Sandustry research
Sandustry research is the Gold sink that unlocks machines. The official Research page is still marked work in progress, but it already publishes four numbers: Shaker 20, Logistics 30, Hover 50, Synthesizer 7500. Fluxite does not buy these nodes. Fluxite buys upgrades on items you already own. Factory Level, described on the official beginner page, gates some tools even after you can afford the Gold. Official store copy, the Hooded Horse wiki roster, and Steam patch notes are the only sources for numbers on this page. Community names stay in the alias column.
Four wallets, one desk
Gold is refined from Wet Sand and later from Burnt Residue. It is the research currency. Fluxite is found in the world and grown under a Flux Emanator. It buys Grabber, Flamethrower, and drone upgrades. Energy sits on the Amethelis to Florinol chain and has no complete public spend table. Auralite is an ancient crystal the official tree mentions next to Gold. Do not convert these into each other on a wiki spreadsheet. The game does not publish a cross-rate.
Factory Level is separate from the tree. Official beginner text says superiors grant new tools and structures when you hit production milestones. If a node is purchased and still grey, check Factory Level before assuming the page is wrong.
Published buy order
| Node | Gold | Unlocks | Buy when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shaker | 20 | Shaker | You have a handful of flakes |
| Logistics | 30 | Belt, Launcher | Hand-carrying costs more than digging |
| Hover | 50 | Hover move | You need to work above belts |
| Filters | unpublished | Filter | Sand and Wet Sand share a trunk |
| Pipes | unpublished | Pipe, Pump, Vent | The wetting pool needs a controlled feed |
| Refining / Press | unpublished | Kinetic Press | Residue piles faster than Gold |
| Tools 1 | unpublished | Flamethrower | Ice walls or Residue burn |
| Drones | unpublished | Digger, Hauler | Belts already exist |
| Synthesizer | 7500 | Redlink building | Late. No recipe published |
Community tier lists on sandustry.wiki insert Refining 2, Tools 2 through 4, Guns 1 and 2, and Lights between Hover and Synthesizer. Those names match official item pages. Their Gold costs were not on the official tree snapshot we could read, so they stay unpublished here.
| Achievement | What it asks |
|---|---|
| Promotion Protocol | Earn your first factory promotion. |
| Flux It Up | Mine your first Fluxite. |
| Gold in the Bin | Hold 1,000 Gold in collectors at once. |
| Ancient Technology | Recover an alien artifact from the dunes. |
| First Bloom | Grow your first flower in a Planter Box. |
| Void Touched | Investigate an anomaly. |
| Critter Catcher | Capture your first critter with the Corraller. |
| First Spark | Charge your first unit of Energy. |
| Quartermaster | Hold 10,000 Gold in collectors at once. |
| Conservatory Curator | Capture one of each unique creature. |
| Stratacore Secured | Neutralize your first Strataform event. |
| Aura Extractor | Unlock Aura Extraction through the Swarm Console. |
| Full Circle | Fill the whole Aura circle so the next factory tier becomes available. |
| Final Schematic | Research every node in the tech tree. |
| Vaultkeeper | Hold 100,000 Gold in collectors at once. |
| Heliodyne Tycoon | Hold 1,000,000 Gold in collectors at once. |
Spend mistakes
Buying a second Shaker before Logistics just creates a second hungry mouth. Buying Drones before belts creates flying Residue. Buying Guns before a Flamethrower makes vault ice expensive. Buying Synthesizer because the number looks like an endgame badge is how you sit on 7500 Gold with no published machine.
Hover is the quality node people skip and then regret. Demo Hotfix 7, after an 88 percent community vote, lets you phase through buildings while hovering. That is not a license to ignore factory paths. It is how you debug a clogged deck without demolishing it.
Factory Level and unpublished nodes
Official beginner text describes Factory Level as permission from your superiors. It is a second gate beside Gold. That is why a purchased node can still refuse to place. Check the level meter before you assume the wiki cost is wrong. We do not have a published table of Factory Level thresholds, so this page will not invent one.
Lights, Guns, and extra Tool tiers exist as item unlocks even when their Gold cells are blank. Buy Lights when you cannot see a drone path. Buy Guns when a vault wall is thicker than a flamethrower tank. Buy extra Tool tiers when Vacuum and Cryoblaster would save a rebuild. The blank cost is not an invitation to skip the node. It is an invitation to buy it when the factory names the jam.
Auralite and Energy appear on the official tree as spend types next to Gold. They are late wallets. If a node quotes Auralite, you are in ancient layers. If it quotes Energy, you are on the Florinol battery path, most of which was still redlink buildings on 15 August 2026. Keep those spends off the early-game checklist.
v0.5.3, the first EA hotfix we saw, did not retune these costs. It added logging, clearer objectives, and memory work. Until a patch note reprints the tree, treat 20 / 30 / 50 / 7500 as the only hard Gold numbers.
More detail worth keeping
Write the tree on paper as you buy it. Early Access will move unpublished costs. The four official numbers are the only ones you should treat as facts in a video overlay. When Hooded Horse reprints the tree, this page should change in one table, not in twelve doorway articles. Until then, buy the jam in front of you. A Filter you need today is worth more than a Synthesizer you cannot place. Factory Level is the silent gate. If a node is paid and grey, you are not being scammed by the wiki. You are under-leveled. Keep the Shaker printing. Levels follow throughput. Wildlife and artifacts are Steam-listed alternatives, not research substitutes. They do not pay the 20 Gold Shaker. They do not pay the 30 Gold belts. They spend the surplus the dull line creates.
Frequently asked questions
Does Fluxite buy research?
No. Gold buys research. Fluxite buys upgrades on tools and drones you already unlocked.
Why is Synthesizer listed if the building is a redlink?
Because the official tree already prints 7500 Gold. The machine recipe is not public, so this page stops at the cost.
What if I already spent out of order?
Keep the Shaker fed. Add a Residue belt. Then buy whatever unblocks the current jam: Filters for mixed trunks, Pipes for floods, Flamethrower for ice and burn.