Crafting System and Tool Hierarchy Guide

How does the foundational “Scrap-to-Cube” loop work?

Unlike games with arbitrary one-click assembly, Casualties: Unknown uses a physical manufacturing pipeline where irregular raw scraps must be broken down into standardized modular geometry:

Raw Metal Scrap (Irregular)
           │
           ▼
[Hand Hammer / Anvil Stone]
           │
           ▼
     Metal Cube (Standardized)
     ├── Metal Rods / Sticks ──► Digging Tools / Spear Shafts
     ├── Metal Tubes ──────────► Syringe Casings / Decompression Tubes
     └── Metal Plates ─────────► Armor Plating / Heavy Sledges

1. Scrap Collection: Salvage irregular sheet metal, broken girders, and wooden crates found near subterranean drop ruins. Keep them consolidated in your Essential Bags and Containers.
2. Cube Transformation: Open your crafting window and craft Metal Cubes (or Wood Cubes). This creates standardized building blocks.
3. Component Refinement: Metal Cubes can be drawn into rods, rolled into tubes, or hammered flat into reinforced structural plates. Tubes are critical for chest puncture drains described in our Medical Trauma and Triage Guide.

What is the tool tier progression and how do you upgrade?

Tools function both as resource extractors and emergency self-defense weapons. Review our Beginner Survival Guide for primitive knife handling. Upgrading your tool material decreases stamina consumption and increases mining speed:

Tool Tier	Primary Example	Durability	Best Use Case	Extraction Efficiency
Tier 0: Improvised	Flimsy Knife / Sharpened Flint	45 swings	Cutting vines, carving simple bandages	Very Low
Tier 1: Crude Scrap	Crude Cleaver / Makeshift Shovel	120 swings	Digging clay, clearing loose gravel falls	Moderate
Tier 2: Refined Steel	Steel Machete / Heavy Pickaxe	350 swings	Carving limestone, splitting spider carapaces	High
Tier 3: Titanium	Titanium Multitool / Sledgehammer	1,000+ swings	Breaching vault doors, crushing Elder Thornback plates	Maximum

How does the HUD recipe pin trick improve scavenging?

When deep in dark caverns, constantly opening and closing the multi-tab crafting window wastes stamina, exposes your back to stalking predators, and burns precious flashlight power.

• Locate the Pin Icon: Open any crafting recipe inside your survival or engineering ledger.
• Toggle Pin: Click the small thumbtack icon in the bottom-right corner of the recipe card.
• HUD Overlay: The required ingredients (e.g., 2/4 Metal Rods, 1/2 Wire, 0/1 Battery) will lock into a semi-transparent HUD tracker on the left side of your screen. You can monitor scavenging requirements in real time as you pick up items.

How does battery cycling and recycling work?

Batteries in Casualties: Unknown are rare commodities that power flashlights, defibrillators, and biosensors. Never discard depleted batteries:

1. Small Cell Stacking: Keep exhausted Small Chemical Cells inside your Material Pouch.
2. Intelligence Threshold: As your character reads technical manuals, disassembles mechanisms, and successfully treats trauma, your Intelligence attribute increases.
3. Cycling Craft: At Intelligence level 12+, unlock the Battery Recondition perk. Combining 2× Depleted Small Cells with 1× Acid Solution produces 1× Medium Alkaline Battery, restoring 250% of the original electrical charge for long-range subterranean expeditions.