Scrap gates your tier
Scrap is the currency behind every unlock. Without a workbench, most of the tech tree stays shut no matter what you loot.
Research first
Researching an item at a workbench lets you craft it later. Spend scrap on the items you will craft again and again.
Recycle everything
Recyclers turn junk into scrap and materials. Break down what you cannot use instead of hauling it home.
Monuments pay best
Monuments hold the crates and recyclers that make scrap farming fast. Run them with a plan. See the monuments guide.
Roads and barrels
Roads scatter barrels and junk piles along their length. A road loop gives steady scrap with light competition.
Spend in the right order
Buy the workbench before the toys. A higher bench unlocks better gear than any single weapon you can buy now.
Do not hoard scrap
Scrap you never spend is dead progress. Bank it into benches and research as soon as you have enough.
Protect the bench
Losing a workbench sets your whole tier back. Keep it deep in the base and behind your strongest doors.
Trade when short
Safe zone vendors and other players trade for scrap. If a bench is one run short, trading beats another hour of barrels.
Scrap is leverage
Scrap buys the components you cannot farm, and players trade it at outposts. Sit a vendor and sell excess, or buy the one part blocking a bench instead of farming another hour. Time saved at a vendor is time spent on the next upgrade.