.15.

Beyond the early tools, Build 42 crafting splits into disciplines. Each has its own stations, materials and skills.

Generators are outdoor-only. Running one in a sealed room fills it with lethal exhaust.

• Multi-step chains. Station chains cover carpentry, masonry, metal and blacksmithing. Planks become nailed furniture, and scrap metal becomes station work.
• Mechanics recipes come in Basic, Intermediate and Advanced tiers.
• Welding is not blacksmithing. Welding covers torches, barricades and scrap work. Blacksmithing is separate forge work. The live skill is called Welding, not "Metalworking".
• Research and recipe flow. The craft window lets you look up what you can make and what you are missing.
• Log one chain early. Craft one simple chain from start to finish on day one to learn the interface.

• A rain collector crate needs Woodwork 3. A barrel needs Woodwork 5.
• Put collectors where gutters and rooftops can feed them, and keep containers for the dry months.
• Boil or purify any water that is not from a sealed bottle or tap.

Do not confuse Woodwork with the older name "Carpentry" in guides. Check the skill level in your own Skills panel.

Build floors and low furniture until Woodwork 2, then switch to poles. On the four stock presets, dismantling furniture gives no Woodwork XP because the dismantle cutoff is 0.

• Skill books raise your XP multiplier for a level band. They do not teach recipes. Carpentry, Cooking and Maintenance each have books I to V.
• Recipe magazines unlock specific recipes. Smithing Mag 1 includes Make Crude Whetstone, tongs, nails and several forge tools.
• Make Crude Whetstone needs Maintenance 1, learns itself at Maintenance 2, costs 2 stone and gives 5 Maintenance XP.
• Pick Thread needs Tailoring 1, rips or denim strips, and a needle, tweezers or awl. Tearing clothing does not give thread.
• Electrical levels mainly from dismantling electronics. Generator knowledge comes from the Electronics magazine or certain occupations.

• Stations: forge, furnace, kiln and a charcoal supply.
• Charcoal is made in a pit or a barrel. Keep it next to the forge so you do not run short.
• Process: smelt scrap metal into stock, then forge tools and weapon parts. Read the smithing magazines first.
• Propane welding needs a torch, fuel and a welder's mask. Metal sheets and pipes come from dismantling wrecks.
• Masonry uses chisels, trowels, clay, brick and cement-style materials. Starter tools can be forged or knapped.
• Glassmaking needs sand, clay tooling, furnace heat and moulds.
• Pottery needs a bench or wheel (which needs Carpentry), clay from near wet ground, and a kiln for firing. Crucibles and storage vessels unlock other industries.

Values change between patches. Check the live craft menu for exact costs before you commit materials.

Protection per patch

• A spool of thread does about 20 patches. Needles and scissors wear out, so keep spares.
• Pick Thread (Tailoring 1) turns a sheet or denim strip into thread with a needle, tweezers or awl.
• Adding a patch gives 2 XP. Removing one gives 2 XP if you get the fabric back (10% plus 5% per level, up to 60%).
• A hole removes all protection from that body part until fixed.
• Helmets and hard armour cannot be patched.
• From 0 to 10 takes 21,850 base XP. Read Tailoring books first.

Magazines

Electrician starts at Electrical 5 with generator knowledge. Engineer starts at 1 with generators and explosives.

1. Crafting with your best material when a cheaper one works. Check the ingredient choice first.
2. Building workstations far from your storage, then hauling loot back and forth.
3. Practising a skill before reading its skill book.
4. Crafting noisily with zombies nearby. Hammering and sawing carry.
5. Leaving tools at home. Carry a hammer, saw and knife on every trip.
6. Replacing a worn weapon when you could repair or sharpen it.

• Farming & food: feed yourself once the cans run out
• Vehicles & mechanics: use your crafting and mechanics skills on a car
• Item database: look up tools, weapons and materials
• First week guide: the early routine that supports all of this