Drones in Sandustry: What's Confirmed, and What Isn't
What We Know
- Role: a late-game automated hauler — the last of the logistics toolkit (conveyors, filters, pipes, pumps, launchers, drones) single-source.
- Unlock position: community consensus places drones at the end of the research chain: Refinement 1 → Logistics 1 → Filter → Pipes → Tools → Refinement 2 (Slag Press) → Drones COMMUNITY.
- What they replace: the manual carry loop and the belt-spaghetti of mid-game hauling — the intended end-state for long-distance item movement.
Reaching the Drone Node
Because drones are last in the chain, the practical question isn't "how do I use them" but "how do I get there": run the research line in the order above COMMUNITY and don't stop to re-optimize stages you've outgrown. Full node costs are tracked on Tech Tree & Recipes.
The Honest Limits
As of the EA launch week, there is no verified public data on drone carry capacity, travel speed, fuel/charge, or failure behavior. Community videos demonstrate modded and late-game play single-source, but a clean, official drone spec has not shipped with the documentation we could verify. Anything a guide tells you beyond the above is either a guess or a modded build — check the source tag and the official Discord for updates.
Before Drones: Launchers & the Shift Trick
Until drones are proven in your build, the community's mid-game hauler is launcher momentum plus the Shift-skip trick — throwing items with momentum and skipping precisely to route them COMMUNITY. It's fiddly, but it's verified player technique, unlike most drone claims. See How to Automate for the full logistics toolkit.
Don't build a factory core on unverified drone behavior. Until the official spec lands, keep drones as an optional final stretch — belts and launchers are what you can count on.