Sand Storm: founding your second settlement

Sand Storm is the desert where the gold for your debt is buried, and for now it is the only other place you can settle. Getting there takes a Settlers Base in Dust Creek, then caravans carrying food and dynamite, then a lot of blasting: in the launch build a big rock needs 25 sticks of dynamite. The gold mine goes up in three stages after that.

World map card for Sand Storm describing a dusty desert, with a Settle button, over a red desert map — The lower half of the Sand Storm card on the world map: the description ends on the line about gold, above the Settle button. Frame from OneMoreGame's Episode 2, recorded in build 0.1.0 19478, a hotfix of the launch build.

Why you go there

The debt pushes you. When Bill comes back for his money he tells you, bluntly, to head for the desert, dig up proper ore and smelt it into gold bars, and the Debt Owed objective changes to finding a gold vein under the rocks in Sand Storm, collecting 100 pieces of gold ore and delivering 100 gold bars to Dust Creek. (Shown in Is This Wild West City Builder Actually Good? (Ginger Sudsy Gaming, YouTube)) The map card says the same thing more gently: “What could possibly attract us here... if not gold?” (Shown in Wild West Pioneers, Episode 2: Growing Our Town and Chasing the Gold Rush (OneMoreGame, YouTube)) Where that debt comes from and what gold does before the desert is on gold and the debt.

There is nowhere else to go yet. An official forum account put it plainly: “Right now Early Access has 2 settlements, Dust Creek and Sand Storm”. (Posted in Pinned thread: How to settle a 3rd settlement? (Steam Community)) So far 15% of players hold Now We're Multitasking, the achievement for founding a second settlement.

The route, stage by stage

1. Build a Settlers Base in Dust Creek

The Settlers Base is what creates a group of settlers to send out. In the launch build it costs 50 cash and 50 planks. (Shown in Wild West Pioneers: Exploring the Map and Growing into a Town (Adekyn, YouTube)) Inside it, a group costs people, cash and one more resource, and the group can carry supplies with it; in a pre-launch build each of the three was 20, with extra slots for goods. (Shown in Can My DESERT TOWN Survive (Surtr Plays, creator video)) If you picked Isaac Rowe as your first official, this is where he pays off: his card, read in a pre-launch build, promises extra starting resources for every new settlement. The other officials are on the officials page.

2. Settle Sand Storm from the world map

Open the world map and find the Sand Storm card; with a group ready, the Settle button sends them. (Shown in Wild West Pioneers, Episode 2: Growing Our Town and Chasing the Gold Rush (OneMoreGame, YouTube)) Jesse’s tip for this step is to keep exploring the map until Sand Storm turns up. (Shown in Is This Wild West City Builder Actually Good? (Ginger Sudsy Gaming, YouTube)) The new town starts from nothing: in a pre-launch build, a construction tooltip there already listed water access and a Food Shop as unmet needs. (Shown in Can My DESERT TOWN Survive (Surtr Plays, creator video))

Jesse's tutorial card Hidden Riches, asking you to create a caravan and deliver food to Sand Storm from Dust Creek — Jesse's Hidden Riches card: create a caravan and deliver food to Sand Storm from Dust Creek, using a Logistics Center and 50 Soups. Frame from OneMoreGame's Episode 3, recorded in build 0.1.0 19478, a hotfix of the launch build.

3. Feed it by caravan

Your two towns trade with each other through caravans, and caravans come from a Logistics Center. Jesse’s card spells it out: “To move resources between settlements, you need a Logistics Center.” Build it in Dust Creek, create a caravan and send 50 Soups to Sand Storm. (Shown in Wild West Pioneers, Episode 3: Our First Gold Mine (OneMoreGame, YouTube)) A first-level Logistics Center holds three caravans, each carrying one kind of goods, and a fourth needs the building at level 2.

Keep them running. The same card adds: “Remember to maintain a steady food supply via caravans”, so your desert residents don’t starve. (Said on Jesse's card, shown in Wild West Pioneers, Episode 3: Our First Gold Mine (OneMoreGame, YouTube)) One player on the forum wrote that “once you setup a second settlement things really go sideways since your trying to supply it from your main one constantly”. (Posted in Iron mines thread (Steam Community)) Food chains worth scaling up before you leave are on food chains.

A separate bug is worth knowing about: another player found that “Satisfaction plummets when switching between settlements.” (Posted in List of issues thread (Steam Community)) In their report the main town wrongly showed no access to moonshine or barbers, and their workaround was to switch back and forth between the towns.

4. Bring dynamite and a blaster

The gold sits under the rocks, and rocks take dynamite plus a specialist. The next step on Jesse’s card is to send 10 dynamite to Sand Storm by caravan, then enlist Jamie, click a big rock formation and choose Destroy. (Shown in Wild West Pioneers, Episode 3: Our First Gold Mine (OneMoreGame, YouTube)) Jamie is found by exploring the world map, according to the game’s own guide in a pre-launch build. (Shown in Can My DESERT TOWN Survive (Surtr Plays, creator video)) Dynamite is made from saltpeter in the Dynamite Workshop, as the rock’s own warning says. (Shown in Wild West Pioneers, Episode 3: Our First Gold Mine (OneMoreGame, YouTube)) Iron and other supplies you may need to buy are covered on iron, stone and wooden parts.

Big Rock tooltip showing a dynamite cost out of 25 and a warning that there is not enough dynamite — A big rock in the launch build: the cost line reads dynamite out of 25. Frame from OneMoreGame's Episode 3, recorded in build 0.1.0 19478, a hotfix of the launch build.

Medium Rock panel with requirements of one specialist and 10 dynamite and a Destroy button — A medium rock: one specialist and 10 dynamite, then Destroy. Frame from OneMoreGame's Episode 3, recorded in build 0.1.0 19478, a hotfix of the launch build.

Those numbers went up sharply before launch. In a pre-launch build a big rock asked for 3 sticks and a medium one for 2; in the launch build it is 25 and 10. (Older numbers shown in How To Build A GOLD MINE (Surtr Plays, creator video)) Not every rock can be blasted, either: one player found that if clicking a rock does nothing, it is not one you can destroy. (Posted in How do you use explosives to remove rocks? (Steam Community)) Clearing every rock in Sand Storm is its own achievement, Yes Jamie, Kaboom, held by under 1% of players so far.

5. Build the gold mine in three stages

Gold mine project panel at Scaffolding 1 of 3, listing a cost of people, wooden parts and planks and a warning that no warehouse is connected — The gold mine's first stage, Scaffolding 1/3: 10 people, 15 wooden parts and 20 planks, with a warning that no warehouse is connected yet. Frame from OneMoreGame's Episode 3, recorded in build 0.1.0 19478, a hotfix of the launch build.

Where the blast uncovers gold, you place a Gold Mine and finish all three of its building stages before it produces anything. (Shown in Wild West Pioneers, Episode 3: Our First Gold Mine (OneMoreGame, YouTube)) The first stage, Scaffolding, costs 10 people, 15 wooden parts and 20 planks in the launch build, and the mine has to be connected to a warehouse. The game’s guide in a pre-launch build names the level: “It needs a connection to a Level 2 Warehouse.” (Shown in Can My DESERT TOWN Survive (Surtr Plays, creator video)) The later stages are Shoring and then the Mining Tunnel, after which the ore starts coming.

Wooden parts come from the Carpenter’s Workshop, a Level II idea, so plan that unlock before the desert. (Said by the publisher in Wooden Parts thread (Steam Community)) The Gold Refinery, which turns ore into the bars Bill wants, only unlocks after the Gold Mine idea. (Shown in Can My DESERT TOWN Survive (Surtr Plays, creator video))

What it all costs

Step	Cost	Build it was read from
Settlers Base	50 cash, 50 planks	Launch (19496)
A settlers group	20 people, 20 cash, 20 of a third resource	Pre-launch (18818)
First caravan run	50 Soups, then 10 dynamite	Launch (19478)
Big rock	25 dynamite, plus Jamie, the blaster	Launch (19478)
Medium rock	10 dynamite and a specialist	Launch (19478)
Gold mine, stage 1 of 3	10 people, 15 wooden parts, 20 planks	Launch (19478)

Gold and the debt for the first gold and why Bill wants it, the officials for the three you can appoint in Sand Storm, iron, stone and wooden parts for what to stock before you go, and quest order and achievements for where the story goes after the desert.