Satisfactory does not have a traditional skill tree. Instead, your whole campaign is structured around two interlocking systems: Milestones you complete at the HUB Terminal, and Project Assembly phases you deliver through the Space Elevator. Together they form the game’s tech tree, and understanding how they gate each other is the single most useful thing a new pioneer can learn. This guide walks through the HUB, the ten Milestone tiers, all five Space Elevator phases, and a sensible order to tackle everything.
The HUB and how Milestones work
The HUB (Habitat and Utility Base) is the first structure you build and the heart of your factory. Its key feature for progression is the HUB Terminal, where you select a Milestone, feed in the required materials, and unlock its recipes and buildings on completion. There are 10 tiers of Milestones, numbered Tier 0 through Tier 9. You do not pick freely from all of them at once; the game opens tiers in waves as you progress.
Tier 0 is the onboarding tier, made up of sequential HUB Upgrade milestones that must be done in order. Working through them changes the HUB’s appearance and hands you the foundations of automation: the Portable Miner, Equipment Workshop, Craft Bench, Smelter, Constructor, Miner Mk.1, Conveyor Belts and poles, Storage Container, Biomass Burner, and crucially the Space Elevator itself, along with starter recipes for iron and copper ingots, plates, rods, wire, cable, concrete, screws, reinforced iron plate, and biomass.
Completing Tier 0 unlocks Tiers 1 and 2. From that point on, milestones within an available tier can be completed in any order you like, so you can prioritize what your factory needs next. Every tier beyond 2 is gated behind a Space Elevator delivery.
The Space Elevator and Project Assembly
The Space Elevator is where you deliver Project Assembly Parts to complete the game’s five phases. Each phase asks for progressively more advanced components, and completing a phase is what opens the next batch of Milestone tiers. The first four phases each unlock higher tiers; the fifth and final phase launches Project Assembly and awards the Employee of the Planet cup in the AWESOME Shop. The parts themselves, like Smart Plating, Versatile Framework, and Modular Engine, are themselves recipes you unlock through Milestones, so the two systems constantly feed into one another.
Here is the full delivery list for each phase, verified against the official wiki, along with what completing it opens up.
| Phase | Name | Parts required | Unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Distribution Platform | 50 Smart Plating | Tiers 3 & 4 |
| 2 | Construction Dock | 1,000 Smart Plating, 1,000 Versatile Framework, 100 Automated Wiring | Tiers 5 & 6 |
| 3 | Main Body | 2,500 Versatile Framework, 500 Modular Engine, 100 Adaptive Control Unit | Tiers 7 & 8 |
| 4 | Propulsion | 500 Assembly Director System, 500 Magnetic Field Generator, 250 Thermal Propulsion Rocket, 100 Nuclear Pasta | Tier 9 |
| 5 | Assembly | 1,000 Nuclear Pasta, 1,000 Biochemical Sculptor, 256 AI Expansion Server, 200 Ballistic Warp Drive | Project Assembly launch + Employee of the Planet cup |
Notice the difficulty cliff between Phase 1 (a trivial 50 Smart Plating) and Phase 2 (thousands of parts plus a brand-new component). That jump is intentional: Phase 1 is essentially a tutorial delivery, while everything after it expects real automated production lines.
What each tier roughly unlocks
The tiers follow a clear thematic arc from hand-crafting toward exotic matter. The exact contents shift between updates, so treat the themes below as the shape of progression rather than an exhaustive list. Tiers 1 and 2 cover base infrastructure such as Base Building, Logistics, Field Research, the Assembler and the AWESOME Sink. Tiers 3 and 4 (Phase 1) bring industrial production: coal power, trucks and other vehicles, steel, and Hypertubes. Tiers 5 and 6 (Phase 2) introduce oil processing, fluids, fuel generators, trains, and the Manufacturer.
Tiers 7 and 8 (Phase 3) move into high-tech territory: bauxite and aluminum refinement, hazmat equipment, nuclear power, drones, and the Particle Accelerator. Finally, Tier 9 (Phase 4) is the exotic-matter endgame with converters, quantum encoding, and portals. By the time you reach Phase 5 you are working with some of the most demanding recipes in the game, like Nuclear Pasta and Ballistic Warp Drives.
A recommended progression order
- Clear Tier 0 quickly. Rush the sequential HUB upgrades to unlock the Smelter, Constructor, and Space Elevator. Hand-crafting is fine here.
- Open Tiers 1 and 2, then automate the basics. Prioritize Logistics and Part Assembly so you can build the Assembler and set up your first automated iron and copper lines.
- Deliver Phase 1 (50 Smart Plating). This is cheap and opens Tiers 3 and 4. Build a small Smart Plating line and move on.
- Use Tiers 3 to 4 to fix logistics and power. Coal power frees you from feeding biomass by hand, and steel unlocks far better building parts. Stabilize power before scaling.
- Scale production for Phase 2. Phase 2 needs thousands of parts, so build dedicated factories for Smart Plating and Versatile Framework rather than crafting them ad hoc.
- Push into oil at Tiers 5 to 6. Plastic, rubber, and fuel power are the backbone of the mid-to-late game, and trains make long-distance logistics manageable.
- Treat Tiers 7 to 9 as long projects. Aluminum, nuclear, and exotic-matter recipes are multi-stage. Expect to redesign factories and lean heavily on alternate recipes from hard drives.
Throughout, run the MAM (now its own building) in parallel to research the resources and equipment you scan in the field, and feed surplus parts into the AWESOME Sink for Coupons. Neither is strictly required to finish the game, but both smooth out the climb. For more on the broader system that supports this, see our hard drives and alternate recipes guide and our power guide.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to complete every milestone in a tier?
No. Only Tier 0 requires completing its HUB upgrades in sequence. From Tier 1 onward you can complete milestones within an available tier in any order, and you do not need to clear every milestone in a tier before delivering the next Space Elevator phase. That said, the recipes you skip simply stay locked until you go back for them.
What unlocks Tiers 3 and beyond?
Space Elevator deliveries. Completing Tier 0 opens Tiers 1 and 2, but every tier after that is gated behind a Project Assembly phase: Phase 1 unlocks Tiers 3 and 4, Phase 2 unlocks Tiers 5 and 6, Phase 3 unlocks Tiers 7 and 8, and Phase 4 unlocks Tier 9.
Is the Space Elevator the same as winning the game?
Completing the fifth phase launches Project Assembly, which is the closest thing Satisfactory has to a campaign ending and awards the Employee of the Planet cup. Your factory keeps running afterward, so it functions more as a capstone goal than a hard finish line.
Where to go next
If you are just starting out, our beginner guide to your first few hours and best starting location breakdown pair well with this progression plan. As your factories grow, the factory layout tips, logistics guide, and trains guide will help you hit the heavy Phase 2 through 5 quotas without your base grinding to a halt.
Climbing the tech tree is far more enjoyable as a shared project, and splitting up Smart Plating, Versatile Framework, and oil duties across friends makes the big phases fly by. If you would rather have a persistent factory that stays online whether you are logged in or not, you can run a dedicated Satisfactory server so the build keeps progressing for everyone. Our Satisfactory setup documentation covers getting that configured.
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