A Basic Forging Guide

Guide based on 0.D (Danny).
Some of the information present here might not apply to future versions.

Blacksmithing or forging items in CDDA is a useful way of creating high end equipment. Forging requires a lot of things:

• raw steel
• a forge
• forging tools
• fuel
• high Fabrication skill

This guide will cover building a forge from scratch, and then mention various short cuts.

But first, a quick overview of what you need:

Raw Steel

To make something out of steel, you need steel. Scrap metal, chunks of steel, lumps of steel, sheet metal, small sheet metal, steel frames, and heavy duty steel frames are the primary sources of steel in the game. You get them by wrecking or disassembling vehicles or metal furniture like stoves, refrigerators, ovens, lockers, or display racks.

A Forge

There are 3 types of forges:

• The rock forge, fueled by charcoal
• The portable electric forge, fueled by batteries
• The vehicle mounted forge rig, fueled by vehicle power

Expect the portable electric forge to go away sometime during 0.D (Danny) development towards 0.E (Ellison), and for the power requirements for the vehicle rig to go up substantially.

Forging Tools

Almost all forging tasks require an anvil, a hammer, metal tongs, a metalworking chisel, and a swage and die set. If you have a forge and sufficient fuel and raw steel, you can craft all of them.

Fuel

Rock forges require charcoal. It is possible to scrounge small amounts of charcoal from some houses, but it's usually more efficient to make a charcoal kiln, cut down a few trees, and convert them to charcoal.

Electric and vehicle mounted forges run off battery power.

Starting From Scratch

It's possible, but tedious, to start with nothing and end up with a katana. Doing so requires a couple of rounds of making the tools to make the tools.

Primitive Tools

The first tool you need is a knife. If you don't have one, you can craft a primitive knife: 1. examine underbrush in a forest or swamp until you have Survival 1. 2. Find and wield a rock, then bash underbrush to produce withered plants. You'll need 24 or so. 3. Find a heavy stick. 4. Use the craft menu (&) to make a primitive knife.

If you don't have a firestarting tool, you'll need one. 1. examine underbrush in a forest or swamp until you have Survival 2. 2. Use the craft menu (&) to make a fire drill.

Next you need tools with Hammer 2, Wood Saw 1, Dig 2, and Wood Cut 2. Ideally, you have a toolbox, but if not: 1. Find some more rocks, wield them, and bash a young tree into long sticks. 2. While you have your knife, stand over the long sticks and Butcher them into heavy sticks. 3. Craft a stone hammer, stone shovel, and stone adze. 4. examine underbrush in a forest or swamp until you have Survival 3. 5. Find a wrecked helicopter or some other source of metal, secure some lumps or chunks of steel, and craft a makeshift axe.

Making Charcoal

Before this step, you'll need to grind your Fabrication up to 3 if its not there already. 1. Collect 40 rocks - really, go ahead and collect 120 rocks, you'll need them. You can smash small boulders with long sticks to turn the boulders into rocks. 2. Find a river or a forest tile with clay and activate your shovel next to the clay tile, then collect some clay. 3. Using the * construction menu, construct a charcoal kiln out of 40 rocks. 4. activate your makeshift axe next to a tree and chop it down, then repeat the process on each section of trunk and the stump to chop them into logs. 5. Carry the logs to the charcoal kiln, and Drop them into it until you have 12 logs in the kiln. Then, with your fire starter in hand, examine the kiln and light it up. Wait 6 hours, and you'll have a lot of charcoal - though not nearly as much as you need, so spend some time chopping down more trees and get more logs.

You'll need at least 2500 charcoal, plus any charcoal needed to turn scrap metal or chunks of steel into lumps of steel. 3 full loads of charcoal from the kiln is probably enough, though.

Clay Crucible

Before this step, you'll need to grind your Fabrication up to 4 if its not there already. 1. Using the * construction menu, construct a clay kiln out of 40 rocks. 2. wxamine it and load it with some charcoal. 3. Using the clay you acquired earlier, make a clay crucible.

The rock forge and forging tools

Before this step, you'll need to grind your Fabrication up to 5 if its not there already. 1. Using the * construction menu, construct a rock forge out of 40 rocks. 2. Step back and applaud yourself! You're almost done! 3. wxamine the rock forge and load it with some charcoal. 4. Get 2 heavy duty steel frames, 4 steel frames, 40 lumps or steel, or 160 chunks of steel. If necessary, & craft 40 lumps of steel out of scrap metal and chunks of steel. 5. & craft an anvil. 6. & craft metal tongs. 7. & craft a hammer. 8. & craft a metalworking chisel. 9. & craft a swage and die set.

You now have a fully equipped black smithy, and can craft anything else you need. If you started out with nothing, you may want to craft a hatchet and hacksaw at this point - the hatchet replaces your stone knife and stone axe, and the hacksaw will make it easier to cut metal pieces away from wreckage.

Shortcuts in civilization

It takes an enormous amount of work to set up a black smithy from scratch. Survivors with access to civilization can shorten the effort by scavenging appropriately:

Welders and torches

A welder or oxy-acetylene torch can substitute for a forge at a couple of key points, such as when you want to craft an anvil. You can find welder and acetylene torches in mechanics' garages or some houses, or you can make a makeshift welder out of heating elements that you scavenge from household ovens and toasters.

Electric forges

You can find electric forges in metalworking shops, some mechanics garages, and labs, or you can make one yourself. You'll need a hammer, hacksaw, pliers or wrench, and a soldering iron or welder.

Crucibles

You can sometimes find crucibles in the back of gun stores. You can also make a metal crucible from a steel frame and sheet metal - those are rare commodities in a wilderness playthrough, but cheaper than cheap in a city with access to cars.

Heavy Frame

If you start with the lab scenario, and you can find a hacksaw, getting steel frames can be easily done by disassembling heavy machinery, and (rarely) conveyor belts, or steel doorframes if you got one open. These can then be used for the crucible or the anvil.

Other tools

Hammers are a common loot find in houses, as are repair kits that contain them. Toolboxes are somewhat less common. Tongs, chisels, and swage and die sets are rarely found through scavenging, but easy to craft. You need Fabrication 5 to construct a rock forge, but only Fabrication 4 to craft a swage and die set if you found an electric forge somewhere else.