This will be an everything you need to know guide about getting steel in Rimworld. Steel is a resource used in just about every part of construction in Rimworld. From defenses, protective equipment. Furniture to weapons it is something you will always need at some point.
To keep things rather short and provide a tl;dr for you people without a lot of time on there hands I’ll provide the following summary.
The ways to get steel in Rimworld include; Mining compacted steel from mountains, trading with other factions via the comms console or trading caravans, deconstructing steel structures and furniture and deep drill mining.
Getting steel in detail
We will go over some of the methods on how to get steel in depth in Rimworld. This will give you a complete breakdown on acquiring steel for your projects and include some uses for steel.
Methods for how to get steel in Rimworld
( You can click any of the links below to the relevant section on this page)
1. Mine steel from compacted steel
2. Trade with other factions
3. Deconstruct resources
4. Deep Drilling
Method 1: Mine steel from mountains as compacted steel
Steel can be acquired by mining out an ore type found in mountains known as compacted steel. Compacted steel should be fairly noticeable in the mountainside as it doesn’t really look like any other the other common rock types. It is very common in Rimworld and unless you are extremely unlucky, there should be some kind of steel resource available on your starting map area. See the image below to get a glimpse of what compacted steel looks like.
To mine this compacted steel you have a few different options. You can either select each individual part of the compacted steel and click on the ‘Mine’ button shown at the bottom of the screen to order a colonist to mine out the steel. You can also press the ‘L’ hotkey by default. A colonist will then, when they don’t have any other more important jobs to do, come and mine out this part of the mountain.
You can also select areas to mine in a mountain by selecting the architect tab at the bottom of the screen, selecting the ‘Orders’ option, and clicking ‘Mine’. Then you can mark an entire area to be mined out. You will not need to process the materials or do anything after mining. Mining compacted steel will yield steel instantly. The amount of steel that can be mined and the speed at which it can be mined, depends entirely on your colonists Mining skill level. If they have any injuries or health issues that will also impact their work.
If you find that you have mined out your entire area of steel fear not! You can settle multiple colonies by selecting the option in the options menu. Then you can send out your mining team to a new area and settle the area. After settling, the game will generate a new map for you and you can mine out all of the steel in this area, take it with you and abandon the new area. That way you have an almost infinite way of producting steel through mining.
Method 2: Trade with other factions for steel
You can acquire steel through trading in Rimworld. To trade, send one of your caravans to another friendly or neutral faction base. Right click on the base when you arrive there and select the trade option. Most factions will have steel to trade, be it a tribal faction or someone more advanced. Steel is fairly cheap and can bought for a small amount of silver but the price can really add up depending on how big your building goals or projects are.
Another method of trading is to research and build the Comms console and trade with ships that pass overhead. This can take some time as trade ships flying overhead are pretty infrequent. But when they do fly over this can be the easiest way to obtain steel as you do not have to leave your colony and goods that you purchased can be sent straight to your colony. Win!
Method 3: Deconstruct items to reclaim Steel
When you first spawn on your map in Rimworld you may be wondering how can i get steel the quickest way. You will see a few small structures known as ‘ruins’ when you first touch down on the planet. These ruins will have walls, floors and sometimes a few different furniture or art items that are full of steel.
If you find some of these areas you can select each part of the structure and order your colonists to deconstruct them. Simply select an item, like the steel urn pictured above and select the ‘deconstruct’ option. (You can also use the ‘X’ hotkey while an item is selected to deconstruct.) You can do this to items that you find all over the map, other faction bases or outposts you come across during raids or events and your own items if you don’t think you will be needing them anymore. For example if you started the early game with a lot of steel and decided to make beds out of them, but now find yourself with an abundance of limestone and in urgent need of steel you have a clear solution. Deconstruct all the steel bedding and use the limestone to make beds. Simple.
Method 4: Deep Drilling to get steel
You can use the deep drill along with the ground penetrating scanner to find underground ore resources. This is a mid-late game method of acquiring materials and requires not only power, but also a few research items to be researched. You will use the ground penetrating scanner to identify minerals under the ground, then move a powered deep drill over the area to drill your steel source straight out of the ground!
I hope that has helped you get a better understanding of some of the methods I use to get steel in Rimworld. Do you have any other methods on how to get steel in Rimworld? Share them below in the comments to let everyone know and lets get steel rich together!
Related: How to get cloth in Rimworld, How to get Plasteel in Rimworld
