Blacksmith Master is a cozy yet complex medieval management sim where you run a full-blown blacksmith business—from forging swords to managing staff, decorating your shop, fulfilling merchant offers, and much more. If you’re just starting out, this Blacksmith Master Beginner guide walks you through the basics: UI, mechanics, early gameplay tips, and how to avoid newbie mistakes.
Let’s build your path to becoming the ultimate Blacksmith Master.
Blacksmith Master Beginner Guide
You start with a humble smithy and a couple of workers. Your main objectives are:
Fulfill merchant offers to earn gold and unlock new blueprints.
- Manage resources (wood, ore, ingots).
- Hire and assign staff wisely.
- Expand your smithy with constructions.
- Sell items in your shopfront.
- Unlock and upgrade items via the Mastery Tree and Design Points.
Every day runs on a schedule (7am–12am), and time management is essential. You’ll earn income, pay staff, craft items, and handle logistics in real time.
User Interface
Time & Speed Controls: Your in-game day starts at 7am and ends at midnight. You can pause, slow, or fast-forward time.
Treasury: Tracks your gold in real time.
Day Summary: Shows yesterday’s performance—earnings, customer reactions, and production logs.
Blueprints Button: Opens the menu to craft and unlock items.
Staff Tab: Manage your team, assign duties, and monitor performance.
Mastery Tree: Unlock new content and upgrades as you gain mastery points through crafting.
Merchant Offers
Your initial source of income comes from merchant offers. Here’s how they work:
Step-by-Step:
Accept the Offer
- You can accept up to 3 offers at a time.
- You’re limited to 5 new offers per day unless refreshed manually (200 Gold).
- Upgrade capacity via the Mastery Tree.
- Produce the Items
- Assign blacksmiths to craft the needed blueprints.
- If no assistants are hired, blacksmiths will carry items to merchants themselves.
Complete the Offer
Turn in the crafted items to earn Gold or rewards like blueprint points, decorations, or elite workers (every 20 offers).
Timed Offers (Day 8+):
- +10% bonus if fulfilled within 24 in-game hours.
- -20% penalty if delayed.
Set priority on offers to focus your staff’s attention.
Your Shop (Selling Blueprints)
Unlockable via Mastery Tree, this is your second income source.
Setting Up Shop:
- Place Displays and assign blueprints.
- Place a Checkout Counter and hire a Cashier.
- Assign blacksmiths to Craft for Racks.
- Assistants must carry items to the display racks (blacksmiths don’t do this).
- Customers will buy based on item quality vs price.
Boost customer traffic by spending 500 Gold on Decorations or Lights per display item.
Construction
- Use Build Mode to expand your smithy:
- Crafting Stations: Anvils, smelters, wood benches.
- Display Furniture: Item racks, checkout counters.
- Décor: Improves customer appeal.
- Structural Expansions: Add stairs, floors, rooms.
- Staff Utilities: Assign crafting/design stations.
- Rotate objects using X or Z keys and ensure there’s free space for placement.
Staff Management
Staff are the engine of your smithy. Each has traits, salary, and skill specializations.
Staff Roles:
- Blacksmiths: Craft items, research design points.
- Assistants: Carry items, manage logistics.
- Cashiers: Handle customer purchases.
Specializations:
- Metalworking: Faster metal item crafting.
- Carpentry: Faster wood item crafting.
- Design: Generates design points.
Assign staff based on:
- Skill level
- Crafting preferences
- Salary traits (e.g., lower wage, fast movement)
You can also level up staff through experience, increasing wages but boosting efficiency.
Want a hands-on experience? Take control of staff and play minigames like forging or carving for a more immersive gameplay style.
Resources
Resources come in two types: Metal and Wood. Both have production chains and specific uses.
Wood Chain:
- Hire Lumberjacks to chop and split wood.
- Assistants move it to storage racks.
- Used by blacksmiths at carpentry stations.
Metal Chain:
- Hire Miners to extract ores.
- Ore is smelted into ingots (via assistants).
- Ingots used by blacksmiths at metalworking stations.
Types of Ore:
Iron, Copper, Silver, Gold
Each comes in 3 ingot sizes: basic, medium, large.
Smelters must be manually assigned to ore type + size, and you’ll need storage pallets for each variant.
Blueprints & Design Points
Blueprints unlock new items to craft and sell.
Unlocking Blueprints:
- Earned by completing certain merchant offers.
- Use the Blueprint menu to select and unlock new items.
Upgrading with Design Points:
- Improves item quality and sale price.
- Assign blacksmiths to the Design Table to generate points.
- The amount of daily points depends on their Design skill.
Blacksmith Master blends strategy, time management, and creativity into a satisfying gameplay loop.