Sandustry Drones Guide: Automation, Haulers, and Factory Logistics

What drones are for

Drones and haulers are most useful when a factory has many short transport jobs or when terrain makes a conveyor route inefficient. They should support a clear production chain, not compensate for missing storage or badly placed filters.

Reliable drone layout

1. Group input storage, machines, and output storage into readable zones.
2. Keep Gold, Wet Sand, Lava, and Residue in separate storage groups.
3. Give each output a destination before assigning more haulers.
4. Reserve open space around containers so drones can reach them from multiple angles.
5. Test one route with a small batch before scaling the fleet.

When haulers stop working

Check whether the destination is full, the material is filtered out, or the route is blocked by a machine footprint. If a hauler is carrying the wrong item, fix the storage and Filter rules first; adding more drones only increases the pile-up.

Best use by progression

Use conveyors for predictable high-volume lines, Pipes and Pumps for liquids, and Drones for flexible links between production zones. This hybrid approach is easier to debug than a factory that relies on one transport method everywhere.