Sanctuary Hub Guide

How the Hub works

The Sanctuary Hub is the screen where you spend Scrap and Wood on the base itself. Two rules explain almost everything on it. First, the base level (1 to 5) is a ceiling: a building can only be upgraded to level N if the base is already level N or higher. Second, every building tops out at level 5. A blocked button reads “requires base level”, so upgrade the base first. Materials in your backpack count towards costs as well as the camp stockpile.

The base level also sets your storage. The cap is 500 × base level, so 500 at level 1 and 2,500 at level 5. A Founder account triples that figure and the Grid Vault perk adds 500 per extension. When the stockpile reaches the cap, the overnight report states that all labor production was halted, so a full warehouse costs you real income. The Hub also shows a weighted meter (Wood counts 3, Water 1.5, Scrap 1, Cloth 0.5), but the overnight check compares the plain total of stored items against the cap, so treat both as a warning to spend.

Cost tables

Base upgrades

Building each facility (level 1)

Upgrading a facility

Buying everything to the maximum costs 6,620 Scrap and 6,630 Wood in total, plus the small extras above.

What each level gives you

• Scrap Pit. It runs on your stamina, not on survivors. A raw shift costs 20 Stamina and pays 10 × pit level Scrap (or Wood, from the timber option), so 10 at level 1 and 50 at level 5. The same building dismantles spare gear: an item returns 50 × pit level × a rarity factor in Scrap, with factors of 1 (Common), 1.5, 2.5, 4, 7 and 12 (Godlike). A Common item is worth 100 Scrap at level 2. Dismantling costs 1 Stamina per item, 2 for Epic and above, with a 25% discount on a selected batch and 50% on a bulk run by rarity.
• Greenhouse. Once its automation is switched on, every morning brings 2 × level Canned Food, 1 × level Medical Herbs and 1 × level Water: 2, 1 and 1 at level 1, up to 10, 5 and 5 at level 5. The Base Botanists labor slot also needs a built Greenhouse. Output stops on a day when your storage is full.
• Workshop. Its level sets the rarity of everything you craft: Common at 1, Uncommon at 2, Rare at 3, Epic at 4 and Legendary at 5. Details are in the Workshop and crafting guide.
• Medical Infirmary. The only thing the level gates is the Medical Stimpack, which needs level 2. Level 1 already offers surgical stitching, the Decontamination Flush (35 Medicine and 15 Water, clears Radiation Contamination completely), the Rad-Meds regimen and herbal bandages. Beyond level 2, further levels unlock nothing else in the current build, so leave them for last.
• Defense Walls. Raids can start from day 3. Each wall level removes 5% of the raiders’ starting health, up to 25% at level 5, scaled by your barricade integrity. Tripwires (20 Stamina, −20%), turrets (20 Ammo, −30%) and 10 survivors on the garrison (−20%) stack with it, and the threat never drops below 10%. Patching barricades costs 50 Scrap for +25% integrity.
• Wasteland Bar. Every bar level unlocks one unique recruit, listed below. Rumor rounds (25 Scrip) and boss contracts (60 Scrip, base prices) are available from level 1.

Recommended build order

The order below puts production first, defence before the first raid and everything that unlocks a feature ahead of everything that merely raises a number. Running totals count Scrap and Wood only.

After step 15 the base is level 3 and you hold a Rare workshop, a solid wall and a working Greenhouse. Base 4 and 5, the fourth and fifth levels of the Pit, Walls and Workshop, and the Bar recruits come afterwards, in whatever order your run demands. If you keep losing defenders, push Walls first; if you want gear, push the Workshop.

How to fund it

The cheapest source of Scrap and Wood is your own stamina at the Scrap Pit. If the Pit is level 2, one shift gives 20 Scrap or 20 Wood, so the 100 Scrap and 100 Wood for Base 2 take ten shifts, or 200 Stamina, about two days of a fresh character’s stamina. At level 5 the same 200 Stamina yields 500 materials. That is why the Pit is the first building to upgrade.

Survivors on the Labor screen add a steady background income of +1 per unit per day for Scrap or Wood. Ten workers on each pay for Base 2 in ten days without a single click, so assign newcomers to Scrap and Wood early.

Scrip, needed for the Bar, comes from different places. Each captured prisoner sold to Grom pays 50 Scrip and 10 Scrap, and a batch of five pays 300 Scrip and 60 Scrap. Spare gear sitting in your stash is the other pool: a Rare item dismantled at a level 3 Pit returns 375 Scrap.

Background bonuses

• Botanist starts with the Greenhouse built, at level 1, with its automation already online. That skips 40 Scrap, 40 Wood and 30 Water plus the 10 Scrap, 20 Wood and 10 Cloth calibration. Drop step 10 and spend the savings on step 6 instead.
• Field Medic starts with the Infirmary at level 1, so the 30 Scrap, 30 Wood and 20 Medicine are free, and begins with 5 Medicine and 10 Cloth. Drop step 4.
• Techie pays the same hub prices but crafts one rarity tier higher, so a level 1 Workshop already turns out Uncommon gear, and the Techie has 20% extra stamina for Pit shifts. Delay Workshop 2 and 3 and fund the Pit instead.

Related pages

For crafting recipes and costs, read the Workshop and crafting guide. The base building guide covers survivors and raids at a higher level, and the survival and economy guide explains the resources you spend here. For what to craft with all that Scrap, see the gear and rarity guide, and check the survivors page for named workers worth recruiting.

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