Satisfactory can feel overwhelming at first, but the opening is straightforward and well structured. Even with the tutorial, you may sometimes wonder what to do next. To get going, you need to complete the first Milestone and unlock the key components for your future factory. The game then introduces new concepts step by step, letting you expand and improve your production. In this beginner’s walkthrough we’ll take you through Tier 0 and share essential tips for your first automation setups.
Choose your Satisfactory spawn point: best starting biomes and resources
Before you begin, choose your spawn point on the map. Remember, it’s a huge world — you won’t miss out on anything! For first-time players we recommend either the Grass Fields or the Rocky Desert. Both are great places for your first steps and offer plenty of space to experiment and build your first factories. Simply pick the area that looks best to you. Look for nearby Iron and Copper nodes — ideally normal or pure nodes for a strong early-game throughput.
First steps after landing: explore the area and gather materials
Once the intro ends, familiarise yourself with your surroundings. Look around and walk a little so you get a feel for where you might set up your first small base. On the way, immediately collect Leaves and Wood by pressing and holding E. These will be important later to power your first machines. Tip: Later, convert Leaves/Wood into Biomass at the Craft Bench — it burns more efficiently and lasts longer.
HUB Upgrade 0–1: Find iron ore, mine it, and start your first production
Satisfactory is about harnessing the planet’s resources to keep your employer FICSIT satisfied. To begin, you need to find your first ores and mine them manually. Use your scanner with V to locate Iron Ore nearby. You’ll see it ping on the ground or marked on your compass.
Ore nodes are often marked by a ring of rocks with an extra boulder in the middle. First break this deposit with E, then gather around 20 Iron Ore from various nodes to progress. Prefer pure nodes if possible — they provide the highest extraction rate later.
Build and upgrade the HUB: Craft Bench, recipes, and inventory tips
With 20 Iron Ore, you can build your most important early structure: the HUB. Open the build menu with Q and place it wherever you like. You’ll gain access to the HUB Terminal, which shows the next steps for your Milestones. You also get a Craft Bench, which provides your first crafting recipes and enables the next upgrades.
For the first HUB Upgrade, collect more Iron Ore and craft it at the Craft Bench into Iron Ingots, then into Iron Rods. Once you’ve made 10 rods, you can complete the first hurdle.
Note: If you run out of inventory space, use the storage in the HUB to free up room. Later you can build more storage options.
HUB Upgrades 1–3: Automatic mining with Portable Miners and copper
The first upgrade unlocks key components you can put to work immediately. The game always shows what you need next.
- Equipment Workshop: Build this first to unlock additional recipes. It’s primarily for equipment, while the Craft Bench in the HUB handles basic resources.
- Portable Miner: Craft these in the Equipment Workshop to take your first steps towards automation. Place 2–3 Portable Miners on your iron nodes to speed up farming.
For HUB Upgrade 2, you’ll need more iron. Let the Portable Miners extract it automatically, then convert it into 20× Iron Rods and 10× Iron Plates. You’ll then unlock Copper and can scan for it with V to produce Wire and Cable.
First automation: Use power, Smelters and wiring the right way
With HUB 2 you also unlock Power — the most important component for automation. You’ll need it to progress further.
- Biomass Burner: Build your first burner and fuel it with Leaves or Wood (better yet: Biomass) to generate power.
- Power lines: Use Cable (crafted from Wire) to run power lines from the burner to your machines.
- Smelter: The Smelter is your next key step, unlocking more recipes. Connect it to the power grid with a line and automate the production of Iron Ingots and Copper Ingots.
HUB Upgrade 3 is designed to teach you this basic automation and is relatively easy to complete. You’ll need 20× Iron Plates, 20× Iron Rods, and 20× Cable. Afterwards you’ll unlock the next section.
HUB Upgrades 4–6: Find Limestone, produce Concrete, and conveyor belts
With Tier 4 you can locate another resource: Limestone. Scan for it with V again and integrate its extraction and processing into your existing setup. From limestone you can produce Concrete, which you’ll need to complete HUB Upgrade 4. First, build a couple of new machines:
- Constructor: Unlocks additional transformations and lets you process Limestone into Concrete and Ingots into Plates/Rods/Wire. Place it in a line after a Smelter.
- Power Pole Mk.1: Use poles to connect multiple machines to the burner. A Power Pole Mk.1 supports up to 4 connections.
Completing HUB Upgrade 4 gives you further automation tools. While the required resources remain similar, you can now simplify and speed up the process considerably.
- Conveyor Belts: When you think of Satisfactory, you think of endless conveyor belts. You finally unlock them and can link your machines together. Run them between Smelter and Constructor to automate the creation of your desired materials.
HUB Upgrade 5 should now be straightforward and is the penultimate step to finish the basic tutorial. Now the game really opens up. You’ll also get a second Biomass Burner to generate more power.
- Miner Mk.1: Improves and automates ore extraction. Can now feed other machines via conveyor belts. Building it requires, among other things, a Portable Miner as an ingredient.
- Storage Container: Serves as temporary storage for finished products.
For HUB Upgrade 6, we recommend pre-producing the following in Storage Containers: Iron Rods, Iron Plates, Cable, and Concrete. You’ll need 100 of each, and 50 of Concrete.
Conclusion: Finish Tier 0 successfully and hit the ground running in Satisfactory
Congratulations! You’ve officially cleared your first steps in Satisfactory and can now dive into the main game. Tier 0 gives you all the tools you need to work with the fundamentals. There’s no time pressure — optimise your lines, expand your power grid, and set up clean production chains at your own pace.
For even more fun: play in co-op! You can rent a Satisfactory server to play with your friends: Rent a Satisfactory gameserver.
