Best way to level the construction

[Jarpasmannen]

I haven’t had the luck of finding any construction skill books, so now I need some good suggestion for leveling my construction skill.
I need a skill of 5 in order to build a wood stove, but since simpler constructions like spike pits won’t level your construction skill beyond 3, I’m stuck not really knowing what to do in order to increase it.

[Valpo]

There is no easy way to train this with constructing things. All those projects take time and lots of ressources. The best way to lvl this skill is to read a book on the subject.

[Blue_J]

As Valpo said, reading books is by far the best way, as it’s a really tedious skill to train. However…

To get above 3, you can grind it by constructing the most advanced furniture you can and immediately taking it apart again. IIRC, this is a lossy process, so you will need extra two-by-fours and nails. I had to do this in my current game, as I had the beginner construction book and the advanced book, but no easy way to bridge the gap between the two.

As far as construction is concerned, the tougher grind is to get from 8 to 9, so that you can build a well. It’s worth it though, if you can pull it off. Moreover, I found that if you prepare all the materials ahead of time, then spend like 3 hours listening to music and playing the handheld game system beforehand, (so that your focus is 170 or so,) you only have to build like 4 metal doors to level up.

[Jarpasmannen]

Moreover, I found that if you prepare all the materials ahead of time, then spend like 3 hours listening to music and playing the handheld game system beforehand, (so that your focus is 170 or so,) you only have to build like 4 metal doors to level up.

Ah, I see.
I’ve played a ton of DDA, but I’ve never been that informed on what Focus actually does.

[Valpo]

Focus modifies the ammount of experience you get from a certain task. Nothing else.
It will be modified by your moral, sleepines and afaik pain.

So best practice while not in pain, happy and well rested as the focus depletes when you earn skill and the regeneration depends on all those factors(afaik).

Especialy undertaking costly projects to raise your skill shouldn t be started at low focus.(obviously)

[mdtexeira]

This is my tried and true method for leveling construction.

Craft a digging stick. Dig holes until you get to Con 1.
Craft a stone axe. Chop trees and turn them into logs until you get to Con 2.
With any remaining fallen trees, turn into planks until you get to Con 3.
After that, using all your logs and planks and holes, build log walls (I usually build a little area in which to farm and keep my solar welding array) to get to Con 3.
Now build and disassemble cabinets (I think it’s cabinets) until you get to Con 5. Alternatively you can build window frames and/or reinforce existing windows (do this if going for Construction 9)
At Con 5, it’s time to start reinforcing doors until Con 6.
Now, I hope you’ve got stone saved up, cause you either need to build stone walls or sofas. Personally, I find stone walls more useful. Do whichever until Con 7.
Now, hopefully you’ve reinforced windows to skill up to 5, because now you need to armor those reinforced windows. Do so until Con 8.
The penultimate construction action is that of building metal doors. You can do this anywhere, but hopefully you left spaces in your stone/log wall structures. Grind to 9.
Now you can finally build a well. Congratulations. Infinite water forever.

or at least until you run into a chicken walker…grumble grumble

It can be noted that with this technique, I generally have Construction 4 (as well as a somewhat secure outdoor area for water catchment, and later a well) a few days in. Obviously there is no point with this strategy if you’re going with a LMOE shelter (unless you want a farm/solar array, in which case the log/stone walls are very useful) since you already have infinite water. Also, if you’re going death mobile, this is also a considerable waste of time.