Making more than travois - inna woods scenario

[Viik]

Afaik, graduate changes to how mechanics can be trained and in combination with my character being illiterate and 0 in mechanics I’m in a bit of a problem to make a simple cart:

• making frames doesn’t raise mechanics
• making “a vehicle” using said frame, raises it from 0 to 16%
• can’t deconstruct said vehicle as need mechanics of 2
• can’t attach another frame or install a wheel as need mechanics of 1
  I’m not sure if making a vehicle from light-wooden-frame will allow me to deconstruct it - if not then I’ll waste a lot of make-shift-ropes which are quite a pain to make.
  The other option is to find more nails and keep making more single frame vehicles till I reach level 2 when I can finally deconstruct them and get materials back. But that’s like 6-7 single frame vehicles

[Melen]

If you happen upon another survivor, it may be possible they could teach you mechanics. Of course if they decide they don’t like the look of you, they might just stab you in the face instead.

[Eastwardrope91]

There are parts that requires mechanics to build I just don’t remember what try looking through your building and crafting screens. I believe scrap chimes are buildable without any mechanics skill and I believe train it.

[Viik]

Definitely don’t have anything like that in crafting yet but good idea to check in construction!

[Kadian]

The issue might go a bit deeper than that though, and I think it’s worth thinking about it:

It is definitely not hard making a very simple cart out of wood and nails, given the right tools. The Wheels might be bumpy because you won’t get them perfectly round, but I think most, if not all people know how wheels and an axle work. The axle might not be >steerable<, making the whole system a bit of awkward when turning somewhat tight corners, but I’m certain that every one of us could build something resembling a small, dragable cart.
I mean, It’s basically 4 wheels, stuck to 2 pieces of wood, a wooden plattform and some additional wood to make some U-shaped pieces of wood, to keep the axle in place while still being able to turn. That’s no real science, to be honest.

Is there an easy way to decrease the need for mechanics for certain parts/very small builds, because what you’re actually doing is so basic?
Or how about a crafting recipe, which produces a small, basic, handmade cart?

[Viik]

@Kadian Something like that already exist when it comes to travois - you don’t need any mechanics skill to make two light-wooden frames. Then use one of them as a base of single tile vehicle and use second one as travois component that is attached using rope. No mechanics skill needed.
I could (and most likely will) use this to get my mechanics up to build an actual cart.

The problem is that if you are in the city then making ropes is relatively easy because for abundance of resources. Or you just find a book, they are not rare. Overall there is very little incentive to have travois in the city as other “vehicle” can be found or made.
But in the woods it’s a bit problematic to get 32 withered plants per short make-shift rope. And you need 4 ropes per frame, 3 to make it and 1 to attach it.
Since bushes replenish “stock” and can provide many different berries it’s quite wasteful to break them to get 1-4 weathered plants just occasionally.

[Viik]

Make-shift ropes are overall a bit weird. They look a bit like a mid-game resource because you can make them relatively easily when you are farming, as gathering crops gives you some weathered plants. But now you need quite a few of them in your early game - butchering, making travois to haul game for butchering, making makeshift door - some other things I wanted to make.
Last time I’ve played inna woods was about year ago and it wasn’t a big deal to go into forest and annihilate all bushes as it anyway took like a year for they to “restock”. Now it just feels incredibly wasteful as you can find eggs just after 1-2 days of clearing bushes. On top of that a lot of them are berry/herbs. Breaking bushes is like gathering cattails - if they don’t regrow you are potentially taking away ability to make small strings/starch when you really need them. Maybe this is just psychological, I don’t hunt every animal I see for the same reason.

[Viik]

Well, I need that travois anyway. So I went and started looting and smashing bushes. What i didn’t realize is that it seams that there are more bushes in the forest now than before. And you can smash them while walking in one direction, like north. This way you remove only a localized strip of bushes so there are still plenty left closer to the base. Got enough weathered plants for 4 ropes in just few in game hours.
I think it’s doable to just keep building travois to up the skill and deconstruct them later. My mistake was trying to build a cart instead of travois as a first method of transportation because I’ve happened to have nails.
There are some constructions that involve mechanics but they are at higher levels.