Progression route: bronze, iron and steel by Awareness level

On Cloud Mist Forest in Survival Mode, bronze opens at Awareness 20, iron at 35 and steel at 50. Fight the Saber-toothed Predator in bone or bronze, the Fogfrog in bronze, the Vajra Ape in iron, and the Tempest Griffin before steel. The Powered Refining Furnace that makes steel and its Cutting Machine need 930 iron ingots (mostly as parts and plates), 100 obsidian and a windmill, so start stockpiling iron as soon as the Blast Furnace runs.

Tech levels below are Survival Mode values from the 1.0 game data. Tribe and Warrior modes use cheaper, separate trees (see game modes).

Route by Awareness level

Awareness	Unlock (tech)	Do next
5	Linen Gear, Bonfire	Fierce Saber-toothed Predator can be summoned from level 5; players win in bone or bronze gear
10	Beast Bone Tools, Crop Planting, Medium Building	Start farming
12	Beast Bone Weapon	Bone spear or blades for the Saber-toothed Predator (boss level 20)
15	Leather Gear, Mask Technique, Shipbuilding Technique	Kill the level-20 rainforest priests for Worship Containers
20	Smelting Technique, Bronze Tool, Brewing, Airship Technique	Build the Furnace; copper and tin in the Western Rainforest
22	Bronze Weapon
25	Bronze Gear, Production Base, Advanced Craftsmanship	Level-25 Ancient Ruins for the other starting masks
30	Cuisine Processing, Advanced Building	Fogfrog (summon 30, boss 30); Torch of Eternity ruins
35	Blast Furnace Technique, Iron Tools, Iron Weapon	Build the Blast Furnace (100 bronze ingots); Vajra Ape summon unlocks
36	Iron Gear	Vajra Ape (boss 40) in full iron
40	Specimen Crafting, Premium Shipbuilding	Wilderness Mark from the Jungle Cave ruins
45	Exploiting, Calcination	Tempest Griffin (summon 45, boss 50) with radiation protection
46	Windmill Technique	Build the windmill; start obsidian and meteorite runs
50	Steel Weapon, Steel Tools, Refining Technique, Cutting Technique, Blackstone Building	Build the Cutting Machine and Refining Furnace; Mammoth summon unlocks
51	Steel Gear	Mammoth (boss 60) in steel with cold gear
54	Power Workshop, Distillation
55	Advanced Shipbuilding	Central Core summon level (boss 70)
60	Weapon, Gear and Tool Enhancement	Enhance steel gear for Doom tiers

Each guardian’s fight plan is on the guardian strategy page. Awareness milestones for comparison: 38.4% of Steam players reach 30, 17.6% reach 50 and 9.9% reach 60.

From iron to the first steel ingot

Steel needs three stations beyond the Blast Furnace, all built at the Building Workshop. Every quantity is one craft’s output of one item.

Build	Materials	Raw cost behind it
Windmill	100 Hardwood Plank, 50 Leather Rope, 100 Bronze Ingot, 20 Hardwood Handle	100 bronze
Powered Cutting Machine	50 Iron Ingot, 50 Leather Rope, 50 Metal Plate, 20 Metal Part	430 iron, 150 bronze, 40 copper ingots
50 Blackstone Bar (in the Cutting Machine)	2 Obsidian each	100 obsidian
Powered Refining Furnace	50 Blackstone Bar, 10 Ceramic Mold, 50 Metal Part, 50 Metal Plate	500 iron, 150 bronze, 100 copper ingots, plus the bars

A Metal Part is 4 iron and 2 copper ingots, and a Metal Plate 6 iron and 3 bronze ingots, both made at the Blast Furnace. Together the two machines take 930 iron ingots, 300 bronze, 140 copper ingots and 100 obsidian, plus another 100 bronze for the windmill. At 2 iron ore and 1 carbon powder per ingot, that is 1,860 iron ore (or Metal Chunks) and 930 carbon powder. Both powered machines need windmill power.

Each steel ingot then takes 1 iron ingot, 1 meteorite ore (or Mysterious Metal Chunk) and 1 coking coal (2 coal ore in any furnace).

Where the late materials are

Material	Where	Note
Iron ore	Jungle Cave, Giant Wood Forest, Southern and Northern Wasteland, Giant Crater, Barren Meadow mine, Scorching Volcano	Metal Chunks from Ancient Ruins robots substitute
Obsidian	Scorching Volcano	Fang tribesmen resist the heat
Meteorite ore	Alpine Land, Frost Canyon	Snow Mountain Flint and Claw tribesmen resist the cold
Coal	Lakeside Forest, Table Mountain, Plateau Woodland
Adhesive	Radioactive Wasteland only, per players	Needed for the guardian equipment sets

A May 2026 player rates the volcano region at levels 46–55 and the north-eastern desert at 41–50. The volcano interior is a heat death zone without protection. Tribesmen suited to each region are listed under resistances by tribe.

Where the route stalls

• Iron runs out at the refining furnace. The 930-ingot bill above is the usual surprise. Put a Born Laborer on iron and set up a mining yard before Awareness 46.
• No Worship Containers. Every guardian summon needs them; farm tribal priests and leaders from Awareness 15. See summon items.
• Skipping the Griffin. The Griffin set’s radiation protection makes Wasteland iron and adhesive trips far cheaper; a May 2026 player beat it in iron, before steel.
• Ignoring the Training Ground. It is optional: one April 2026 player reached the level-55 boss and steel without it. It mainly makes fighters stronger for Doom tiers. See best tribesmen.

Ingot recipes, furnace costs and ore regions are in bronze, iron and steel.