Satisfactory — complete progression task list

SATISFACTORY — COMPLETE PROGRESSION TASK LIST Solo, Fresh Save, Fully Detailed

This is a per-tier, per-milestone checklist. For each milestone: (1) what it requires, (2) what it unlocks, (3) the build/recipe order I recommend. Don't unlock every milestone in a tier — pick the ones you need and skip pure cosmetic ones (signs, lights, foundations) until you want them.

Checked against Update 1.2 (v1.2.4.1, 12 Oct 2026)

Everything in 1.2 that moves a step in this list:

• Fluid Station and Fluid Truck are new and arrive with the Logistics Mk.4 milestone (Tier 5 in the current build) — 3,200 m³ of internal storage each, so fluids move by truck with no packaging or long pipe runs.
• Pipeline T-Junction is a new buildable and now comes with the Tier 3 Coal Power milestone, not with the later pipeline research. This list used to hand it out at Tier 7.
• Vehicle paths were rebuilt: lay Vehicle Paths from the Transport tab with the build gun, then place the vehicle on the path, the way trains work with rails. Old automated routes still work.
• Daisy chaining (Caterium MAM research) allows two power connections per building and lets buildings feed power to each other instead of pole-to-building only.
• SPWN is a new buildable in the Alien Technology MAM tree (1 Mercer Sphere + 11 SAM Fluctuator + 20 Steel Pipe).
• Advanced Game Settings is now Creative Mode, and the new Game Modes menu — Space Elevator deliverable cost multipliers, recipe cost multipliers, power multiplier, world and resource randomisation — is only available when you start a new save.

Unchanged by 1.2 and still worth doing first: power before production, Radar Tower in every new area, and never sink Power Slugs.

> v1.2.4.1 (12 Oct 2026) re-enabled an audio change that some mods depended on and fixed several crashes. The notes list no recipe, unlock or building-cost change, so nothing in this list moves; mods that needed that audio path should work again without breaking the workarounds modders made since.

GLOBAL RULES

• First step in any new area: place a Radar Tower (MAM Quartz Research — Radar Technology) to reveal nodes and slugs on the map.
• Power first, production second. Every build needs power.
• Don't sink Power Slugs — they unlock Power Shards at the MAM.
• The AWESOME Sink exists to convert excess parts into Coupons (cosmetic). Don't sink anything you actually need.

TIER 0 — HUBASTART (Onboarding)

• Choose a landing site. Grass Fields is easiest; Rocky Desert or Northern Forest is fine for experienced players.
• Pick up the HUB parts on the ground around the drop pod. Build:
• Construction tools (built into your equipment)
• Portable Miner (x3-4) — manually mine 30 Iron Ore and 30 Copper Ore from the nearest nodes
• Smelter (1) — Smelt the ore into 30 Iron Ingots and 30 Copper Ingots
• Construction Bench (1) — craft Iron Plates, Wire, Cable
• Equipment Workshop (HUB) — craft Xeno-Zapper and suit upgrades as needed
• Build the HUB. Place 3 Biomass Burners. Feed them Leaves/Wood.
• Complete the HUB milestones: Onboarding tasks until "Build the Space Elevator" appears in your log.

GOAL: HUB built, biomass power running, suit upgraded once or twice.

TIER 1 — BASE BUILDING + FIELD RESEARCH + LOGISTICS

Milestones to unlock (pick these first):

• Base Building (foundations, walls, ramps, pillars) — REQUIRED, build a small platform first session
• Field Research (HUB parts, MAM) — REQUIRED
• Logistics (Conveyor Belts, Splitter, Merger) — REQUIRED

Recommended build order:

1. Smash Limestone deposits → 30 Concrete (3 Limestone → 1 Concrete, so 90 Limestone).
2. Build 4-8 Miners (Miner Mk.1) on the closest pure Iron node, the closest pure Copper node, and a Limestone node.
3. Build 4-6 Smelters in a row: Iron Ore → Iron Ingots, Copper Ore → Copper Ingots. (Concrete is a Constructor recipe: 3 Limestone → 1 Concrete.)
4. Build a Constructor for Iron Plates (20/min) and a Constructor for Wire (30/min).
5. Build a Constructor for Cable from Wire.
6. Build a Constructor for Copper Sheet from Copper Ingots.

GOAL: Iron Plates at 20/min, Wire and Cable at 30/min, Copper Sheet at 10/min, fed by miners → smelters → constructors.

TIER 2 — COAL POWER + STEEL PRODUCTION + LOGISTICS MK.2

Unlocks when you finish all Tier 0 milestones.

Milestones to unlock:

• Coal Power (Coal Generator, Water Extractor, Pipeline) — REQUIRED
• Basic Steel Production (Steel Ingot + Steel Beam) — REQUIRED
• Vehicular Transport (Tractor) — OPTIONAL early, save for Tier 3+ when you need to haul
• Logistics Mk.2 (Conveyor Mk.2, faster) — unlock when Tier 2 unlocks, it auto-applies to all belt placement
• Jump Pads (Tier 2 milestone "Jump Pads") — OPTIONAL

Build order:

1. Unlock Power Slugs in the MAM. Smelt 5 Power Shards worth of slugs as you find them.
2. Find a Coal node and a pure Iron node near water. Place 4-8 Miners on Coal, 4-8 Miners on Iron.
3. Build 4-8 Coal-Powered Generators (75 MW each) fed by a Water Extractor and pipelines.
4. Smelt Iron Ingots + Coal → Steel Ingots.
5. Build Steel Beam Constructor.
6. Build a Constructor for Modular Frame (Reinforced Iron Plate + Iron Rod → Modular Frame).
7. Build Versatile Framework later when you unlock it in T3.

GOAL: 300-600 MW of coal power (4-8 Coal-Powered Generators at 75 MW each), Modular Frames at 2-5/min, Steel Beams at 12-30/min.

TIER 3 — BASIC STEEL PRODUCTION + ENHANCED ASSET SECURITY + VEHICULAR TRANSPORT

Milestones to unlock:

• Basic Steel Production — already done in T2 carryover
• Enhanced Asset Security (Xeno-Basher, Chainsaw) — REQUIRED for biomass harvesting
• Vehicular Transport (Tractor, Truck) — unlock Tractor early
• Logistics Mk.3 (Belt Mk.3, stackable poles) — unlock now
• Pipeline Mk.2 (faster fluid) — unlock now
• Pipeline T-junction — new in 1.2, and it now comes with this tier's Coal Power milestone, so branched fluid builds are available much earlier than this list originally said
• Coal Generator (already have) → Power Slugs research

Build order:

1. Craft Chainsaw. Use it to clear trees 3x faster → Leaves/Wood/Mycelia flow 3x.
2. Craft Xeno-Basher for combat (optional early; biters are usually passive on default settings).
3. Build Tractor: 5 Modular Frames, 5 Rotor, 10 Reinforced Iron Plate — small task, big QoL for hauling.
4. Belt all your Tier 2 outputs onto Mk.3 belts now that you have the upgrade.
5. Build an Assembler for Rotor (5 Iron Rod + 25 Screw → Rotor).

GOAL: Tractor operational, Chainsaw clearing trees, Rotor production started.

TIER 4 — STEEL PRODUCTION, JUMP PADS, GAS MASKS, POWER STORAGE

Milestones:

• Steel Production refined (Steel Pipe, Steel Canister) — REQUIRED for fluids
• Jump Pads — unlock, build a few around your base
• Gas Masks (MAM: Mycelia research → unlock Gas Mask) — unlock if you'll explore sulfur/coal areas
• Power Storage (Accumulator) — REQUIRED for night-time power
• Caterium (MAM Caterium research) — unlocks Caterium Ingot, Wire, Quickwire (used a LOT later)

Build order:

1. Research Caterium in the MAM → unlocks Quickwire (2x faster wire).
2. Research Mycelia → unlocks Fabric and Gas Mask.
3. Build Steel Pipe Constructor and Steel Canister Constructor.
4. Build Accumulator Constructor. Place 10-20 accumulators.
5. Refine your power: coal generators run 24/7 now, accumulators buffer peak loads.

GOAL: Caterium, Quickwire, Fabric, Gas Mask unlocked. Accumulator bank charging.

TIER 5 — ALTERNATE RECIPES + ADVANCED STEEL PRODUCTION + JETPACK

This tier opens the Alternate Recipe system (Hard Drive research at MAM). Open every Hard Drive you find — each contains 1-3 alternate recipes. Unlock the ones in this list first.

PRIORITY ALTERNATE RECIPES (unlock these as soon as you see them):

• Pure Iron Ingot (uncontaminated iron) — 2x output
• Pure Copper Ingot — 2x output
• Pure Caterium Ingot — 2x output
• Pure Quartz Crystal — used heavily in Tier 7+
• Steel Screw (Steel Beam → Steel Screw) — replaces Iron Screw, much faster
• Cast Screw (Caterium Ingot → Cast Screw) — even faster screws
• Stitched Iron Plate (Wire + Iron Plate → Reinforced Iron Plate) — huge Reinforced Iron Plate savings
• Bolted Iron Plate (Iron Plate + Screw → Reinforced Iron Plate) — alternate
• Coated Iron Plate (Iron Ingot + Plastic → Iron Plate) — uses Plastic, super efficient
• Rubber Concrete (Concrete + Rubber → Rubber Concrete) — used in nuclear later
• Silicon Circuit Board (Copper Sheet + Silica → Circuit Board) — saves Caterium later

Milestones:

• Advanced Steel Production (Encased Industrial Beam, Stator) — REQUIRED
• Jetpack (Tier 5 HUB milestone) — huge QoL, REQUIRED
• Conveyor Lift (vertical belts) — REQUIRED for compact builds

Build order:

1. Unlock Jetpack. Test it. Fall damage removed while flying.
2. Unlock and apply all priority alternates above.
3. Build Stator Assembler (3 Steel Pipe + 8 Wire → Stator). 15/min minimum.
4. Build Encased Industrial Beam Assembler (3 Steel Beam + 6 Concrete → Encased Industrial Beam).
5. Build Versatile Framework Assembler (Modular Frame + Steel Beam → Versatile Framework).

GOAL: Jetpack operational, all priority alternates applied, Stators and Versatile Frameworks flowing.

TIER 6 — ADVANCED POWER + ALTERNATE RECIPES FLOURISH

Milestones:

• Advanced Power (Crystal Oscillator, Radio Control Unit prerequisites)
• Expanded Power Infrastructure
• Oil Processing (unlocks Refinery, Plastic, Rubber, Fuel) — REQUIRED, this unlocks fluid handling at scale
• Logistics Mk.4 + Mk.5 (Mk.5 belts) — unlock now (the Logistics Mk.4 milestone also unlocks the Fluid Station and Fluid Truck in 1.2 — 3,200 m³ each)

Build order:

1. Find an Oil node and a Normal Coal node together (rare combo). If you find one, place Miners on both.
2. Build a Refinery. Pipe in Crude Oil. Output: Plastic (Polymer Resin is unlocked later, start with Plastic) and Fuel.
3. Build a Constructor for Plastic. Build a Constructor for Rubber (residual from Refinery).
4. Build Fuel-based Generators (Fuel Generator is unlocked at Tier 7 — wait until then; for now stockpile fuel in Industrial Fluid Buffers).
5. Apply more alternates as you find them in Hard Drives:

• Diluted Fuel (Fuel + Heavy Oil Residue → Diluted Fuel, 2x output)
• Heavy Oil Residue routing
• Electrode Circuit Board (Rubber + Plastic + Caterium → Circuit Board) — alternate for Circuit Board
• Plastic Smart Plating (Plastic + Reinforced Iron Plate → Smart Plating) — saves a lot of work

GOAL: Oil node being processed, Plastic + Rubber + Fuel all flowing, alternates applied.

TIER 7 — BAUXITE + ALUMINUM + FUEL POWER + CONSTRUCTION TOOLS

Milestones:

• Bauxite Refining (Aluminum Scrap, Alumina Solution) — REQUIRED, unlocks Caterium-2 / Aluminum production
• Fuel Power (Fuel Generator, Compacted Coal) — REQUIRED, big power spike
• Advanced Construction Tools (Build Gun Mk.2, Chainsaw Mk.2) — REQUIRED, 2x build speed
• Pipeline Engineering Mk.2 (valve) — REQUIRED for branched fluid builds. The T-junction itself is no longer here: 1.2 moved it to the Tier 3 Coal Power milestone.

Build order:

1. Find a Bauxite node (large, distinctive tan rock). Place Miners on it.
2. Build Refinery: Bauxite + Water + Coal → Alumina Solution. Output → Aluminum Scrap.
3. Smelt Aluminum Scrap → Aluminum Ingot.
4. Build Aluminum Casing Constructor (Aluminum Ingot → Aluminum Casing) — used everywhere in T8-T9.
5. Build a Fuel Generator array (Fuel Generator is unlocked this tier, 250 MW each, 20 m³/min fuel).
6. Build a Compacted Coal Assembler (Coal + Sulfur → Compacted Coal) → fuel the generators more efficiently.
7. Craft Build Gun Mk.2 + Chainsaw Mk.2 + Xeno-Basher Mk.2 from the Equipment Workshop.
8. Apply alternates: Pure Aluminum Ingot (Aluminum Scrap → Pure Aluminum Ingot).

GOAL: Aluminum Casing flowing at 30+/min, Fuel Generators powering 1+ GW, Mk.2 tools in hand.

TIER 8 — NUCLEAR + SUPERCOMPUTERS + PROJECT ASSEMBLY

Milestones:

• Nuclear Power (Uranium Fuel Rod, Nuclear Power Plant) — REQUIRED, ultimate power
• Supercomputer (Radio Control Unit, Radio Connection Unit, Computer) — REQUIRED for endgame
• Particle Accelerator prerequisites (later)
• Project Assembly (the Space Elevator parts finally click here)

Build order:

1. Find a Uranium node. Place 12+ Miners on it (it's the rarest resource).
2. Build a Blender: Uranium + Concrete + Sulfuric Acid → Encased Uranium Cell; then a Manufacturer: Encased Uranium Cell + Encased Industrial Beam + Electromagnetic Control Rod → Uranium Fuel Rod.
3. Build Sulfuric Acid chain: Sulfur + Water → Sulfuric Acid (Refinery).
4. Build Nuclear Power Plants (2.5 GW each, 1 fuel rod per 300 sec at 100%). Build 5-10 of them.
5. Build a Manufacturer for Radio Connection Unit (4 Heat Sink + 2 High-Speed Connector + 12 Quartz Crystal → 1 Radio Control Unit).
6. Build a Manufacturer for Radio Control Unit (32 Aluminum Casing + 1 Crystal Oscillator + 2 Computer → 2 Radio Control Unit).
7. Build a Constructor for Computer (Cable + Plastic + Circuit Board → Computer).
8. Apply alternates: Uranium Fuel Unit (100 Encased Uranium Cell + 10 Electromagnetic Control Rod + 3 Crystal Oscillator + 10 Rotor → 3 Uranium Fuel Rod) — game changer.

GOAL: Nuclear plant online, Radio Control Units flowing, Uranium Fuel Rods at 5+/min.

TIER 9 — SPACE ELEVATOR + ENDGAME (Project Assembly)

Milestones:

• Project Assembly Part 1-5 (Space Elevator deliverables) — REQUIRED to complete the game
• Particle Accelerator (unlocks tier 10) — NOT required to finish, but unlocks the post-game

The Space Elevator needs:

• Smart Plating, Versatile Framework, Automated Wiring (Phases 1-2)
• Modular Engine, Adaptive Control Unit (Phase 3)
• Assembly Director System, Magnetic Field Generator, Thermal Propulsion Rocket, Nuclear Pasta (Phase 4)
• Nuclear Pasta, Biochemical Sculptor, AI Expansion Server (Phase 5)

Build order for the 5 Project Assembly deliveries:

1. Part 1 (Distribution Platform): 50x Smart Plating
2. Part 2 (Construction Dock): 1,000x Smart Plating, 1,000x Versatile Framework, 100x Automated Wiring
3. Part 3 (Main Body): 2,500x Versatile Framework, 500x Modular Engine, 100x Adaptive Control Unit
4. Part 4 (Propulsion): 500x Assembly Director System, 500x Magnetic Field Generator, 250x Thermal Propulsion Rocket, 100x Nuclear Pasta
5. Part 5 (Assembly): 1,000x Nuclear Pasta, 1,000x Biochemical Sculptor, 256x AI Expansion Server

Deliveries ramp from 50 items (Phase 1) to thousands (Phase 3 onward). Plan heavy parallel production for:

• Heavy Modular Frame (Modular Frame + Steel Pipe + Encased Industrial Beam + Screw → Heavy Modular Frame)
• Motor (Rotor + Stator → Motor)
• Adaptive Control Unit (Automated Wiring + Circuit Board + Heavy Modular Frame + Computer → ACU)
• Automated Wiring (Stator + Cable → Automated Wiring)

GOAL: Launch the final Space Elevator delivery. "Mission Complete" screen.

POST-GAME / TIER 10 — PARTICLE ACCELERATOR

• Unlocked after the final Project Assembly delivery.
• Builds a Particle Accelerator producing exotic items.
• No required milestones — pure sandbox/optimization.
• Use it to push your factory into "megabase" territory.

HARD DRIVE LOCATIONS (where to find them)

Hard Drives drop from:

• Crates scattered around the map (most common source)
• Drop Pods (the ones you can buy with AWESOME Shop Coupons)
• MAM scanning
• Some specific high-tier locations

Tip: open every Hard Drive immediately at the MAM. If you don't like the alternate, you can lock it again, but you can never get the same unlock twice.

POWER SLUG LOCATIONS AND USES

• Blue Power Slug (1 shard) — common, surface caves
• Yellow Power Slug (2 shards) — rarer, underground
• Purple Power Slug (5 shards) — rarest, often near strong enemies

NEVER sink Power Slugs in the AWESOME Sink. Always research Power Slugs at the MAM first to unlock the recipes. Power Shards are used in: Power Slugs research, Mk.2 equipment, and several late-game recipes.

FINAL TIPS

• Plan the whole factory on a flat platform before you build vertically — the ground is uneven and you'll waste time.
• Always leave room for expansion. Every build is bigger than you think.
• Use a central bus for your main materials (Iron Plates, Wire, Cable, Steel Pipe, Rotor, Stator, Modular Frame). Branch off as needed.
• Don't overproduce. If your constructors are capped, you're producing too much. Either sink it, build a bigger storage, or use a more efficient recipe.
• Save before major builds. Save before every new tier.

GOOD LUCK, ENGINEER. You got this.