is there an optimal way of playing to get decent building materials in a few hours?

[TheHammer]

Hello, I got the game recently and while i knew progression would be slow i was not ready for how resource intenstive building blocks can be. All i'm looking for is basic blocks like wood and stone (and a way to mass produce shingle blocks so im not staring at the ground for ages carving shingles for 10 blocks) and I will be fine. Also, how long do catails take to grow?

[Maelstrom]

Stone and wood planks are locked behind copper tools (pick axe and saw respectively).  Initial building blocks before copper tools?   Dirt, cobble stone mined from ruins, logs and shingles your craft via clay forming. 

Addendum: You can craft cobble if you gather loose stones.  Best place to find loose stones is in sand and gravel plains, break the big piles of stone boulder.

[Hal13]

another good way is panning for stones, ores and clay to progress to copper or even bronze age.

and then there are mud bricks and hay blocks that you can get while still using stone tools.

[xXx_Ape_xXx]

Welcome to the game and forums 

My go-to starter blocks is cobb and mudbricks, very easy to make and doesn't take a lot of resources. Cobblestone is also very easy early on, just gather loose rocks and boulders, craft with some clay and you got some good building blocks for your first base.

 

[LadyWYT]

I typically chop a few trees with a flint axe, use the logs to build a small house frame, and fill the gaps with dirt. I replace the dirt with cobblestone later, once I've acquired a pickaxe and get around to it. For roofing material, I tend to use thatch, as it's somewhat less tedious to cut a lot of grass than it is to make shingles.

One good early base option is to find one of the more intact surface ruins and patch them up. It might not be the prettiest thing, but it'll save you a bit of time and resources that you can put towards collecting stuff for a more permanent home.

In regards to cattails, they should grow back in a few days, provided it's not too cold outside. I think they tend to grow back faster if it's rained recently as well.

Edit: One important thing to note in regard to cattails--they only grow back if the roots are intact. If you've dug up the roots, either for food or just harvesting without a knife, they won't grow back at all.

Edited August 1, 2024 by LadyWYT

[Grummsh]

Also for cattails I would add to plant them in the water - not 100% sure but i think it grows a bit faster if its directly in 1 block deep shallow water than if it just next to it.

As for my begginings if i just want to build something fast and dont care how it looks i just use packed dirt - simple recipe looks a bit better imo then regular dirt and is a bit sturdier (takes longer to break then normal dirt) 

Then if I want to make something prettier still quite early on in the game cycle i would go for wood logs (and or planks if you have the saw already) and cobblestone and instead of bricks i tend to use mudbricks which are not bad looking and soooo much easier to obtain.

For roofing early on i dont really bother - or use thatch. And if I want to make it pretty ill just put some nice tunes and start shingling

[Maelstrom]

I can confirm cattails grow faster when planted in water.