Vintage Story Tech Tree: Progression Tiers from Stone to Steel
Free interactive Vintage Story tech tree progression viewer above — click any tier to see its gating requirements, key tools, key recipes, biome notes, and survival priorities. The 5 main tiers: Stone Age → Copper → Bronze → Iron → Steel. Each one is a real progression gate; skipping ahead doesn’t work.
Why Vintage Story progression matters
Unlike most survival-craft games, Vintage Story doesn’t telegraph “what to do next” with quest markers. The progression is gated by what materials you can find + what tools you can knap/smelt with what you already have. Players who don’t understand the gating get stuck in early tiers, lose temporal-storm fights, and quit. Players who do plan their tech path methodically reach Steel within ~50 in-game days.
What this tree shows
- Gating requirements — what unlocks each tier and what blocks you from advancing
- Key tools per tier — what to knap/forge first when you reach the new metal age
- Key recipes / structures — firepit, pit kiln, forge, bloomery, cementation furnace at the right times
- Biome notes — where to find the gating ores (cassiterite, limonite, magnetite, etc.)
- Survival priority — what to focus on at each tier so you don’t starve / freeze / fall to temporal storms
Run a Vintage Story server with friends
Vintage Story shines as a multiplayer survival sandbox — specialization (one player smelts iron, another farms, another mines) accelerates progression dramatically. Supercraft hosts Vintage Story dedicated servers from $5.99/mo with custom rates and Discord webhook notifications for temporal storms. See plans →
FAQ
- How long does it take to reach Steel?
- Solo: 40–60 in-game days at default rates. Group of 4 with role specialization: 25–35 days. The rate-limiting step is finding magnetite or hematite for high-quality iron.
- What about Brass / Black Bronze / other metal alloys?
- They’re sidegrades. Black bronze is sometimes used as iron-tier intermediate. Brass is decorative. The tree above focuses on the canonical 5 progression tiers.
- Are temporal storms real progression gates?
- Yes — temporal storms scale with in-game days. Without iron-tier weapons by day 25 you’ll struggle to survive them on default difficulty.