Going Medieval Steel Production Guide

Steel is the pinnacle of metalworking in Going Medieval. While iron suffices for early-game tools and basic weaponry, steel separates a struggling colony from a dominant one. Steel weapons deal more damage and steel armor absorbs more punishment than their iron counterparts, making steel the definitive late-game material for outfitting your best combat settlers. This guide walks through the entire production chain — from mining iron ore and coal, through smelting iron ingots, to forging steel and crafting elite equipment at the Blacksmith's Forge and Armourer's Table. Every figure below comes from community testing and wiki data; exact values may shift between game updates.

Raw Material Gathering: Iron Ore and Coal

Steel production begins deep in the earth. Two raw materials are essential: iron nuggets and coal. Without a reliable supply of both, your smelting furnace will sit idle and steel will remain out of reach. Iron nuggets appear as reddish-orange deposits on the surface and underground, often found beneath limestone layers. Coal can be mined from coal veins underground or manufactured at a kiln, giving you a renewable fallback when natural deposits run thin.

Surface iron outcrops are your first source. Scan the map on day one for reddish-brown rocks poking through the ground — these often sit on top of larger underground iron deposits. When surface iron runs out, dig downward near limestone formations; iron veins commonly hide beneath limestone layers at depths of 3 to 6 levels. A tile composition reading of 80% limestone and 20% iron signals that more iron is nearby. For detailed mining strategies, see our iron mining guide.

Data source: Community testing estimates

Coal veins are tough — at 1100 hit points each, a single vein takes significant mining time but yields a generous 60 coal. Because coal veins can span multiple underground layers and intersect with other mineral deposits, you may stumble upon coal while digging for iron, or vice versa. If your map lacks coal veins entirely, the kiln provides a renewable alternative: 30 wood produces 20 coal. This conversion is fuel-negative if you burn wood directly, but it is the only way to sustain steel production on maps without natural coal.

The Smelting Process: From Ore to Iron to Steel

The smelting furnace is the heart of your metalworking operation. Unlocked through the Smelting research node — which itself requires Architecture (15 Chronicles) as a prerequisite — the smelting furnace converts raw ore into workable ingots. Building one costs 70 clay or 70 limestone, and unlike most workstations, it operates at full efficiency outdoors without a roof. Place it near your mine entrance to minimize hauling time.

Iron ingot production is straightforward: 30 iron nuggets combined with 20 units of fuel (sticks, wood, or coal) yields 30 iron ingots. Once you have iron ingots and have unlocked the Steel research node, the same smelting furnace can produce steel ingots. Steel requires iron ingots as input along with coal as fuel — coal is specifically called out by the game as the key ingredient for steel production, distinguishing it from generic fuel use.

The research path to steel is: Architecture (15 Chronicles) → Smelting (30 Chronicles) → Steel (30 Chronicles + 15 Handbooks). This means you need a Research Table upgraded to produce Handbooks, which requires Research II. The full research tree is covered in our research guide. Plan ahead — collecting 15 Handbooks takes time, so start producing books early.

Data source: Community testing estimates

The smelting furnace has another valuable function: recycling. Old weapons looted from raiders can be melted down at the furnace to recover metal. After a raid, sweep the battlefield for dropped weapons and queue them for smelting. This not only cleans up the map but also provides free metal ingots and gives your settlers smithing experience. The return rate is not 1:1, but recycled metal significantly offsets the cost of equipping your colony.

Smelting furnace specs: the clay version has 100 hit points and costs 70 clay to build; the limestone version has 160 hit points and costs 70 limestone. Both produce 2000 heat when operating, which can warm nearby rooms in winter but may cause overheating in summer. Both versions share the same 3x1x2 footprint and 20% cover effectiveness. Choose based on which material is more abundant near your base.

Fuel Efficiency and Coal Management

Fuel is the hidden bottleneck in steel production. Every smelting batch consumes fuel, and steel production demands coal specifically. The game currently treats sticks, wood, and coal as interchangeable for basic smelting fuel — but coal has a dedicated role in steel production that the other fuels cannot fill. This makes coal a strategic resource, not just a convenience.

Data source: Community testing estimates

Because sticks and wood cannot produce steel, every steel ingot ultimately requires coal. If your map has coal veins, prioritize mining them early — a single 60-coal vein fuels multiple steel smelting batches. If no coal veins exist, you must route wood through a kiln at a 3:2 ratio (30 wood yields 20 coal), which means every 20 coal costs 30 wood. Factor this into your lumberjack labor allocation: a steel-producing colony without natural coal needs significantly more woodcutting capacity than one that burns wood directly.

Stockpiling is critical. Build dedicated coal storage near your smelting furnace and set a stockpile limit high enough to buffer against production interruptions. A good target is 100+ coal in reserve before you begin a steel smelting campaign. Keep iron ingot stockpiles equally robust — steel production pauses if either input runs dry, and restarting a smelting queue wastes settler time on travel and task-switching.

Advanced Metalworking: Weapons and Armor

Steel ingots are only useful once forged into equipment. Two workstations convert steel into weapons and armor: the Blacksmith's Forge and the Armourer's Table. Each requires its own research path and construction materials, and both must be placed under a roof at 100% efficiency — ideally inside a Workshop room for the productivity bonus. For a broader overview of crafting stations, see our crafting guide.

The Blacksmith's Forge, unlocked via the Blacksmithing research node (30 Chronicles, requires Smelting), crafts metal weapons and mechanical components. Building it costs 100 clay bricks or 100 limestone bricks and requires Construction skill level 10. It has 180 hit points, a 4x1x3 footprint, and produces 2000 heat. The forge can craft seven weapon types from steel: short sword, long sword, mace, hatchet, two-handed mace, berdiche, and greataxe. Additional weapon-specific research (Axes, Maces, Swords — each costing 30 Chronicles + 20 Handbooks) unlocks the full roster.

The Armourer's Table, unlocked via the Armourer research node (30 Chronicles, requires Tailoring), crafts all armor and shields. It costs 5 iron and 50 wood to build, requiring Construction skill level 10. Steel armor options include Steel Mail Armour and Steel Mail Helmet (unlocked at Armourer II — 30 Chronicles + 15 Handbooks), plus Steel Plate Armour and Steel Great Helm (unlocked at Armourer III — 30 Chronicles + 15 Handbooks + 15 Thesis). The plate armor and great helm represent the best protective gear in the game, but they require Thesis-level research, meaning you need an Advanced Research Table (Research III) to produce the necessary books.

The steel ingot itself has solid stats: 600 hit points, stack of 50, 1 kg weight, and a value of 5. This makes steel ingots compact to store and valuable for trade. Merchants will pay well for steel equipment, so if your production outpaces your colony's needs, surplus steel weapons and armor are excellent trade goods for acquiring resources your map lacks.

Recycling remains relevant even in late game. The smelting furnace can melt down iron weapons from early-game raids to recover iron ingots, which then feed back into the steel chain. This closed-loop approach minimizes waste and keeps your mining operations focused on net-new material rather than replacing losses.

Frequently Asked Questions

Data source: Community testing estimates. Game mechanics, recipe amounts, and research costs are based on the Going Medieval wiki and player testing as of the latest game version. Values may change with game updates. Always verify in your current version before committing resources.