Upgrade your walls: wood → stone → metal
Your base's walls are the only thing between you and someone with a hatchet. This guide explains the wall tiers and when to upgrade.
The four wall tiers (plus the placeholder)
- Twig — free, about 10 HP. Anyone can punch through it. Placeholder only.
- Wood
— around 250 HP. A hatchet 
chews through in under a minute. - Stone
— around 500 HP. Needs explosives to raid (satchels 
, C4 
, rockets 
). - Metal — around 1000 HP. Stronger, more expensive to raid.
- Armored / HQM
— around 2000 HP. Strongest wall. Late-game.
Why wood walls equal death
Wood is fine for the first hour. The moment you have stone , upgrade.
The mental rule: wood is a tent, stone is a house.
Why stone is where you actually start
Stone forces explosives. The cheap stone-raiding tools are satchel charges and beancan grenades 
(not C4 or rockets — those are overkill for stone). Most casual players won't pay even satchel cost to raid a small stone 1x1.
Stone also doesn't burn and decays slower outdoors.
When to push to metal
Push to metal when:
- You have a steady source of metal fragments
- You have a furnace
running - You're storing valuables worth raiding
- You've survived a raid attempt
If your base is empty, metal walls are wasted resources.
How to upgrade (no demolish needed)
You don't have to tear walls down to upgrade them.
Equip your Hammer 
, look at the wall, and hold right-click (the secondary attack). A radial menu appears — pick the tier you want and the materials come straight from your inventory.
You need to be authorized on the Tool Cupboard 
.
What HQM is and when to ignore it
High Quality Metal (HQM ) comes from rare nodes and high-end loot. Used for armored walls.
For your first wipe, ignore HQM . Stone and metal will see you through everything.
Quick recap
- Tiers: twig → wood → stone (explosives needed) → metal → HQM .
- Wood is a tent, stone is a house.
- Stone forces raiders to spend sulfur
. - Push to metal when you have steady farming and loot worth defending.
- Use Hammer + E to upgrade in place.
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