Expand by clearing Dark Thorn Vine with Goddess's Tears (crafted at the Alchemist Workstation from Ceramics ×5 + Mana Stone Powder ×60), placing at least two Basic Workstations, and setting up type-locked storage chests near the activity that uses them. Patch v0.4.23 adds the ability to edit one container's storage policy and apply it to all containers of that type.
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Step 1 — Unlock the purification chain
The chain that lets you grow the base is gated behind several research tiers: Basic Alchemy → Staff Crafting → Dark Thorn Vine Purification → Metal Processing (which follows Wood Processing II and Bonfire) → Kiln. Goddess's Tears is then crafted at the Alchemist Workstation from Ceramics ×5 + Mana Stone Powder ×60.
Step 2 — Throw a Goddess's Tear to clear corruption
Place a Goddess's Tear in a character's inventory, right-click to Use, hover over the purple Dark Thorn Vine to preview a cross-shaped splash zone, then left-click to detonate. The cleared footprint is larger than the visual cross because it extends diagonally — plan placement around the actual cleared area, not the preview cross. As a guaranteed alternative, the Stone Golem boss drop in the Boss Room of the Veil of Silence also clears corruption.
Step 3 — Place two Basic Workstations at minimum
The build menu places workstations on flat ground near the Support Wagon, requires a small amount of harvested wood for the blueprint, and is finished by a builder-assigned settler. Build two Basic Workstations immediately. A single station with three settlers creates a queue bottleneck; a typical opening queue is 6× Textile, 1× Cloth Armor, 2 bundles × Wood Arrows.
Forge + Anvil + Smelter chain (post-Dark Thorn Vine)
| Structure | Role |
|---|---|
Smelter | Turns raw ores into metal ingots. |
Forge | Crafts iron and steel tools and metal items. |
Anvil | Produces advanced metal gear. |
Type-locked storage and where to place each chest
| Chest type | Holds | Place near |
|---|---|---|
Materials Chest | Wood, stone, grass, ore | Each workstation that consumes those materials. |
Armor & Equipment Chest | Worn gear | Dungeon entrance. |
Ammo Chest | Arrows, bolts | Practice range / archery stations. |
Consumables Chest | Potions, bandages, medicine | Medical Tent / Herbalist. |
Food Storage | Raw ingredients (separate from cooked meals) | Communal Kitchen (within 3 grid tiles for ~15% efficiency). |
Step 6 — Get haulers working
Expedition items in personal inventory do not auto-sort — drop items on the ground inside the base; hauler-assigned settlers will sort them into the matching chest type. Stone fills fastest because mining produces the most volume; when a Materials Chest hits its cap, add a chest or pause miners — losing mining throughput is better than losing drops to overflow. Walking distance between a workstation and its Materials Chest directly cuts crafting efficiency, so cluster industrial zones tightly.