How to Craft in Polylithic

Most “I cannot find X” threads in Polylithic are crafting threads in disguise. Flint is not a node. Blades are not a lucky butcher. String is not a vendor trash pile. This guide is the order of operations from naked forager to a camp that can polish ivory without crying. For the wider catalog, use the crafting hub, the items list, and the tech tree.

Open crafting with C. Open inventory with Tab. Open technology with T. If a recipe is grey, you are missing a material, a placed station, or a tech node. Grey is information. It is not a broken save.

Flint, chopper, fire

Collect rocks until the pack looks silly. In the personal inventory, combine rocks into flint. Players still waste the first night because someone told them flint sparkles on the ground. It does not need to. Once flint exists, craft the chopper from two rocks and keep it on you. Craft a campfire from twigs and whatever the menu asks, then place the fire near the hut you actually live in.

That triangle — flint, chopper, fire — is the whole Paleolithic personality. Everything else is a refinement. If you cannot complete it, you are not ready for hunting or settlement. You are ready to pick more rocks.

Stations you place in the world

Hide rack: put it on the hotbar, place it, and turn crude hide or crude fur into sheets. Two crude pieces typically become one finished sheet. Without the rack, butchering is just clutter.

Grindstone: also a placed station. This is where blades, polished rocks, polished wood, polished ivory, chisels, bone needles, and several “where is the knife” items come from. If you cannot make arrows because you lack a blade, you do not need a wiki rumor. You need a grindstone on the dirt.

Stone stove: the later fire that does not eat wood like a teenager. Unlock it when the camp is stable. A stove is a luxury. A bed is not.

Every station follows the same ritual. Craft in C, hotbar, place, finish the prompt with mallet or needle. If you skip the last swing, you own a hologram.

The stalk economy

Stalk becomes string. String is in weapons, covers, fences, and the buildings you thought were just wood. Plains and open ground grow stalk more kindly than deep forest. When a recipe chain stalls, count string before you count inspiration. Mark shortages on the gathering planner so the next walk has a shopping list.

Other early materials have jobs. Clay and ochre hug rivers. Clay is buildings. Ochre is dye on the grindstone. Logs want an axe. Twigs want a fire. Sinew wants a real butcher, not a berry walk. Fat and antlers look important and then sit in the pack until a later node. Do not hoard mysteries at the cost of hide.

Weapons are recipes with opinions

Clubs are emergency sticks. Stone axes chop trees and boars. Javelins cost stalk and vanish when they leave your vision. Bone spears want big hitboxes. Bows plus cheap arrows are the adult option once wood is flowing. Craft the weapon you can replace after a miss. A unique spear you are afraid to throw is a decoration.

When crafting “breaks”

Frozen storage prompts are a 1.0 bug, not a hidden minigame. Back out, restart if needed, and save more often. Quests that demand an item you already hold are also a known class of stall. See how to complete the story. Do not delete the world because a blade icon is grey. Place the grindstone first.

Craft ugly. Place stations where you will trip over them. Pretty courtyards come after the village can make a needle without a pilgrimage.