SteamWorld Build can be complicated for new players. It mixes city-building and dungeon-crawling genres together. You must simultaneously plan a settlement, monitor supply chains, and explore a forgotten ore mine.

There are a few significant options when starting a new SteamWorld Build campaign. You can select a standard difficulty level or even enter a full sandbox mode where every feature is unlocked. If you opt into the former, you will need to concentrate on increasing the number of workers in the population to complete major tasks.

7 Turn Both Tutorials and Story On

Learning The Basics Is a Must

SteamWorld Build is an entirely different genre than past entries in the series, like the card-based RPG battle-focused SteamWorld Quest. A significant component of the campaign is deciding whether to play with full story, helpful tutorials, or both. Once any combination of these is selected, it cannot be altered once starting. Both features are beneficial, and you can quickly become lost without them.

Tutorials are led by the main character, Jack Clutchsprocket, who will explain core mechanics, controls, and UI parts. He does tend to be a little too detailed, often freezing the whole game until you confirm that you have read every aspect. When story mode is activated, you will be presented with why Jack is giving such tutorials at specific times and not all at once.

Doing story-only mode without tutorials is even more confusing. Characters will request certain items or offer a mission but only explain how to achieve these goals with Jack's guidance.

6 Plan The City Near Forests

Trees Are One Of The Few Static Resource Locations

Many of the city's resources can be built anywhere, regardless of the terrain. This includes water, charcoal, and tools. The one major exception is wood, which can only come from forest tiles. Each of the five maps has different forest layouts, but all have enough for the town to be functional. You want to position the Forester building within the maximum tree density. This will increase the rate, and you will gain raw lumber. It is also a good idea to put a lumber mill not far from there so that large numbers of boards can be made quickly.

Even after a Forester and Lumber Mill are made, you will also want to add Modifications purchased from the Train Station. These are a random assortment of bonuses and cost Rubies excavated from the mine. YouTube creater Born 2 Game shows off several of these and the possible prices. The Modifications can include bonuses like faster production time or more resources per yield.

5 Move Buildings Frequently

Move Structures Freely Instead Of Destroying & Rebuilding

Unlike other city builder games, you need not constantly destroy and rebuild structures. As the entire theme of SteamWorld Build is robots and technology, it is incredibly intuitive to move existing buildings to a new location. The Move Tool is in the bottom icon selection, which can be used to move any structure to a new place without cost, provided there is room.

While the building itself will move, the add-on will instantly be deleted. This includes additional resource generators like Farm Fields. These can be rebuilt for free but must be considered for adequate spacing.

When picking a new location for a building, always consider the supply chains first. SteamWorld Build is entirely about efficiency rather than aesthetics. You want Service Shops and General Stores near residential homes, even if the layout looks crowded or ugly.

4 Setup Automatic Trades

Save Time While Trading

Once the Train Station is repaired, the delivery train will arrive in town at set intervals. The times are displayed on the lower right UI and at the station. By default, you need to manually conduct trades while the train is there and cannot buy or sell once it leaves. However, you can set up one to five Ongoing Trades to automatically let the economy flow as needed.

YouTube channel granular tax rate options of City Skylines 2 but is still reliable. You may soon find you have too much of a resource you aren’t expending, possibly boards or water, much later in the campaign. Use these as your new currency to purchase more complex and luxurious goods.

3 Maintain Mine Stability

Avoid Mine Collapses

The underground mine is your lifeblood for rare materials and story objectives. If the mine were to collapse, it could quickly spell disaster. This can be remedied by po Pillars to prevent instability. You typically want to place a Pillar four to six titles distance between each other, depending on the shape of the mine floor. Harder resource tiles that can’t be mined, like bedrock, can serve as makeshift walls. But, later in the game, you may be able to mine even those previously ignored titles.

When building within the mine, you also need to be careful of SteamWorld Build's Creep. Important structures like Pillars cannot be built on top of these hazards. First, You must clear the area by hiring Guard Robots armed with Flamethrowers. These robots will sweep the area and automatically destroy Creep without input.

2 Adjust Speed

All Speed Levels Have a Purpose

SteamWorld Build has three speed settings: Pause, Normal, and Fast. You are highly expected to use all three speeds at different points and scenarios. Most of the game will be played in Normal to understand how work flows in the city. But, some crafters may take a long time - up to one minute to produce a single item. If a task requires 100 such resources, you may want to switch to Fast speed to stop the monotony. YouTuber CohhCarnage spent much of his playthrough in Fast mode to avoid such a situation.

Conversely, freezing the game is highly encouraged when exploring the mines. On deeper floors, enemies will begin to spawn, along with more frequent cave-ins. It is a good idea to turn on Pause, assess the terrain, and then pick the right actions to avoid issues.

1 Increase Warehouse Workers

Goods can be instantly moved between Warehouse locations

Part of SteamWorld Build's charm is weaving between the underground mine and the above settlement. Each worker moves in real-time, which can be a bit slow. This includes the ever-so-important Warehouse where extra resources are stored. Goods can teleport between multiple Warehouses, making it possible to whisk around the map. However, each building only employs a single worker, even if there is much to do around town.

There are two main solutions in SteamWorld Build. The first is to build additional Warehouses, each with its own individual worker. This will quickly ramp up the number of hands on deck and take up extra space. The second option is to buy modifications that increase the number of workers in a warehouse. These typically need to be allocated to each building, but once slotted, they can remain in place for the rest of the campaign.

Source: Born 2 Game/YouTube, Quick Tips/YouTube, CohhCarnage/YouTube.