Carpentry grind. Anything better than Large Table?

[Another Mother's Son]

Trying to level up to Carpentry 6, I did some experiments to see what gave the most XP. I had cleared a path down to my Trapping camp, so I had a lot of free wood laying around. I tried building and deconstructing walls, crates and furniture. Building a Large Table yields 10XP, but deconstructing it will give you 40XP! It also takes 4 times longer to tear down than craft. It feels like an exploit, but if the game let's me do it...
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934987250

[Retro]

You and I are just alike. Level 6 every game for me....Beds only, run house to house.
Make sure you read those first 3 books.

Edit: This takes me maybe 20-30 minutes IRL time, depending how quick I find those books

[Retro]

Originally posted by Beltneck:

You can get carpentry to level 7 without building or dismantling anything.

Just read the books and watch the VHS. Its basically a free skill

But the question is, how quick do you find all those VHS? It's a lot faster just to read the first 3 skill books and dismantle as many beds possible. VHS are random. I like to get things done quick in the first half hour of my play so I can focus on base building.

[Armagenesis]

Gotta say, chopping down trees and sawing the logs is probably the best method to level up carpentry without sacrificing your decorations.

And you can even get your ax from foraging, which doubles the skill leveling.

[Another Mother's Son]

Originally posted by Beltneck:

You can get carpentry to level 7 without building or dismantling anything. Just read the books and watch the VHS. Same goes for cooking, level 7 without using the skill once. Foraging and Trapping can get to level 4 each. Don't need to use those skills at all to level them. All the books can be found at a school's library, and all the VHS can be found at the VHS store. They're in every town.

Not always the case. I looted all the books from the school library, the post office and the bookstore without finding Cooking 5 or Carpentry 5. Also missing 3 of the Woodcraft VHS tapes from the video store

[Postal Knight]

For me, I do a lot of base building and forging. Which left me with a good bit of sharp stones and sticks. Turned all the sticks into spears, get carpentry exp for building, sawing logs into planks, then get exp from the spears. End up with a hundred spears as quick backup weapons lol.

[KillerKommando]

Originally posted by Beltneck:

Already answered that question. VHS stores have them all. Theres a VHS store in every town.

Riverside, March Ridge, and now Muldraugh have video stores for starting locations. Rosewood and West Point do not.

Louisville has three if you can get to them, unsure how quickly you'd be able to loot the locations before you were already Carpentry 7+.

If you play on default Apocalypse settings, you'll likely be able to find about 5 of the skill VHS videos per video store with no guarantees you'll find Woodcraft.

The odds of finding episodes 1-7 of Woodcraft and the last episode of Exposure Survival are pretty slim in my eyes if you run default settings. You'll also want to find the book stores to make leveling up skills not a complete chore, so RNG will determine if you find Carpentry 1-5.

[Animalman]

Staircase?

Oh If we are below level

Trap Boxes give you good carpentry just build quite in one hit a few it’s pretty quick
Spears aswell.

Usually your latest thing is the greatest thing for exp. So if your latest is the table then it’s probably the greatest.

[_TheBunnymaster_]

If you have access to the VHS tapes, that's optimal. Broadcasts are good too; just set aside that noon hour to watch the show in the first week.

I am not a fan of tearing a bunch of furniture down. Even at high levels you usually only get a plank per piece...a huge waste.

Sooooo.....work with the design of your fortress in mind. Much easier if in the wilderness.

Low levels: Chop a lot of trees, saw a lot of logs. Use some of these logs with ripped sheets to form the outer walls of your fortress.
Also low levels: make the floors for your home.
As you become able to make wall forms, do so. Form out your home and room divisions. Don't waste resources making the walls unless you need to set aside an area to safely sleep.
Boxes and other furniture get you xp as well, and improvised box walls can stand up to some punishment or at least distract unwanted visitors.
Flesh out your creation as soon as you can make stairs and lv 3 walls.
The time will go by quickly if you are uninterrupted in your efforts. Try to use the early morning to clear out your area before you get back on the building block.

[Another Mother's Son]

Originally posted by KillerKommando:

Originally posted by Beltneck:

Already answered that question. VHS stores have them all. Theres a VHS store in every town.

If you play on default Apocalypse settings, you'll likely be able to find about 5 of the skill VHS videos per video store with no guarantees you'll find Woodcraft.

fact

[Another Mother's Son]

Originally posted by KillerKommando:

Originally posted by Beltneck:

Already answered that question. VHS stores have them all. Theres a VHS store in every town.

The odds of finding episodes 1-7 of Woodcraft and the last episode of Exposure Survival are pretty slim in my eyes if you run default settings. You'll also want to find the book stores to make leveling up skills not a complete chore, so RNG will determine if you find Carpentry 1-5.

I managed to find all the Woodcraft video tapes but #2 at the Riverside VHS store. Unfortunately RNGesus only gave me Exposure Survival #2, 4 & 7.

After scouring the Riverside High School library, Enigma Books, the Post Office and the township south of Riverside... I was still missing Hunting #2, Cooking #5 and Carpentry #5.

Eventually found those in systemic house looting ...still missing First Aid #5. Don't think I'll be looking too hard for that one

[Another Mother's Son]

Originally posted by Beltneck:

Originally posted by Another Mother's Son:

I managed to find all the Woodcraft video tapes but #2 at the Riverside VHS store. Unfortunately RNGesus only gave me Exposure Survival #2, 4 & 7.

After scouring the Riverside High School library, Enigma Books, the Post Office and the township south of Riverside... I was still missing Hunting #2, Cooking #5 and Carpentry #5.

Eventually found those in systemic house looting ...still missing First Aid #5. Don't think I'll be looking too hard for that one

Riverside just has it so convenient though, school library and VHS store not even a 10 minute walk apart.

That's why I always spawn here. But the game will always f@#k with you for that last How to Generator magazine or HS RNG

[KillerKommando]

Originally posted by Beltneck:

The level 5 books are lower priority anyway. You really only need carpentry to level 7 to be able to build everything. The other skills are all very useful even at level 4.

Whatever you're missing will likely be in the next town's library and vhs store. Thats only a 3 day walk, or an afternoon drive away.

Riverside just has it so convenient though, school library and VHS store not even a 10 minute walk apart.

Not everyone starts in Riverside, not every town has a video store, every video and book store will not contain every book you need, not every player has the skill and/or luck to make it to the next town. I think that sums up my points.

It didn't feel right you giving people bad advice like "all the books are in the school library" and "every town has a VHS store".

[Animalman]

The only towns without a VHS store is Rosewood and WP. Mul has one now.

[H4xX]

Wardrobes (the big ones) and beds are great for xp. Got to empty them, of course :)

[Another Mother's Son]

Originally posted by KillerKommando:

Originally posted by Beltneck:

The level 5 books are lower priority anyway. You really only need carpentry to level 7 to be able to build everything. The other skills are all very useful even at level 4.

Whatever you're missing will likely be in the next town's library and vhs store. Thats only a 3 day walk, or an afternoon drive away.

Riverside just has it so convenient though, school library and VHS store not even a 10 minute walk apart.

Not everyone starts in Riverside, not every town has a video store, every video and book store will not contain every book you need, not every player has the skill and/or luck to make it to the next town.

True, but this is a choice the player can make based on their game goals. For example: sometimes I spawn in Rosewood for the low population and easy access to the Fire and Police Station, at the expense of better VHS XP