Population Milestones in SteamWorld Build

Wondering when you will unlock a certain building during your SteamWorld Build game? Find all Milestones and what they unlock in this article!
Posted 7 months ago. Filed under SteamWorld Build Information

What you'll read in this post:

When you first start playing a new game, the only thing you can build are Worker Residences. While your population grows, so does the amount of different buildings you can construct. 

This happens at every Milestone. A Milestone in SteamWorld Build is tied to a certain population level. The first couple of Milestones are hit by reaching a specific amount of Workers.

Later on, that amount will be Engineers, Aristobots and Scientists. 

All milestones and their unlocks

At every Milestone, new construction options become available. In this list, we'll note down every Milestone, the amount of population required to hit it and the buildings that reaching said Milestone unlocks. 

Milestone Reached when Unlocked in Overworld Unlocked in Mine
1 24 Workers (6 houses with general store access) Warehouse, Forester, Lumbermill, Service Shop  
2 70 Workers (12 houses with General Store and Service Shop access) Cactus Farm  
3 120 Workers (15 houses with General Store, Service Shop and Cactus Water supplied, or 20 houses without Cactus Water) Charcoal Kiln and Train Station  
4 200 Workers Engineers  
5 1 Engineer Sand Sifting Factory, Glassblower, Moonshiner, Saloon  
 6 70 Engineers

Repair of Abandoned Mineshaft (18 Engineers), Toolmaker, Surveyor Office, Paved Road

Miners Quarters, Prospector Quarters

7 120 Engineers Pickaxe maker, Sheet metal factory, Spare Parts maker,  Scrap Extractor, Mechanic Quarters
8 200 Engineers Wash Service, Burger Meister Water Purifier, Bridges, Surveillance factory with Radar machine, Dirty Water Extractor
9 240 Engineers

Aristobots

 

10 1 Aristobot

Waxing Shop, Polymerisation Plant

 

11 80 Aristobots

Sheriff’s Office, Armory, Diesel Plant, Hatmaker, Glass Wool Spinner, Oil Refinery

Guard Quarters, Grenade Turret, Oil Extractor, Thumper

12 120 Aristobots

Fine Dining Restaurant, Steam Furnace, Carburizing Plant

 

13 180 Aristobots

Casino, Gunsmith, Black Powder Maker, Sulfur Distillery

Flame Turret, Gas Extractor

14 240 Aristobots

Scientists

 

15 1 Scientist

Maglev Road, Retrofit Shop, University

 

16 50 Scientists

Lab Equipment Manufacturer, Sparkling Diesel Manufacturer

Lightning Turret

17 100 Scientists

Art Studio, Oil Paint Factory, Large Stuff Collider

Vectron Scrap Extractor

18 150 Scientists

Observatory

 

19 240 Scientists

Jetshroom Farm, Rocket Fuel Processing Plant

 

A note on decorations

Reaching milestones also provides you with more decorations to spruce up your town.

But to be honest: there are so many different decorations to unlock, this list would be three times as vast. Also, improving the scenic side of town doesn't help with production nor bot happiness, so why bother?