Train armor in Voidtrain is one of those upgrades that you can research early, but still can’t place anywhere on your wagons. The catch: armor doesn’t go on bare platforms. It mounts on decorative wagon walls that the research tree never explains, and those walls are locked behind a separate progression path involving Rofleemos, witch islands, and mushrooms.
Voidtrain Train Armor basics: what it is and what it costs
| Element | Details |
|---|---|
| Type | Train Module (wagon add‑on) |
| Placement | On top of wagon walls (not directly on the floor/platform) |
| Crafting station | Building Console at a depot |
| Technology | Unlocked via the Train Armor tech |
| Recipe | 1 Steel Bar + 1 Bolts |
| Function | Protects your train from enemy bullets |
Armor pieces are modular segments you attach along the tops of your wagon sides. They’re crafted at the Building Console in a depot, using materials stored either in your inventory or in the Builder’s Boxes. On paper, once you’ve researched the Train Armor technology and have one Steel Bar plus one Bolts per segment, you’re ready to armor up. In practice, nothing appears until your wagon walls exist and are unlocked.
Why train armor doesn’t show up in any menu
If you’ve already researched Train Armor, you’ll often run into one of these problems:
| Symptom | Underlying cause |
|---|---|
| Armor missing from Construction tab and Modules | You don’t have wagon walls placed on your wagons. |
| No visible armor option in the depot builder | Wagon side walls are not unlocked as decor items yet. |
| You can expand wagons but can’t add sides/cabins | You’re still missing the decor unlocks tied to Rofleemos and special islands. |
The core rule: train armor is not a free‑floating module. It’s a secondary layer that only appears as a build option once the game detects valid surface slots on wagon walls. Until those walls are unlocked as cosmetics and physically built, armor simply does not populate any of the build menus, even though the tech is complete.
Unlock wagon walls: the hidden prerequisite for train armor
Before you can even think about armor, you need wagon sides. These aren’t part of the normal research phases; they come from the decor system that runs through Rofleemos and special islands.
The chain looks like this:
| Step | What you do | What it unlocks or yields |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Reach witch/arena island | Use the story winch at the right point to access a witch island and solve its puzzle. | A special case or chest as a reward. |
| 2. Bring the chest to a depot altar | At a depot, go to the far side past the soldiers and interact with the altar; your small creature moves the chest there automatically. | A set of drops, including a flower‑like item. |
| 3. Feed Rofleemos | Give that flower‑like item (and later, mushrooms/shrouds) to your Rofleemos. | They return decor blueprints as “gifts”. |
| 4. Unlock wagon decor | Among these blueprints are wagon sides, cabins, and other exterior decorations. | Wagon walls appear as cosmetic build options in the depot train builder. |
Only after this pipeline runs at least once will you see exterior walls under the cosmetic/decor category when editing your train at a depot. Those cosmetic walls are the attachment points that Train Armor uses.
Build wagon walls at the depot
With the decor blueprints unlocked from your Rofleemos, you can finally add sides to your wagons:
- Stop at a depot and go to the train building platform with the Building Console.
- Enter the train customization view for your current wagons.
- Open the cosmetics or decor category where wagon sides, cabins, and similar exterior elements live.
- Select the wagon sides you’ve unlocked and place them along the edges of each wagon you want to protect.
These walls are treated as cosmetic modules, but mechanically they flag new build sockets along the top edge. Once those sockets exist, the game allows armor segments to snap onto them.
How to actually build Voidtrain train armor (start to finish)
Once the tech and decor prerequisites are out of the way, crafting armor itself is straightforward. The confusion is entirely about what you have to do beforehand.
| Phase | Action | Check you should see |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Tech | Research Train Armor in your tech tree. | Train Armor tech node marked as unlocked. |
| 2. Decor unlock | Complete a witch/arena island, claim the chest, use the depot altar, then feed the dropped flower/mushrooms to Rofleemos. | New decor items, including wagon sides, available in depot cosmetics. |
| 3. Build walls | At a depot, use the train building station to place wagon sides on each wagon you want to armor. | Visible solid sides along your wagon edges. |
| 4. Craft armor | At the same depot, interact with the Building Console and select Train Armor for those wall segments. | Armor module appears as a build option on top of placed walls. |
| 5. Supply materials | Make sure you have at least 1 Steel Bar and 1 Bolts per armor segment in your inventory or Builder’s Boxes. | No missing‑materials warning when placing armor segments. |
When all three gates are satisfied — technology researched, wagon walls unlocked and built, and crafting materials present — the armor modules finally show up and can be bolted onto your wagons. There is no requirement for a specific engine type (steam or diesel), and you don’t place armor directly via the hammer building mode on the open tracks; it’s tied to the depot editing flow on existing walls.
Common pitfalls when building train armor
A few recurring issues keep players stuck even after they understand the high‑level requirements:
| Pitfall | What to verify |
|---|---|
| “Armor still not visible after building walls.” | Confirm you’re at a depot’s Building Console, not using the basic hammer build mode between stations. |
| “Walls don’t appear under decor.” | Re‑check that you’ve actually completed a witch/arena island, activated its chest at the depot altar, and fed Rofleemos with the resulting item. Unlocks are tied to those exchanges. |
| “I have armor tech but no decor unlocks and I’m far in the game.” | The tech tree and decor unlocks are separate systems. High research phase alone doesn’t grant wagon sides; you must engage with the island–chest–Rofleemo loop. |
Once the hidden prerequisites are out of the way, Voidtrain’s train armor behaves like any other modular upgrade: each segment costs a single Steel Bar and a single set of Bolts, and you decide how much of your train you want to harden. The opaque part is the unlock path, not the crafting itself. Focus on wagon walls via Rofleemos and witch islands, and the missing armor option finally snaps into place.
