The Iron Oath Company Upgrades Guide

The Iron Oath requires you to build up a respectable mercenary company after a job goes south. The various upgrades you can acquire will make that easier, with boosts to efficiency and quality of life. Here's how you can best manage your Iron Oath Company Upgrades.

Getting Started With Iron Oath Company Upgrades

Purchase these upgrades by acquiring Renown and Company Perk points, a currency earned by completing contracts. Since these are slow to earn at first, prioritizing your upgrades is an important part of your overall strategy. Each rank in an upgrade requires a single Company Perk point, and some of the various upgrades do have a Renown Level attached to them. Since The Iron Oath is in Early Access, these upgrades, their parameters, and their availability are subject to change.

To access the upgrades, open your roster (G by default) and click on the icon that resembles a hammer and anvil, the second from the bottom. There are three categories of upgrades: General, Expeditions, and Alchemy. It's a simple process to buy something. Just click and make sure you have the requisite point and Renown Level. Purchasing an upgrade fills in one of the "blocks" with a green color to signify ownership. If you don't meet the requirements, it will show a red padlock icon to the right of the upgrade's name.

The Iron Oath General Upgrades

General upgrades have a variety of applications that are useful in many different situations. They help you save money, increase overworld travel speed, and aid in negotiation of contracts.

Tents

Increases your roster capacity to 10/12/15 based on your rank. Tents is a nice upgrade since it will allow you to field more teams without having to rest. Hitting the cap early on can wreck your finances if you aren't careful, since you do have to pay their salaries whether you field them or not. It's also expensive to outfit so many units without passing equipment back and forth, which causes it to wear out faster.

Verdict: Once you have a comfortable income, you can invest in Tents more. At the cap, it lets you have three full teams of four and three backups. There isn't much class diversity in The Iron Oath in Early Access, so one point should be sufficient for a while.

Recovery

Recovers your Fatigue and Injuries 10/20/30% faster. Fatigue and Injuries are big hindrances in battle, and can slow your operation to a crawl. There's a minimum Renown Level attached (5), so this won't come online until you've completed a few jobs and felt the effects of Fatigue without it.

Verdict: Something to invest in once you have the points and reach the level. It helps your mercenaries get back into the fray sooner, especially at the third rank.

Respite

Clears more days of Fatigue spending nights at Inns. Removes 4/5/6 Fatigue instead of the default 3. Requires a minimum Renown Level of 10.

Verdict: A weirdly high level for something that Recovery affects earlier. Rarely will a single day of rest make a difference. It's a point dump if you don't have anything else to buy, but there are plenty of other upgrades that will have more use. Later upgrade.

Bookkeeping

Reduce salary costs of your mercenaries by 10/15/25%. Saves you money in the short and long-term, and you'll need that money for supplies and equipment. The second-tier upgrade is a tiny 5% boost, but the third-tier upgrade makes it worth it by shaving 25% of the cost off.

Verdict: Saving money is good. It's a very practical upgrade that works behind the scenes. More money means better equipment, better supplies, and better mercenaries.

Multitasking

Contract limit increased to 4/5 at a time. Requires a Renown Level of 5. This only has two upgrades in Early Access, and it depends on your playstyle. If you prefer long expeditions away from the city, this becomes nicer. It also lets you take on whatever contracts you like without fear of filling up your slots.

Verdict: Depending on your playstyle, this is either a nice-to-have or essential upgrade. Weigh this against your army's capabilities carefully.

Forging

Increases gear durability by 10/20/35%. Requires a minimum Renown Level of 10. Gear that lasts longer is gear you don't need to spend money replacing until later. It's another practical choice, especially as you begin building a larger company.

Verdict: Like Bookkeeping, this saves money in the background. Be sure to check your equipment durability before setting out so you don't accidentally have something break mid-mission!

Team Building

Increase the rate at which Loyalty is gained with the company by 10/20/25%. Team Building II adds to Affinity growth, and Team Building III adds to Morale.

Verdict: The third point wasn't worth the cost until Morale was thrown in. It reduces the likelihood of being fatigued after a mission. Nice if you're on a time crunch, and helps build things faster and get more use out of them until you retire.

Recruiting

New recruits start with +5/10/20 Loyalty. Lets your recruits build Loyalty faster with a better base. Requires a Renown Level of 5.

Verdict: Increasing base Loyalty makes it less painful to raise, since it can be a little low without these upgrades. Loyal mercenaries keep the operation smooth. It means fewer missions to build Loyalty to a high level.

Horse Training

Increases travel speed on the overworld by 15/30/50%. Getting to things faster saves you the ultimate resource: time. Get to missions faster, return to town faster, and do everything faster.

Verdict: The 50% boost is incredible, but any rank of this will soon pay for itself. Your mercenaries do age and eventually retire or die, after all. They shouldn't spend their whole lives traveling around in a wagon.

The Iron Oath Expeditions Upgrades

Expeditions upgrades are useful when in a dungeon setting. These upgrades increase item capacity, make scouting more efficient, and so on.

Satchel Size

Increase your provision capacity for missions by 2/4/6. Short, sweet, and simple. Great synergy with Reimbursement and Discount. Satchel Size takes a moment to come online, but soon you can flood yourself with supplies.

Verdict: Worth it. Invest in Discount and Reimbursement to make the most of it.

Supply Lines

Each upgrade rank increases the quality of potions your merchant can provide to the party, with medium/large/strongest potions available for sale. Haste Elixirs are available starting at Supply Lines II. Requires Renown Level 5.

Verdict: This is a no-brainer. You won't need anything grand for recruits, but as you start getting veteran soldiers you'll appreciate the more potent potions from your potion seller.

Extended Camp

Extended Camp has a single rank, which allows you to spend 20 Incense Points while camping. It requires Renown Level 15, so it's a while away, but you can do some interesting things with more Incense Points available.

Verdict: Opens up some new tactical options if you're willing to invest a lot into your Incense. See the Alchemy section for more.

Discount

Receive a 10/20/35% discount on provisions purchased from your merchant. A money saver and a pretty easy choice. Provisions are useful when you need to fix a problem and this makes them more readily available.

Verdict: If you're a fiend for provisions, this is not only a lifesaver, it's a wallet saver.

Reimbursement

Receive a 60/75/90% refund on unused provisions purchased from your merchant. Normally, you only get 50% back, so this can save a fortune if you overprepare. Requires Renown Level 5.

Verdict: If you spend too long overpreparing and have lots to sell at the end of missions, this might be worth a point or two.

Scouting Accuracy

Improves perception when scouting. Increases the odds of detecting a hazard or secret by 10/25%. Requires Renown Level 10. Very nice, we love to see it. Scouting ahead can negate ambushes and all sorts of bad situations. This gives your intel more reliability.

Verdict: Comes online later than you might like, but a good purchase if you hate getting ambushed.

Camp Fortification

Decreases chance of being interrupted while camping by 10/25/50%. Requires Renown Level 10 for the first rank. If you can't afford to put up scouts, this greatly reduces the odds of dealing with a surprise attack while you're down. That's a situation that can otherwise signal a party wipe.

Verdict: Definitely worth the points. Losing units is painful enough without losing an entire party. This lets you potentially put fewer people on watch and thus reap the Secondary benefits of any incense you use.

Ambush Tactics

Increase your chance to ambush enemies on a scouted or revealed combat tile by 30%. Requires Renown Level 15. If you like being able to pull off ambushes, this might be worth it, but it doesn't guarantee anything and takes a while to unlock.

Verdict: Maybe not worth it at this point in time. Winning an ambush is nice, but is a 30% boost worth the point? It's a free turn on a disorganized enemy.

Scouting Distance

Increases your max scouting distance to 3/4 tiles. Requires Renown Level 5. Great, fantastic, makes scouting a more attractive and efficient option when you can use it more. Can get it pretty early on, too.

Verdict: Go for it. Just be sure to watch your Time Meter in the lower-right corner.

Ambush Avoidance

Reduces the chance to be ambushed when you walk blindly onto a combat tile by a moderate/larger/great amount. Requires Renown Level 10. This would be better if there was a number attached to it. It could be 1/2/3% for all the player knows. It's difficult to recommend it without more information.

Verdict: Would be more willing to recommend it if there were numbers attached. Playstyle dependent, too. If you're scouting ahead you're far less likely to be ambushed.

The Iron Oath Alchemy Upgrades

Alchemy upgrades are usable when your party stops to camp. They can burn various incense for a variety of effects. You'll start with everything in the leftmost column by default. Units you assign to keep watch will not gain the secondary effect. You start with a base of 15 Incense Points available per camping session. Each Incense costs 1 point to acquire and has only a single rank.

Restore Vitality

• Primary: Recover 25% of HP
• Secondary: Recover an additional 10% of HP

Already unlocked. Nothing fancy here. It's reliable HP recovery if you're low on resources.

Transfusion

• Primary: Restore all bleedout points
• Secondary: Lose 25 HP

A double-edged sword that can be useful in niche situations. Specifically, curing bleedout when your allies have plenty of health to spare. 25 HP isn't much of a cost when most units hover well over 250.

Hexed

• Primary: HP of non-boss enemies reduced to 75% for next combat encounter
• Secondary: Lose 25% of max HP

If you know something nasty is coming up, this can help you burst them down faster. The HP cut hurts, though. If you want to dump points, add some HP recovery.

Restore Stamina

• Primary: Recover 4 ability charges at random
• Secondary: Recover 2 additional charges at random

Unlocked by default. If you've only been using a single ability on a character this is very reliable recovery. Otherwise it might recharge situational abilities. Given you can only slot so many at a time, this is worth the risk it fills things you don't want.

Harvest

• Primary: Receive extra resource drops the rest of the dungeon
• Secondary: Recover 10% of HP

More resources are always welcome, and the HP recovery is nice enough. More useful early on when you have chances to generate treasure.

One Mind

• Primary: Divide Morale equally among all party members
• Secondary: Recover 10% of HP

Some math required. If one of your party members is hurting for Morale but everyone else is doing all right this can help balance it out.

Restore Mind

• Primary: Recover 10 Morale
• Secondary: None

Already unlocked. 10 Morale isn't likely to make a big difference, especially if it doesn't do anything else. With everyone alive, it's a net 40 Morale.

Knowledge

• Primary: Earn 10% bonus XP for the rest of the mission
• Secondary: Recover 10 Morale

Everything Restore Mind does but better. Even better if you take an early camp break to make use of the extra XP.

Force of Will

• Primary: Lose 20 Morale, Restoring 10 HP per point of lost Morale
• Secondary: Recover 10% of HP

Trade Morale for HP. If you can afford the hit, it's 200 HP to the party, and another 10% on top if they aren't keeping watch.

Battle-Hardened

• Primary: Recover 25 HP for every battle
• Secondary: Recover 1 ability charge at random

Unlocked by default. It's very small recovery and a free charge on an ability. It's not impressive compared to the others, but you can squeeze some value out of it in a longer dungeon.

Prosperity

• Primary: Earn 25% more gold for the rest of the mission
• Secondary: Recover 1 ability charge at random

Nice for padding your coffers. The ability charge is a bonus. Like similar Incenses, it's best early on to maximize gains.

Clairvoyance

• Primary: Reveal the location of your primary objective
• Secondary: Recover 10 Morale

Early on, this lets you zero in on the tile you need to find. It won't tell you the best path to get there, so you might accidentally trap yourself. Nice at a junction when time is of the essence.

Mend Wounds

• Primary: All injuries are stabilized
• Secondary: Recover 10% of HP

Available by default. If you have injured party members, this prevents your injuries from getting worse. Situational, but you could also just use a Bandage instead.

Time Jump

• Primary: Advance Time to the next Time Modifier
• Secondary: Recover 50% of HP and gain 25 Morale

Risky, but could pay off if you really, really need that HP and morale. The negative modifier might be worse, but you won't know until you try. Kind of defeats the point of camping to reset the Time Meter, but sometimes beggars can't be choosers.