Where to get iron, stone and wooden parts
Logs and mushrooms are all around your first settlement; iron, stone and wooden parts are not. Iron ore comes mainly from traders on the world map, stone from a mine that only appears once dynamite clears the rocks in Dust Creek, and wooden parts from the Carpenter’s Workshop, a Level II idea.
Where each one comes from
| Material | Where it comes from | Unlock or catch |
|---|---|---|
| Iron ore | Traders you discover on the world map. | Once the Shrubby Glade trader is unlocked, the scale icon at the bottom left of the screen lets you trade from anywhere, no scouts needed. A player reports dynamite turning up some iron at home. |
| Stone | A stone mine in Dust Creek. | The mine spot is hidden under rocks you have to blow up with dynamite first. |
| Wooden parts | The Carpenter’s Workshop. | A Level II idea, so it waits until the Ideas tree reaches its second tier. |
| Cattle | A cattle ranch working with a cattle barn. | The ranch is its own idea, pens are added by clicking the ranch, and it must sit in the barn’s range. |
| Gold ore | River panning in Dust Creek at first, then a gold vein in Sand Storm. | The debt quest sends you there; gold and the debt has the details. |
Iron: buy it from traders
Iron trips people up because the canning facility needs it and canned food is what your scouts carry. The publisher’s answer to finding iron is trade: “You can get the iron ore from the Traders that you discover in the World Map. Once you start trading, then the scale icon becomes visible on the left side of the screen regardless of where you are and you can trade from there”.
An order works like the manifest above: pick the goods and set the amount with the slider, and the manifest shows what you will pay and how long delivery takes. Budget for the wait as well as the cash. A player found iron at home too: “Blasting the medium-sized rocks with dynamite on the capital city map also reveals iron.” Scout supplies are covered on scouts and expeditions.
You do not have to send your scouts to fetch it. Asked about the iron, canned food and scouts loop, the publisher answered: “You don't need to send your scouts to trade. Once you have the Trader at Shrubby Glade ulocked you can trade with them at anytime without scouts. Through the map or through the Scale icon on the bottom left of the screen. They have iron there.”
Shrubby Glade sells iron ore at 20 each. If a quest asks for rifles, the trader at Deadman’s Wash sells them at 40 each, so 5 rifles cost 200; it also has iron ore, at 30. The rifle quest is on side quests. Every trader’s full list, and why a trader can run out of cash to pay you, is on trading and caravans.
Stone: dynamite first
Nothing on the map shows a stone deposit at the start. An official forum account explains: “in Dust Creek there are stones you can blow up with dynamite. Once they're gone, a spot for a stone mine appears there.”
Dynamite comes from saltpeter at the Dynamite Workshop, and you need a lot of it. A big rock asks for 25 sticks and a medium one for 10 plus a specialist. The same job waits in Sand Storm, where the debt objective is to find a gold vein under the rocks; founding Sand Storm covers the blasting and the gold mine.
Wooden parts and cattle
Neither appears in the build menu until you unlock it. For wooden parts the publisher’s answer is one line: “The Carpenter's Workshop, it's a Level II Idea unlock”. Cows trip people up because the barn does nothing on its own: “once it's built you have to click on it to add the cattle pens, similar to adding the potato fields. The ranch needs to be in range of the barn.” The same rule applies to anything missing from your build list, the Scouts’ Cabin included: “You have to unlock it first in the ideas tab and it will then be added to your buildables”. What each idea costs is on journey points and ideas.
When trees run out
Resources in an area can be used up. For wood the fix is to upgrade the logging camp, as a player explains: “You can upgrade your logging camp to have them plant trees as well as cut them down, you will not run out of trees in the area.” For gold and saltpeter the publisher said only: “The topic on the gold and salt peter side of things is being looked at as well”.
There is no third settlement yet
Everything above has to come from two places. “Right now Early Access has 2 settlements, Dust Creek and Sand Storm”, and the maps are the same for everyone. A settler sent out to found a third town will not find a spot, so plan the stone mine and the dynamite for Dust Creek rather than hoping for a better map further out.
Related: food chains for the production lines that feed your town, Moonshine Scandal if you are running stills, and crashes and bugs if a workshop stops producing.