Structures and Defense Guide

Building

Building Mechanics

The wild does not forgive improvisation for long. Building is how you take control back. Your first shelter is not just a checkbox, it is a commitment of tools, wood, cordage, time, and energy that buys safer recovery when weather and fatigue start to stack against you. As your run stabilizes, construction becomes true basecraft: anchored walls, supported roofing, and reinforced components layered into a home that can absorb pressure instead of collapsing under it.

Construction Systems

There are three distinct building systems:

1. Survival Shelter Layer: Your first stabilization step. Shelter crafting secures safer recovery windows before deeper expansion
2. Modular House Construction: Grid-based structural assembly using supports and dependencies (posts/frames, anchored walls, rafters, roof, floor)
3. Base Fortification Layer: Separate defensive structures that protect stored progress and reduce raid pressure once your base is established

Simple Structures

• Shelter: First true survival anchor on a tile. Requires Saw or Hatchet, 5 Wood, and 2 Cordage/Paracord uses
• Improvised Fortification: Add a defensive layer with 3 Wood + 1 Stone + 1 Cordage/Paracord

This increases local shelter fortification in the runtime system, making your safe point harder to break.

Camp Defense

Defensive structures are built as dedicated fortifications around an established base position.

• Build condition: You can only place these at a fully completed house (100%)
• Defensive Wall: 15 Planks, 8 Stakes, 6 Fasteners, 4 Scrap Metal

Requires Carpentry 40, adds +15 defense, costs 12h / high fatigue

• Defensive Barricade: 8 Planks, 6 Wood, 4 Cordage, 4 Stakes

Requires Carpentry 30, adds +8 defense, costs 8h / moderate-high fatigue

Modular Building Parts (Housing)

Used to construct Cabins for warmth, storage, and safety. Building a complete house requires framing and valid support (e.g. Roof needs Rafters, Walls need anchors).

Housing Bonuses

Completed houses provide:

• Warmth Control: 55% warmth-drain reduction while inside, plus structure-insulation scaling (insulation x 2.5 in full house state)
• Morale Stability: +1.0 morale/hour while inside a complete house
• Safety Envelope: 95% wolf-encounter protection when indoor protection logic is active
• Passive HP Recovery: +1.0 HP/hour in complete house state (indoor)
• Faster Recovery Cycle: 1.4x fatigue recovery speed during rest/sleep cycles in complete house state
• Partial House Scaling: At >=40% construction progress, partial bonuses activate and scale with completion (full values unlock at complete-house threshold)

Maintenance

• Greenhouse Upkeep: Greenhouses track condition and degrade over time; low condition weakens production reliability and should be repaired before long farming cycles
• Greenhouse Repair Materials: Greenhouse repair consumes one valid structural material source (e.g. Fasteners / Tar / Glass Shard / Plank) to restore condition in chunks
• Fortification Condition: Built defensive structures (wall/barricade layer) track condition, so base protection is maintenance-dependent rather than permanent
• Defense Readiness Rule: Before committing to high-risk travel or contracts, check structure condition and repair weak segments first; damaged defenses reduce your real safety margin at home

Defensive Structures

Defensive Structures Guide

When your camp starts to look prosperous, it also starts to look vulnerable. Defensive structures are the moment your base stops being a stash point and becomes a fortress. They unlock only after a fully completed house (100%), then let you invest hard-earned materials into lasting protection through Wall and Barricade layers with tracked condition.

Build them before disaster, not after it. Strong defenses steady your raid risk, protect production momentum, and keep a single brutal night from wiping out weeks of progress.

Why Defense Is a Progression System

A rich camp without defenses is not a victory state. It is an invitation. In practice, defense is a progression system because raids target exposed value and punish players who scale wealth faster than protection.

Strong defenses let you:

• turn hard-earned materials into real protection (Wall +15, Barricade +8)
• absorb raid pressure before it reaches your stores
• reduce stash losses and chain-failures across your base economy
• keep long production loops alive while you are away on expeditions

This is explicitly gated progression: defense unlocks only after a fully completed house, demands higher carpentry thresholds, and stays effective only if structure condition is maintained. Ignore that layer, and one brutal cycle can wipe out weeks of smart play.

Build Order Priority

Treat this as your survival construction doctrine:

1. establish a dependable shelter core first (craft shelter: Saw/Hatchet + 5 wood + 2 cordage/paracord)
2. lock in recovery continuity so your run can breathe (food, medicine, warmth, safe rest)
3. push modular construction to a fully completed house (100%) to unlock true defense systems
4. raise your first perimeter layer (Barricade/Wall) as soon as skill and materials permit
5. expand premium stockpiles only after your defenses can protect what you are hoarding

If wealth grows faster than house completion and defense condition, you are building raid debt and future loss into your base.

Layered Defense Philosophy

Think in layers, not single structures:

• unlock layer: complete-house gate first (defense does not activate before 100% house completion)
• perimeter layer: mix Barricade and Wall coverage so pressure is distributed
• durability layer: maintain structure condition so defense value stays real, not nominal
• recovery layer: keep repair materials staged for fast post-raid stabilization

In current runtime, one expensive build without maintenance is weaker than multiple maintained layers with condition discipline.

Maintenance Discipline

Defense is only as strong as your maintained structure condition. After any raid pressure window or heavy-risk cycle:

• inspect wall/barricade condition on the base tile immediately
• repair weak segments before leaving for the next long expedition
• restock structural repair materials so recovery is not blocked when it matters

If you postpone repairs, your base may still look fortified but perform like a lower-tier defense layer when the next threat hits.

Expedition Timing Link

Before any long-distance expedition, run a defense readiness check the same way you check medicine and food. Home security is tied to built wall/barricade layers and their live condition, so leaving while they are degraded means your base is exposed during the hours you are gone. If condition is low, repair first, then travel.

Common Mistakes

• scaling storage before scaling perimeter
• treating defense as available before a fully completed house (it is gated at 100% completion)
• assuming old fortifications still perform after condition loss
• ignoring carpentry thresholds and material stock needs for first Wall/Barricade deployment
• spending all resources on offense while home remains fragile
• launching high-risk contracts with no defensive maintenance buffer

Practical Rule

Treat every surge in wealth as a command decision, not a celebration. If your house is not at 100%, drive construction to the defense unlock first. If defense is already active, inspect and repair wall/barricade condition before adding more value to storage. In survival terms: protect what you have before you grow what you have.