Sandustry: How to Build Your First Factory for Gold

Your first factory in Sandustry is a gold line. You dig sand, wet it, run it across a Shaker, and catch the gold that falls out the bottom. Every research unlock and upgrade later in the game is paid for with that gold, so the whole point of the opening hour is getting one small loop running that keeps making money while you do other things.

Quick answer: Dig Sand with the Shovel, drop it into a water pool to make Wet Sand, feed the Wet Sand onto the top of a Shaker built above a Collector, and the Gold drops into the Collector while Slag piles on top. Slope the Shaker so the Slag slides off, and the line pays you automatically.

The core loop your first factory runs on

Before placing anything, it helps to know exactly what the line does from start to finish. Sand is the most basic resource in the game, and it only becomes valuable after it touches water and passes through a Shaker.

Stage	Input	What happens	Output
1	Sandsoil	Dig with the Shovel	Sand
2	Sand + Water	Drop Sand into a water pool	Wet Sand
3	Wet Sand	Falls onto a Shaker	Gold (below) + Slag (on top)
4	Gold	Lands in a Collector	Money for Research

One Sand pixel plus one Water pixel becomes two Wet Sand pixels, so a small pool goes further than you’d think. Gold is probabilistic at this stage, with roughly a one-in-four to one-in-five chance per Wet Sand pixel, so don’t panic if not every grain turns to gold. The leftover Slag is not waste either, and later research lets you burn it and press it for a second gold payout.

Sandustry gameplay screen showing the player beside a water-filled excavation — Start small next to a water pool and build the gold line before you expand. Image: Hooded Horse

Tools and buildings you start with

You begin with two tools. The Shovel digs through suitable ground and kicks up Sand. The Grabber picks that Sand up so you can move it by hand or drop it onto belts and into water. The Shaker itself is unlocked through the tutorial’s Refining research, and the logistics buildings that automate the line come from the Logistics research node.

Building	Job	How you get it
Shaker	Turns Wet Sand into Gold + Slag	Refining (tutorial)
Collector	Stores the Gold and pays you	Starting building
Conveyor Belt	Moves solids horizontally	Logistics research
Launcher	Throws solids up and diagonally	Logistics research

Conveyor Belts can only be placed horizontally, and the direction you drag sets which way the belt runs. Launchers go vertical or diagonal and throw material out from the highest point of their shaft, which is what you use to haul Sand up and out of a pit. None of these logistics pieces need power, so once they’re placed they keep running as long as there’s something to move.

Build the gold line step by step

Find or dig a spot right next to a water pool. Keeping the Shaker close to water means you spend far less time hauling material back and forth, which matters a lot before automation is set up.

Dig Sand with the Shovel until you have a decent supply. Use the Grabber to move it around, and if you’re pulling Sand out of a deep hole, stack Launchers diagonally to throw it up to the surface automatically.

Drop the Sand into the water to make Wet Sand. This is the step that makes it usable, so don’t feed dry Sand to a Shaker expecting gold. Control how much you dump so you don’t flood the whole area at once.

Place a Shaker from the building menu above your Collector boxes. Slope it downward slightly so Slag can slide off the top instead of stacking up and clogging the surface. Leave an open collection chamber directly underneath so falling Gold has somewhere to land.

Route the Wet Sand onto the top of the Shaker using Conveyor Belts and Launchers. Build a clean, direct path so grains don’t scatter or fall off the sides. Conveyors handle the flat surface run into the Shaker, while Launchers carry material up from lower ground.

Place enough Collectors under the Shaker to catch Gold over a long session. If one Collector fills up, set up additional Collector chambers so gold never overflows and stalls the line.

How to know the factory is working

The line is working when Gold is dropping into the Collector and your gold count climbs on its own while you walk away. Slag should be moving off the top of the Shaker rather than building into a stalled pile. If you can leave the area and come back to more gold without touching anything, the first factory is doing its job, and that’s the signal to stop tinkering and start spending on Research.

Why the Shaker isn’t producing gold

When the line stops paying out, the cause is almost always one of a few fixable problems rather than a bug.

Symptom	Cause	Fix
No gold at all	Feeding dry Sand, not Wet Sand	Drop Sand into water first
Shaker surface stalls	Slag piling up on top	Slope the Shaker so Slag slides off
Little gold from lots of Wet Sand	Normal chance, roughly 25% per pixel	Confirm Wet Sand touches the top; add Shakers
Material scatters or falls off	Belts and Launchers not aligned	Build one clean, connected path
Line backs up	Collectors full	Add more Collectors

The most common early mistake is over-mining. If Wet Sand starts backing up and mixing with Slag on the Shakers, you’re producing raw material faster than the line can process it. The fix is to match how fast you dig to how many Shakers you have, not to keep piling on more Sand.

What to research and scale next

Once gold is flowing, Logistics is the first research worth buying, since Conveyors and Launchers separate mining from processing and remove the manual hauling that bottlenecks you. After that, a second Refining tier unlocks the Kinetic Slag Press, which burns and presses leftover Slag into extra gold and effectively raises your yield per unit of Wet Sand.

Resist the urge to rebuild the moment something new unlocks. A compact line you can understand and leave running beats a sprawling layout you can’t diagnose. Only add more Shakers, Collectors, or belts when a real bottleneck appears, and keep the first factory feeding you gold in the background while you explore and grow everything else.