Sandustry Research Tree

Research is how Sandustry turns Gold in a Collector into buildings and tools. You spend from the Research tab; you do not craft a tech bench. This page is the catalogue: what each node unlocks in the live Early Access build, in language that matches the official research text. For order, use Research Priority. For a clickable checklist, use Research Checklist. Costs can shift in patches — confirm the number in-game after a Steam update.

How Research works

Gold must sit in a Collector with a solid foundation or the wallet will not move (Collectors and Lights). Nodes are grouped by branch. You can leave a branch unfinished if another bottleneck is louder. Early Access began 2026-08-13; the demo may hide late nodes. Single-player only — there is no shared tech tree.

Refining branch

Refining 1 — Shakers

Unlocks Shakers that separate Gold and Slag from Wet Sand. Official hint: build diagonally and drop Wet Sand on it. This is the first income machine. Without it you are a miner, not a factory. Placement and yield: Shaker, How to Get Gold.

Refining 2 — Kinetic Slag Press

Unlocks the Kinetic Slag Press to process Burnt Slag into more Gold (and Spores). You must burn slag first — the press does not eat raw residue. Kinetic Slag Press, Slag Processing.

Refining 3 — Planter Boxes

Unlocks Planter Boxes. Wet Spores on Soil become Seeds, then Flowers (one Gold surrounded by four Amethelis petals, stem of Moss). This is the on-ramp to How to Get Fluxite. Skip it while the gold line is unstable.

Refining 4

A later refining node on the official tree. Confirm the live tooltip after patches — Early Access may add buildings here as the year-long EA plan lands more production chains. Do not plan a factory around a blank tooltip; re-read Steam news and EA Roadmap.

Logistics and sorting

Logistics 1 — Conveyors and Launchers

Unlocks Conveyor Belts and Launchers. Hold Shift to reverse a belt while building. Launchers throw solids up or across gaps; Shift-skip the outlet when chaining. This is the usual second purchase once walking hurts (Conveyors and Launchers, Starter Factory).

Filters 1 — Filters

Unlocks Filters that work like belts but let chosen elements through. Density does the rest: mixed Sand, Slag, RedSand, Lava, and Gold separate differently. Buy when piles stop being pure (Filters, Material Ratios).

Fluids

Pipes 1 — Pipes, Pumps, and Liquid Vents

Unlocks Pipes, Pumps, and Liquid Vents. This is the “stop carrying buckets” node. Until then, steam-rain and gravity lakes are enough (Pipes and Pumps, Water Management). Misaimed vents flood Collectors — wall the wallet off from the wet side.

Tools branch

Node	Unlocks	Factory job
Tools 1	Flamethrower	Burn slag, melt ice, vaporize water into steam that becomes rain
Tools 2	Vacuum	Move piles of sand and cleanup
Tools 3	Cryoblaster	Freeze water, solidify lava, create snow
Tools 4	Grappling Hook	Traverse shafts and return from depth

How-to for each item: Tools and Weapons. The flamethrower is the only tool that directly prints gold (via burnt slag). The cryoblaster prints renewable water via snow.

Guns branch

Guns 1 — Gun

Unlocks the Gun. Damage type is a combat icon in the research tab. Opens Shatterstone and ruin rooms. Not required for a surface shaker line.

Guns 2 — Rocket Launcher

Unlocks the Rocket Launcher. Fast excavation; napalm upgrade can heat water. Demo Hotfix 8 nerfed it against RedSand. Do not substitute it for a wetting lake.

Lights and drones

Lights 1 — Lights

Unlocks wall-mounted Lights. Cheap compared with a blind lava swim. Light the press drop, the emanator shaft, and any artifact interior before you commit a grappling line.

Drones 1 — Digger and Hauler

Unlocks Digger and Hauler drones. They automate bulk relocation when belts would need heroic bridges. They assume a working factory. Buy them after Logistics and a slag press, not instead of Refining 1 (Drones).

What Research does not unlock

Fluxite upgrades (scanner, hover, grabber capacity, dig speed) are a second currency spent on the U panel, not the Gold research tab (Fluxite Upgrades). The Flux Emanator is a placeable building you unlock through the botanical chain, and you may only place one. Steam Workshop maps and Fluxloader mods can add research or skip it — vanilla this page describes the Hooded Horse / Lantto tree.

Suggested first eight purchases

1. Refining 1
2. Logistics 1
3. Filters 1 or Pipes 1 (whichever bottleneck you have)
4. Tools 1
5. Refining 2
6. Lights 1 before a deep push
7. Tools 2 or Guns 1 as the map demands
8. Drones 1 only after the starter lake prints gold alone

That sequence is the Early Game Tips version of the tier list. Break it when ice blocks sand (flamethrower up), when Shatterstone blocks an artifact (gun up), or when the lake freezes (cryo / snow page).

After a patch

If a node name or cost changes, update this catalogue and the Research Checklist together so they do not disagree. Launch Week Notes tracks whether Hooded Horse has posted a balance hotfix since 2026-08-13. Until a patch note says otherwise, Shakers still want a diagonal and gold still wants a Collector.