Contracts and Trading in Sword & Shield Simulator

A forge that never sells is a hobby. Sword & Shield Simulator wants contracts from customers, trades with merchants, and a skill system that grows with the hammer. Launch-week reviews said quality often did not change the price, reputation felt like a placeholder, and the till was chores. The Day One Patch (1.0.26.08.12.3) did not rewrite the economy. It did add item prices to the UI, side-quest rewards on Bloodlands, and a fix for chisel duplication that was printing free swords. This page is how to take work without feeding a broken market.

Read it with How to Forge, the sword designer, and shields. If a contract is really a travel gate, use How to Travel Regions instead of this page.

What a contract is for

The store page is clear: take jobs from the blacksmith’s customers, deliver the quality they paid for, trade around the city. Richard’s forge is supposed to arm Danburg. In play, a contract is a shopping list with a deadline the UI may or may not shout. Screenshot the order. The Day One Patch added intro pop-ups and a Discord button, but it did not add a holographic quality meter you can trust blindly.

Match the order on the forge checklist. If they want a blade, run furnace, anvil, grind, chisel, designer. If they want a shield or horseshoes, do not force four sword slots to eat a boss plate. If they want meat or hides, that is hunting, and it is still a risky side job.

Prices on the UI, still a soft till

Patch 1.0.26.08.12.3 added item prices to the UI. That is the first honest number many players asked for. Use it. Compare a starter nail to the contract blade before you smelt a unique part. The studio’s own next-up list after that patch still names economy and trading balance as the loudest remaining complaint. They agree with you. A price tag is not a balanced market.

Launch reviews said traders might pay the same for junk and for a careful grind. Until patch notes and your session agree that quality moves the coin, keep the best pieces for travel and for yourself. Sell the practice iron. Do not liquidate the only set that might open Bloodlands.

Chisel duplication was printing extra swords within hours of launch. That is fixed in the Day One Patch. If a disassembly station still clones a blade, stop, update, and report it. An infinite sword is not a build. It is a bug that will get patched out from under you.

Bloodlands side quests and shooting range

The same patch added rewards for Bloodlands side quests and more arrows for the shooting-range side quest. If a range ran dry on day one, update before you craft a fantasy quiver. Side quests are how the world pays when the main till feels flat. They are not a reason to skip the anvil.

Armory reinforcement not saving was also on the changelog. If you spent a night kitting an outpost and the racks reset, that was a known save bug. After the patch, kit once, relog, and confirm the gear is still there before you call it a build.

A shop loop that survives Early Access

1. Read the contract. Screenshot it. Close extra windows so UI input does not double.
2. Check the new price UI against what you already have in storage.
3. Make the piece with honest stations. Getting Started if you still rush the grindstone.
4. Deliver. If the coin equals a nail, keep the blade anyway. Travel and pride both need steel.
5. Buy only the gap: coal, a missing guard, a stack of ore. Never a vanity pommel before fuel. See materials.
6. Save. Then take the next job or the road.

Reputation is still a placeholder in the studio’s own Early Access FAQ. Do not grind a hidden faction meter you cannot see. Skills that grow with the hammer are listed; they are not a character-planner spreadsheet on this wiki. Swing, deliver, patch, repeat.

The Updates Hub is where economy notes will land when the till finally respects a masterwork. Until then, contracts are practice with a name on the ticket. Make the work. Pocket the coin. Keep the good steel.