Revision 16

Overview

Gorthak Ironworks is a research institute and industrial facility located in the Delesyia region. Situated in the northwestern part of Delesyia near the Demeniss border, the Ironworks specializes in heavy military technology and is one of three research institutes in the Delesyia territory. Its primary gameplay function is unlocking offensive ATAG mech capabilities.

The three Delesyia research institutes each focus on different aspects of ATAG technology. Gorthak Ironworks handles offensive weapons, the Delesyia Castle Institute provides mobility upgrades and the Laser Cannon Spear, and Dewhaven Keep unlocks utility and close-range ATAG systems.

Location

The Ironworks sits in the mountainous terrain of northwestern Delesyia. The facility is built into the rocky landscape, with industrial forges, testing grounds, and storage areas for raw materials spread across the compound. Smoke stacks and metal structures dominate the skyline, giving the location a distinctly industrial feel compared to the more pastoral areas of Hernand.

Its proximity to the Demeniss border gives the Ironworks strategic military importance. The weapons and technology developed here are intended to defend Delesyia's northern frontier.

Gorthak Ironworks is more than a research hub. It is the bastion of the Ironflame Orcs led by Valgash, and in Chapter 10 it is the front line of a defensive war that defines the chapter. The factory complex comes under sustained assault by Marni's clockwork automatons, sent at the Ironworks in waves: flying mechanical bugs first, then ground-based mechanical bugs, and finally a giant clockwork mantis dropped out of a sky-galleon airship.

The Ironworks holds against this attack only because of a converging set of resources that meet at this single location. The orcs were already prototyping a heavy mechanised suit, the ATAG, designed to withstand exactly this kind of swarming, but had concluded it was too complicated for any of their own pilots to operate. The proposed compromise was to strip features out and weaken it; Valgash's argument was that a stripped-down ATAG might as well not have been built. Kliff's arrival resolves the deadlock: he can pilot the fully-loaded mech as designed, so the orcs do not have to compromise on its specification, and the assault is repelled at full firepower.

The lead engineer behind the mech is Marek, who later runs Zargan Tankworks and gates the post-Chapter-10 ATAG crafting chain. The lore note on Marek is that his approach was to add as many features as possible to a single chassis. The result was a unit too complex for the available Ironflame pilots but a near-perfect match for a player-controlled Kliff who can manage the full ability set across machine gun, blast cannon, EMP discharge and ramming.

This is also where the laser-cannon super-weapon featured in Chapter 10's defense sequence comes from. The Ironworks's research wing has built a heavy-power-draw cannon capable of taking down the sky-galleon airships overhead, but it consumes enormous amounts of power per shot. The chapter's set-piece is keeping Marni's bug swarms off the power plants long enough to charge it, firing the cannon once to bring down the airships, and then accepting that the cannon is now depleted and cannot be used against the larger Flying Fortress Orbian later. The unstated consequence of that depletion is what makes the dragon-bond questline necessary; without aerial support of comparable scale, the fortress is unreachable.

In the epilogue Kliff can return to the Ironworks and find Valgash still rebuilding. The reconciliation is striking: the real Marni has returned (after H.A.L.L.'s deposition of him is reversed in Chapter 11) and is offering everything he can to help the orcs rebuild. The Ironflame have politely accepted some of that help but remain, by Valgash's preference, more comfortable relying on their own technology than on Marni's. The ATAG itself has been repurposed for civilian work out in the fields, which is the cleanest visual sign that the war is over for the region.

From a worldbuilding perspective, the rebuild closes a loop that the chapter set up explicitly. Marni had originally been described as building machines to help people, for cooking, for farming, before he started building weapons. The post-war ATAG-in-the-fields is the strongest single image in the epilogue that the technology has reverted to that original purpose, at least at Gorthak.

Access Requirements

To use the research facilities at Gorthak Ironworks, players must first reach the Delesyia region through main story progression. Once at the facility, the lead researcher requires 5x Gunpowder to initiate the first research project (Basic Smelting). Gunpowder can be crafted or purchased from vendors in the Delesyia region.

Research Projects

Gorthak Ironworks offers a tree of research projects organized into three tiers. Each project costs Silver, takes real time to complete, and unlocks new capabilities ranging from crafting recipes to ATAG weapon systems.

Initial Project

Gorthak Ironworks: Basic Smelting is the entry-level project unlocked by providing 5x Gunpowder. It grants a Flame Spear Blueprint and a Sustained Supply Cannon Shell, and produces 1.30x Silver over 2 hours.

Tier 1 Research

Tier 2 Research

Tier 3 Research

ATAG Weapons Unlocked

The Machine Parts Research project at Gorthak Ironworks is the key unlock for three offensive ATAG weapons:

In addition, Machine Parts Research grants the Oongka's Rocket Pack the Vertical Flight ability, expanding aerial combat options.

Comparison with Other Delesyia Institutes

Facility Layout

• Main Forge: The central building where heavy weapons and ATAG components are manufactured.

• Testing Grounds: An open area outside the forge where new weapon prototypes and ATAG systems are tested.

• Storage Areas: Warehouses containing raw materials, refined metals, and finished components.

• Research Wing: Where scientists and engineers work on new military technologies and ATAG upgrades.

Dispatch Mission Rewards

Gorthak Ironworks also functions as one of the most valuable dispatch unlocks in the entire game for players chasing armory and weapon resources. The ironworks is added to the dispatch menu automatically after completing Chapter 10 of the main story, so there is no additional side-quest or liberation requirement once the story flag has been triggered.

Highest Armory and Weapon Yields

Community testing and community dispatch comparisons agree that the Gorthak Ironworks mission yields among the highest amounts of armory and weapon resources of any dispatch available, including late-game options. For players whose camps are struggling with armory consumption rates on high-tier gear crafting, this is usually the single biggest upgrade to your resource pipeline that you can make right after the Chapter 10 unlock.

Doubling Rewards with the Conversion Bonus

The Gorthak Ironworks dispatch benefits directly from church donations through the Conversion Bonus system. Donate camp money to the Church of Hernand (or whichever regional church covers the Gorthak dispatch on the world map hover tooltip) to stack blessing levels, each of which adds a 2% reward bonus up to a total cap of 200%. Fully maxed out, the bonus doubles or even triples your per-run armory output, which makes Gorthak Ironworks the single best dispatch to invest donation money into.

A fully max-level church in Hernand costs roughly 500k camp money to build out (less in smaller regions), but the diminishing returns curve means you can pick up most of the reward boost for a much smaller initial donation. If budget is tight, get the church to the first few blessing levels before triggering your Gorthak dispatch rotations and scale up donations over time.

Tips

• Bring 5x Gunpowder when you first visit to unlock the Basic Smelting project immediately.

• Prioritize Machine Parts Research (130 Silver, 23 hours) if you want to unlock all three ATAG weapons as quickly as possible.

• The Mineral Excavation Efficiency Research is valuable for resource gathering throughout the endgame.

• Visit all three Delesyia institutes to unlock the full ATAG arsenal. No single institute provides everything.

See Also

• Research Institutes

• ATAG

• Delesyia

• Demeniss

• Companion Dispatch Guide