Nothing in Hammer Valley is made for nobody. Each map's work is a sequence of five orders, each given by a person who lives there, each for a named piece in a set count. Behind the five orders comes one more request, the Commission, and when that is done the map closes and the road takes you on to the next. This chapter explains the order book, the Commission and the one-way road.
How an order works
- It is asked. When you meet its requirement, the person who wants it says so. The objective card and the order book show who it is for, what it is and how many.
- It may need a building first. Many orders only start counting once a building reaches a tier. Maud's chapel bell clapper wants the Furnace at tier 2; Pike's boat fittings want the Furnace at 3 and the Smithy at 4. Until then the book says "needs" and names the building.
- Pieces count as they come off the forge. In the valley every piece worked from a hot bloom counts; cold-worked scrap does not. From Ironbridge on only good work counts: proved pieces, stamped sections, certified modules. A plain piece still sells but does not go towards the order.
- It ships, then pays. When the count is full, the work goes out on that map's transport: Odo's wagon, the dray, the lorry, the ship, the freight drone, the mass driver or the rocket. The reward lands in one go when it gets back or reaches orbit.
- The hall rises. Every delivery raises the map's hall by one tier, which lifts the cap on every building. Before the first delivery nothing goes past tier 2; after one, tier 4; after two, tier 6; after three, tier 7.
Many deliveries also come with a gift: a building raised to a set tier for nothing. Enoch's paddle gear in Ironbridge brings the Ore Wharf to tier 3; Pike's fittings bring the barn to tier 5. Some deliveries also bring a letter.
The order book, map by map
| Map | The five orders | Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Hammer Valley | 12 horseshoes (Brann), the chapel bell clapper (Maud), 24 barrel hoops (Hollis), an anchor and 10 rings (Pike), 6 coach springs (Odo) | $40, $120, $300, $600, $1,200 |
| Ironbridge | 10 fire bars (Maud), 6 paddle gears (Enoch), 4 cranks (Hollis), 4 engine tyres (Odo), 12 master tie rods (Mrs Okafor) | $400 to $12,000 |
| Steelhaven | 10 tram rails (Sal), 8 cage guides (Hollis), 6 viaduct girders (Mrs Okafor), 4 boiler rings (Bram), 12 master crane rails (Meg) | $3,200 to $96,000 |
| Port Sable | 8 mooring bitts (Meg), 24 chain links (Captain Ferreira), 6 crane sheaves (Hollis), 4 shaft couplings (Odo), 6 master vessel rings (Sun-hee) | $24,000 to $720,000 |
| Silicon Reach | 8 chip modules (Imre), 12 control modules (Nadia), 16 array chips (Dr Achebe), 10 A-grade compute modules (Sun-hee), 6 gold guidance cores (Marguerite) | $200,000 to $6,000,000 |
| Selene Station | 4 helium-3 cells, 6 cells for the orbital station, 8 driver coils, a power pack and 6 shield tiles, one reactor core | $1.6M to $48M |
| Ares Colony | 4 fusion cores, 6 relay coils, 10 shield plates, 3 engine bells, and one last piece with no buyer | $12M to $180M, then nothing |
On every map the rewards double, more or less, from one order to the next. The valley's five orders pay $2,260 in all.
Master orders
The fifth order on maps 2 to 5 asks for master grade, and your own hand is the only way to get it. The self-acting gear that can run the forge while you are away never makes a master piece. What counts as master depends on the map:
- Ironbridge: the first drop of the steam hammer on the white flash, the rest on the yellow.
- Steelhaven: two passes of the rolling mill dead on the mark.
- Port Sable: both strokes of the press dead centre in the white.
- Silicon Reach: a gold certificate, tapped dead on the inspection line.
Sun-hee's compute modules on Silicon Reach also need A-grade cassettes, which only exist once the Silica Intake reaches tier 4 and its purity lab tags every load.
The Commission
After the fifth order, the map's witness asks for one thing more. It is never an order and it never pays. It is the thing Wren left unfinished in that place.
In the valley it is Brann's hat-pin. It has its own conditions: you need all four working hands (Digger, Stoker, Striker and Carter), the Furnace at tier 3, the Barn built, the Hands' Home at tier 2 and the Ore Pit at tier 2. Then carry a hot bloom to the anvil with nothing else on it and strike seven times. Each strike names a stage of the pin.
From Ironbridge to Selene the witness names the piece, and the next piece off your forge is it. You do not need to do anything special, just make one more piece.
| Map | Chapter | Commission |
|---|---|---|
| Hammer Valley | 1 | The Hat-Pin |
| Ironbridge | 2 | The Guild Key |
| Steelhaven | 3 | The Remembering Blade |
| Port Sable | 4 | Meg's Compass |
| Silicon Reach | 5 | The Cold Core |
| Selene Station | 6 | The 400-Hour Seal |
| Ares Colony | 7 | The Hundred Hands |
How a map ends, and the next begins
Once the Commission is made, a card closes the chapter. It tells you the map is finished, that it keeps working without you, and that what it earns stays there. Then you are on the road.
This is the most important rule of the campaign: nothing carries over except your smith and his gear. Your cash does not come with you. You arrive on each new map with a fixed purse, enough for that map's furnace tier 2, since its first tiers are free:
| Arriving at | Purse |
|---|---|
| Ironbridge | $288 |
| Steelhaven | $2,301 |
| Port Sable | $17,258 |
| Silicon Reach | $143,820 |
| Selene Station | $1,150,560 |
| Ares Colony | $8,629,200 |
Maps you have left pay you nothing, whether you are playing or away. Only the map you are on earns while the game is closed. There is no travel menu: the road goes one way, and the travel key (T) only reminds you of that until the very end. After the story's end on Ares, the road home to the valley opens.
Playing the order book well
- Read the "needs" line before you spend. Money spent on a building the next order does not need is money not spent on the one it does. The objective card always names the next building to raise.
- Do not hoard at the end of a map. Leftover cash does not travel. Once the fifth order is out, spend freely on anything that speeds up the last piece.
- Take the hall cap seriously. If a building will not go higher, the fix is never more money. Deliver the next order.
- Stand at the forge for master orders. Hired hands at the second forge and the automatic gear never make master work. Those twelve tie rods or twelve crane rails are yours to strike.
- Count the gifts. If the next delivery raises a building to tier 3 or 5 for free, buy something else in the meantime.