How to get an item: loot, buy or craft it
Choose the item and its variant first. Then compare the available acquisition routes instead of searching every building at random.
Description
A finished item, its parts and its recipe are three different search targets. A schematic does not supply ingredients, and buying a finished tool does not unlock its production. A workshop is one acquisition route, not a prerequisite for using every item you find.
Read the container, not just the building sign
A container name tells you what to search: a tool crate, car, medicine cabinet or shelf. A themed building may offer more opportunities to search relevant containers, but its sign does not guarantee their contents.
Search a car or appliance before dismantling it. Searching its inventory and salvaging its physical parts are separate actions. Once destroyed, the same container is no longer available to search.
Axes as a complete example
A Q1 stone axe costs 2 small stones, 2 plant fibers and 2 wood in your backpack. An iron fireaxe needs forged iron and Harvesting Tools level 11, among other requirements. A steel axe needs level 26, a workbench and Steel Tool Parts.
If you cannot produce forged iron yet, you can still use ingots you find or buy. A locked component recipe does not always prevent you from assembling the finished item yourself.
Target the actual bottleneck
Write down the one missing element: a part, magazine, station tool or finished product. A general looting run can bring back valuable supplies without moving your current goal forward. On return, check whether you removed the specific bottleneck.
Ordinary cars are a possible loot source on the iron fireaxe card. That does not mean the same pool also contains a steel axe. Closely related items can have different acquisition sources.
Time is part of the price
Compare travel time, risk of losing equipment, purchase price and crafting cost. Selling surplus loot and buying one missing component may advance your character faster than another long expedition.
A trader list indicates possible stock, not the current inventory of a particular shop. A loot source likewise does not guarantee an item on an individual roll. Keep an alternative plan when a desired offer does not appear.
What to do
- Search in English or Polish. For a family such as axes, choose stone, iron or steel.
- Open the acquisition section on the item card for possible containers, traders, harvesting and rewards when applicable.
- Compare its recipe with your crafting skill, station, station tools and supplies.
- Choose the shortest practical route. For a tool to chop your first tree, making a stone axe is usually easier than searching for a steel one.
Worked example
Your iron fireaxe recipe is unlocked and only forged iron is missing. You could start a forge or obtain the ingots. Finding a finished fireaxe meets the same goal without either production step.
Common mistake
Treating a finished tool, its parts and its magazine as the same search target.