Hide Boots

Your building spot is a short walk from the snow line, and the ore nodes you want sit up there in the white. Walking up barefoot or in cloth is how a fresh spawn ends the evening shivering at a campfire instead of hitting rocks. So the first deer you drop on the way becomes boots before anything else: ten leather, no bench, fifteen seconds in the queue.

For your feet they are the middle step. Their description promises basic all-round protection, a little more than burlap shoes give, and leather keeps you warmer than cloth once the night turns cold. Against a bullet they do nothing worth mentioning.

Pair them with a hide poncho and the cold stops sending you home early. Once a Level 2 bench and a sewing kit are around, proper boots take over and these go to the recycler, which hands back about half the leather.