Best Location to Start in Satisfactory 1.0

Starting a new game in Satisfactory 1.0 and unsure where to build your first factory? The wrong choice could seriously slow down your progress.

The stakes are high, and a bad start could frustrate your entire playthrough. Don’t worry! This article will guide you to the best starting location in Satisfactory 1.0. We’ll break down why certain areas shine for early game progress.

You’ll learn about the crucial resources to look for, like iron, copper, limestone, and pure coal. We’ll even explore how the fan-favorite Northern Forest has changed.

Let’s get started –

Changes in Northern Forest

In the past, the Northern Forest was an ideal starting location because it had everything you needed close by—iron, copper, limestone, and pure coal. This made it easy to build a strong foundation early in the game and transition smoothly into the mid-game.

However, Satisfactory 1.0 has changed the resource layout in this area and these changes include the following:

• The pure coal node has been removed.
• While iron, copper, and limestone are still available, other resources are harder to find.

My New Starting Location: Rocky Desert

With the changes to the Northern Forest, the Rocky Desert now stands out as a better option. Here’s why:

• Coal Nodes: There are now four coal nodes in the top-left corner, which make resources more accessible.
• Iron Nodes: Several pure iron nodes are nearby.
• Copper Nodes: Though there’s only one impure copper node close by, normal nodes, along with iron and limestone, are available a bit to the south.

This mix of resource nodes makes it easier to set up early automation for key components and expand your factory.

Advantages of Rocky Desert

The Rocky Desert has several strategic advantages:

1. Proximity to Research Items: The abundance of nearby resources allows for efficient early-game research.
2. Early Hard Drive: You can access a hard drive early by placing a biomass generator, unlocking shuffled recipes like cast screws early on.
3. Resource Variety: Along with coal, the area now has quartz and sulfur, which help complete various research trees quickly.

Challenges and Strategies in Rocky Desert

Getting to quartz in this area can be tricky. The quartz is in caves far from where you start. You’ll need to think carefully about which coal spots to use first, especially if you want quartz early to make things like Blade Runners.

To get quartz:

• Build a power plant in the top right corner
• Then go into the caves and set up machines to mine quartz

To open up some blocked paths, you’ll need to make bombs. This means you have to learn how to use sulfur first. You’ll do this by researching sulfur and following those steps.

Mid to Late Game Opportunities

The Rocky Desert also supports smooth progress into the mid and late game:

• Caterium: Early access to Caterium helps you advance your tech.
• Advanced Resources: The area has nearby nitrogen gas, bauxite, and oil fields, which are crucial for late-game expansion.
• Iron and Coal: The large number of pure iron nodes makes it easy to scale up iron and steel production.

Conclusion

The Rocky Desert is the best starting location in Satisfactory 1.0 due to its rich and diverse resource options. It allows for smooth progression from the early game to the late game, making it easier for players to enjoy the new features and challenges introduced in version 1.0.

If you’re just starting out and run into an ‘Encryption Token Missing’ error, don’t worry! Check out our quick fix guide for the Encryption Token Missing error to get back to building your factory in no time.