Expeditions handbook
Forge your first pickaxe and unlock mine expeditions
Follow the introductory workshop chain: Sawmill, Mason, Smelter and Blacksmith. Smelt copper into bars, then forge the first pickaxe. Once mines open, choose the mine destination and use your available pickaxes to set the expedition party.
For Demo players who have started collecting Forest resources and can work through building upgrades. The guide follows the named chain; recipe input quantities come from your own game.
Updated 2026-10-31 · Demo
Steps
Find the four workshop upgrades
Open the upgrade tree and work toward the Sawmill, Mason, Smelter and Blacksmith. The English tutorial names all four before asking you to forge a pickaxe. Inspect each node's own requirement and recipe description rather than treating the buildings as a single purchase.
Open full-size image ↗GottaBlast's 13 Oct Demo tutorial: build the four workshops, smelt copper into bars, then forge the first pickaxe. Build the workshops and connect their tunnels
Place the unlocked buildings and carve access from the hall. Click each workshop to check whether a dwarf can reach it. A missing route and an unavailable recipe input need different fixes.
Smelt copper into bars
Use the Smelter for the copper-bar stage described by the tutorial. Check its input and output before you move to forging. If production is still, inspect its pause state, available input and whether its output stockpile is full.
Forge the first pickaxe at the Blacksmith
With the bar stage supplied, check the Blacksmith's pickaxe production and let the first one finish. The tutorial sequence then announces that the first pickaxe is forged and the mines are open.
Select mine and choose the party
Open expeditions and select the mine rather than Forest. Set how many pickaxes to send, then continue to equipment. The later German Demo example shows the Copper Pickaxe row and its party/depth effects.
Open full-size image ↗Kupferspitzhacke means Copper Pickaxe. The 28 Oct Demo row shows +1 damage, +1 dwarf and digging to floor 3.
What should change
Your first pickaxe has finished, the mine destination is available and you can choose a mine party. Next, pack equipment before starting.
If it still does not work
If a building node is locked, read that upgrade's own prerequisite in the tree. If forging is not moving, trace the input chain from the Blacksmith back to bars and the Smelter; check access and recipe state along the way. Do not solve every stalled stage by adding Sawmills.
Next check
Sources & scope
The workshop chain is from the actual 13 October English Demo tutorial; its build is not stated and predates the 0.90 announcement. Pickaxe effects are a separate 28 October Demo observation. No recipe material quantities are inferred from unlabeled icons.