Scouts and expeditions
Scouts are how you leave your first town. You build a Scouts’ Cabin, pack canned goods, and send a party to a point on the world map. It comes back with resources, information, a place to settle, or nothing at all. That is also the road to your second settlement, which sits in a different biome from the first.
When do you need the Scouts’ Cabin?
Sooner or later the story will ask for it, but you pick the moment. The team’s wording: “Later on, the main quest might require a scout’s cabin to explore certain locations - but whether you build it right away or first take care of your city’s other needs is your call.” Exploring the strategic map also earns journey points, so an early cabin pays back in unlocks; see journey points and ideas. The cabin costs 200 journey points, possibly less in your game since early costs were cut for Early Access.
What do scouts need before they leave?
Food that keeps. “The distances are long, and every expedition takes time, so plan accordingly.” And: “Your Scouts will need supplies, so make sure to pack them well with canned goods before sending them out!” Rations matter on the road as well: a playtest update fixed a missing-rations popup that was blocking caravans on expeditions. Canned food takes iron, which is not on hand in your first town at the start. The where to get iron, stone and wooden parts page covers buying it.
Rough costs (these may have changed in later updates):
| Cost |
|---|
| Creating a scout group costs 5 people, 20 cash and 20 canned food; a second group needs the Scouts’ building at level 2 |
| One trip costs 3 canned food; a trip to Howling Wind Pass costs 5 |
| The cannery costs 200, and canned food needs iron ore |
Don’t delete your scouts when canned food is low
A new group needs 20 canned food, so deleting your only scout group with fewer than 20 in storage can leave you stuck, and players have locked themselves out that way: “I stupidly deleted my scouts after the first mission and now I only have 19 canned food. I need 20 to create a new scout group.” Another player lost the group after calling it back to Dust Creek and was left with the same 19 cans. Keep the group you have, out in the field if need be, until the cannery is running.
You also do not need scouts to buy iron. Once the Shrubby Glade trader is unlocked you can trade with it from the map or the scale icon at the bottom left of the screen; prices are on where to get iron, stone and wooden parts. Rosewood Clearing sells canned food too, a quick way past the 20 cans a new group needs; see trading and caravans.
Players also report scouts that cannot load canned food even with plenty in storage: the supply option stays red or shows 0. No fix is known yet; crashes and bugs explains how to send a bug report from the pause menu.
What can an expedition bring back?
Anything, including nothing. “Scouts may return with valuable resources, new information, or sometimes… nothing at all.” When a trip does pay off, the team names three kinds of result: a rich source of materials, a new trading opportunity, or a promising place for a future settlement. Trips can also turn up hidden treasure, strangers who need help and merchants selling essentials, plus scenes you step into where you can interact with the place or meet the people who came before you.
How do you get a second settlement?
By finding somewhere worth settling. The lead developer explains why you have to: “Not every resource is available in the first settlement. So, you need to find places where you can establish another one.” Then: “With this, you can control multiple towns and create a transportation network between them and other places in the world.” The team’s promise is “Two Settlements – Two Biomes”. Scouts and trading caravans are sent from the world map to remote outposts. The desert, and the gold in it, is covered on the gold and debt page.
Which locations have official names?
These places have confirmed names.
| Location | What to know |
|---|---|
| Dust Creek | A town marker on the world map; a quest fix moved one quest’s resource costs back to it |
| Shrubby Glade | A trader that sells iron ore; once unlocked you can trade with it from the scale icon |
| Dustwind Flats | Where the moonshiner priest of the Unusual Priest quest is found |
| Rosewood Clearing | A trader on the world map |
| Sand Storm | Written as two words; the End of Bandits quest involves its resources |
| Maple Hollow Junction | Exploring it is what opens Bandit Camp |
| Bandit Camp | Only becomes available after you have explored Maple Hollow Junction |
| Deaf Canyon | Has rocks you blow up with dynamite |
| Blackbark Ridge | A blocker there has been fixed |
| Old Mine | A world map card with a Send Scouts button, pictured at the top of this page |
One quest, Blocked Passage, asks you to gather 20 settlers.
Other places you may come across. Their spellings are unconfirmed, so the in-game names may differ:
- Armadillo Springs
- Cedar Creek Hollow
- Hidden Grove
- Howling Wind Pass (or Howling Winds Pass)
- Coyote Skull Mesa
- Lonely Vulture Peak
- Salt Trail Outpost
What does the roadmap add to the map?
The second planned update, The Iron Peaks, expands the strategic map with a large new section: mountain terrain, new locations and new dioramas. No update has a date yet. The full plan is on the Early Access and roadmap page. Until then, the team’s aim for travel is that it “should feel like an expedition”, with supplies that matter and somewhere far away at the end.
Related
- Food chains, since canned goods start as food.
- The shovel and the buried treasure, the scouting quest that trips people up.
- What you actually do, for how exploration fits the whole game.