Warhounds Base Management: Buildings, Costs and Prerequisites

Workshop construction blocked by crew? Our test cleared a 10/10 crew shortage by building Cabins for 5,000 funds over two days, adding ten crew capacity. Workshop then cost 15,000 funds, four crew and four days. Our earlier Barracks test cost 10,000 over three days and increased soldier capacity from 10 to 15. These are campaign observations on BUILD 1.0.22(3313); inspect your live card before spending.

Open the ship’s BASE screen and choose COMPARTMENT CONSTRUCTION to inspect buildings. The construction steps below come from our October 25–31 playtests. Older screenshots and launch-version requirements are kept in their own sections because costs and progression have changed.

Quick Answer

Open the ship interface and choose BASE on the bottom navigation. Confirm that the page heading says COMPARTMENT CONSTRUCTION, then inspect the facility card. Cabins expands crew capacity; Barracks expands soldier capacity. Our tested Workshop shortage concerned crew 10/10, even though the separate soldier counter was 10/15. After Workshop completion, Swift was available to buy for 1,250; it was not automatically awarded free.

Do not confuse those card-level requirements with the account totals at the top-right of the screen. The older construction screenshot shows a 27,100 balance and a -6,900 budget figure; neither is the displayed price of Additional Cabins.

Tested Barracks construction: 10,000 funds and 3 days

After six Rookie hires, our roster was 10/10 and funds 60,000. Selecting Barracks under BASE → COMPARTMENT CONSTRUCTION showed 10,000, BUILD (3 D.), and NUMBER OF SOLDIERS +5.

1. Select Barracks and review the quote and build-time button.
2. Confirm BUILD (3 D.). Our funds immediately became 50,000, and the card changed to CONSTRUCTION 3 D. Roster capacity remained 10/10 during construction.
3. Advance campaign time and wait for completion. Our notice read Building Barracks is complete, with 10/15 in the roster HUD. The extra capacity took effect at completion, rather than payment.

The quote’s UNLOCKS list names Hospital, Saloon, Supply Service, Workshop, and Ground. Those are further construction options, not buildings you receive automatically. The Cabins and Workshop steps below show what we built next.

Our opening sequence offered Barracks without a separately recorded Additional Cabins build. If your Barracks card requires Additional Cabins, follow the requirement shown in your campaign; the older launch instructions describe that prerequisite.

Tested Cabins and Workshop construction

Our later session reached an explicit NOT ENOUGH CREW warning when attempting the Workshop build at 10/10 crew. The warning recommended building Cabins or upgrading an existing cabin. The Workshop quote showed 15,000 funds, four crew, and BUILD (4 D.). This identifies the blocker in this attempt; it does not explain every locked or gray Workshop button.

1. Select Cabins, quoted at 5,000 funds, BUILD (2 D.), and NUMBER OF CREW +10.
2. Complete that build. Our campaign moved from Day 4 to Day 6 and the crew counter became 10/20.
3. Return to Workshop and start its four-day build. Our funds became 29,700 and crew use became 14/20.
4. Advance campaign time to completion. On Day 10 the notice read Building Workshop is complete, with crew still 14/20.

Cabins and Additional Cabins are distinct cards. The Cabins quote lists Additional Cabins as an unlock. Its 5,000 price is not a replacement price for the older Additional Cabins 2,500 screenshot below.

The Workshop description says it stores purchased drones and repairs mission damage. Its quote lists Ranger Combat Drones and Nightingale Medical Drones contracts as unlocks; that is not evidence that either model was acquired or that repairs were tested.

Workshop makes Recon available; Swift still costs funds

Patch 1.0.1 removed the separate Recon Drone contract and states that the Recon Drone becomes available immediately after building the Workshop. Our test gives that availability a concrete purchase route: Workshop → PURCHASE offered Tier1 Swift Recon Drone for 1,250 funds. We bought one, then assigned it in the Hangar. Availability did not mean a free drone had appeared in inventory.

Follow the Recon and Hunter Drone guide for the purchase, squad assignment, flight, attack and return sequence. Workshop purchasing is separate from the Black Market, whose discovery and trading have their own steps.

Ground: what is confirmed and what is not

A September 1 update to a 19-hour hands-on playthrough describes Ground as the training area, where soldiers can gain experience and temporary stat boosts. Treat that as a current hands-on observation, not a first-party balance specification. The author explicitly says they did not compare the precise XP values.

The stronger official evidence is narrower: Hotfix #6 says a bug that blocked the Ground was fixed. Together with the construction screenshot embedded in the August 14 article, that is enough to identify the facility and its observed requirement sample, but not enough to date/version the screenshot or publish fixed XP, duration, stacking, or return-on-investment numbers.

Hard prerequisites versus build-order advice

Hard relationships supported by sources:

• Additional Cabins → Barracks: the developer’s launch instructions list this prerequisite. Our later campaign offered Barracks without a separately recorded Additional Cabins build, so follow the requirement on your current card.
• Workshop → Recon Drone: since Patch 1.0.1, Workshop construction makes the Recon Drone available immediately; the former Recon Drone contract is gone.

A build sequence is different. If your goal is specifically to remove a Barracks block and then gain recon utility, a reasonable planning sequence is Additional Cabins first, then the Barracks when its live requirements permit it, then the Workshop when you can afford its live requirement. That is editorial advice under a stated objective, not a universal progression rule.

If your actual bottleneck is recovery, training, equipment, or cash flow, compare the live facility card with that need instead. For roster and recovery decisions, use recruitment, medical care, and downtime. For what you are trying to equip after spending, use weapons and equipment.

Before you commit funds

Use this four-point check on the BASE screen:

1. Name: confirm the exact facility card you selected.
2. Requirement: read the fund value and any person-icon requirement on that card, not the top-right balance.
3. Prerequisite: separate an actual blocker from a strategic preference. Additional Cabins before Barracks and Workshop before Recon Drone are sourced relationships; most other sequences are not.
4. Result: know what success will look like before paying—such as the compartment card becoming COMPLETED, Barracks becoming buildable when its remaining conditions are met, or the Recon Drone becoming available after Workshop completion.

Because Major Update 1.0.2 has now shipped with a campaign-progression/meta-economy rebalance, re-read the live construction cards instead of carrying these screenshot-observed sample prices forward. The release note does not provide a replacement price table.

Version and price boundaries

The October 25 main menu showed BUILD 1.0.22(3313); that build number has not been matched to an official hotfix name. Major Update 1.0.2 notes describe a campaign meta-economy and progression rebalance without a replacement facility price table, so check your current facility card before spending. The older DLCompare screenshot has no established capture date or version; its other facility prices remain historical UI samples, separate from the tested Barracks result.

Where the construction menu is

The screen also separates BASE from MAP, BRIDGE, BARRACKS, and HOLD in the bottom navigation. This matters when following older advice: a fund balance shown on Bridge/Budget or at the top of the screen is not automatically a construction quote.

Screenshot-observed facility requirement samples

Facility	Entry	Requirement visible in screenshot from the August 14 article	What the evidence actually supports
Additional Cabins	BASE → COMPARTMENT CONSTRUCTION	2,500 funds	A developer says Additional Cabins are needed before staff can build the Barracks. No staff-capacity increase or build time is claimed here.
Ground	BASE → COMPARTMENT CONSTRUCTION	2 person-icon requirement + 10,000 funds	A later hands-on report describes this as the training area; Hotfix #6 separately confirms a Ground-blocking bug was fixed. Exact XP and temporary-bonus values are not published here.
Radio Room	BASE → COMPARTMENT CONSTRUCTION	2 person-icon requirement + 5,000 funds	Name and displayed requirement are observable. This guide does not assign a function without stronger current evidence.
Supply Service	BASE → COMPARTMENT CONSTRUCTION	2 person-icon requirement + 5,000 funds	Name and displayed requirement are observable. This guide does not infer purchasing, income, or logistics effects from the name alone.
Workshop	BASE → COMPARTMENT CONSTRUCTION	Cost is not visible in this older capture	The Workshop test above records 15,000 funds, four crew and four days. Patch 1.0.1 separately establishes Recon Drone availability after construction.

These are construction-card values. They are not upgrade prices, research costs, contract fees, monthly salaries, or the account balance shown elsewhere in the interface.

Reproducible operation: clear the Barracks prerequisite

Use this sequence when Barracks construction is blocked and your campaign has exposed Additional Cabins:

1. On the ship management screen, choose the bottom BASE tab.
2. Verify the heading COMPARTMENT CONSTRUCTION and find Additional Cabins in the left-hand list.
3. Read the requirement on your live card before spending. The screenshot embedded in the August 14 article shows 2,500 funds; use that as orientation only, not as a guaranteed current price or evidence of the screenshot’s date/version.
4. Select Additional Cabins, review the displayed cost and build time, then confirm construction.
5. Return to the construction list after completion. A separate post-launch hands-on capture shows the Additional Cabins card marked COMPLETED, which is the observable state to look for.
6. Recheck the Barracks construction state. The developer-confirmed relationship is that Additional Cabins are needed for the staff to build it; this guide does not claim that finishing Additional Cabins bypasses every other story, staff, or resource requirement.

The first post-launch hotfix fixed a Barracks construction problem involving crew availability in an old playtest save. If you find an August bug report, check its version before applying its workaround to your campaign.

Frequently asked questions

Where do I build base compartments?

Use the bottom BASE navigation entry. The construction view is labeled COMPARTMENT CONSTRUCTION, with facility cards listed on the left.

How much do Additional Cabins cost?

A screenshot embedded in a DLCompare article published August 14 shows 2,500 funds on the Additional Cabins card. That date belongs to the article; the screenshot’s capture date and game version/build are unconfirmed. Check the value in your installed build before confirming construction.

Do I need Additional Cabins before Barracks?

The developer’s launch-day instructions say yes. Our later campaign offered Barracks without a separately recorded Additional Cabins build. Check your current Barracks card: if it asks for Additional Cabins, build those first; other crew or resource requirements may still apply.

How do I unlock the Recon Drone now?

Build the Workshop, open PURCHASE to buy Swift, then check for Ready in LIST before assigning it in the Hangar. Our Swift cost 1,250 funds. Patch 1.0.1 removed the separate Recon Drone contract; Workshop completion unlocks the purchase rather than awarding a free drone.

Are the 10,000 and 5,000 figures current Major Update 1.0.2 prices?

Not established. They are values visible in a screenshot embedded in an article published August 14: Ground shows 10,000 funds plus a 2 person-icon requirement, while Radio Room and Supply Service each show 5,000 funds plus a 2 person-icon requirement. The article date does not establish when or on which game version the screenshot was captured, so use the numbers as screenshot-observed samples only.