Steam Cores are your bread and butter in Frostpunk. They are arguably one of the most important resources (depending on the build you’re going for).
The most use you’re going to get out of Steam Cores is using them to create higher level machinery. Whilst a single Coal Mine will cost 1 Steam Core, upgrading it once to a Steam Coal Mine will increase it by 1, whilst increasing it to an Advanced Mine will again increase it by 1.
If you want to use Automatons in your city, these will also cost 1 Steam Core each, as well as 100 wood, 100 steel and 50 coal. As you can already tell, Steam Cores are importing for advancing your city further and making it easier to survive.
Unfortunately, Steam Cores can’t be crafted. You need to find them during expeditions. You can set up expeditions by researching the Beacon from the Workshop. From there, you can create a scout team from 40 wood and 5 workers. Research new technologies to get additional scout teams and make scouts travel faster, essentially increasing how many Steam Cores you will find in shorter amounts of time.
Check out some more Frostpunk Guides.
Steam Core locations
If you’re playing the New Home scenario in Frostpunk, here are some locations you can search to find Steam Cores. I will also post a map below, with the precise locations of areas you should search.
- Snow Cliff:Â 1 Steam Core
- Weather Station:Â 1 Steam Core
- Study Shelter:Â 1 Steam Core
- American Camp:Â 1 Steam Core
- Temporary Settlement:Â 1 Steam Core
- Dreadnought Landing:Â 1 Steam Core
- Research Station:Â 2 Steam Cores
When playing Frostpunk and completing expeditions, you may also come across Outposts. These are locations that your outpost teams work at, and will bring you hundreds of resources per day. You can only have 2 outposts active at any time, so any you don’t wish to use, you can dismantle. Dismantling an outpost will give 2 steam cores for each one.
Alternatively, you can set up an Outpost at ‘Tesla City’. Setting up an Outpost here will provide you with 1 Steam Core per day. You have to risk entering the city, and it may kill your scout team who you send to explore.
If you are playing The Arks scenario, Steam Cores are much easier to come by as they are the main point of that scenario. Most locations will have them, and you’ll often be alerted on where to find more.
