Captain of Industry drops you on an unmapped island with a damaged ship, a handful of settlers and a pile of scrap. MaFi Games put it into Early Access on 31 May 2022 and it pairs terrain deforming open pit mining with factory chains, a settlement that eats food and produces Unity, and a world map you sail yourself. Every machine and vehicle also burns maintenance, so a factory that cannot feed its own upkeep will tear itself apart.
This walkthrough takes you from your first session to endgame content. Each phase has specific goals, priorities, and milestones. New to the game? Start with our beginner's guide first.
Quick Progression Summary
| Phase | Area | Focus | Build | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Start | Home Island | Terrain mining and dumping basics | Copper and electronics line | 1-2 hours |
| 2. Early | Oil Rig | Maintenance upkeep mastery | Copper and electronics line | 3-5 hours |
| 3. Mid | Groundwater Well | Unity and edicts + gear | Iron and steel line or Copper and electronics line | 5-10 hours |
| 4. Late | Sawmill | Build optimization | Iron and steel line | 5-10 hours |
| 5. Endgame | Damaged Cargo Ship | Min-max | Iron and steel line or Steam power and cooling | Ongoing |
See our maps guide for detailed area breakdowns.
Phase 1: Getting Started (Home Island)
Where all mining, farming and manufacturing happens. The terrain is fully deformable, so the pits you dig and the overburden you dump reshape your own buildable space permanently.
Level/Difficulty: Whole game Key Rewards: Coal, iron ore, copper ore, limestone, later quartz and uranium ore
What to Do in Home Island
- Learn Terrain mining and dumping. The island is deformable terrain, so digging an ore vein leaves a real pit and the waste rock has to be trucked somewhere. Spend your first session getting comfortable with this.
- Pick Copper and electronics line as your starting build. See our builds guide for why.
- Maintenance is the real difficulty curve. Below 75 percent a machine or vehicle can break down, and the chance rises toward 50 percent at zero, so one depot starved of electronics can cascade into a base wide stall.
- Acquire your first equipment upgrade: Blast Furnace or whatever's available.
- Clear all main content before moving on.
Phase 1 Checklist
- Understand Terrain mining and dumping fundamentals
- Copper and electronics line selected and functional
- Home Island main content cleared
- Ready for Oil Rig
Phase 2: Early Game (Oil Rig)
A world map node claimed with Unity and serviced by your ship. Crude from here feeds the Distillation stages that produce diesel and everything downstream of it.
Level/Difficulty: Mid game Key Rewards: Crude oil supply, the route to diesel self sufficiency
What to Do in Oil Rig
- Work on Maintenance upkeep. Nearly every machine and vehicle consumes Maintenance produced at a Maintenance Depot from mechanical parts and electronics. This system becomes critical from here on.
- Farm for Blast Furnace if you haven't already. It's the key upgrade for this phase.
- Mining is two jobs, not one. The overburden of dirt and hard rock has to come off and go somewhere before the vein underneath is workable, so decide on the dump site before you place the Mine Control Tower.
- Complete all objectives before pushing to Groundwater Well.
- Consider whether Iron and steel line might suit your playstyle better than Copper and electronics line.
Phase 2 Checklist
- Maintenance upkeep integrated into gameplay
- Blast Furnace acquired
- Oil Rig fully cleared
- Ready for Groundwater Well
Phase 3: Mid Game (Groundwater Well)
A world map source of fresh water, worth claiming once farms and steam demand outrun what rainwater harvesting and desalination can supply.
Level/Difficulty: Mid game Key Rewards: Fresh water without the power cost of a Thermal Desalinator
What to Do in Groundwater Well
- Master Unity and edicts. Unity comes mainly from meeting settlement service demands, and it pays for claiming world map nodes, enacting edicts, speeding construction and repairing a broken machine on the spot. This unlocks a new layer of gameplay.
- Start working toward Mine Control Tower. It's the best equipment and becomes accessible around now.
- A functioning mine needs at least one Excavator and one Haul Truck, and output scales with the vehicles assigned rather than with any tower upgrade. Read the tower's demand indicator before opening a second pit.
- This area is the main skill check. If you can clear it, you're ready for late game.
- Start investing in Settlement needs and health for the tactical depth you'll need going forward.
Phase 3 Checklist
- Unity and edicts mastered
- Mine Control Tower acquired or in progress
- Groundwater Well fully cleared
- Ready for Sawmill
Phase 4: Late Game (Sawmill)
A world map node supplying wood, which feeds the Coal Maker charcoal route and the construction parts chain without clearing your own island forests.
Level/Difficulty: Early to mid game Key Rewards: Steady wood income, charcoal without coal mining
What to Do in Sawmill
- Finalize your build. You should be running Iron and steel line or Copper and electronics line with optimized gear.
- Mine Control Tower should be your primary. If you don't have it yet, prioritize getting it.
- Food variety pays a measurable dividend. Health rises by four for every food category past the first, so potatoes, meat, vegetables and a treat beat four times as many potatoes by a wide margin.
- World map exploration optimization starts here. Small improvements compound into massive advantages.
- Farm this area for the resources needed to push into Damaged Cargo Ship.
Phase 4 Checklist
- Build fully optimized
- Mine Control Tower upgraded to max
- Sawmill fully cleared
- Ready for Damaged Cargo Ship
Phase 5: Endgame (Damaged Cargo Ship)
One of seven wrecks scattered across the world map. Each can be repaired into a working trade ship, which multiplies how much cargo you move per trip rather than how fast you move it.
Level/Difficulty: Mid to late game Key Rewards: Additional trade ships, salvaged materials
What to Do in Damaged Cargo Ship
- Damaged Cargo Ship tests everything. Come prepared with your best build and gear.
- Furnaces vent exhaust that must reach a Smoke Stack, and a single stack can serve several machines. Laying furnace rows around one shared stack saves both footprint and construction parts.
- The endgame loop: run Damaged Cargo Ship, optimize gear, push harder content.
- Experiment with Steam power and cooling for a fresh take once you've mastered the standard builds.
- This is where World map exploration mastery separates good players from great ones. See our tips guide for advanced strategies.
Phase 5 Checklist
- Endgame content on farm
- Best-in-slot gear acquired
- Damaged Cargo Ship fully cleared
- Ready for challenge content
Common Progression Mistakes
- Building one Maintenance Depot and never revisiting it, then losing half the vehicle fleet to breakdowns in the same week
- Digging a pit with no dump site planned, so Haul Trucks queue while overburden has nowhere to go
- Feeding the settlement a single crop and wondering why health stays low despite food demand being met
- Spending Unity on construction speed early, leaving nothing for emergency repairs when a furnace row fails
- Growing the settlement before waste handling exists, then losing population to a service that was never built
Key Tips for Smooth Progression
- Maintenance is the real difficulty curve. Below 75 percent a machine or vehicle can break down, and the chance rises toward 50 percent at zero, so one depot starved of electronics can cascade into a base wide stall.
- Mining is two jobs, not one. The overburden of dirt and hard rock has to come off and go somewhere before the vein underneath is workable, so decide on the dump site before you place the Mine Control Tower.
- A functioning mine needs at least one Excavator and one Haul Truck, and output scales with the vehicles assigned rather than with any tower upgrade. Read the tower's demand indicator before opening a second pit.
- Food variety pays a measurable dividend. Health rises by four for every food category past the first, so potatoes, meat, vegetables and a treat beat four times as many potatoes by a wide margin.
- Furnaces vent exhaust that must reach a Smoke Stack, and a single stack can serve several machines. Laying furnace rows around one shared stack saves both footprint and construction parts.
For more advanced strategies, see our tips & tricks guide.
More Captain of Industry Guides
- Captain of Industry Captain of Industry Overview
- Captain of Industry Best Builds
- Captain of Industry Tier List
- Captain of Industry Beginner's Guide
- Captain of Industry Tips & Tricks
- Captain of Industry Weapons Guide
- Captain of Industry Combat Guide
- Captain of Industry Boss Guide
- Captain of Industry Maps & Locations
- Captain of Industry Crafting Guide
- Captain of Industry Classes & Characters
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