Sometimes, you need a little boost. Items inSteamWorld Buildallow you to equip buildings and miner quarters with different perks that help your city run that bit smoother. Some items give you more resources, some items speed up important processes, and some items allow you to scorch subterranean enemies with a flamethrower.
Every item in SteamWorld Build will benefit your city in some shape or form–but some are certainly more useful (or simply cooler) than others. Items are either bought at the train station or discovered in underground chests, so you want to make sure you are collecting a good spread of items that will have wide-ranging effects on your city in both the short and long term.
10Workforce Reduction
Cut Down On The Number Of Workers Needed For A Production Building
As any capitalist worth their salt will tell you, the fewer workers you need to produce goods, the better. As harsh as that may sound, it certainly is the case for a city-building simulator like SteamWorld Build, and the Workforce Reduction item provides this exact benefit.
By attaching it to a production building, you can reduce the number of required workers by up to 90 percent. This is particularly handy for buildings like the Carburizing Plant or the Gunsmith, which demand a pretty large workforce to operate in the first place.
9Digging Bonus
Speed Up The Digging Of Miners
Digging in the mineshas always featured heavily in the SteamWorld series, and SteamWorld Build is no different. The Digging Bonus item can be attached to the Miner quarters to significantly increase their digging speed, allowing you to clear away the map at a much faster pace.
This also means you may dig up gold, rubies, and other essential resources quicker than you can say “Heigh-Ho.” For such a crucial yet innocuous task in Steamworld Build, the quicker you can get it done, the better.
8Prospector Speed
Increase The Movement Speed Of Prospectors
Prospectors do a lot of running around. They move from one end of the mine to the other, collecting scrap, ironium, shrooms, and other essential resources to be sent back up to the top–all at a frantic pace.
Instead of giving your hardworking Prospectors a well-deserved break, you can make them go even faster by equipping their quarters with the Prospector Speed item. Now, they zip around the mines quicker than ever, gathering and transporting those resources to help withyour city building. They’ll get a chance to rest eventually.
7Service Inhabitants
Welcome Even More Citizens
It’s only natural to want more citizens in your beautiful city. But achieving that goal requires setting out more roads, finding space for residential buildings, crafting service buildings, and having to repeat that same process over and over again.
The Service Inhabitants item can be attached to any service building, such as a General Store, Saloon, or Waxing Shop, and any residential buildings within its reach will automatically receive more citizens. It’s a neat shortcut to growing your workforce without having to eat into your map space or resources.
6Rifles
Deals Great Ranged Damage To Enemies
The Rifle can be equipped to Guard quarters to let them dish out damage to enemies from a distance. This allows your Guards to be more efficient in dealing with any pesky enemies that threaten your mines, so you’re able to get back to the job at hand quicker than before.
The Revolver is another ranged weapon that you can attach to your Guards, but the Rifle deals greater damage, making it the better option between the two. Your Miners, Prospectors, and Mechanics are bound to feel safer knowing your Guards have a Rifle in hand.
5Gold Scavenging
Occasionally Find Gold When Digging
Gold is one of the most essential resources in SteamWorld Build, needed to craft certain quarters, machines, and buildings. While you may find designated gold deposits throughout the mines, the Gold Scavenging item allows your Miners to periodically find gold even in regular patches of dirt.
With this item, you can keep a consistent stream of gold coming in even after you’ve exhausted all the deposits on a mine level. For this reason, Gold Scavenging is a must-have item for any SteamWorld Build playthrough.
4Warehouse Expansion
Grows Your Warehouse Storage And Simultaneous Deliveries
Warehouses are the beating heart of your city’s goods distribution, as they collect and store everything produced by nearby refineries. While you could continually build new Warehouses to keep up with the storage demands, you could also save money and space by attaching one with a Warehouse Expansion item.
This item increases both the global storage of a Warehouse and how many simultaneous deliveries it can receive. Both of these perks significantly expand the value of a building that plays such a big role in keeping your city ticking over.
3Service Income
Increases Taxable Income From A Service
Money, money, money–it’s the bedrock of SteamWorld Build (other than the literal bedrock), meaning it’s important to optimize your cash flow as much as possible. The Service Income item lets you increase the amount of tax given to a service building, providing you with more money from any nearby residents.
You will want to attach this item to a building that services Aristobots or Scientists, which will net you the most tax. If you want to make your cash pipeline a bit wider, then don’t hold back on the Service Income Item.
2Flamethrower
Burn Away The Creep
Creep is a nasty obstacle you encounter on the lower floors of the mine that can quickly ruin your map if left unchecked. The only way to deal with this nuisance is to equip your Guard quarters with a flamethrower, making this one of the most necessary items in the entire game.
The flamethrower also gives your Guards an offensive boost against enemies, ensuring your mines are even better protected from any unwelcome guests. Besides, who doesn’t want to cause some havoc with aflamethrower in a video game?
1Production Chance
Increases The Production Bonus Of An Item
In SteamWorld Build, you need your factories, refineries, and other production buildings to operate at peak efficiency. This is where the Production Chance item comes in handy. When attached to a building, this item increases the chance of a production bonus occurring while also speeding up the overall process.
With these two enhancements in effect, your production fortunes will only go up and up, and at a pace that truly lets you expand your city. For this reason, any SteamWorld Build playthrough will benefit greatly from having some Production Chances in your item list.
