EmberFrostGuide8 min read
EmberFrost coins guide: wood, fish, stone and workers
How to earn coins in EmberFrost: what wood, fish and stone sell for, when to use the stall or the sell circle, and how workers, backpacks and the sled help.
In EmberFrost you earn coins three ways: a few drop every time you gather, the sell circles buy anything you carry at half its value, and villagers at the market stall pay full price. Fish is worth the most per item, then stone, then wood. Workers, bigger backpacks and the sled decide how quickly it all adds up.
This guide puts numbers on the economy of EmberFrost: what each resource is worth, which one pays best, how the stall works and what to build to earn faster. It is spoiler-free. For the basics of the fire and the cold, start with our beginner's guide.
How do you earn coins in EmberFrost?
EmberFrost has three sources of coins, and they stack. First, gathering drops coins right at the source: 1 for every log you chop, 2 for every stone and 3 for every fish, picked up by walking over them. Second, each resource has a sell circle on the ground. Stand in it and whatever you carry of that kind turns into coins at half its value, rounded down: 1 coin a log, 2 a stone, 4 a fish. Third, villagers queue at the market stall and pay the full value for what they ask for: 3 coins a log, 5 a stone, 8 a fish. The stall is always the better deal, but it only buys what villagers want, and each of them wants one kind of thing. So the rhythm is simple. Keep the stall and its crates stocked, and take the surplus to a sell circle when you need coins right now. Coins then pay for every building, the fire's upgrades and the forge.
| Resource | Where it comes from | Time per item by hand | Dropped while gathering | Sell circle | Market stall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wood | Pines and great pines | 1 log every half second | 1 coin | 1 coin | 3 coins |
| Fish | The ice hole, later the pier | 4 seconds, 3 once the pier is repaired | 3 coins | 4 coins | 8 coins |
| Stone | The quarry | 3 seconds | 2 coins | 2 coins | 5 coins |
The wood circle sits by the market stall from the start. The fish and stone circles appear with the ice hole and the quarry. A pine gives 5 logs and grows back in 30 seconds, and a great pine gives 8 and takes 45.
Which resource pays best?
Per item, fish. Per second of work, wood. Early on, neither matters as much as the size of your backpack.
Chopping takes half a second a log, so a whole pine is cut in a few seconds. A fish takes 4 seconds at the ice hole. But you start with room for only 5 items, and that is the real limit. A full backpack of logs is worth 15 coins at the stall, plus 5 that dropped while you chopped. A full backpack of fish is worth 40 at the stall, plus 15 dropped while you fished. Carrying fish home pays almost three times as much per trip.
There is a catch, and we found it while balancing the game. In our own playtests with a test bot, the stall's earnings were limited by how many villagers came, not by how much was in stock. A stall full of fish earns nothing if nobody asks for fish. That is why the best ways to earn more are about people:
- Build cabins. Each one makes room for 4 more villagers, and every villager is another customer.
- Keep morale high. At 70 or more, villagers arrive every 15 seconds instead of 20, and workers work 20% faster. Below 30, nobody new comes.
- Keep the crates full. Crates beside the stall sell to villagers by themselves, so a stocked stall earns while you are out in the forest.
- Sell the surplus. Anything the stall cannot use still turns into coins at a circle.
How does the market stall work?
Up to 4 villagers wait at the stall at once. Each wants one kind of thing, usually just one of it and sometimes two or three, and shows it with an icon. They wait 45 seconds. Serve them and they pay in full and morale goes up by 1. Let them leave empty-handed and morale drops by 1 on Normal or 2 on Hard, as our Normal vs Hard guide explains.
What they ask for changes as the village grows. The first villager of every game wants wood. Once the quarry is open and the fisher is at work, about half ask for wood, 35% for fish and 15% for stone. Before the fisher's hut is built, fish is harder to come by, so fewer ask for it: 18% on Normal and 26% on Hard.
The stall comes with a wood crate. The fish crate is a place of its own, and the stone crate arrives with the quarry. Each holds 10 at first, and 20 once Bram the smith has upgraded it.
When should you hire workers?
As soon as you can, because every worker frees you for the jobs only you can do. Each worker comes with a building: build the hut or the post and the worker starts at once. Granny Maud tells you when one of these places is on offer, so you can plan for it.
- Woodcutters (two huts) chop trees and stack the logs on the wood pile by the fire. On Normal, when the pile is full, they also feed the braziers.
- The fisher works the ice hole and the pier and fills the fish crate.
- The stonecutter digs at the quarry and fills the stone crate.
- The carrier keeps the main fire over half full, then tops up the braziers, then stocks the stall.
Workers gather at 60% of your own pace and carry 4, 3, 3 and 6 items. The cold slows them, and high morale speeds them up. One thing to know: only your own gathering drops coins at the source. Workers earn for you through the wood pile and the crates instead. Workers, the forge and the sled are part of the Full Story, and our guide to what is free in EmberFrost shows where that line falls. To meet the people behind the jobs, see the EmberFrost characters guide.
How do you carry more?
Every trip is worth more when you carry more, and you can raise the limit in several steps. Past half full, each extra item slows you by 2%, so the later upgrades also help you move.
| Upgrade | What it changes | How you get it |
|---|---|---|
| Bigger backpack | Carry 8 items instead of 5 | Build it like any place |
| Fur-lined backpack | Carry 12 instead of 8 | Build it like any place |
| Storage shed | The wood pile holds 80 logs instead of 30 | Build it like any place |
| Sled | Carry twice as much, but walk 30% slower | Build it like any place |
| Sled upgrades | Twice as much at full speed, then three times | Bram forges them from stone |
| Crate upgrades | Each stall crate holds 20 instead of 10 | Bram forges them from stone |
| Tools, three levels | Gathering takes 10%, 20%, then 30% less time | Bram forges them for 10, 20 and 30 stone |
Better tools help you and every worker at every source. Each forging takes 20 seconds, and you keep playing while Bram works.
What should you spend coins on first?
There is no single right answer, and the game says so itself: "There's no wrong build order, but each one changes how you play." Three places are on offer at a time, you choose between them, and coins go into a place as you have them, so nothing you pay in is lost.
If coins are your goal, this order tends to pay back fastest:
- The market stall, so villagers pay full price instead of half.
- Cabins, so more customers come.
- The ice hole and the fish crate, since fish is worth the most.
- The bigger backpack, so every trip carries more.
- Each worker, as soon as it is offered.
The fire's own upgrades are a separate track and show up as the village grows. Do not skip them: cold villagers fall ill, every illness costs morale, and low morale stops new customers. Optional coin packs appear in a small shop once the forge is built, but nothing about the game's prices or pace changes if you never buy one.
FAQ
How do you get coins fast in EmberFrost?
Keep the market stall and its crates stocked, since villagers pay full price, and build cabins so more customers come. Sell the surplus at the circles and pick up the coins that drop while you gather.
What sells for the most in EmberFrost?
Fish: 8 coins at the stall and 4 at a sell circle, plus 3 dropped for every fish you catch yourself. Stone comes next at 5, then wood at 3.
Do workers earn coins in EmberFrost?
Not directly. Workers fill the wood pile and the stall's crates, and villagers buy from the crates. Only your own gathering drops coins at the source.
Do coins pile up while the game is closed?
No. Nothing happens while EmberFrost is closed, so your village and your coins wait exactly as you left them. More on that in offline games for iPhone.
Get started
EmberFrost: Survival Tycoon is free to start on the App Store. Find out more on the EmberFrost game page, see how it compares in games like Frostpunk on mobile, or browse every EmberFrost post.
