The Stonewards Hub

The hub is Stonewards’ persistent between-run space. After a mission ends—whether you saved the King or lost the throne—you return to a camp where dwarves gather, change loadouts, pick the next bastion to defend, and spend meta currency in a shop. Banana Tiger Studio added the hub as the main social and progression layer ahead of Early Access, replacing the feeling of instantly re-queueing into identical naked runs without context.

Hub vs Bastion: Know the Difference

Inside a mission, geography is about survival: procedural mines, crumbling walls, forge stations, and the King’s throne room. In the hub, geography is about preparation and persistence. Hub unlocks, shop stock, character selection, and mission choices carry forward. In-run forge rolls and wall damage mostly reset when you deploy again. New players often skip hub visits and wonder why repeats feel weak—if that sounds familiar, slow down here before grinding another failed horn three.

Core Hub Services

Public patch notes and store updates describe these hub functions:

Character Selection

Choose which dwarf you bring into the next mission. Early builds highlight starter roles such as miner-leaning and warrior-leaning profiles, with more characters unlocking through meta progression. Each character may ship with unique abilities in later patches—check selection UI tooltips before co-op nights so the squad is not four identical generalists unless intentional.

Mission Board

Pick which threatened bastion or kingdom distress call to answer next. Missions frame difficulty, rewards, and sometimes environmental modifiers. Treat the board as your risk dial: harder missions may pay better hub currency at the cost of stricter horn timing on the surface.

Shop and Meta Purchases

Spend currency earned from runs on persistent upgrades—gear foundations, hub cosmetics, or unlocks that make future deployments smoother. Shop inventory evolves during Early Access; prioritize items that reduce repeated failure modes (slow mining, weak starting ammo, fragile walls) before flavor purchases.

Squad Staging Area

The hub is where co-op groups assemble before launching. Use it to confirm voice chat, mission choice, and who plays miner versus surface anchor. Launching straight from Steam invites without hub coordination is how teams enter horn one with four people mining.

Typical Between-Run Workflow

1. Review rewards from the last mission—currency, quest progress, unlock notifications.
2. Visit shop if a known bottleneck (starting arrows, movement speed, mining yield) has an affordable fix.
3. Select characters to cover mining and defense roles across the group.
4. Pick a mission aligned with your goals: learning maps, farming currency, or pushing milestone horns.
5. Launch only after everyone confirms ready—hub time is cheap compared to losing horn two because one player was still in menus.

For a procedural walkthrough tied to first repeats, also read How to Use the Hub.

Hub Progression and Quests

Steam community updates mention quest completion tied to hub returns—especially around milestone waves where you may choose endless mode or extract to hub with rewards. Quests give structure to repeat runs: defend X times, mine Y ore across missions, or complete co-op objectives. Track quest text carefully during demo periods; wording changes patch to patch.

Relationship to In-Run Economy

Hub upgrades do not replace in-run forging. You still mine procedural caves, deposit ore, craft arrows, and repair walls every horn inside the bastion. Think of hub power as raising your floor—faster baseline mining, better starting stacks, or unlocked characters—while in-run forge RNG still defines ceiling spikes during a single mission.

Pair hub planning with Resource Priority Checklist so meta purchases align with how you actually spend ore on the surface.

Co-op Hub Etiquette

• Host picks mission after group vote, not solo impulse.
• Share shop intent so two players do not buy redundant upgrades.
• Match characters to roles discussed in How to Co-op in Stonewards.
• Wait for load-in before anyone opens external guides mid-cutscene.

Solo Hub Usage

Solo players should still treat the hub as mandatory between attempts. Buy upgrades that shorten mining windows or strengthen first-horn defense—solo fails most often to timing, not lack of DPS. Mission selection matters more without teammates to cover mistakes; learn bastions on moderate missions before jumping to maximum pressure.

Future Hub Expansion

Developer notes describe the hub as a first step toward a fuller hangout space—relaxation, preparation, and social presence before deploying. Early Access may add vendors, mini-games, or cosmetic systems. This page documents the functional spine (characters, missions, shop); cosmetic fluff changes frequently and belongs in patch notes.

Related Reading

Deploying from the hub lands you in Bastion Layout geography and Mines and Caves during economy phases. Combat pages cover what happens when horns start. Early Access Overview explains how long Banana Tiger Studio expects to expand hub and mission content post-launch.