Soulmask Bronze Guide - Where To Find Copper And Tin Fast
Upgrading to Bronze is the first real test of your patience in this game, mostly because finding the raw materials feels like pulling teeth.
Being stuck with primitive stone and bone tools is a miserable experience. You want to push into the Bronze Age as quickly as possible, but Soulmask demands a ridiculous amount of Copper and Tin to make it happen. I spent my first few hours aimlessly wandering the map, hoping to stumble across a lucky ore vein before getting absolutely wrecked by an angry jaguar. Depending on which game mode you picked, this grind can range from mildly annoying to completely soul crushing.
I have scoured both the jungle and desert maps to find the most efficient mining pits. You will need to bring a heavily armed squad of followers to clear these areas, but the payoff is worth the blood. Let me walk you through the entire process from ripping raw ore out of the dirt to running a fully functioning smelting operation.
Finding Copper In The Wild
Copper is the backbone of your early metal progression. You will need massive quantities of it, so knowing the exact pit locations on your specific map will save you hours of wandering around the wilderness.
Cloud Mist Forest Copper Spots
If you are playing on the default jungle map, your best bet is the River Valley region. Head directly west of the Western Rainforest and you will find a Medium Copper Pit. If that one is tapped out, there is another Copper Mine located in Rift Valley, sitting just north of the River Valley pit. Both of these locations are heavily guarded by hostile NPCs. I highly recommend taking a few well equipped tribesmen with you to act as bodyguards and pack mules. You do not want to get caught carrying three hundred pounds of rocks when an ambush happens.
Shifting Sands Copper Spots
For those of you braving the desert map, Copper is relatively abundant. You can find three distinct mines scattered across the River Delta and Coastal Dunes regions. The westernmost point of interest is a Medium Mine. This specific spot contains significantly more Copper Ore than the smaller pits, but it also has a much larger garrison of goons protecting it. Bring medical supplies and prepare for a sustained firefight.
Tracking Down Tin Deposits
Tin is the missing link for Bronze, and it is usually tucked away in highly irritating locations. You are going to have to do a bit of spelunking to get your hands on a decent supply.
Jungle Map Tin Locations
On the Cloud Mist Forest map, there is a dedicated Tin Pit just south of the main Copper Pit in River Valley. The entrance is tricky to spot. You need to hug the bottom of the cliff face until you find a cave opening. Once inside, you will find a massive deposit of Tin. Do not ignore the outside area either, there is plenty of loose Tin Ore scattered along the base of the cliff itself.
Desert Map Tin Locations
The Shifting Sands map hides its Tin Mines north of the Three River Junction marker. You will see two options. One is located past a heavily fortified Barbarian Barrack, and the other is a dedicated compound situated northwest of the beach. I strongly advise going to the beach compound. Dealing with the extra barbarians at the first location is a massive waste of durability and healing items.
How To Smelt Bronze
Getting the ore is only half the battle. Now you have to navigate the incredibly tedious tech tree to actually melt the stuff together.
Essential Tech Tree Unlocks
Before you even look at a rock, open your menu and start unlocking nodes. You need the Potting Technique, the Kiln Technique, and the Smelting Technique. If you do not have these, your ore is basically useless inventory weight.
Setting Up Your Furnace
You need to construct a Furnace. You cannot just throw rocks into a campfire and expect metal.
You need Clay and Stone, which are easily acquired by mining the rocks near any riverbed. Those specific river rocks have a high chance of dropping Clay. The Ceramic Molds require a bit more effort. You have to craft a Potting Table first, and then use your gathered Clay to form the molds.
Once your Furnace is built, you can finally smelt your Copper and Tin Bars to forge Bronze Bars. I recommend building at least two Furnaces to speed up the agonizingly slow crafting timer. Keep in mind that you will also need a Kiln later to produce fuel for your advanced workbenches.
Once you have your shiny new gear, you will desperately need to learn how to repair weapons and buildings so you do not have to repeat this entire process anytime soon.
Mining Tips And Exploits
I do not like doing things the hard way if I do not have to. Manually searching for these pits is miserable, but you can force the map to show you exactly where everything is.
The Scout Camp Trick
Whenever you are exploring a new region, look for Scout Camps. If you find the scout and beat them until their health is extremely low, a prompt will appear letting you deter them. Doing this completely removes the fog of war in that specific region and slaps map markers down for every ruin, enemy camp, and mine nearby. It is mandatory for maintaining your sanity.
The Solo Respawn Exploit
If you are playing by yourself on a local save, the game handles enemy spawns very predictably. If you clear out a mine and need to force the hostile NPCs to respawn for loot, just quit to the main menu and reload your save. This instantly resets the area. You will likely want to read up on how to increase your tribe limit so you can recruit the newly spawned enemies and force them to mine the very ore they were just protecting.
