These are the Sandustry tips that save the most time, collected from the official Beginner's Guide and community practice. Most new players skip the first three and regret it.
Hotkeys that do the heavy lifting
- C — copy the machine or structure you are pointing at.
- Ctrl + C / Ctrl + V — copy and paste a selection. This is the single biggest speed-up: build one working machine, then paste copies instead of hand-building each one.
- Ctrl + click — use the replace hotkey to swap a placed machine for a different one without tearing down the line.
Upgrade priorities
Upgrade your Grabber first. It is the tool you use most, so the upgrade pays for itself immediately. After that, upgrades are a matter of what you are currently bottlenecked on.
Handle fluids and lava safely
- Freeze lava before you move it. Hit lava with a Cryoblaster to freeze it into cinder, transport the cinder, then re-ignite it where you need it. Hauling liquid lava by hand is slow and dangerous.
- Give each liquid its own vent. A Liquid Vent always pulls from the nearest liquid source, so sharing one vent between two fluids causes contamination. Run a separate pipe and vent per fluid.
Automate water with creatures
A Corraller catches the creatures you find around the map. A caught Lumling produces water, which is a core input for gold production. Catch one early so you are not hauling water by hand.
The energy production chain
Late-game buildings need Energy. The full chain is:
Amethelis → Steam → Dry Amethelis → (heat) → Florin (gas) → (cool) → Florinol (liquid) → Battery
In other words: refine Amethelis into steam, dry it, heat the dry product into Florin gas, cool that gas into Florinol liquid, and store it in a Battery.
Miscellaneous saves
- Use a laser to dig surface terrain — it is the fastest surface-clearing tool in the game.
- Check the Objectives arrow — the yellow arrow points at your current goal when you are lost on what to do next.
- If you get stuck in geometry, use the game's unstuck command instead of reloading.
Put these into practice and your second factory will come together in a fraction of the time your first one took.