At first glance, Satisfactory is primarily geared towards producing goods and doesn’t seem designed for players who enjoy creative building. Yet the game surprisingly offers a wealth of tools and features that let you raise a beautiful factory from the ground up! If you’re always settling for an open factory or a grey block, this article is for you. We’ll share useful tips and tricks to transform a dull base into a striking factory.
Unlock Satisfactory foundations and decor in the AWESOME Shop
When it comes to building, the AWESOME Shop is your best port of call. Using coupons earned from the AWESOME Sink, you can buy many different building elements you wouldn’t otherwise have access to. We’ve explained exactly how this works in a separate article: (Satisfactory AWESOME Sink & Shop: How to farm coupons quickly) .
Here you can buy:
- Signs
- Light sources
- Walls
- Foundations
- Beams
- Pillars
- Roofs
- Windows
- Colour swatches
- Patterns
Set colours for foundations and walls in Satisfactory
Most foundations and concrete walls are grey, but you don’t have to leave them that way. In the Shop you can buy colour palettes or create your own by selecting colours in the build menu. You can not only apply them afterwards, but also predefine which building element should have which colour.
When working with colour, stick to one to three primary colours. A bit of colour theory from art class won’t hurt to see which tones complement each other. In the end it’s entirely up to you, but colourful factories often look especially smart.
More depth in Satisfactory: structuring and accenting walls
One of the biggest issues when expanding factories is that many players think on a single plane. That means a wall is flat. But that’s exactly the problem: look at real buildings and you’ll quickly notice they stand out through depth.
So avoid placing only flat walls and break them up with pillars, protruding foundations, or inset windows. This gives your factory more structure and a better appearance. Also play with different colours to add accents.
Plan interior and exterior walls separately in Satisfactory
You should also avoid using your interior walls as exterior walls. Working this way gives you much more flexibility so your rooms look perfect both inside and out. It’s best to start with the interior, first planning your machines and conveyor belts. Outline these with the interior wall. If you want a different look from the outside, build a second wall and decorate it externally. This way you ensure the building looks perfect from both sides.
Textures and materials in Satisfactory: concrete, steel and more
If you browse the AWESOME Shop, you’ll also find different materials for your building pieces. So you can not only play with different colours, but also with the finish of the walls themselves.
Currently you can choose between FICSIT walls, concrete and steel. Within these categories there’s even more variety, whether through different foundations, windows, doors and finishes. The same goes for all other building elements, including pillars, roofs and railings. Combine materials and colours to create contrast and highlights.
Use Nudge in Satisfactory: precise placement and clipping
One of the best building tools is the Nudge feature, which lets you move elements in smaller increments. They’re no longer bound to Satisfactory’s world grid and can be positioned far more freely. This is immensely helpful for cleanly working in details. Enable Nudge by pressing H.
Many players use this to hide building elements inside others or to combine them. This is called clipping and is technically unintended, but it can enable very cool effects and possibilities. The tool can be a bit fiddly at times, but you’ll achieve far more than with the standard build mode.
Satisfactory lighting: daylight, lamps and signs
Lighting is one of the final key elements of your factory—you certainly don’t want to work in the dark. You have three ways to light your factory: natural daylight, suitable lamps, or signs.
Daylight is perfect for open factories lined with windows. There’s more than enough choice and you can place them as you like. There are various shapes of windows that give your factory an individual look. Pay attention to where the sun rises and how the light falls into the room.
Lights and lamps can also be bought in the AWESOME Shop. There are four types in total:
- Ceiling lights
- Wall lights
- Street lamps
- Floodlights
If you also buy a Light Control Panel, you can link them together and control them centrally. Even without one, you can set each light’s colour and intensity individually or enable a night mode. Bear in mind, however, that lamps require power and can slightly impact game performance.
Your third option is signs, which you can also buy in the Shop. They come in different sizes and shapes and are normally used for labelling. But you can remove text and background and give signs emission so they cast light. This gives you not only a wider range of colours than normal lamps, but also more flexibility. For example, signs can be moved more precisely with Nudge mode and hidden behind walls. Think of them as a kind of neon light.
Conclusion: build an aesthetic Satisfactory factory
To give your factory the finishing touch and stop it looking like a bland box, take a few design tips to heart. Small details go a long way. Work with depth so your factory stands out. Coloured building pieces can serve as wonderful accents. Lighting also makes a big difference—glowing signs are a pro tip. In Satisfactory you don’t always have to be purely practical; you can also build the factory of your dreams.
If you’d like to try these building possibilities, rent one of our Satisfactory servers and put some of the tips shown here to use straight away! You can show them to your friends too, so you can get creative together.
