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Satisfactory

A first-person factory-automation game where you place miners, belts, and machines to build an ever-growing production line on an alien planet. The pressure is engineering, not survival, and there is no boss ladder.

Tiers and Space Elevator phases

Phase Delivers Unlocks Note
1 Platform 50 Smart Plating Tiers 3 and 4 Smart Plating is Reinforced Iron Plate plus Rotor. Your first real goal.
2 Framework 500 Smart Plating, 500 Versatile Framework, 100 Automated Wiring Tiers 5 and 6 Needs a steel line going. Build steady supply, not a one-time stockpile.
3 Systems 2,500 Versatile Framework, 500 Modular Engine, 100 Adaptive Control Unit Tiers 7 and 8 Manufacturer parts arrive. Oil, plastics, and computers feed this phase.
4 Propulsion 4,000 Assembly Director System, 4,000 Magnetic Field Generator, 1,000 Nuclear Pasta, 1,000 Thermal Propulsion Rocket Tier 9 and the Employee of the Planet Cup The late aluminum, nuclear, and particle-accelerator chains all converge here.
5 Project Assembly 1,000 Nuclear Pasta, 1,000 Biochemical Sculptor, 256 AI Expansion Server, 200 Ballistic Warp Drive Launches Project Assembly, the ending No tech unlock. The Ballistic Warp Drive is the longest chain in the game.

Live 1.0 (released September 2024). The 1.2 update (June 2026) added weather, Game Modes, rebuilt vehicle paths, and Fluid Trucks, and shipped on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X at once.

Top tips

  1. Automate early. Once a recipe is unlocked, let machines build it. Hand-crafting parts you could automate is the most common time sink.
  2. Learn the manifold pattern: one belt feeding a row of identical machines through splitters. It self-balances and is far easier to expand than a balancer.
  3. Watch your power. The whole connected grid trips if demand exceeds supply. Keep headroom and build Power Storage as a buffer.
  4. Build on foundations from the start. Snapping machines and belts to a grid keeps everything aligned and easy to extend.
  5. Get the MAM running in Tier 1 and scan for Crash Sites once Radio Signal Scanning is researched, but do not over-invest in Hard Drives on a first run.
  6. Do not stockpile Space Elevator parts. Later phases re-consume earlier parts, so steady supply lines beat huge one-time piles.
  7. Feed excess parts to the AWESOME Sink for Coupons and to keep lines from backing up.
  8. Plan around the two-axis gate: you cannot reach Tier 3 until you build the Space Elevator and deliver Phase 1, so build toward Smart Plating deliberately.
  9. Save Power Shards for the machines that matter, such as miners on pure nodes, rather than spreading them thin.
  10. Pick a beginner-friendly start. Rocky Desert is balanced and close to water; Grass Fields is flat but has impure nodes.

Guides

setups

  • Factory Ratios quick

    The starter production ratios on one page: ingots, wire, plates, screws, and reinforced iron plates, plus how to count machines and when to manifold.

  • Alternate Recipes Worth Chasing quick

    How the Hard Drive alternate-recipe system works, what the trade-offs are, and why a first run does not depend on it.

progression

  • Tiers and Space Elevator Phases quick

    The whole two-axis spine on one page: ten Milestone tiers, five Space Elevator phases, and exactly how each one gates the next.

  • Getting Started quick

    The first hours: pick a start, finish onboarding, automate the iron chain, get the MAM going, and build toward Smart Plating for Phase 1.

map

  • Biomes and Resource Nodes deep

    One hand-crafted island, 21 biomes, fixed nodes with three purities. Where the starting areas sit, where the late resources hide, and how the map shapes your factory's footprint.

systems

  • Logistics: Belts, Splitters, and Manifolds deep

    How solid items move: belt tiers, splitters, mergers, and lifts, and the manifold-versus-balancer decision that shapes every production line.

  • Power deep

    The hard constraint that runs your whole factory: how the grid trips, the generators by stage, water needs, overclocking, and the 1.2 daisy-chaining change.

  • Trains, Drones, and Vehicles deep

    Moving materials across the map: trains for bulk, drones for modest long-haul cargo, and the 1.2 rebuilt vehicle path system for everything in between.

  • Fluids and Pipes deep

    How liquids and gases move: pipelines and pumps, headlift, packaging fluids onto belts, and the 1.2 Fluid Trucks that move liquids without pipes.

  • MAM, Exploration, and Hard Drives deep

    The parallel research track: what the MAM unlocks, the collectibles that feed it, and how 118 Hard Drives turn exploration into alternate recipes.