Professions and Camp buildings
Professions and Camp buildings are permanent character progress. Death and a new run do not remove profession XP, completed buildings, contributed project materials, known recipes, Vault contents, Salvage Skill, or item knowledge. Every profession is available at the same time; there is no profession selection or mastery cap. The active station shows its profession level and exact XP progress at the top-right of its window.
Profession levels and crafting XP
Construction, Weaponcraft, Armorcraft, Alchemy, and Cooking use the same XP thresholds: level 1 starts at 0 XP, level 2 at 100, level 3 at 400, level 4 at 900, level 5 at 1,600, and level 6 at 2,500. A Camp recipe awards its profession XP only when crafting finishes and the output is completed. Its reward is 10 XP plus the total number of ingredient units used. Queueing a recipe, gathering materials, contributing to a project, starting construction, and completing a building award no profession XP.
Construction
Construction XP comes only from refining Components at the Workbench. Each refinement consumes five Components of the previous rarity and therefore awards 15 Construction XP when it completes. Reinforced, Precision, and Prototype Component refinements are available from Construction level 1. Refining five Prototype Components into one Legendary Component requires Construction level 6, which starts at 2,500 XP. Building or upgrading anything in the Camp never grants Construction XP.
Salvage
Salvage is a separate level-1–6 profession. Its thresholds are 0, 4,000, 16,000, 36,000, 64,000, and 100,000 lifetime XP. Every valid non-Starter equipment salvage awards 10 XP multiplied by the equipment tier, even when no material is recovered. Rejected requests, replayed operations, and confirmed Starter-equipment removal award nothing. Salvage level improves material recovery only; it does not increase crafted rarity, crafting speed, item stats, or Workbench building level.
The selected equipment is always consumed by a valid salvage. Knowledge of that base item also improves its recovery outlook and may unlock an eligible recipe after enough copies have been reverse-engineered. Item knowledge and recipe learning are permanent but are separate from the Salvage level.
Weaponcraft, Armorcraft, Alchemy, and Cooking
Weaponcraft gains XP from completed weapon recipes at the Weapon Smithy. Armorcraft gains XP from completed armor recipes at the Armor Workshop. Alchemy gains XP from completed alchemical recipes at the Alchemy Lab. Cooking gains XP from completed food recipes at the Cooking Place. Each uses the normal crafting XP rule above. Recipes may require both a profession level and a station level, so meeting only one requirement is not enough.
Funding and building a Camp project
Open Projects in your Camp to see each building's next cost. Materials are contributed from the Pack and may be deposited in smaller amounts. Contributions are secured permanently and survive cancellation, death, logout, and reconnect. You may fund a profession-station upgrade before reaching its required profession level; only the Start button remains locked. Starting requires every material, the required profession level when applicable, and no other active Camp project.
Only one Camp project can build at a time. Construction uses server time and continues while offline. Cancelling stops the timer but keeps all deposited materials. While a station is upgrading, its already completed level remains usable. When the timer finishes, the target level becomes available and its deposited materials are consumed.
Which upgrades require a profession?
Profession stations require the matching profession level for target levels 2–5: Workbench uses Construction, Weapon Smithy uses Weaponcraft, Armor Workshop uses Armorcraft, Alchemy Lab uses Alchemy, and Cooking Place uses Cooking. For example, a level-3 Weapon Smithy project needs Weaponcraft level 3. Salvage does not gate Workbench upgrades. Found Vault, Sleeping Place, and Trading Post have no profession-level requirement.
What building levels improve
Profession stations have levels 1–5. Their completed level controls the recipe tiers they can use and raises the crafted item-level cap through 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25. A recipe must still be known and meet its own profession-level requirement. Upgrading a station does not automatically grant recipes or profession XP.
The Found Vault starts with 20 permanent storage slots and adds five slots per completed upgrade through level 5. The Sleeping Place enables the Camp respawn point and improves Rest regeneration. The Workbench provides Component refinement and equipment salvage. The Weapon Smithy, Armor Workshop, Alchemy Lab, and Cooking Place provide their named crafting services. The Trading Post provides player-market listing, buying, cancellation, and delivery claims.
How recipes become available
Automatic recipes appear when their requirements are met. Discovered recipes require their exact recipe item and are learned at the matching completed station. Reverse-engineered recipes unlock after enough eligible copies are salvaged. Crafting then checks recipe knowledge, profession level, station level, Camp access, ingredients, and output space.
The practical progression loop
Gather or salvage materials, fund the building you need, and complete its first project. Craft completed recipes to earn the matching profession XP. You can deposit materials for the next station level at any time, but you must reach that profession level before starting the upgrade. Construction advances by repeatedly refining Components; Salvage advances by dismantling valid equipment. Gathering and Camp projects support this loop with materials, but they do not award profession XP themselves.