Casualties Unknown Beginner Guide – All Layers Explained

Starting your journey in Casualties: Unknown can be difficult because there are many things you need to understand before you can survive for long. You need to collect resources, craft useful equipment, manage your food and water, treat injuries, and avoid dangerous traps and enemies while exploring the different layers.

In this beginner guide, we will explain everything you need to know to get started in Casualties: Unknown. I will walk you through your first run, the basic controls, crafting, survival needs, skills, medical treatment, and the dangers you will encounter as you travel deeper into the Target Planet.

If you are new to the game, I recommend learning the basics first instead of trying to rush through every layer. You will make mistakes during your first few runs, but each attempt teaches you something useful. Let’s go through everything step by step.

Casualties Unknown Beginner Guide – All Layers Explained

When you reach the title screen, select Experiment to access the run settings. You can then choose the difficulty and other settings for your run.

For your first attempt, I recommend choosing Normal because it provides a good starting experience. However, if you want an easier introduction, you can choose Relaxed or Paradise.

The game also has a built-in tutorial. I recommend completing it if you are completely new, but you can still understand the basic mechanics by following this guide.

Which Difficulty Should You Choose?

• Normal: Recommended for learning the standard survival experience.
• Relaxed: A more forgiving option for beginners.
• Paradise: Another easier option if you want to start with additional supplies.

In Relaxed and Paradise modes, you receive a Lantern, Trash bag, Dog food, and Water bottle when starting.

First Things to Do After Landing

When you descend onto the Target Planet, you will appear inside a life pod. In the standard starting experience, you have an Emergency light on your back.

Your first objective should be to prepare yourself for exploration and gather enough resources to make basic storage.

Follow these steps:

1. Move the Emergency light into your secondary hand slot so you can use it when exploring.
2. Walk toward either side of the life pod to open the doors.
3. Look around for Glowplants and Geotrees.
4. Gather Foliage by breaking these resources with Mouse Left.
5. Collect enough Foliage to start crafting a Foliage bag.

Glowplants and Geotrees are useful sources of Foliage. Hydreeds can also drop Wrapvines, which count as Foliage, but they are heavier and less efficient to carry.

Explore Carefully

Your Emergency light is important because it helps you see the surroundings and identify deep pits or traps.

Keep these tips in mind while exploring:

• Turn on your light when you need to inspect dark areas.
• Turn it off when you do not need it to save its lifespan.
• Follow safe paths downward whenever possible.
• If there is no safe path, you can dig through the ground using Mouse Left.
• Avoid exhausting yourself too much while digging.
• Speed up time when you need to recover from exhaustion.
• Slide down walls to slow your fall.
• Jump off walls when you need to gain height.
• Use climbing ropes when you find them.

Do not rush into darkness without checking the terrain first. A dangerous fall or hidden trap can end your run very early.

Your First Crafting Goals

Crafting is one of the most important mechanics in Casualties: Unknown. It allows you to turn resources found in the environment into useful equipment.

Your first major crafting goal should be making a Foliage bag.

How to Craft a Foliage Bag

You need the following materials:

Material	Required Amount
Rope	1
Canvas	2

You can craft Rope using two pieces of Foliage and each Canvas using three pieces of Foliage.

Follow these steps:

1. Collect Foliage from nearby plants.
2. Press C to open the crafting menu.
3. Find Foliage bag in the recipe list.
4. Craft one Rope using two Foliage.
5. Craft two Canvases using six Foliage.
6. Select the Foliage bag recipe and craft it using the Rope and two Canvases.

The Foliage bag is a container that allows you to store items up to its size and weight limits. This helps save inventory space and lets you carry more resources.

Once you craft it, move suitable items from your inventory into the bag.

Important: Favorite your Foliage bag so you do not accidentally use it in another crafting recipe.

Craft More Storage

After making your first Foliage bag, work toward crafting additional bags and one or two Canteens.

A Canteen requires:

Material	Required Amount
Chunk of plastic	2
Rope	1
Bio-chem fluid	10 mL

You can obtain Chunks of plastic by breaking rubber or plastic blocks. Bio-chem fluid can be crafted using Glowplant fruits dropped by Glowplants.

You can also pin a crafting recipe by clicking the pin in the bottom-right corner of the crafting menu. The selected recipe will then appear in the top-left corner of your screen, making it easier to track the required ingredients.

How to Become Self-Sustaining

Once you have basic storage, you should focus on gathering food, water, and other survival supplies.

Glowplants and Geotrees are especially useful during the early stages of a run.

• Glowplants: Drop Glowplant fruits, which are useful crafting materials and temporary light sources.
• Geotrees: Drop Geofruits, which provide food and help with hydration and mood.

You can place a Glowplant fruit on your back and favorite it to use it as a light source. This reduces how much you need to rely on your Emergency light, although Glowplant fruits do not last as long and provide less light.

Geofruits are also useful when you need a quick boost to satiation, hydration, and mood. However, they do not last long, so use them when needed.

Understanding Your Basic Needs

There are four important needs you should monitor while exploring:

• Food
• Water
• Energy
• Mood

Ignoring these needs can make survival much harder.

Food

Food is important because hunger affects your ability to survive and explore.

Here are some useful food tips:

• Most food items perish, although some, such as Nutrient bars, do not.
• Snack foods like Chips and Candy are better for improving mood than providing satiation.
• Snack foods usually perish slowly and are relatively light.
• Avoid becoming too hungry because it becomes harder to move and scavenge for food.
• Use a Campfire to craft filling and healthy meals such as Soup.
• Remember that preparing these meals usually requires additional time and resources.

Eating too much or too little can also affect your weight. Being underweight or overweight negatively affects your health and mobility.

Water

Water can be difficult to manage because naturally available potable water is uncommon.

Keep these tips in mind:

• Groundwater can be collected and boiled into Clean water.
• Groundwater becomes less common as you travel deeper, so save some when you find it in earlier layers.
• Hydreeds drop Aquapples when broken. Eating them provides quick hydration.
• Aquapples perish too quickly to store for long.
• Do not keep fluid containers that you intend to drink from in your main inventory.

One important thing to remember is that tile fluids can enter a fluid container when it physically touches them. This can contaminate the liquid you intended to drink, and separating the liquids is not easy.

Energy

Low energy affects your mobility, stamina regeneration, and consciousness.

You need to sleep when your energy becomes low, but sleeping is only possible under certain conditions.

Some useful tips:

• Naptails and Sleeping pills can help you sleep when normal conditions are not available.
• Sleeping on a poor surface results in poor sleep and lower consciousness.
• Rubber tiles commonly found inside life pods can provide good sleep and boost energy.
• Soil and other softer surfaces can also work.
• Always try to sleep before your energy becomes so low that you cannot move away from danger.

You can also use Coffee, Energy drinks, and Soda to restore energy when you cannot find a suitable place to sleep.

Mood

Mood is affected by several different things, so it can be difficult to manage when you are starting out.

Here are some ways to improve or stabilize your mood:

• Avoid approaching Corpses whenever possible.
• Corpses have a detection radius of seven tiles from their center.
• Facing direction and walls do not prevent your character from detecting a nearby corpse.
• Eat foods that provide mood boosts, such as Geofruit and Chips.
• Eating until you receive the Satiated or Full moodle can improve happiness.
• Naptails dropped by Hydreeds can stabilize your mood, but they also make you fall asleep.
• If you find a Soothing Crystal, keep it on your back to reduce sadness.

Do not put the Soothing Crystal inside a storage item because its effects will not work while stored that way.

Dangers You Must Avoid

The Target Planet contains several dangers that can cause serious injuries or end your run.

Falls

Large falls can be deadly, especially when you cannot see where you are landing.

Always use a light source to inspect the terrain before moving downward. Avoid jumping into areas where the floor is not visible.

Traps

Spike Traps and Jump Pads are common early dangers.

They can cause serious injuries if you activate them without being prepared.

Look for small lights in dark areas because they can help you identify traps. You can also throw an item onto a trap to activate it before breaking the tile underneath it.

Enemies

Shade Crawlers are among the enemies you will commonly encounter early in the game.

Enemies can cause injuries that may lead to bleeding or infections. Carry a light source such as a Glowplant fruit so you can spot enemies before they surprise you.

You should also prepare for combat encounters, but remember that running away is sometimes the safest option.

Sickness

Sickness can cause vomiting and other negative effects. It can also contribute to infections if you do not manage it properly.

If you receive the Queasy moodle, avoid eating, drinking, or injecting anything that could make the sickness worse.

Sickness usually goes away over time. You can speed up the process by consuming:

• Helluce
• Orange Juice
• Naltrexone

Keeping a Digestion crystal shard in a slot that directly touches your body can also reduce sickness more quickly.

Avoid eating while Dirty because it can cause sickness.

How to Improve Your Skills

Your character becomes stronger, tougher, and smarter as you explore different layers.

There are three main skills:

• Strength
• Resilience
• Intelligence

Each skill can increase through passive activities, such as crossing layer boundaries or moving while over-encumbered. You can also improve skills through active activities such as exercising and killing enemies.

Strength

Strength represents the muscle mass of your arms.

It affects:

• Attack damage
• Carrying capacity
• Throwing distance
• Hand speed in minigames

You can increase Strength by:

• Doing push-ups.
• Doing planks.
• Attacking enemies.
• Moving while over-encumbered.

Push-ups are the best exercise for building Strength. Squats do not increase Strength.

Resilience

Resilience represents your toughness and agility.

It affects:

• Stamina regeneration
• Pain tolerance
• Carrying capacity
• Hand shakiness in minigames

You can increase Resilience by:

• Doing squats.
• Doing planks.
• Jumping.
• Wall jumping.
• Landing on your feet after falling.
• Moving while over-encumbered.
• Killing enemies.
• Remaining conscious while in pain.

Squats are the best exercise for building Resilience. Push-ups do not increase this skill.

Intelligence

Intelligence represents your knowledge and social skills.

It affects:

• Your ability to recognize items.
• Which crafting recipes are available.
• Initial reputation with traders.
• The effectiveness of lockpicking kits.
• The effectiveness of manual defibrillators.

Intelligence is especially important because it unlocks better tools, weapons, armor, storage, and medical items.

You can increase Intelligence by:

• Crafting new recipes for the first time.
• Reading Blueprints.
• Reading E-PDAs found in life pods.
• Haggling with traders.
• Purchasing items from traders.
• Crossing layer boundaries.

Haggling repeatedly with traders is a useful way to build Intelligence early.

Important: Intelligence is the only skill that can be reduced. Getting Mindwiped resets your Intelligence to zero.

First-Aid: How to Treat Injuries

Medical treatment is an important part of survival. Injuries can become dangerous if you ignore them, so you should learn how to identify and treat common problems.

Blunt Force Trauma

Blunt Force Trauma can happen when you fall or receive a heavy impact.

The injured limb will appear red in the health panel. The amount of redness indicates the severity of the injury.

Minor injuries can heal naturally over time. You can speed up the process using Bruise kits or Opiates such as Numberries and L.R.D.s.

More serious injuries can cause dislocations or fractures.

Dislocations:

• A dislocation can sometimes heal naturally.
• Bandages, Splints, and Bruise kits can speed up healing.
• You can complete the bone-realignment minigame to relocate the limb immediately.

Fractures:

• Fractures are similar to dislocations.
• They take longer to heal.
• The healing process cannot be skipped through the minigame.

Brain damage:

If you receive an injury to your head, it may cause Brain damage. Wearing a Helmet can help prevent this.

Brain health slowly recovers over time, but Braingrow or Neural booster can provide a noticeable improvement.

Bleeding

Bleeding is one of the most common injuries you will encounter.

You can identify bleeding through the blood drop icon in the health panel. The size and color of the drop indicate how severe the injury is.

A small white drop indicates less severe bleeding, while a large dark red drop indicates more serious blood loss.

If you lose too much blood, you can die. This is why you should treat serious bleeding as soon as it is safe.

To treat bleeding:

1. Select a Dressing.
2. Apply it to the injured limb.
3. Complete the minigame by moving the bandage in a circular motion.
4. Continue until the blood drop icon disappears.

If you have several bleeding injuries, prioritize the more serious ones first. A Tourniquet can temporarily stop bleeding and give you time to apply proper treatment.

Internal bleeding:

If you are losing blood but cannot see a blood drop icon in the health panel, you may have internal bleeding.

It can sometimes heal naturally, but serious internal bleeding may lead to Hemothorax.

You can reduce internal bleeding using:

• Procoagulant
• Helluce
• Bunchunk
• L.R.D.
• Makeshift L.R.D.

Using an L.R.D. or Makeshift L.R.D. on the chest in the health panel can greatly reduce internal bleeding.

Infections

An infected limb displays a pink or purple icon with an arrow in the health panel.

The color indicates the severity:

• Pink means the infection is less severe.
• Purple means the infection is more severe.

The arrow shows whether the infection is getting better or worse.

• An upward arrow means the infection is getting worse.
• A downward arrow means the infection is healing.

If an infection develops into Sepsis, it can become fatal.

To treat an infection, you can:

• Use the shower inside a Life-pod.
• Use Antibiotics.
• Use Alcohol.
• Use Antiseptic.
• Use Glowplant fruit as a makeshift disinfectant.

High Immunity can also help reduce infections over time.

You can maintain Immunity by eating, drinking, and sleeping enough while keeping Dirtiness, Sickness, and Radiation low.

As a last resort, you can permanently amputate an infected limb using a Cutting Tool. However, the Makeshift digging tool and Wooden sickle cannot be used for this.

Understanding Death

Death is permanent in Casualties: Unknown.

Your run ends when your Brain health reaches 0%. This can happen for several reasons, but oxygen deprivation is a major cause because it reduces Brain health over time and can trigger fibrillation.

Common causes of death include:

• Starvation
• Dehydration
• Suffocation
• Bleeding out
• Freezing
• Heatstroke
• Sepsis
• Suicide
• Cardiac Arrest

When you die, your progress and items do not transfer to your next run. The only thing you keep is the knowledge you gained from your previous attempts.

Every run is a new survival experience, so use your mistakes to improve your next attempt.

All Layers Explained

There are five layers in Casualties: Unknown, and each one has its own environment, resources, traps, and enemies.

Understanding the dangers of each layer will help you prepare before going deeper.

Layer 1: Gravel Lands

<PRIVATE_PERSON>Gravel Lands is similar to a preparation phase. It has fewer hazards than the deeper layers, giving you time to collect resources and prepare your equipment.

However, you should still be careful because some traps can cause serious injuries.

Traps and dangers:

• Spike Traps: These launch a large spike when something passes over them. They only work once and blink red while active. You can throw an item at them to activate them safely, but the item may be destroyed or lose its liquid or charge.
• Jump Pads: These launch objects and anything standing on them into the air, potentially causing blunt force trauma. You can destroy the blocks they are placed on to remove them.
• Geysers: These blend into the surrounding stone and release powerful jets of water when disturbed. Move to higher ground or across a deep gap if you hear one rumbling.

Enemies:

Shade Crawlers are commonly found in this layer. They blend into the background and have mild venom. Multiple bites can become dangerous, but they are relatively easy to kill, even using your claws.

Beginner tips:

• Collect useful items before moving deeper.
• Save your light sources because later layers have very little ambient light.
• Watch for traps while exploring.
• Use this layer to prepare equipment and medical supplies.

Layer 2: Deeper Gravel Lands

Deeper Gravel Lands is one of the darkest layers, making a light source extremely important.

The traps here are more dangerous than those in the first layer.

Traps and dangers:

• Barbed Fences: These are difficult to climb over. Touching the barbed wire can cause repeated injuries, so try to find a lower route instead of crossing them.
• Bear Traps: These can cause fractures or dislocations and guarantee severe bleeding. Look for red sensors because they are the most visible part of the trap.
• Lumalgae: This appears as glowing green water. It is not safe to drink and can contaminate any Groundwater it touches.
• Spike Traps, Jump Pads, and Geysers: These hazards can also appear in this layer.

Enemies:

Cave Ticks are common here. They are small and fragile but appear in large swarms, causing many tiny bites.

Look for groups of insects and avoid fighting them whenever possible.

Beginner tips:

• Always carry a reliable light source.
• Keep Canteens stored away from Lumalgae.
• Avoid groups of Cave Ticks.
• Be especially careful around Bear Traps and Barbed Fences.

Layer 3: Dried Desert

The Dried Desert is hot, and water becomes scarce. You should save any water you find, including Groundwater, and pay attention to your temperature.

The traps in this layer are more dangerous than those in the previous layers.

Traps and dangers:

• Turrets: These shoot at anything with a heat signature. They deal heavy damage and can cause hearing loss to anything nearby. They have unlimited ammunition and can fire multiple times. Avoid approaching them for melee combat.
• Landmines: These explode when triggered and have a large blast radius. You can activate them from a distance by throwing an item and moving away.
• Waste Pipes: These appear on background walls and release oil over time. Oil is undrinkable, slows your movement, and can create a drowning risk through exhaustion.
• Stalactites: These can fall and cause serious head injuries. You can remove their anchor block or throw something at them to dislodge them safely.
• Other traps: Barbed Fences, Jump Pads, and Bear Traps can also appear.

Environment and enemies:

Sandvines appear throughout this layer and can act like climbing ropes. Thick Sandvines can be climbed, while thin ones only allow you to slide down.

Dried bushes can slow your movement considerably, so break them if you need to move quickly.

Sand Stalkers are the main enemies here. They are tougher and more aggressive than Shade Crawlers. Their slow turning can help you when fighting them.

Beginner tips:

• Save your water and avoid overheating.
• Drink water when it can help with both thirst and temperature.
• Be careful around Turrets and Landmines.
• Break Dried bushes when they block your movement.

Layer 4: Wasteland

The Wasteland shares some characteristics with the Dried Desert, including hot and dry conditions. However, it also has high radioactivity.

The traps here are extremely dangerous.

Traps and dangers:

• Coils: These can electrocute conductive objects that touch them. They can restart the heart and cause brief unconsciousness. Avoid direct contact, especially near pits.
• Sound Cannons: These charge up and release powerful sound blasts. Getting hit can cause deafness and ruptured veins. Take cover when you hear one charging.
• Spent Fuel: Containers of Spent Fuel release radiation into the surrounding area. If your screen starts filling with white noise while moving, back away and find another route.
• Other traps: Barbed Fences, Jump Pads, Turrets, Landmines, Waste Pipes, and Stalactites can also appear.

There are no enemies in this layer.

Beginner tips:

• Avoid Coils completely.
• Keep your distance from Spent Fuel.
• Take cover when you hear a Sound Cannon charging.
• Do not rush through unfamiliar areas because the traps are extremely dangerous.

Layer 5: Overgrown Depths

The Overgrown Depths contains dense foliage and large tree trunks. You will need a fast or powerful mining tool to move through the terrain efficiently.

The traps here are dangerous, although they are somewhat less dangerous than those in the Wasteland.

Traps and dangers:

• Skullcrushers: These hang from the ceiling and fall onto anything underneath them. You can throw something at them or break their anchor block to remove the threat.
• Banana-plants: These are extremely slippery and can make you fall into the depths. Breaking them is safer than trying to jump over them.
• Other traps: Geysers, Jump Pads, Spike Traps, Bear Traps, and Coils can also appear.

Enemies and environment:

Thornbacks are the main enemies in this layer. They can dig through terrain and are very aggressive and resilient, so avoid getting in their way.

Tentacle-plants also grow here. They can grab you and slam you into the terrain, so keep your distance.

If you suddenly feel intense fear and the surrounding nature becomes silent, run and do not look back.

Best General Exploration Tips

Exploration becomes easier when you understand how to move through each layer and manage your time.

Here are some useful tips:

• Explore levels in an S-shaped pattern.
• Prioritize horizontal exploration over vertical exploration.
• Keep an eye on the level timer in your health panel.
• On Standard difficulty, you have about an hour to explore each level.
• Take your time gathering resources because they can save your life later.
• Hold Ctrl to give nearby items a square outline, making them easier to see and pick up.
• Floor-based traps can often be dismantled by breaking the tile underneath them.
• Traps can provide Scrap metal, which is often more durable than scrap found by digging up Scrap tiles.

Useful Crafting Recipes for Beginners

Crafting helps make your runs more consistent because you can create useful tools and supplies from resources found in the environment.

You will not always need to craft every item. For example, finding a Backpack early can make a Sling bag unnecessary.

You start with 7 Intelligence, so your early crafting options are limited. Increasing Intelligence should be one of your main goals.

You can improve Intelligence by reading E-PDAs and Blueprints, haggling with traders, buying and selling items, crossing layer boundaries, and crafting new recipes for the first time.

The following recipes are grouped by their Intelligence requirements.

Recipes Requiring 7 INT or Less

These are some of the first recipes you should consider making.

Recipe	Why It Is Useful
Canteen	Stores Bio-chem fluid and other liquids.
Foliage bag	Provides additional storage.
Dressing	Useful for treating bleeding.
Flimsy knife	Helps you collect and process materials.
String	Useful for later crafting recipes.
Nails	Required for some later recipes.
Scrap panel	Useful for later crafting.
Makeshift digging tool	Very important for digging and collecting resources.
Sling bag	Provides additional wearable storage.
Limb wraps	Provides minor protection.
Spray bottle	Can hold Relief cream, Antiseptic, or Alcohol.
Sterilized dressing	Useful for treating wounds.
Opium	Can be used for crafting Morphine.

Important crafting tips:

• Try to keep your Makeshift digging tool favorited so it is not accidentally used in Hammering or Cutting recipes.
• Save your Makeshift digging tool when it reaches 1% durability because you can use it to craft a Pickaxe later.
• A Sling bag gives you additional wearable storage while leaving a back slot available for a Lantern, Rose light, or Glowplant fruit.
• Four Canvases weigh less than a full Dressing, so it can be more efficient to carry a single Dressing and craft more when needed.
• Fluid storage is limited early on, so keep any useful fluid containers you find.

Recipes Requiring 8 INT

Recipe	Why It Is Useful
Makeshift helmet	Provides important protection.
Wood sandals	Useful footwear.
Firestarter	Allows you to start fires.
Fat	Can be crafted using a Campfire.
Blood	Can be crafted from Blood sacs if you do not have a Blood bag.

Makeshift helmets require two Stiff carcasses, which can be difficult to find. Hunt Shade Crawlers until you have enough materials.

You can also carry three Wood panels or three Sticks with a Firestarter or Lighter to make a Campfire for crafting Fat.

Recipes Requiring 9 INT

Recipe	Why It Is Useful
Crude cleaver	Useful weapon for combat.
Makeshift wrench	Useful for repairs and other interactions.
Tweezers	Used for removing Shrapnel.
Morphine	Useful for pain management.
Relief cream	Helps treat infections.
Antiseptic	Helps disinfect wounds.
Soup	Emergency food that does not spoil.

After crafting a Makeshift wrench, consider favoriting the Sticks you collect so they are not accidentally used as Hammering materials.

You can place Relief cream or Antiseptic inside a Spray bottle. Relief cream is the better option according to the supplied crafting notes.

Recipes Requiring 10 INT

Recipe	Why It Is Useful
Material pouch	Provides additional storage.
Lock-picking kit	Helps with lockpicking.
Belt	Provides another place to carry equipment.
Flashlight	Provides a reliable light source.
Bruise kit	Helps improve muscle health.
Makeshift L.R.D.	Useful for treating internal bleeding.
Lantern	A better light source than a Flashlight.

Once you have a Material pouch, move as many suitable items into it as possible.

The recommended inventory arrangement after making a Lock-picking kit is:

• Digging tool in your main hand.
• Light source in your off-hand.
• Lock-picking kit on your back.
• Two storage containers.
• Keep your mouth slot empty.

A Flashlight requires batteries, which become craftable at 11 INT. You may also find a Lightbulb in a drop pod.

Use Bruise kits to improve muscle health above 10. You can use Morphine for pain management until you reach the Intelligence requirement for Fentanyl.

Recipes Requiring 11 INT

Recipe	Why It Is Useful
IV bags	Excellent liquid storage.
Small battery	Useful for powering devices.
Fentanyl	Useful for pain relief and Bruise kit crafting.
L.R.D. serum	Used to refill an L.R.D.

You should try to obtain at least four IV bags.

A useful arrangement is:

• One for Bio-chem.
• One for crafting materials such as Opiates, Fat, Mindwipe, and Red blood.
• One for Soup.
• One for Produce juice.

You cannot fill IV bags directly from tiles. Use a Milk carton or Chocolate milk bottle when collecting water.

You can remove batteries from devices using a Wrench. Keep empty batteries because they can be recharged.

You can also put Small batteries into devices that normally require a Medium or Large battery.

Fentanyl can be transferred into a syringe for pain relief. It is also useful for crafting Bruise kits.

Only craft L.R.D. serum when you need to refill your L.R.D.

Recipes Requiring 12 INT

Recipe	Why It Is Useful
Medium battery	Provides better battery capacity.
Blood bag	Stores blood for emergencies and crafting.
Chest drain	Used to treat Hemothorax.
Pickaxe	Important digging tool.
Wrench	Can be used to treat dislocations.
Machete	Useful weapon for combat.

You can craft a fully charged Medium battery using two empty Small batteries.

Consider upgrading the battery in your Flashlight to a Medium battery.

Only fill your Blood bag when you are healthy. The supplied guide recommends doing this before sleeping when possible.

Remember to favorite your Pickaxe so you do not accidentally use it in another recipe.

The Machete is a useful combat weapon because the Pickaxe is extremely slow when fighting enemies.

Recipes Requiring 13 INT

Recipe	Why It Is Useful
Backpack	Provides useful storage.
Bicycle helmet	Provides important head protection.

The Bicycle helmet is an important piece of equipment, but its 100% protection does not make you immune to Stalactites.

Recipe Requiring 14 INT

Recipe	Why It Is Useful
Scaffolding pack	Useful for building and movement.

The Scaffolding pack requires 15 INT for the Titanium slab used in its crafting process. Ilmenite can only be found in Layer 5.

Recipes Requiring 15 INT

Recipe	Why It Is Useful
Trauma rig	Provides wearable storage and equipment space.
L.R.D.	Useful for treating internal bleeding.
Tactical gloves	Provides equipment for your hands.

The Trauma rig recipe requires a Belt. However, the Trauma rig uses the torsofront slot, which is also used by Belly armor, Liquid pouch, and Fanny pack.

This means you can equip a Belt and Trauma rig at the same time.

Recipes Requiring 16 INT

Recipe	Why It Is Useful
Tactical boots	A better version of Wood sandals.
Titanium pickaxe	A powerful digging tool.
Mini laser drill	Better than the Titanium pickaxe.
Titanium machete	A stronger combat weapon.
Titanium multitool	A lighter alternative to the Wrench.

The Titanium multitool is lighter than the Wrench, but it cannot fix dislocations.

If you decide to craft it, keep your Wrench and Machete favorited.

Recipe Requiring 17 INT

Recipe	Why It Is Useful
Riot helmet	Provides important head protection.

Like the Bicycle helmet, the Riot helmet does not provide complete immunity from Stalactites.

Recipe Requiring 18 INT

Recipe	Why It Is Useful
Neural booster	Provides a useful medical effect.

The supplied crafting notes recommend using only a single Neural booster.

Easy Recipes for Intelligence Experience

Crafting a recipe for the first time grants 10 Intelligence Experience.

Some recipes are not especially useful, but they are easy to make and can help you increase Intelligence.

Here are some training recipes:

• 4 Foliage → Wood scraps
• Wood cube → Wood panel
• Wood cube → Stick
• Stiff carcass → Makeshift headlamp
• Stick + Rope → Torch → Repair torch
• Droppings → Charcoal
• Rope + Nails → Climbing rope
• Wood panel + Chunk of plastic → Box of 12-Gauge
• Fat → Soap
• Repair circuit board
• Rye bulb → Rye flour → Bread or Nutrient bar
• Scrap panel → Casing → 9mm round, 5.56 round, or 12-Gauge buckshot
• Flammable powder → Dynamite
• Popskin → Antiseptic mush
• Blood → Clotting mush
• Magazine base → Small or Rifle magazine
• Titanium sheet → Plastic dressing

You can use these recipes to earn Intelligence Experience while turning spare materials into useful items.

Tips and Tricks for Better Survival

Once you understand the basics, you can use several techniques to make your runs easier.

Trap Tips

Traps are dangerous, but they can also provide useful materials.

• Most traps can be baited.
• Throw an item at a Jump Pad or Spike Trap to activate it, then quickly move past or mine it.
• You can trigger Sound Cannons by entering their line of sight and then quickly moving behind cover.
• Turrets can also be triggered this way, but they reload and fire quickly.
• Landmines can be detonated from a distance using thrown items or bullets.
• Be careful when detonating Landmines because explosions can destroy climbing vines, solid ground, and cause liquid pools to flow.
• Avoid Coils and Spent Fuel.
• Traps can provide Scrap metal. Store it as Scrap cubes to reduce its weight.
• Circuit boards dropped by traps can have good trade value.
• Traps can hide behind vegetation, corpses, liquid pools, and partially buried blocks.
• Breaking the blocks underneath a trap is often a quick way to disarm it.
• Carry one or two Glowplant fruits and throw them into dark areas before jumping down.
• Glowplant fruits can also activate traps.
• You can use your cursor to inspect terrain in complete darkness.
• Flowing water can knock you over easily, so break Geysers near areas where you plan to spend time.

Enemy Tips

Different enemies require different approaches.

Shade Crawlers:

Hunt Shade Crawlers until you have enough materials to make a Makeshift helmet.

Cave Ticks:

Avoid Cave Ticks because they do not drop loot. If a swarm starts chasing you, run behind walls or other tiles to block most of them.

Sand Stalkers:

Avoid fighting Sand Stalkers whenever possible. If you have to fight, you can use terrain to trap them or create an embrasure using Scrap metal.

Combat preparation:

If you are carrying a mining tool and an enemy attacks, move the tool into your Belt, mouth, or onto solid ground. Then take out your Machete or another combat weapon if you cannot escape.

Movement Tips

Movement becomes easier when you understand how the environment and items interact.

• Scrap metal can be placed as tiles, but doing so consumes 25% of its durability.
• Carrying a 100% durability Scrap metal piece can help you climb.
• You can combine individual Scrap metal pieces with lower durability.
• Throwing items downward can boost you upward.
• The strength of this movement technique depends on your Strength and the weight of the item.
• Heavier objects such as a Mini-barrel or Toolbox can provide more movement assistance.
• You can claw at the ground shortly after jumping to perform a technique called clawboost.
• Hitting objects creates a recoil effect that can help move your character.
• You can fit through gaps that are six blocks tall while standing, three blocks tall while crouching, and two blocks tall while ragdolling.
• Press X to ragdoll.

Food and Drink Tips

Managing food and water becomes increasingly important as you travel deeper.

• Drinking Groundwater directly from tiles is better than drinking it from containers.
• Layers 1 and 2 should provide Geofruit and Blobflesh.
• Geofruit helps improve happiness, while Blobflesh helps increase weight.
• Layers 3 and 4 can provide Cactus flesh, which works as raw food and provides bonus water.
• Brownshroom, Popfruit, and Stone fruit can be turned into Produce juice.
• Brownshrooms are especially useful because crafting them makes them safe to consume.
• You can generally survive using resources found in each layer, but injuries may force you to stay in one place for a long time.
• Keep Soup as emergency food.
• A full IV bag of Soup takes up 1.1u and provides 75 hunger and 67.5 thirst.
• Saline and Ringer’s solution can also be injected to help with thirst, but be careful about increased blood pressure.
• Meat items, especially Pemmican, can interact with Fat and Soup recipes.
• You can eat most of a Pemmican and use the remaining portion to craft Soup or Fat.
• Sickness can drain more hunger and thirst than the food you consumed provides.
• Stop drinking Groundwater or doing anything that may worsen sickness when the Queasy moodle first appears.
• A single sip of Chocolate milk, Coffee, or Energy drink can sometimes provide more benefit than drawback.
• Stone fruit is mainly useful when you are starving and have a nearby pool of water.
• Try to keep hunger and thirst around 100 until you receive the Satiated and Slaked moodles.

Medicine and Health Tips

The medical system in Casualties: Unknown is complex, and you will encounter several different injuries and status effects.

Here are some important things to remember.

Energy and sleep:

• You can naturally sleep when your Energy is below 35%.
• Sleeping pills and Naptails can also help you sleep.
• Naptails increase happiness, so try to save them for when you are tired and have a safe place to sleep.
• Rubber and Sand are good surfaces for sleeping.
• Clay and Wood can also provide acceptable sleep quality, but you may take longer to wake up.
• Exercise can make you tired, so working out before sleeping can be useful.
• Coffee, Energy drinks, and Soda can restore Energy when you cannot find a good place to sleep.

Temperature:

• Remove armor pieces that provide insulation when overheating.
• Scarves and Limb wraps are examples of items that can increase insulation.
• Jumping into Water or Oil can increase Wetness and help reduce overheating.

Dirtiness:

• You will become Dirty as you explore.
• You can use Groundwater and ragdoll to clean yourself.
• Press X to ragdoll and hold X to stay in that position.
• Use A and D to move while ragdolling.
• Keep your torso inside Groundwater to clean yourself.
• Cleaning can reduce Dirtiness by 10%.
• The Dirtiness moodle only appears at 50%, so you should still clean yourself before it becomes visible.
• Being wet can make you cold and cause items to decay faster.
• Showers inside drop pods can also remove Dirtiness.
• Soap can clean you, but it may not be worth using your resources for this purpose.

Mood and encumbrance:

• Positive mood helps protect you from the effects of negative mood.
• Very low mood can be extremely dangerous.
• Geofruits can improve mood directly and indirectly through the Satiated moodle.
• Naptails can provide another early mood boost, but only use them somewhere safe.
• Encumbrance can help train Strength and Resilience.
• Going above 30% encumbrance is not recommended because it seriously affects stamina, jump height, and safe fall distance.
• Check item weights and remove items that provide little benefit.
• Storage containers make items easier to carry.
• Hold Shift to view the exact encumbrance reduction from containers.

Bleeding and internal injuries:

• Bleeding is one of the most common injuries.
• Always keep a Dressing or Sterilized dressing available.
• If bleeding is greater than -1 L/min, quickly apply a Tourniquet to the affected limb.
• After that, use a Blood bag or Ringer’s solution and then bandage the injury.
• Natural blood regeneration is affected by hunger.
• Internal bleeding is difficult to treat early in the game.
• You can craft L.R.D. or Makeshift L.R.D. using L.R.D. serum at 11 INT.
• Helluce can be found starting in Layer 4.
• Procoagulant can also help with internal bleeding.
• Avoid lowering your blood viscosity because it increases bleeding.
• Hemothorax is caused by internal bleeding and can only be removed using a Chest drain.

Infections and skin health:

• Infections can develop when your skin health is poor.
• Use Relief cream or Antiseptic in a Spray bottle to treat infected wounds.
• Glowplant fruits can work as a makeshift antiseptic when you do not have proper medicine.
• Keeping wounds bandaged until skin health reaches 80 can help prevent infections.
• Bruise kits are especially efficient for improving skin health.

Toxicosis and brain health:

• Toxicosis can often be left to heal naturally.
• Antivenom is difficult to craft, and finding it in barrels depends on random loot.
• Brain health is extremely important.
• Brain damage can reduce movement speed, make you drop items, cause random ragdolling, mirror your screen, cause vomiting, and create screen flashes.
• These effects can begin when Brain health reaches 95% or lower.
• Head injuries and oxygen deprivation are the main sources of Brain damage.
• Braingrow can help heal Brain damage.
• Make a Makeshift helmet and upgrade it to a Bicycle helmet or Riot helmet when possible.
• Watch for aggressive convulsions because they can indicate an upcoming dangerous ragdoll event.

Other injuries:

• Tweezers can remove Shrapnel.
• Shrapnel is not always an immediate priority because its main effect is preventing natural healing and clotting.
• You do not need to remove Shrapnel before treating bleeding.
• Stop serious bleeding before trying to remove Shrapnel.
• Pulling Shrapnel too quickly without Tweezers or moving it too far sideways can cause additional pain, bleeding, and skin damage.
• If your heart rate rapidly increases, watch for Fibrillation.
• Use an Auto-pump and Defibrillator when necessary.
• If your heart stops, use Epinephrine and continue using Defibrillators.
• A Wrench can fix dislocations.
• Fixing a dislocation by hand can cause a fracture.
• Even partially fixing a dislocation can reduce the time until it heals naturally.
• Fractures can be treated using a Bone welding tool, bandages, Splints, or Carcass splints.
• Muscle damage usually heals with sleep.
• If muscle health falls below 10, natural healing becomes much weaker.
• If Thorax muscle health falls below 5, you stop breathing. Treat this immediately using Bruise kits or an L.R.D.
• Bruise kits become craftable at 10 INT and should be used to raise muscle health above 10.
• Ice packs can be used twice from a full charge to help muscle healing before they need to regenerate.
• L.R.D.s and Makeshift L.R.D.s are powerful medical tools but poor storage containers. You can transfer their serum into an IV bag or another suitable container.

Other Useful Tips

There are several additional mechanics that can make your runs easier.

• Press B to bark.
• Most recipes accept items with only 1% durability.
• For example, you can use a Machete as a digging tool until it reaches 1% durability and then upgrade it into a Titanium machete, provided no Minor failure occurs.
• E-PDAs are often found in life pods with Lightbulbs near the top.
• You can break the Lightbulb, remove its battery using a tool, put the battery into an E-PDA, read it, and then remove the battery.
• New E-PDAs provide 35 INT Experience in addition to information and lore.
• Breaking a Lightbulb can upset a survivor inside a pod and lower your reputation.
• Before trading with survivors, try to wash yourself, store items in your mouth or elsewhere, and put away your guns.
• High mood can also help you make a better first impression.
• You can sometimes use a shower before survivors notice you.
• Sleeping with a survivor can be encouraged using a Naptail or Sleeping pills if they are unwilling to sleep. This also builds trust.
• You can try hugging Experiment traders if you are clean and have 100 reputation. Milky traders require 115 reputation.
• Dunes do not understand hugs and are neutral toward them.
• Dunes can be pleased using the Friendly bite option. Bandage the resulting wounds, use the disinfectant shower, and then start trading.
• You can ask survivors to move if they are blocking a Life-pod button.
• Dynamite can destroy Steel and heat-resistant Alloy tiles.
• A Plasma cutter is an improved version of Dynamite for this purpose.
• The Liquid centrifuge is an excellent find. It is useful for carrying liquids and extracting fluids from Mini-barrels.
• Some liquids are difficult to obtain in large quantities without a Liquid centrifuge, including Medical-grade stimulant, Oxyline, Powdered milk, and Sports drink.
• Other valuable liquids include L.R.D. serum, Fentanyl, Procoagulant, Antiserum, Relief cream, Braingrow, and Mindwipe.
• Items can easily fall from your hands if you lose consciousness or limb strength.
• Keep a Lantern in an open wearable container, such as a Belt or Trauma rig, or in one of your back slots.
• Storage containers are also best placed in your back slots, except for the hands-only Toolbox.
• The mouth slot is vulnerable because consuming anything will drop the item stored there.
• Mouth items can also be left behind in unreachable locations, and the slot can be permanently disabled if disfigured.
• The Liquid pouch is not a good storage choice compared with IV bags stored inside containers such as the Fanny pack.
• Low Intelligence can make items appear as “some kind of” an unknown object. You can still interact with them, and you will gradually learn to recognize them.
• The condition or battery level of an item can be identified by the color of its inventory bar.
• Green indicates good condition, while red can indicate a possible explosion hazard.
• The length of the bar indicates how much capacity is filled, which can be useful for drugs.
• Even when the time limit is enabled, try to explore each layer and stay ahead of the laser.
• The laser takes about an hour to appear and reaches the bottom at 1 hour and 20 minutes.
• Taking your time in Layers 1 and 2 can make the deeper layers easier.
• Red Blood bags can be used to enter Bio-terminals.
• Transferring the Red blood into another container gives you an empty Blood bag that can be used to draw your own blood for emergencies and crafting.
• An Electronic watch can provide useful information and a happiness bonus every ten minutes.
• It can also help identify Fibrillation or infections before they appear in the health panel or as a moodle.
• An Oxygen crystal shard provides unlimited stamina for exercise.
• You can find a drop pod, set its heater to cold, and use the Oxygen crystal shard to train for two to four levels while your food and water last.
• In the multiplayer mod, CPR can restart the heart and requires a rhythm of around 100 BPM.

Casualties: Unknown can feel overwhelming when you first start, but learning the survival basics makes a big difference. Focus on collecting Foliage, crafting your first storage bags, finding a reliable light source, and keeping enough food and water with you.

As you become more comfortable, start improving your Intelligence and crafting better tools, weapons, armor, and medical supplies. Always prepare for traps and enemies before moving into a new layer, and do not ignore injuries just because they seem minor at first.

Most importantly, take your time and learn from every run. You will gradually understand which resources are useful, which dangers to avoid, and how to prepare for the deeper layers of the Target Planet.