Ore & Refining

Raw stone and ore are only the beginning. What you mine must often be worked before it earns its keep:

• Iron Ore, smelted in a Furnace, becomes workable Iron — the stuff of the better tools, weapons and builds.
• Iron forged through Charcoal on an Anvil becomes Steel — an artisan's work, and the only metal the finest blades, axes and armour will take.
• Sulphur Rock refines in the Furnace into Refined Sulphur, the heart of gunpowder, bombs and blasting charges.
• Wood shut in a Furnace chars instead of burning, and comes out as Charcoal — two for every length, and far faster than waiting on dead campfires. Drop it on the Furnace's INPUT slot; right-clicking wood still fuels it.
• Stone is knapped into Sharp Stones and worked into the blocks and foundations of every building.
• Clay is shaped into pots and furnaces and binds the stone of an upgraded wall; Charcoal is ground into gunpowder and dye; Gold serves no smith here, but buys well at a trader's table.

The land is not endless in a day, but it is patient: every node you spend returns in time, so a careful people need never go without.