Complete Sandustry guides — chronological achievement walkthrough, beginner tips for logistics, production and research. All 16 achievements explained.

Sandustry Guides: Achievement Walkthrough & Beginner Tips

Sandustry has 16 achievements in total — 9 story achievements, 3 cumulative milestones, 2 tech milestones, 1 story/cumulative hybrid, and 1 special action. Apart from the 1 million gold grind, you can earn the rest in around 10 hours of normal play. This guide walks you through every achievement in chronological order and covers the key beginner systems: logistics, production, research, and exploration.

Achievement Breakdown

Before diving into the walkthrough, here is how the 16 achievements are distributed:

Story (9) — Follow the main progression from Shaker to Stratacore.
Cumulative (3) — Gold in Bin (1,000 Gold), Quartermaster (10,000 Gold), and the grind: Vaultkeeper (100,000 Gold) + Heliodyne Tycoon (1,000,000 Gold).
Story/Cumulative (1) — Gold in the Bin (hold 1,000 Gold in collectors at once). This is cumulative by nature but also triggers naturally during story progression.
Milestone (2) — Final Schematic (research every tech tree node) and Full Circle (fill the entire Aura circle).
Special Action (1) — Critter Catcher (capture your first critter with the Corraller).

All 16 achievements are offline and single-player. No multiplayer or game-mode restrictions apply.

Chapter 1: Early Game (Tier 1–2)

Start by following the tutorial. Research the Shaker first — it separates Gold and Residue from Wet Sand. Then unlock Logistics to get Conveyor Belts and the Launcher.

Key early steps:

Research Hover Mode (50 Gold) — lets you build in the sky and phase through structures. Toggle with Space Bar.
Research Map (100 Gold) — unlocks the Map and Minimap.
Research Filter (250 Gold) — allows certain elements to pass through. Test it before integrating into your system. Hold Control to replace existing conveyor belts.
Research Flare Gun (150 Gold) — lights up dark areas for cave exploration.

Achievement: Promotion Protocol — Earn your first factory promotion by progressing through the early tech tree.

Explore and find your first Fluxite by digging deep. Achievement: Flux It Up — Mine your first Fluxite.

Research the Flamethrower (400 Gold) and experiment with its three functions: burn residue, vaporize water into steam, and melt ice. This leads to Make It Rain — create steam that rises and becomes rain.

Research the Kinetic Press (500 Gold) to process Burnt Residue into more Gold and Seed. Achievement: Gold in the Bin — Hold 1,000 Gold in your collectors at once. This triggers naturally as your gold production scales.

Unlock the Thermal Buffer (1,000 Gold) and Burner Belt (500 Gold) to automate residue burning.

Chapter 1: Exploration & Artifacts

While exploring, find an artifact in a nearby cave. Achievement: Ancient Technology — Recover an alien artifact from the Dunes. Each artifact gives 1/5th of an augment socket and a skill.

Research the Conveyor Portal (750 Gold) to let elements cross production lines without mixing. Research the Cryoblaster (1,000 Gold) for infinite snow production — it freezes water, solidifies lava, and can be steamed into rain.

Use Wall Light for deep exploration. The pipette key (F) lets you copy built tiles and paste them elsewhere.

Upgrade your Grabber's Hydro Sponge when you get the chance — it becomes very helpful for fluid management.

Chapter 2: Mid Game (Tier 3–4)

Research Planter Box (2,000 Gold) — wet your Seeds and plant them. Achievement: First Bloom — Grow your first flower. Wet Seeds grow into Flowers yielding Gold and Amethelis.

Research Fluids (1,250 Gold) to unlock Pipes, Pumps, and Liquid Vents for automated fluid transport. Research Pyro Dispenser (2,000 Gold) for automated flame bursts.

Research the Gun (1,500 Gold) for distance digging, then the Rocket Launcher (2,000 Gold) for explosive excavation.

Unlock the Corraller (1,250 Gold) and go exploring. Achievement: Critter Catcher — Capture your first critter. The world has more critters than you need for this achievement, so you will get multiple chances.

Find the anomaly. Achievement: Void Touched — Investigate an anomaly.

Chapter 2: Drying, Drones & Energy

Research Drying & Condensing (2,500 Gold) — the Steam Dryer dries materials using steam, and the Condenser converts gases into liquids using snow. Without this, purple materials will clog your production.

Unlock Sweeper Drones (800 Gold) for automated ground collection. Unlock the Aerokinetic Fan (1,500 Gold) to move Amethelis faster through the air.

Research the Advanced Filter (1,500 Gold) to filter multiple element types including liquids and gases.

Research the Florinol Battery (1,500 Gold) to turn Florinol into power. Achievement: First Spark — Charge your first unit of Energy.

Unlock Vacuum (2,000 Gold) and Drill (2,500 Gold). Drains stored energy — with only a Florinol Battery, drills turn energy into solid blocks you can attack to recover it.

Chapter 2: Smelting & Conservation

Find lava and research the Smelter (3,000 Gold) to produce copper. While exploring for lava, collect every critter you encounter. Achievement: Conservatory Curator — Capture one of each unique creature.

Research the Copper Mold (2,000 Gold) to cast Power Bricks from Liquid Copper for large energy storage. Research the Energy Siphon (1,000 Gold) to transfer energy between stores.

Achievement: Quartermaster — Hold 10,000 Gold in your collectors at once. This triggers naturally as you scale up gold production.

Chapter 2: Power & Tier 5

Research the Steam Turbine (3,000 Gold) and Energy Connector (1,000 Gold). Set up the Steam Turbine + Energy Connector system to reach Tier 6.

Research the Snowmaker (2,500 Gold) — it drains energy directly without needing to be connected to the energy grid.

Unlock Digger Drone (2,500 Gold), Recon Drone (2,500 Gold), Void Rift (3,000 Gold), and Flux Emanator (2,000 Gold). Use the Flux Emanator to upgrade your tools — vacuum lots of Red Sand for this.

Road to 1 Million Gold

The two hardest achievements are Vaultkeeper (100,000 Gold) and Heliodyne Tycoon (1,000,000 Gold). The 100k milestone is relatively straightforward. The 1 million requires a dedicated vault.

Community-tested vault strategy:

Build a vault: Open the ruler (V), create a 252 x 126 box with Foundations, then cover it all with Collectors — approximately 31,250 collectors.
Use liquid gold: Smelt gold into Liquid Gold and pump it directly into the vault via pipes. This eliminates solid block transfer and reduces lag. A 4x4 block of liquid gold is worth 32 gold.
Automate sand processing: You need roughly 250,000 sand pieces. Get them from the map or the Earth Stratacore. For the Stratacore, use the Void Gun (1 full charge shot destroys a portion of the core) rather than mining drones, which are too weak.
Void Gun setup: Place a Void Rift → get Void Seeds → plant in Planter Box → get Void Soil → tap with digging tool → Void Petals + Moonhops → Void Liquid. When charging the gun, it turns solid — use the purple cave creatures to convert it back to liquid.

This achievement is very grindy. The game is in Early Access, so future updates may add easier ways to hoard gold.

Final Achievements

Secure the Stratacore. Achievement: Stratacore Secured — Neutralize your first Strataform event.

Unlock the Synthesizer (7,500 Gold) — the Tier 6 capstone that converts one material into another using energy.

Reach 1,000 Auralite. Achievement: Aura Extractor — Unlock Aura Extraction through the Swarm Console.

Research the Locator (3,000 Gold) and Hauler Drone (3,000 Gold). Set up a separate gold vault and let Hauler Drones carry all gold there for the 1 million target.

Research the Laser (5,000 Gold) and Recall Shard (4,000 Gold). As you gain Aura saturation, new technologies become available — research them all.

Fill the Aura circle. Achievement: Full Circle — Fill the whole Aura circle so the next factory tier becomes available.

Research every remaining node. Achievement: Final Schematic — Research every node in the tech tree.

Beginner Tips Summary

Start small — Focus on the Shaker → Conveyor Belt → Filter pipeline before expanding.
Test before integrating — Always test filters and new machines before connecting them to your main production line.
Explore early — Artifacts and critters are scattered around the map. The more you explore, the more resources you unlock.
Upgrade the Grabber's Hydro Sponge — It makes fluid management significantly easier.
Use Hover Mode — Building in the sky lets you create elevated production lines without foundation costs.
Plan your vault early — If you are going for the 1 million gold achievement, start building your collector vault before you need it. Liquid gold piping is the most space-efficient method.