Satisfactory Space Elevator Phase 4 Guide: Unlock Tier 9

You’ve reached one of the late-game stages where only upgrading the Space Elevator can unlock Tier 9. In this phase you’ll handle propulsion and must deliver four advanced parts you gained access to across Tiers 7 and 8. It’s a major undertaking: you’ll need lots of resources and long production chains before you can craft and ship all four end products. With patience and solid infrastructure, though, it’s absolutely manageable!

Preparing for Space Elevator Phase 4 in Satisfactory: Nuclear power, energy, and scaling production

The further you progress in Satisfactory, the larger and more complex your production lines become. That’s especially true in Space Elevator Phase 4, where many of your earlier achievements come together. The four items take considerable work, but once your setup is in place, nothing stands in your way.

For Space Elevator Phase 4 in Satisfactory you’ll need:

• 500x Assembly Director System
• 500x Magnetic Field Generator
• 250x Thermal Propulsion Rocket
• 100x Nuclear Pasta

Tackle each delivery item separately and step by step. Check which components they’re made of and how you can streamline the sequence. In some cases you can overlap lines and produce one sub-part that feeds multiple end products. Just make sure to expand your power grid. Nuclear Power unlocked in Tier 8 is a strong option; otherwise, Fuel or Turbofuel works well.

Many of these items build on previously completed phases, including production of Versatile Framework, Modular Engines, and Adaptive Control Units. That makes it easy to expand and repurpose existing builds.

There are no alternate recipes for any of the four Space Elevator items, but you can still leverage alternates upstream to simplify certain stages and save resources overall. We already have a guide to the best alternate recipes if you want to dive deeper (Satisfactory: The 10 Best Alternate Recipes for Efficient Factories) .

Crafting the Assembly Director System in Satisfactory: Supercomputer and Adaptive Control Unit

The Assembly Director System is one of the more straightforward Phase 4 items and breaks down cleanly into its subcomponents. There’s also some overlap that makes things easier. It’s composed of two parts:

• Supercomputer: Use standard Computers, AI Limiters, High-Speed Connectors, and Plastic to craft Supercomputers. The recipe is simpler than it looks, since many of the subparts like Cable, Stators, or Circuit Boards should already be familiar.

• Adaptive Control Unit: Built from four parts: Automated Wiring, Circuit Board, Heavy Modular Frame, and Computer. You’ll already see some overlap here.

Building the Magnetic Field Generator: Versatile Framework and Electromagnetic Control Rod

The Magnetic Field Generator is a surprisingly simple branch of Phase 4. You should recognize Versatile Framework from earlier, as it was required in Phases 2 and 3. The Control Rods are also relatively light to produce. Aside from making Stators out of Steel Pipes and Cable, there’s no real overlap between the two sides.

• Versatile Framework: By now you should have Modular Frames and Steel Beams on lock.

• Electromagnetic Control Rod: Requires Stators and, again, AI Limiters, which you can likely reuse from the previous step.

Producing the Thermal Propulsion Rocket: Modular Engine, Turbo Motor, Cooling System, and Fused Modular Frame

The last two items are notably tougher, starting with the Thermal Propulsion Rocket. You’ll combine four components here, each of which also requires significant effort. Split this into multiple steps to stay organized. There’s a lot of overlap, so a single large mega-factory works well.

• Modular Engine: Needs Motors, Rubber, and Smart Plating—three items you should already be able to produce reliably.

• Turbo Motor: Uses similar parts, which helps. Combine Rubber, Motors, Cooling Systems, and Radio Control Units. You can tie this together with Modular Engines, especially for shared Rubber and Motor production.

• Cooling System: Since you need Cooling Systems for Turbo Motors, this stage is practically covered already. It requires Heat Sinks, Water, Nitrogen Gas, and again Rubber.

• Fused Modular Frame: Another advanced frame tier with overlap. Crafted from Nitrogen Gas, Heavy Modular Frames, and Alclad Aluminum Sheet. You can use the same Nitrogen Gas for both Cooling Systems and Frames.

The Thermal Propulsion Rocket really benefits from a consolidated factory. Many steps interlock, reducing duplicated effort. Rubber, Motors, and Nitrogen Gas can feed multiple lines, and Cooling Systems are already part of another component, further simplifying things.

Making Nuclear Pasta: Copper Powder and Pressure Conversion Cube with the Particle Accelerator

Last up is Nuclear Pasta, one of the most advanced items in the game. At first glance it seems simple—just two components—but you’ll need a Particle Accelerator powered by nuclear energy to craft it. The building is the real challenge; the items themselves are straightforward.

• Copper Powder: The simplest recipe in Phase 4, produced directly from Copper Ingots.

• Pressure Conversion Cube: Also easy by this point, since you’re already making the parts for the Thermal Propulsion Rocket. It combines Fused Modular Frames and Radio Control Units.

You can see there are shortcuts here: much of what you need was already set up for the Rocket, so you can scale out and reuse those lines.

Conclusion and tips: Unlocking the final milestone, Tier 9, in Satisfactory

With Space Elevator Phase 4, you’re steadily approaching the end of the story. You’ll bring all your resources together one more time to unlock the final milestone: Tier 9. The good news is that many steps overlap, and you can carry over some production from Phase 3. In the end, it’s less complicated than it looks.

To play this far without hassle, rent your own Satisfactory server from us: get your server here! Hours of fun, puzzle-solving, and true brain training await as you optimize your factory. The more efficient you are, the faster you’ll reach and complete Phase 4!