Summary
City-building inSteamWorld Buildis typically a relaxed experience that slowly ramps up in urgency as players expand their towns across the map. Players begin by placing housing for their robot workers and then adding service and income-generating structures like factories and establishments where they can work and have their needs fulfilled, respectively.
However, some buildings have more impact when they are built in a player’s city. They can provide much-needed tools, process key raw materials for goods, and generate good income, which is essential to improving and expanding players’ towns into a bustling metropolis. Here are themost important buildingsinSteamWorld Buildthat players should prioritize in their city.
10Rocket Fuel Processing Plant
Generate Fuel to Get Off the Planet
SteamWorld Buildhas a simple narrative: players are tasked to help a conspicuous Core reassemble itself while trying to manage a town and transform it into a thriving city. As players progress through the main quests, they will eventually need tocollect Rocket partsand escape the planet.
To complete this quest, players need to build the Rocket Fuel Processing Plant. As the building’s name suggests, this structure creates rocket fuel that the Rocket needs to launch. While this building only becomes available in the late stages, once players have access to it, they should prioritize building it and fulfilling its requirements if they want to finish their run.
9Train Station
Repair ASAP to Get Valuable Items and Trade Options
One of the first main tasks players need to complete inSteamWorld Buildis to repair the Abandoned Train Station. This is an essential building since, once it is repaired, it allows the train to visit the player’s town and bring valuable items that can be purchased for money and either gold or rubies. These items can be slotted into different industries and service structures to improve their efficiency or bolster their reach and happiness effect on various residential houses.
Moreover, once the Train Station is operational, players can alsostart trading goods for moneyor other more expensive materials their city needs. In the latter stages of a run, trading goods will be crucial to keeping the city’s finances and production stable.
8Toolmaker
Key Building for Producing Essential Second-Tier Material
Once players have access to the Mine, they will have access to Scrap Veins and Tool blocks. Tools are an essential building material for Engineer-level structures and beyond. The Toolmaker provides the player’s city witha steady supply of Toolsthat can be used to build establishments.
However, players will need to process Scrap to let them churn out their processed goods. Scrap can be found inside the Mine, and gamers will have to mine for it via Prospectors or Scrap Vein Extractors.
7Sheet Metal Factory
Key Factory for Metalworks
As players reach the stage where they can build more advanced buildings from Aristobots and Scientists, they will need a steady supply of Sheet Metal. This is where the Sheet Metal Factory comes in. This building provides the city with sheet metal that is used for advanced structures.
To have Sheet Metal Factories up and running, players need to have a good number of Engineers to operate these buildings. On top of that, they also need to have a steady supply of Ironium, which can be harvested in the Mine via Prospectors or Ironium Extractors.
6Pickaxe Maker
First-Level Mining Tool Upgrade
The Mine section inSteamWorld Buildis where players can harvest precious metals that are crucial to building Engineer to Scientist buildings throughout the course of a run. The first level of the Mine will have some blocks that need pickaxes to be broken down. Once players encounter this, they have to begin building the Pickaxe Maker within their city.
As its name suggests, the Pickaxe Maker crafts pickaxes for miners. Pickaxes allow miners to bore through harder rock blocks and even gather debris at a faster rate. In some Mine levels, players can even discover stashes of items that can only be accessed by pickaxing certain blocks to reach them.
5Carburizing Plant
Second-Level Mining Tool Upgrade
The lower levels of the Mine will give players additional obstacles in the form of Granite blocks. These obstacles can only be broken downwith the help of Drills, which can only be accessed by miners once the Carburizing Plant is up and running in the city.
While creating Carburizing Plants tends to be on the expensive side since they’re part of the Aristobot structures, having access to Drills as early as possible makes exploring the different Mine sections easier. The investment in building these industrial structures is worth the upside it gives to players.
4Forester
Key Factory for Getting Logs
During the first few hours of city-building, players will have to create a Forester as soon as possible since this factory is responsible for producing wood that is used for lumber. Most first-tier buildings that Worker bots need rely on lumber, which can only be produced once the city has a working Forester.
Adding to the importance of the Forester’s role in the city is its placement. Foresters need to be placed near trees and have to be isolated to ensure the wood they harvest is from fertile ground. The higher fertility where the Forester is placed, thefaster it can produce woodfor the lumber mill.
3Aristobot Residential
Highest-Earning Residential Building
As far as the Residential buildings are concerned, the Aristocrat residential building generates the most income among all the worker bots. However, upgrading Engineer residential buildings to Aristobots takes resources and building requirements. Players need to fulfill the Engineers' needs and keep their happiness meter at 100% while ensuring they have the raw materials and cash needed to upgrade them.
Once players have Aristobots in their city, they will have a high-income-generating building at their disposal. They just need to provide the necessary provisions and building requirements to keep Aristobots happy.
2Engineer Residential
Second Highest-Earning Residential Building
Engineers are typically needed once players transition from the early to the middle part of their playthrough. Engineer Residential buildings are easier to get since the Worker Residential buildings have easy parameters to make them achieve 100% happiness.
During the early to mid-game, having Engineer Residential buildings in the city will be primary income generators for players. Getting Engineer Residential buildings opens up a ton of new buildings in the form of service and industrial establishments for players to begin their expansion and ramp up their income generation.
1Worker Residential
Quintessential Housing Structure
The very first building players can build in their city is the Worker Residential. This serves as the housing structure for robot workers who are designated for specific jobs within the city. Worker Residential buildings provide the first level of income generation for a player’s city and are pivotal in completing one of the earlier main quests.
Many first-tier industries and service establishments need Workers to operate them, so amassing a good number of Worker Residential buildings is a good starting point for creating the city. Eventually, this neighborhood will beupgraded to Engineers, Aristobots, and even Scientist houses, depending on how well players have laid out their city plans.
