IRON NEST Endings and White Shells Routes
IRON NEST has four official ending achievements. Steam confirms their names and descriptions; current White Shells trigger routes come from community testing rather than an official decision table.
Spoiler warning: The sections below name every ending achievement and describe the current community route categories. Save before the White Shells decision point or use mission replay where available.
The four official ending achievements
| Achievement | Official Steam description |
|---|---|
| A City Silent | “A city wiped from the map.” |
| A City in Celebration | “A city that comes out to meet you.” |
| A City Subdued | “A city that kneels, and calls it peace.” |
| The Road Not Taken | “A city spared, and a road no one else will ever walk.” |
The achievement page confirms those outcomes but does not publish exact trigger logic.
Current community-tested White Shells routes
Celebration / peace
Current guides associate A City in Celebration with landing a peaceful or display-oriented shell inside the city boundary. Frequently reported examples include STAR, SMK, or PRPG. The exact boundary and whether every listed shell is equivalent have not been independently reproduced by this site.
Submission
A City Subdued is currently associated with chemical or suppressive choices such as TEAR, PHGN, WP, or CYAN inside the city boundary. These are community-tested categories, not an official list of accepted shell IDs.
Destruction
A City Silent is associated with a lethal strike inside the city boundary. ATMC is commonly reported as a direct route, while other lethal shells may lead friendly forces to continue the bombardment. Do not treat a community-recommended coordinate as the only valid point; the relevant condition appears to be the city area.
Betrayal
The Road Not Taken is associated with turning on friendly forces. Current Steam guide comments lean toward destroying High Command and all friendly artillery. Important details remain unresolved: whether two High Command positions count separately, whether spotters or positioning units matter, and exactly which final destruction event triggers the outcome.
A separate early self-destruction report
A media guide describes attacking the king or civilians during Fire and Light, causing the IRON NEST to self-destruct. That report is single-source and has not been mapped to one of the four official White Shells achievements. It may be an early failure or hidden self-destruction route.
Do not use it as a shortcut for The Road Not Taken unless a current achievement test confirms that link.
Efficient verification plan
- Reach the key White Shells choice with a recoverable save or replay option.
- Record the game build before each route.
- Test one route category at a time.
- Record shell, impact area, surviving friendly units, and immediate outcome.
- Confirm the Steam achievement, not only the ending scene.
- Return to the same baseline for the next route.
A community route can be useful while still requiring this level of verification. If a future patch changes shell names or conditions, preserve the old build result rather than silently replacing it.
For the full campaign order, open all missions. For the official all-gold achievement tied to White Shells, see the gold medals checklist.
Sources and evidence labels
- Steam global achievements — official names and descriptions for all four outcomes.
- All Endings Steam guide — current community routes and discussion.
- Full Walkthrough with All Endings — current community video-guide entry point.
- Destructoid early self-destruction guide — single-source early route, kept separate from the four confirmed ending achievements.
Reviewed August 9, 2026. Achievement names: official-confirmed. White Shells trigger details: community-tested-current. Betrayal precision and early self-destruction mapping: needs verification.