Construction and Repair

Construction is the gameplay mechanic centering on the construction and upgrading for the game's 5 stations which serve the needs of the survivors. Each of those 5 stations has 5 possible upgrades, making for up to 30 construction projects total. Construction is typically more efficient when done in pairs, as this preserves action points.

A couple fraternize actions at the campfire before starting more construction can be extremely helpful. Read more on morale and relationships to understand the importance of keeping morale strong through building.

All structures have a quality rating, which serves as a general indicator of the structure's health. It is important to remember that structures can be damaged by weather and the random in game events. Low quality structures may be destroyed altogether, returning only a small amount of materials upon doing so (of course also being a waste of precious action points). The Palisade and Palisade upgrade can help minimize weather damage.

Structure health can be boosted during construction and upgrading if a tool is present, which makes building a knife at the workshop an attractive early game pick. When choosing to build an upgrade to a structure, the player may choose between the makeshift or solid construction options, with the latter being more expensive, but having a more positive influence on the structure quality. Constructing a makeshift upgrade with no tool may actually lower structure quality.

The material cost of several solid projects is typically higher than the cost associated with performing a single repair to raise structure quality, but with the repair of course consuming an action point.

It is always worth checking the prices of both makeshift and solid stuctures. While most prices vary quite a bit, some upgrades like the pot for the campfire, or marked paths for the palisade have very affordable solid building costs. There is no reason not to take the easy structure boost, as well as other boosts from building solid in these cases.

Construction and upgrade costs often have multiple options for payment from a single category. For instance sticks, needles, branches, planks, wood logs, and split wood all fall under the wood category, however, a stick or needle would contribute only 1 value of wood per items used, whereas a wood log would have a wood count value of 4 per item used. However you could not pick multiple materials from the same category in most circumstances, for instance a value of 5 wood could not be paid for with a log and a stick, the player would have to select either 2 logs (inefficient) or 5 sticks.

For a full list of statistics on building materials, see the relevant page.

As a special note about wood, wood serves a dual function as possible fuel for the fire, with split wood being the most efficient fuel out of the woods, being worth 4 points of fuel. However, there are several materials in the game such as pinecones and that ONLY serve as fuel, making them better first pick to use as fuel so you can maintain your wood supply for construction.

In some cases, construction can call for a very specific material, for instance the first level of a shelter always call for 10 needles, sticks can not be used. There are also several recipes that call specifically for sticks.

Other categories of material include sharp, structure, and material (the builing material called material, cloth, rags and hides specifically, apologies if that's confusing). Some building materials have multiple uses. For instance, scrap metal could provide 2 points of structure or 3 of sharp.

Construction is also an important part of revealing character traits, which may often revealed based on the type of building being constructed or upgraded (and is another incentive to build in pairs).

Several character traits can also have effects on construction. For instance, the sparing character trait has a chance to gain some building materials from construction. (using 2 characters with the sparing trait does no appear offer a chance at a double refund, the effect on the chances of the refund are unknown).

For more about individual stations, upgrades, and the advantages they generate for the camp see:

Workshop, Campfire, Quarantine Point, Palisade, Shelter