Sandustry Gold Factory Guide
How to scale up from a starter line to a gold factory in Sandustry: processing chains, storage balance and expansion tips for your first industrial build.
Once your first chain runs on its own, the natural next step is a gold factory — a dedicated production line that turns sand into gold at scale. Gold is a high-value output that makes the automation loop worth building for.
Early Access note: exact gold recipes and machine stats change as the game updates. Confirm the current chain on the official wiki before building big.
The idea: one resource, one purpose
A gold factory is a single-purpose line. Instead of a general dig → store loop, every stage exists to serve the gold chain:
- Dig more, faster — a gold factory eats sand quickly; give it two or three dig sites.
- Transport in bulk — a dedicated Launcher line feeding the processing stage.
- Process at scale — multiple Shakers so processing never becomes the bottleneck.
- Store the output — Collectors sized for the line, emptied on a schedule.
Sizing rules of thumb
- Feed beats processing: the dig sites should always out-produce the Shakers, or the Shakers idle.
- Processing beats storage: if Collectors fill faster than you empty them, add storage before adding more dig sites.
- One bottleneck: a healthy factory has exactly one — and you know where it is.
Common scaling mistakes
- Doubling everything — double the dig site first, then find the next bottleneck.
- Long unsegmented lines — split long transport into sections with Collectors as buffers; a jam in the middle stops everything.
- Ignoring power — early machines may run on Florinol; if the factory starves, check the power chain first (see Florin & Florinol).
Expansion plan
| Stage | What to add | Why | |---|---|---| | 1 | Second dig site | Feed the line | | 2 | Extra Shaker | Remove the processing bottleneck | | 3 | More Collectors | Keep storage ahead of output | | 4 | Buffer segments | Smooth long lines |
When is the factory "done"?
A gold factory is done when it runs a full cycle without you touching it: dig, transport, process, store — repeat. From there, every future build uses the same pattern, just bigger.
Start from the First Factory guide if you don't have a working line yet.
Unofficial fan-made guide for the factory automation sandbox Sandustry by Lantto Games and Hooded Horse. All trademarks belong to their respective owners. · Official Wiki