Guide to Construction

It is truly a marvel, that from this dusty dirt under our feet, these heaps of rugged stones and those chaotically growing trees could spring such smooth, even walls in all their rectangular glory. A natural landscape is a wild beast that needs to be reined in, and reined in it will be!

Construction requires basic knowledge in other areas, such as resource acquirement, which are covered in the Guide to Crafting.

There are a few key elements in the area of construction that you could combine and rearrange as you see fit to raise buildings, lay roads and develop infrastructure as a whole that is both functional and pleasing to the eye. These elements are walls, floors, doors, windows, roofs and barricades along with fences. There are also somewhat distinct categories of fortifications and lighting.

To look for specific items, use the “Find in page” command - Ctrl-F.

Construction orientation

Mind that the orientation of some constructions depends on the direction your character is facing! For example, some walls are built vertically if you are facing North or South, or horizontally, if you are facing East or West. Some wall types also have separate corner elements for better appearance. All of this is marked in the description of a specific construction. N, S, W, E mean you need to be facing either North, South, West and East to build a wall the same as the image; All means the construction will look the same regardless of the direction.

Some wall tiles change their appearance depending on the neighbouring walls of the same type, so they connect seamlessly to each other. These walls are marked as Adaptive.

Construction materials

A few more details about particular materials.

Clay

Clay is obtained from dirt:

Dig any dirt tiles with a shovel to get dirt piles.
Fill a container (a bucket, a barrel etc.) with water, then click dirt piles with it.
10 units of water + 1 dirt pile = 1 clay

Bricks

Most bricks and blocks are made with Clay, except for stone bricks:

First, make batches of unfired bricks.
Put the unfired bricks in either a campfire, an oven or a stove.
Cook until done.

Hover the mouse cursor over the icon to see the material cost.

Clay blocks

Clay bricks

Cement bricks

Stone bricks

Walls

Deconstruction

Any kind of wood walls could be set on fire by hitting them with a torch. A wall will burn down in a few minutes, destroying the roof tiles supported by the wall as well (more in the Roofs section). Remove the grass and the wood floor around the wall if you are going to burn it! Otherwise the fire will very likely spread from the burning wall.

Another way is simple brute force - hit a wall with melee weapons, and it will go down sooner or later. Stone walls, the strongest ones, take around 100 hits to bring down, or fewer if your strength is high and you apply a weapon with high damage.

Straw

Made with 4 wood logs. Very primitive, but it still provides shelter, if a flimsy one.

All

Log

Made with 6 wood logs. A sturdy wall, if slightly crude. Corner is the same for all directions.

N, S

W, E

Corner

Wood

Made with 10 wood planks attached to a wall frame. Being out of planks, this wall is more refined than the log one.

Adaptive

Wall frame

Made with 1 wooden plank. Used as a base to build various walls, windows, doors and doorways, such as medieval and shoji. More details below.

All

Bamboo wall frame

Made with 1 bamboo. Used as a base to build various walls, windows, doors and doorways, such as bamboo and oriental. More details below.

All

Medieval

Made with 6 clay. A timber frame wall that comes in several designs. To build, construct a wall frame first, then click it with clay and choose a design.

Adaptive

Shoji

Made with 1 paper sheet. A light paper wall, hailing from Japan. Divider is meant for the interior of a building (this is important.) To build, construct a wall frame first, then click it with a paper sheet.

Wall

Divider

All

Bamboo

Made with bamboo: wall - 3 bundles, doorway - 2. Fits in nicely with the jungle surroundings. To build, construct a bamboo wall frame first, then click it with bamboo bundles.

Wall

Doorway

All

Oriental

Made with 6 wood logs. To build, construct a bamboo wall frame first, then click it with wood logs and choose a design.

Regular	Braced	Two panelled	Two panelled braced	Three panelled	Three panelled braced	Doorway
All

Aztec

Made with 8 wood logs. Useful for creating your very own altepetl.

Adaptive

Mayan

Made with 6 stones.

Adaptive

Egyptian

Made with 6 sandstones. For the archway, directions N and W are also available (icons will be mirrored accordingly.)


Adaptive	S E

Nordic

Made with 8 wood logs. For all your Långhus and mead hall needs.

Adaptive

Roman

Made with 8 stones. Opus caementicium usque in sempiternum.

Adaptive

Dirt block

A slightly dull, yet fairly useful material. Take a pile of dirt in your hand and click it, or press Ctrl-Z or Z in the hotkeys mode. This will start building a wall where you stand. Add 3 more piles to finish.

All

Snow block

Perfect for igloos. Take a pile of snow in your hand and click it, or press Ctrl-Z or Z in the hotkeys mode. This will start building a wall where you stand. Add 3 more piles to finish.

All

Clay block

One step above the dirt blocks. Take 1 batch of clay blocks in your hand and click it, or press Ctrl-Z or Z in the hotkeys mode. Select clay blocks. This will start building a wall where you stand. Add 2 more batches to finish.

Wall

Doorway

All

Red earth

Made by applying 1 portion of generic stucco (made with 1.5 pieces of clay) to a clay block wall. Click the wall with the stucco, then select the design.

The doorway is made by applying generic stucco to a clay block doorway.

Regular

Pillared

Smooth

Doorway

Sumerian

Stylish architecture, dating thousands of years BC. Take 1 batch of clay blocks in your hand and click it, or press Ctrl-Z or Z in the hotkeys mode. Select Sumerian clay. This will start building a wall where you stand. Add 2 more batches to finish. When finishing, you will be prompted to choose a wall type, normal or corner, or to make it a doorway. Corner could be chosen for 4 directions, NW, NE, SW, SE. The image below is NW.

Wall

Doorway

Corner

All

Sandstone

Made with 8 sandstones.

Smooth

All

Sandstone block

Made with 8 sandstones. For the archway, directions N and W are also available (icons will be mirrored accordingly.)


Adaptive	S E

Red sandstone block

Made with 8 sandstones. For the archway, directions N and W are also available (icons will be mirrored accordingly.)


Adaptive	S E

Sandstone fortress

Made with 8 sandstones and 8 stones.

Adaptive

Stone

Made with 8 stones. Use a chisel with a hammer to carve it into different designs.

Regular

Brick

Cobbled

Tiled

All

Stone block

Made with 8 stones. For the archway, directions N and W are also available (icons will be mirrored accordingly.)


Adaptive	S E

Grecian

Made by applying 1 portion of Greek stucco (made with 1.5 pieces of clay) to a stone block wall. Click the wall with the stucco, then select the design. Each design has a “bordered” option, which has a noticeable outline. The pattern designs are also available in horizontal orientation.

The archway is made by applying Greek stucco to a stone block archway.

Smooth	Cobbled	Pattern	Cob. pattern	Archway

Bordered
All

Roman villa

Made by applying 1 portion of Roman stucco (made with 1.5 pieces of clay) to a stone block wall. Click the wall with the stucco, then select the design.

Regular

Pillared

Relief

Hoplite rel.

Aquila rel.

Gladiator rel.

Stone brick

Made with 6 stone bricks, which are made from regular stone. For the archway, directions N and W are also available (icons will be mirrored accordingly.)


Adaptive	S E

Fortress

Made with 8 stones. One of the strongest walls. For the archway, directions N and W are also available (icons will be mirrored accordingly.)


Adaptive	S E

Marble

Made with 8 marble.

Regular

All

Marble block

Made with 8 marble. For the archway, directions N and W are also available (icons will be mirrored accordingly.)


Adaptive	S E

Grecian marble

Made with 6 marble. For the archway, directions N and W are also available (icons will be mirrored accordingly.)


Adaptive	S E

Clay brick

An advanced construction material. Take 1 batch of clay bricks in your hand and click it, or press Ctrl-Z or Z in the hotkeys mode. This will start building a wall where you stand. Add 1 more batch to finish.

Adaptive

Cement

A modern, no-frills, but very strong construction material. Take 1 batch of cement bricks in your hand and click it, or press Ctrl-Z or Z in the hotkeys mode. This will start building a wall where you stand. Add 1 more batch to finish.

Adaptive

Roofs

Roofs provide shelter from bad weather, e.g. rains, blizzards and sandstorms, as well as a nice cool shade.

Roofs are supported by walls, wooden roof supports and stone pillars and columns. Wooden mine supports do not hold the buildable roof!

Roof support	Nordic roof support	Stone pillar	Concrete pillar	Ionic column
Solomonic column	Thick Solomonic column	Aztec column

The image below shows the roof area supported by either a roof support (pillars and columns support the same area) or a wall (all walls support the same area.)

There is a variety of roofs to build from different materials (see below - hover the mouse cursor over a roof builder’s icon to see the cost and the material). Roof icons are adaptive, similarly to some of the walls, so they change their appearance, depending on the roof in neighbouring tiles.

To construct a roof, take a respective roof builder and either click it in your hand, or press Ctrl-Z or Z in the hotkeys mode. A roof tile will be constructed in the tile in front of you, the one you are facing, if there is a suitable support nearby.

To deconstruct a roof, click it with the hammer. Either stand outside the roof, so you can see it, or hold Alt and click the tile with the roof. An additional “Turf” tab will appear in the upper right corner - click the roof there with the hammer in the active hand.

If roof supports are removed with the roof still present, the roof will collapse! Collapsing roof may severely injure and even kill those in the roofed area, or even standing next to it.

1 bundle of palm leaves	Palm leaves roof builder	Palm leaves roof
1 bundle of leaves	Thatch roof builder	Thatch roof
1 wood	Roof builder	Wood roof
0.5 clay	Clay roofing	Clay roof
0.5 clay	Black clay roofing	Kerawa roof
1 sandstone	Sandstone roof builder	Sandstone roof
1 stone	Mayan roof builder	Mayan roof
0.75 clay	Concrete roof builder	Concrete roof

Floors

No more sloshing or plodding through the mud and snow! Walk the civilized way, swiftly and with resonant “top-top” footfalls! Not only that - floors on the surface prevent digging upwards from the underground. Floors can be removed with the hammer.

Floor cover

Made with 2 wood logs. The simplest type of floor, consisting of a few planks fastened together. Could be placed over a trench to make a bridge, or over a hole in the floor or ground to cover it (the latter concerns a couple of the TDM maps.)

The floors below are essentially identical, save for the appearance, with a special note being that the wood floor could be set on fire. Hover the mouse cursor over an image to see the cost and the material.

Bamboo floors

Tatami horizontal

Tatami vertical

Tatami dark horizontal

Tatami dark vertical

Wood floors

Wood

Fancy wood

Thatch

Thatch split

Stone floors

Cobblestone	Stone brick	Roman road	Slate
Road

Marble floors

Raw marble and marble tiles (except for ornate and grid tiles) floors each have a few versions that have a slightly different look, which are randomly selected upon construction.

Raw marble	Raw black marble	Raw pink marble	Marble
Marble tiles	Black marble tiles	Pink marble tiles	Ornate marble tile
Ornate black marble tile	Decorative marble tile	Decorative black marble tile	Decorative pink marble tile
Marble grid tile	Marble checkerboard	Reverse marble checkerboard	Pink marble checkerboard
Reverse pink marble checkerboard

Sandstone floors

	Sandstone		Brick		Slab		Red slab
	Tile		Decorative tile		Red decorative tile

Clay floors

Concrete

Steel floors

Steel

Steel white

Stairs

At the moment, craftable stairs are purely cosmetic and cannot be used to travel between different Z levels. Nevertheless, they still could be used to create an impression of height difference.

Stone

Sandstone

Wood

Stairs on the images are built while facing S; directions N, W, E are also available. Hover the mouse cursor over the images to see the cost and the material.

Doors

Hover the mouse cursor over the images to see the cost, the material and the direction (how it looks when built while facing either N, S, W or E. “All” means a door always looks the same.)

Only the doors marked as “locked” in the crafting menu could be locked with a key (the iron and jail doors currently) - more details below.

Primitive fence door	Picket wood fence door	Rustic door	Wood door
Privacy door	House door	Nordic door	Aztec door
Shoji door	Roman door	Iron door	Double doors
Wood jail door	Steel jail door

Key and keychain

Key and keychain are made with iron ingots. Keys are used to lock certain doors, wooden cabinets, crates, lockers and large barrels - click them with the key.

To construct a lockable door, first make a key.
Enter the combination for the key, which is, basically, a password.
Hold the key in the non-active hand, then build a locked door with the iron in the active hand.
Now the door is tied to the key and could be opened and closed with it.
You can make more than one key for a door - just make another key with the same combination.

Windows

A window frame is built first. To add glass, click the window frame with 3 glass sheets.

Hover the mouse cursor over the images below to see the material cost and additional details.

Wood

Medieval

1 paper sheet on a wall frame (check Walls section)

Shoji

Bamboo

Oriental

Stone

Full stone

Villa

1 roman stucco on a full stone window frame

Full villa

Full red earth

Sumerian

Sandstone

Full sandstone

Brick

Full brick

Fences, barricades and barriers

Fences

The appearance of the primitive wood and picket wood fences is slightly random and may differ from the icons below.

W,E	N	S	W,E	N	S	W	E	N	S
Primitive wood			Picket wood			Wood palisade
W	E	N,S	W,E	N,S
Iron fence			Chainlink fence
All	All
Wood jail bars	Steel jail bars

Barricades

Dirt and snow - take a pile of respective material in your hand and click one of the tiles next to the tile you are standing on. This will start building a barricade at the adjacent tile. Add 3 more piles to finish it.

Rock - crafted with 3 stone.

Sandbag - make sandbags with Cloth, then build the barricade like a dirt/snow one.

All barricades could be dismantled by clicking them with an empty hand.

Barricades provide some protection from ranged attacks when you stand right next to and behind them.

W	E	N	S	W	E	N	S	W	E	N	S
Dirt				Snow				Rock
W	E	N	S
Sandbag

Barriers

Barbwire - make barbwire rolls with iron ingots, then build the barrier with the rolls themselves. Could be cut with the wirecutters.

Jersey barrier - made with 3 stone.

W	E	N	S	W	E	N	S
Barbwire				Jersey barrier

Fortifications

Lighting

It is not a proper Civilization until you can see city lights from space!

Electric lights need to be connected to an engine to work. While connecting an electric light to a cable, do not stand on the same tile where the light is. Stand on a neighbouring tile where there is cable on the floor and click the light with the cable coil. This will connect the light to the cable on the floor.

Remember to restart the engine to power newly connected lights to the existing power network.

	Street lamp	Made with 3 steel. No more bumping into your fellow neighbours in the dark street. Can be unsecured with the wrench.
	Light bulb	Made with 2 glass. Choose small lightbulb frame in the crafting menu to build a fixture along with a bulb. It is built in front of the character, so if you want a lighbulb on a wall, for example, face it beforehand. Can be unsecured with the wrench and deconstructed with a hammer. The lightbulb option on the crafting menu makes only the bulb itself.
	Light tube	Made with 3 glass. Choose light tube frame in the crafting menu to build a fixture along with a tube. It is built in front of the character, so if you want a light tube on a wall, for example, face it beforehand. Can be unsecured with the wrench and deconstructed with a hammer. The light tube option on the crafting menu makes only the tube itself.