This article will give you suggestions on which things should you craft on your first few days in the game. We’ll help you make better crafting decisions by listing those things based on their priorities.
1. Bed
Essentially, a bed only has 1 job: to let the characters sleep. But this simple piece of furniture is so important to maintain your characters’ well-being.
To build this, you only need a simple workshop, 6 units of components, and 8 pieces of wood. It takes 1 game hour to finish.
When your characters don’t sleep in bed for only one night, they will get tired. A tired character won’t make a good guard, combatant, or scavenger.
They can become slower and less motivated. Since your very first days are crucial, you want to make sure that they’re always in good shape.
There’s also a chance that a character is wounded or sick on the first day. Assuming that your supply of bandages or medications is still limited, letting them sleep will serve as first aid to aid in their recovery.
A healthy character only needs to sleep on a bed for five hours a day. A sick or wounded character, however, should sleep continuously for at least 12 hours or until they get better.
2. Metal workshop
The next thing you should build immediately is a metal workshop. This is a station where you build tools and weapons.
A metal workshop requires 10 units of components and 5 pieces of wood to build. It doesn’t take a lot of materials compared to other workshops.
Without a metal workshop, you can’t craft lock picks, shovels, crowbars, or other tools that will help you gather good stuff. You also won’t be able to craft weapons like knives and firearms to protect yourself.
Although a basic metal workshop is already useful, it’s highly recommended to upgrade this workshop as soon as possible to get more crafting options.
3. Crowbar
After you build a metal workshop, the best thing you can craft with it is a crowbar. If you still have unlocked doors in your shelter, you will need this.
A crowbar can open locked doors multiple times before it breaks, unlike lockpicks that are disposable. Usually, locked doors contain valuables that you don’t wanna miss. That stuff might be crucial for your first few days, so craft a crowbar as soon as possible.
Please note that a crowbar doesn’t work silently. If you want to open unlocked doors in a hostile area, it’s better to carry lockpicks unless you want to attract enemies.
A crowbar also works as a melee weapon in an emergency situation. But don’t rely on it too much because it doesn’t do much damage.
4. Knife
Having a weapon is a must at any time. If you don’t have one, there’s a high chance you’ll get stolen or wounded from the raids, especially with weaker characters.
Firearms work best, but at the beginning of the game, I bet you still don’t have enough resources to craft them. In this situation, you should craft a knife.
Although not as effective as a firearm, a knife would at least reduce these risks. But later, if you already upgrade your workshop, I highly recommend you get a firearm.
Other than components and wood, you also need some weapon parts to craft this. You might need to scavenge first before you craft a knife. Usually, weapon parts can’t be found in your shelter.
5. Crude stove
Ever tried feeding your characters raw food and they just ended up still hungry? Such a waste of food, right?
That’s why you should always cook raw food. You can only do that using a stove, so go build one as soon as possible.
A crude stove is very simple to build and only needs 10 units of components and 5 pieces of wood. To cook meals with this, you need raw food (optionally with vegetables), some water, and some fuel.
The best part about having cooked food is that it can’t be stolen. It will never go bad as well. How awesome is that?
6. Board-Ups
Raids just suck. You could gather supplies that will last 10 days, but they would just end up being gone in one night.
If you don't want that to happen, you should rush to build board-ups. It will help repel bandits and reduce the risk of raids. This can be done after you upgrade your simple workshop to an improved workshop.
You can build up to three board-ups. The moment you’ve built all of them, the chance of successfully defending your shelter from the raids will significantly rise.
Rather than hoarding valuables during scavenging, just focus on gathering materials to protect yourself first. If you’re well-guarded, you don’t have to worry about losing your stuff again.
A board-up requires 10 pieces of wood. That means 3 board-ups will cost you 30 wood pieces. Tip: whenever Franko visits your shelter, buy all the woods he has. That way, you’ll save your scavenging inventory for other important materials.
7. Rainwater collector
Cooking takes a lot of clean water, and they’re not easy to gather. They will also get scarce during winter. Therefore, it is a good idea to build a rainwater collector.
To get water from this appliance, you just need to make a water filter using your main workshop. After that, put the water filter in the collector. Wait for five hours, and you’ll automatically get your water. One round of filtering can get you 4 units of water.
8. Radio
Who would know this small item would be such a luxury in war? A radio will tell you everything that happens in the city, from a certain commodity's scarcity to weather forecasts, from the prediction of winter to the prediction of the ceasefire.
Having these early in the game would help you make better decisions. You’d be sure of which commodities to trade and when to start preparing for winter. This way you would make the best out of your supplies.
You don’t need a lot of materials to build this, just 7 units of components and 2 units of electric parts. To operate a radio, just click the symbol and rotate the button.
9. Heater
Although we can predict when winter will happen, there’s nothing wrong with preparing in advance. It’s best to build a heater early before it’s when you already have enough materials. Sooner or later, you’ll definitely need it.
A heater can burn 1 to 6 fuels at the same time to rise your shelter’s temperature. If one heater can’t warm up your shelter enough, you can build another one or upgrade it.
10. Trap for small animals
Lastly, you don’t want your food to run out. Or else, your characters will starve, which will lead to more bad things. They can be more prone to illness and sadness.
To prevent that, I suggest you build this early, especially if you have parts to spare because this requires many of them. One round of this trap can get you 2 pieces of meat in an indefinite time. You just need one fertilizer to set it up.
Oh, don’t ever make fertilizer out of your supplies, especially raw food! It’s like turning gold into copper. Just get them for free from scavenging.
You may also be interested in:
- This War of Mine Guide For Beginners [25 Useful Tips Every Beginner Should Know]
- [Top 5] This War of Mine Best Starting Groups That Are Excellent
- This War of Mine Best Weapons Ranked (All Weapons And How To Get Them)
