Stop wasting mats — here’s the fast, honest Crafting grind in 1.6 (Tool)

Stop wasting mats — here’s the fast, honestCrafting grind in 1.6

TL;DR: Queue cheap headgear on a hand/electric tailor bench, keep the trainee crafting, skip stonecutting (no XP), then jump to components at Crafting 8 on the fabrication bench. This page includes a planner using the local 1.6.4633 rev1266 code constants.

TL;DR answer (poster version)

Train Crafting by maximizing time spent in recipe work on bills that use unfinished things. In Core 1.6, easy starters are war masks (wood) and bowler hats (cloth/leather). Keep ingredients near the bench, and only worry about speed when you care about throughput — Crafting skill mainly changes quality.

Open planner Code facts

Starter XP loop layout

Starter XP loop layout — best way to level up crafting rimworld
Dim training nook + nearby food + chair = more time crafting, less time walking.

Quick XP Guide

  • War masks ×999
  • Bowler hats ×999
  • Lock: Tailoring only
Both use unfinished apparel (so they actually train Crafting).

XP Formula (1.6 code)

Real XP/hour = 2500 × 0.1 × LearnFactor × Passion × GLF
Cap: 4,000 XP/day (then × 0.2)
Assumes continuous recipe work (walking/hauling time earns 0 XP).

Fabrication Jump

  • Component crafting
  • Needs Crafting 8
  • Bench: Fabrication bench
Components have no quality stat, but give solid, safe work time.
Work-to-Make Cheat Sheet

Work-to-make quick list

Item Mats (typical) Work ticks
War mask 25 wood 3,000
Cape 80 cloth/leather 16,000
Component 12 steel 5,000
These values are pulled from local Core defs (and the component recipe) for 1.6.4633 rev1266.

Lighting bands demo

Lighting bands demo — best way to level up crafting rimworld
Dark rooms reduce work speed, which can reduce “bill overhead” (walking + starting jobs) when training on small items.

Stonecutting XP ALERT!

No XP. Stone blocks use workSkillLearnFactor = 0 and don’t use unfinished things.
Assign stonecutting to anyone — not your Crafting trainee.

Dark-room training vs lit-room output

Dark-room training vs lit-room output — best way to level up crafting rimworld
Train in the “dim nook” when you care about XP-per-mat; switch to lit, comfortable benches when you care about production-per-day.

Crafting Breakpoints

Level Plan
4Tribal headdress (Crafting 4) if you want bigger work jobs.
8Components (Crafting 8) on the fabrication bench.
12Long apparel (duster/cape) for “work density”.
16+Masterwork pushes: keep daily crafting to beat decay.

FAQ Quick Answers

  • Crafting speed source? General Labor Speed.
  • XP cap? 4,000 XP/day full-rate.
  • Stonecutting XP? Nope.

Quality Boost

  • Production Specialist +1 (Ideology)
  • Inspired Creativity +2 (inspiration)
Quality rolls happen at finish. Train first, then spend rare materials.

Mod Tools

  • Numbers
  • Work Tab
  • RimHUD

Open local wiki pages

Component recipe Fabrication bench Stone blocks War mask Bowler hat Cape

Patch history

2025–2026 workflow timeline
  • 2025‑07‑11: Update 1.6 live (QoL + performance).
  • 2025‑07‑29: 1.6.4535 fixes.
  • 2025‑08‑06: 1.6.4543 fixes.
  • 2025‑08‑28: 1.6.4566 QoL.
  • 2025‑10‑31: 1.6.4630 fixes.
  • 2026‑02‑24: local defs snapshot used by this tool.

Crafting Grind Planner

Plug in your pawn’s passion + Global Learning Factor and get: XP/hour, hours-to-cap, estimated days to reach a target level, and the cheapest bills to hit the 4,000 XP/day full-rate cap.

Inputs

Defaults match local 1.6 code: 0.1 XP/tick for recipe work, 2500 ticks/hour, and the 4,000 XP/day full-rate cap.

Outputs

Full-rate XP/hour
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Assumes continuous recipe work.
Hours to hit 4,000 cap
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After cap: learning rate ×0.2.
XP/day at your schedule
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XP needed (start → target)
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Cap planner (material burn to hit 4,000 full-rate XP/day)

Bill option Work ticks Mats / item Items to cap Mats to cap Notes
This is a planner, not a simulator: walking/hauling time lowers real XP. Long-work bills reduce overhead.

Copy bill presets (pseudo)

More tools 
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Local 1.6 code facts used

  • Recipe XP: 0.1 XP/tick × workSkillLearnFactor while doing recipe work (SkillTuning.XpPerTickRecipeBase).
  • Daily cap behavior: after 4,000 XP/day, learning rate is multiplied by 0.2 (SkillRecord.MaxFullRateXpPerDay, SkillRecord.SaturatedLearningFactor).
  • Stonecutting: workSkillLearnFactor = 0 on the stone blocks recipe base in Core defs.
  • Components: Make_ComponentIndustrial has Crafting 8 skill requirement and uses UnfinishedComponent.
  • Speed: tailoring & component crafting use workSpeedStat = GeneralLaborSpeed (Crafting skill mainly affects quality rolls).
Where it lives (paths)
  • /game/Contents/Resources/Data/Managed/Assembly-CSharp.dll (SkillTuning / SkillRecord)
  • /game/Data/Core/Defs/RecipeDefs/Recipes_Production.xml (stone blocks, components)
  • /game/Data/Core/Defs/ThingDefs_Buildings/Buildings_Production.xml (fabrication bench uses component recipes)
  • /game/Data/Core/Defs/ThingDefs_Misc/Apparel_Headgear.xml (war mask, bowler hat)
  • /game/Data/Core/Defs/ThingDefs_Misc/Apparel_Various.xml (duster, cape)