EmberFrost forge guide: every tool and upgrade Bram makes

The forge in EmberFrost is where Bram the smith turns stone into upgrades. It costs 250 coins once the stone quarry stands. Bram then works through eight jobs in a fixed order: iron, steel and master tools, three bigger crates, the light sled and the great sled. All eight take 170 stone, and you carry every one.

This guide covers the whole forging queue of EmberFrost: costs, requirements, effects and the running total of stone. It also answers what the in-game pages leave open: is a stone worth more at the anvil or at the market? No story spoilers.

What is the forge in EmberFrost?

The forge is a building in Tamarisk Village that comes with its own smith. It sits on its own track, like the fire's upgrades, so it is not one of the 26 places in the build list. It is offered once you have built the stone quarry, the 10th place, and it costs 250 coins. Building it does three things. Bram moves in and is standing at the anvil at once. The village gains room for one more person, so five cabins and the forge hold 23. And stone gets a second use: instead of selling it, you can drop it at the forge's mark and Bram forges with it. Every job takes 20 seconds of work, and you keep playing while he hammers. The rules are the same on Normal and Hard, and finishing every job earns the Master Smith achievement.

How do you unlock the forge and meet Bram?

Build the stone quarry. The forge's spot then shows its price, and your coins flow in while you stand on its zone, like any place. A half-paid forge keeps what you put in.

The moment it is built, Bram is at the anvil and introduces himself in two voiced lines: "I'm Bram, a smith. Your fire's good to work by." Then: "Bring me stone. I'll make your tools better."

When to build it is a short answer: soon after the quarry, and our EmberFrost build order guide shows where it fits. For Bram's part in the story, see the EmberFrost characters guide.

How do you give Bram stone?

Carry stone to the forge and stand on its mark, the way you drop wood at the fire. The stone leaves your back one piece at a time and the mark's outline fills. When the last stone a job needs is in, Bram starts hammering. Three rules decide the flow:

• One job at a time. The mark only takes what the current job asks for. Anything extra stays on your back for the next one.
• Nothing goes in while he forges. During the 20 seconds of hammering the mark takes no stone, so that is the moment to go and dig the next load.
• Only you can deliver. No worker brings stone to the forge.

A small card beside the mark names the next job, what it does and the stone it still needs. From further away, only the stone count shows.

Bram announces each job in one voiced line when he starts and another when he finishes. The cold slows him, and if he is freezing or sick, the work waits until he is back. A warm village is a faster forge.

What does each tool level do?

Each tool level cuts the time it takes to gather one item: 10% with iron tools, 20% with steel and 30% with master tools. It works for you and for every worker at every source: the pines, the ice hole, the pier and the quarry. The levels replace each other, so master tools mean 30% in all, not 60%.

Those are your own times. Workers gather at 60% of your pace, but the same cut applies: a stonecutter needs 5 seconds a stone without tools and 3.5 with master tools, before cold and morale.

Here is the number worth remembering: 30% off every item means about 43% more items per minute, for you and every worker at once. All three levels cost only 60 stone.

What does Bram forge after the tools?

After master tools, Bram moves on to five upgrades, always in this order. Each one waits for the building it improves. If that building is not there yet, he skips the job and comes back to it once it is.

1. Bigger wood crate, 15 stone. The stall's wood crate holds 20 instead of 10. Needs the market stall.
2. Bigger fish crate, 15 stone. The fish crate holds 20. Needs the fish crate, the 8th place. Our EmberFrost fishing guide covers what fills it.
3. Bigger stone crate, 20 stone. The stone crate holds 20. Needs the quarry, which you already have.
4. Light sled, 25 stone. Twice the load with no slowdown. Needs the sled, the 23rd place.
5. Great sled, 35 stone. Three times the load, still at full speed. Needs the light sled.

In practice, the three crates follow the tools straight away, because all their buildings stand before the forge does. Only the two sled jobs wait. The plain sled doubles what you carry but makes you walk 30% slower. With the fur-lined backpack's 12 slots, that is 24 items. The light sled keeps the 24 and removes the slowdown, and the great sled raises it to 36. Once the sled is built, Bram asks for the stone himself: "Bring me stone. Your sled gets twice the load, no slowdown."

With nothing left to work on, Bram walks home to warm up by the fire and comes back as soon as there is a job. Our guide to the EmberFrost fire levels explains how far that warmth reaches.

How much stone do you need in total?

All eight jobs take 170 stone: 60 for the tools and 110 for the upgrades after them.

By hand you dig a stone every 3 seconds. If each tool level goes to work as soon as it is ready, the first 10 take 3 seconds each, the next 20 take 2.7, the next 30 take 2.4 and the last 110 just 2.1. That is about six and a half minutes of digging, plus the walks, and at least 15 loads even with the fur-lined backpack.

The digging pays a little on the way: the quarry drops 2 coins for every stone you dig, so the full queue brings in 340 coins before a single stone is sold.

Should you forge your stone or sell it?

Forge first, then sell. A stone is worth 5 coins at the stall and 2 at the sell circle, so the queue's 170 stone could fetch 850 coins at stall prices. But the stall only buys stone when a villager asks, while the tools pay you back on every item gathered from then on.

Three things tip the balance:

• The stall is limited by demand. Once the quarry is open and the fisher is at work, only about 15% of requests at the stall are for stone, on Normal and Hard alike. A full stone crate earns nothing until someone asks.
• The circle pays little. At the sell circle, the 60 stone for all three tool levels would bring 120 coins. Set that against 30% off every log, fish and stone for the rest of the game.
• The digging coins are yours either way. The 2 coins that drop at the quarry come with every stone you dig, so a stone you forge has already earned them.

The stonecutter's hut, the 18th place, takes the stall off your hands: the stonecutter digs on his own and keeps the stall's stone crate full. But he never takes stone to the forge, and the carrier only moves wood. So the forge's stone is always yours to dig and carry, and its real price is your time at the quarry, not coins. That tells you how to split your stone:

1. Before the stonecutter, you fill both the stone crate and the forge. Tools first, and top up the crate when stone requests show up.
2. Once the stonecutter is at work, every stone you dig can go to Bram.
3. After the great sled, sell what you dig at the circle.

For the prices of wood and fish next to stone, see our EmberFrost coins guide.

FAQ

How much stone does the EmberFrost forge need in total?

170 stone across eight jobs: 60 for the three tool levels, 50 for the three bigger crates and 60 for the light sled and the great sled. Bram always works through them in that order.

Can workers bring stone to the forge?

No. The stonecutter fills the stall's stone crate and the carrier only moves wood, so every stone at the forge is one you dug and carried yourself.

Can you keep playing while Bram forges?

Yes. Each job takes 20 seconds at the anvil while you play on. The mark takes no stone until he finishes, so dig the next load in the meantime. A cold or sick smith works slower or stops.

How do you get the Master Smith achievement in EmberFrost?

Forge all three tool levels and all five upgrades. The crates come right after the tools, but both sled upgrades wait for the sled, the 23rd place, so Master Smith usually comes late. Our EmberFrost achievements guide lists the other nine.

Get started

EmberFrost: Survival Tycoon is free to start on the App Store, and Bram's forge opens after the stone quarry. Read more on the EmberFrost game page, or browse every EmberFrost post.