---
title: Casualties Unknown Crafting Guide: First Recipes to Make
description: How crafting works, how Intelligence limits it, and which recipes to make first.
url: https://casualtieswiki.wiki/items/crafting/
---

Items

# Casualties Unknown crafting guide
The first crafting chain

- 1 **Rope**2 foliage

- 2 **Bio-chem fluid**From a glow fruit

- 3 **Canteen**Plastic, rope and bio-chem

- 4 **Foliage bag**8 foliage in total, more inventory

- 5 **Scrap, wood cube**3 wood scraps plus 10 mL bio-chem

- 6 **Flimsy knife and firestarter**Opens up cooking

_Order from Cain's beginner crafting guide, recorded on Demo 7.0.1. Amounts can change between versions._

**Short answer:** press C to open crafting in Casualties Unknown. Ingredients only need to be near you, recipes depend on Intelligence, and every run should start with a canteen, a foliage bag and dressings. Press F on anything you want to keep out of recipes. confirmed

The game lists 300 items, and crafting lets you stop relying on lucky loot. confirmed You do not have to master it on your first run. A forum regular suggests starting with the basics and filling gaps with what you find. reported

## How does crafting work in Casualties Unknown?

Open your recipes with C. confirmed Some rules are not obvious. confirmed

- You do **not** need to hold items to craft with them. You can pile ingredients on the floor and craft there.

- Items on your body, outside bags, get used **first**. That is why a digging tool can vanish in a recipe even when you had a machete on your belt.

- Use **F** to favourite an item and protect it from recipes.

- Some items count as multiple ingredients. A bag has a “rippable” quality, so a recipe can turn it into a bandage.

- You can see what recipes an item is used in, as of 6.0. confirmed

The in-game **Crafting course** unlocks at layer 3. confirmed

## How does Intelligence affect crafting?

Intelligence sets what you can make safely. confirmed

| Your INT vs the recipe | Result |
| --- | --- |
| Meets the requirement | Normal craft |
| One level below | You always get the item, but it may be damaged |
| Two levels below | It can fail outright and use up your materials |

Damage only matters for things with durability, such as armor and tools. For plain crafting materials, a small risk is usually fine. confirmed You raise Intelligence with E-PDAs and blueprints, and each item’s INT requirement was rebalanced in 6.0. confirmed

## What should you craft first in Casualties Unknown?

A guide on first crafts recommends the items in the chart above. confirmed Key points:

- **Canteen.** Make two if you can, and keep one for crafting liquids.

- **Foliage bag.** Inventory space is very limited at the start.

- **Flimsy knife.** Needed for cooking and can be turned into a digging tool.

- **Firestarter.** Each campfire costs three pieces of wood, so carry spares.

The bag is what makes the rest possible, so prioritise it.

## What are the most useful recipes?

| Recipe | Why it matters | Status |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Dressings | 3 foliage to a canvas, then ripped dressings | confirmed |
| Sterilized dressing | 400 ml soap plus one regular dressing | confirmed |
| Soap | Meat, campfire, chem fuel, water | confirmed |
| IV bag | Flexiglass plastic and a scrap tube; holds twice a canteen | confirmed |
| Juice | From most fruit; does not spoil | confirmed |
| Charcoal | From droppings at a lit campfire; light fuel | confirmed |
| Scarves | Cheap in the desert; sell or rip into bandages | confirmed |
| Pickaxe | E-PDA reading can unlock it on layer 1 | confirmed |
| Geiger counter | Craftable since 7.0 | confirmed |
| Dynamite | From flammable powder; opens some rooms | reported |

## How do you use scrap, wood and materials?

Scrap is the backbone of metal crafting.

- **Combine scrap** by dragging pieces onto each other. It improves condition, which is how you reach the quality some recipes need. confirmed

- **Place scrap** as a solid block from your main hand. It saves you from falls. confirmed

- **Keep wood scraps** in your material pouch, because they can become almost any wood material with a little bio-chem. confirmed

- **Material pouches** hold anything weighing up to 0.25 units, not only materials. confirmed

Destroyed traps and drill pods are a great source of 100% scrap and circuit boards. confirmed

## What does hammering quality do?

Players search for hammering quality often, since some recipes depend on the quality of the tool used. Community pages describe a tool quality rating that determines which recipes you can complete. unverified Check the requirement shown beside the recipe before committing valuable materials.

## How does cooking fit into Casualties Unknown crafting?

Most cooking recipes appear when you are near a lit fire. Cooked food keeps better and does not make you sick. confirmed Details are in [food, water and sleep](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/survival/food-water-and-sleep/).

## What changed in the full game?

The developer listed “a truckload of balance changes” for release, and said wood block drops are more consistent. confirmed Exact recipes may differ from the demo values above, so go by what the crafting window says. The full game also adds craftable [prosthetics](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/health/limb-damage/). We will note confirmed recipe changes in the [update log](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/update/).

## How do you avoid losing items to a recipe?

Favourite anything you want to keep. Keep tools in a bag so that loose materials get used first. Check the check marks in the recipe panel, because they show which of your items the game is about to use. These are the three habits that stop the most common crafting mistake.

## Sources
Last checked 9 November 2026. Marks: confirmed = official notes, in-game text or a recording of the game; reported = two or more players; unverified = one source.

- [Beginners Guide: Crafting and Cooking by Cain](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnJq1aOBzgo&t=86s) · first crafts

- [30 Things Everyone Should Know by BluePawClaw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVF7rFHGwpY&t=105s) · risk levels, materials

- [Tricks I Wish I Knew Sooner by BluePawClaw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLuLBHlRjIQ&t=103s) · scrap, wood, soap

- [v6.0 Patch Notes, Steam](https://steamstore-a.akamaihd.net/news/externalpost/steam_community_announcements/1830163047266090)

- [6.1 Demo Patch Notes, Steam](https://steamstore-a.akamaihd.net/news/externalpost/steam_community_announcements/1830797770233957)

- [7.0 Demo Update notes, Steam](https://steamstore-a.akamaihd.net/news/externalpost/steam_community_announcements/1834602721186794)

## More in Items

- [Medicine and drugs What each medicine does, which drugs players rate highly and which ones can kill you.](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/items/medicine-and-drugs/)

- [L.R.D., Braingrow, Mindwipe What L.R.D. serum, Braingrow, Mindwipe and the neural booster do, and when to use each.](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/items/lrd-braingrow-mindwipe/)

- [Liquids and containers How to mix and separate liquids, which containers to use and how inventory slots work.](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/items/liquids-and-containers/)

- [Weapons and armor Which weapons to use, how fights work, and how armor protects your body.](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/items/weapons-and-armor/)

- [Tools and light Light sources, how to get batteries, lockpicking and the tools worth carrying.](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/items/tools-and-light/)