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Sandustry Getting Started Guide
Start simple: turn Sand and Water into Wet Sand, process it for Gold, put that Gold into Collectors, then use Research to turn your manual setup into a real factory.
Your first factory
Sand+
Water
Water↓
Wet Sand↓
Shaker↙ ↘
GoldResidue↓
Collector↓
Research
Jump to section
What should you do first?
Think in material paths, not inventory runs. Your first job is one working Sand → Gold line.
Wrong mental model
Mine
↓
Carry everything manually
↓
Drop it at a machine
Factory model
Source
↓ Route
↓ Process
↓ Separate
↓ Collect
01
Find Sand and Water
You need both for the first Wet Sand production chain.
02
Make Wet Sand
Sand + Water → Wet Sand
03
Build your first Shaker
Let Wet Sand enter the Shaker and keep space available for its outputs.
04
Catch the Gold
Do not leave useful Gold scattered under the factory.
05
Put Gold into Collectors
Produced Gold is not Research currency until a Collector stores it.
06
Spend Gold on useful Research
Start replacing manual work with repeatable factory systems.
07
Improve sorting and automation
Follow the next Progression milestone once the first line is stable.
Controls you need to know
Learn the jobs first. Open the in-game Settings / Controls list for your current bindings — this page does not invent a fixed key table.
Keyboard & MouseControllerSteam Deck
Controller and Steam Deck mappings are not verified here. Use the in-game Controls list for now.
Dig / use tool
Remove terrain and gather material.
Build
Place factory structures.
Grab / move material
Correct small routing mistakes.
Select / configure
Change machine and Filter settings.
Zoom / camera
Inspect a larger factory.
Build your first Gold factory
This is Stage 1 only. Get Wet Sand into a Shaker, catch Gold, and store it. Leave the later Residue loop for the Gold page.
Water
↓
Sand→Wet Sand
↓
Shaker
↙ ↘
GoldResidue↓
Collector
Don't throw away the Residue — it becomes useful very soon.
See the full Gold chain →How Gold and Collectors work
Producing Gold isn't enough. Route it into Collectors so it becomes available for Research.
Why isn't my Gold balance increasing?
Not spendable
Gold on the ground✕
Spendable
Gold inside Collector✓
What should you Research first?
There is no single best Research order. Unlock the system that is slowing this factory down, then open the Research Planner for the exact path.
What is slowing you down?
When should you automate your factory?
Automate a task when you find yourself repeating it instead of solving a new problem.
Manual is fine
Testing a new material
Trying a new machine
A small one-off task
Automate it
Repeated material transport
Repeated sorting
Continuous Water supply
Repeated Gold processing
Repeated burning / harvesting
Your first useful automation upgrades
01
Gold collection
Produced Gold should reach a Collector without babysitting.
02
Material separation
Use Filters instead of manually removing wrong materials.
03
Water delivery
Stop moving Water by hand once the factory expands.
04
Wet Sand processing
Shakers should receive a controlled continuous feed.
05
Byproduct handling
Residue and later Seeds are useful production inputs, not trash.
Good first factory
Small
Understandable
Recoverable
Bad first factory
Huge
Mixed materials
No output space
Hard to diagnose
A small factory that you understand is better than a giant factory you can't debug.
How materials move in Sandustry
Don't treat materials like immutable items on a conveyor belt.
Gravity matters
Most solids and liquids fall. Build the next step below the current one when you can.
Density matters
Mixed materials do not always remain neatly separated.
Space matters
Machines need room for outputs. A blocked exit looks like a broken machine.
Transformation can happen in transit
Sand + Water becomes Wet Sand. Seed + Water becomes Wet Seed.
Mixed output
Gold + Residue
↓
FilterDon't manually clean forever. Use a Filter.
Common beginner mistakes
01
Throwing away byproducts
Residue and Seeds become useful production inputs very soon.
02
Making factories too large too early
A huge mixed build is hard to debug. Keep the first factory small.
03
Mixing every material into one route
Late-game clogs start as one shared pile.
04
Forgetting output space
A machine with no free exit cell looks idle.
05
Assuming floor Gold is spendable
Only Collector Gold counts for Research.
06
Treating Heat and Energy as the same system
Heat feeds machines such as the Smelter. Energy is a separate power network.
07
Searching for story locations like fixed landmarks
Stratacore is not a fixed landmark. Use the Map page for what is actually fixed.
Found a strange Artifact room? Don't brute-force it.
Artifact Puzzle Solver →What are you stuck on?
Name the problem. This page only routes you — it does not re-diagnose every machine.
What should you do after the first factory?
Once your first Gold factory is running and you're spending Gold on Research, stop using this beginner page as your main route. Switch to the Progression Guide.
You're ready to move on when
- ✓ Wet Sand reaches a Shaker reliably
- ✓ Gold reaches Collectors
- ✓ You understand basic Research
- ✓ You can solve a simple clog
- ✓ You've started automating repeated work
Your start
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Common beginner questions
What should I do first in Sandustry?+−
Find Sand and Water, make Wet Sand, run it through a Shaker, put the Gold into Collectors, then spend that Gold on Research.
How do I make my first Gold?+−
Combine Sand and Water into Wet Sand, feed it into a Shaker, and catch the Gold output. Leave later Residue and Flower loops for the Gold Production page.
Why isn't produced Gold available for Research?+−
Gold on the ground is not spendable. Route it into Collectors so it becomes available for Research.
What should I Research first?+−
Unlock the system that is currently slowing you down — Filters for mixed piles, fluid logistics for Water, or Gold recovery if output is too low. Use the Research Planner for the exact path.
When should I start automating?+−
Automate a task when you keep repeating it instead of solving a new problem. Collection, sorting, Water delivery and Wet Sand feed are the first five.
What do I do after building my first factory?+−
When Wet Sand, Collectors, basic Research and one automated line are working, switch to the Progression Guide for the next milestone.
Start here
- Goal
- Make spendable Gold
- First processing
- Wet Sand → Shaker
- Store Gold
- Collector
- Then
- Research + automation