Judged by the job it solves
- What job the building solves
- When it first makes sense in a run
- Which mechanics or materials it pairs with
- Whether shared layouts fit it
Building hub
Sandustry Buildings: Processing, Growth, and Layout
Once the broad loop is running, the real work is machine placement: which building fits where, what it demands, and how it changes the route around it.
Production roles
Layout choices
Machine context
Shared builds
Verified against v0.5.5 on 2026-08-20
Official source
Building Pages with the Most Leverage
These are the machines where general advice turns into concrete placement choices, especially once you start refining layouts instead of improvising.
Shaker
The first building that produces Gold: feed it Wet Sand, collect Gold below and Residue above.
Kinetic Press
Drops Burnt Residue from 25 or more blocks up to mint Gold and the Seeds that start farming.
Steam Dryer
Presses Amethelis into Dry Amethelis with steam from below, feeding late-game crafting.
Drones
Sweeper, Digger, Recon, and Hauler drones take over cleanup, digging, scouting, and transport.
Conveyor Belt
Moves solid pixels sideways, blocks liquids, gases, and players, and reverses with Shift.
Launcher
Lifts solid pixels up a tower and throws them out an angled top, blocking nothing.
Pipe
Carries Water between a Pump and a Liquid Vent, ignores other blocks, and never moves Lava.
Pump
Drinks non-lava liquid in its tile through a central 2x2 area and feeds it to Pipes.
Filter
A configurable Conveyor Belt that lets one pixel type drop through instead of riding on.
Liquid Vent
Deposits Water supplied by Pipes through a central 2x2 area, scaling with more Pumps.
Processing Buildings
No single "Processing Plant" exists; find the right machine among the Shaker, Kinetic Press, and Steam Dryer.
Planter Box
Turns a Wet Seed into a Flower on contact, then passes only Gold and Amethelis through.
Blueprints
Important for players looking for layouts, examples, and shared factory thinking.
Wiki Hub
Jump between building, mechanic, and material references as a layout grows.
Judging a machine before you place it
- Understand what job the machine actually solves
- Compare layout tradeoffs before rebuilding too much
- Connect the building with the mechanics it depends on
- Decide whether a shared blueprint is worth copying directly
Role, timing, and bottlenecks
Look for what the machine does, when it earns a place in a layout, which neighbors it depends on, and where throughput usually stalls.
Placement decisions matter more than proving the machine exists.