InSatisfactory, you play as a Pioneer with the goal of developing the planet MASSAGE-2(A-B)b, harvesting its resources, and crafting them into project parts for your company’s use. Before you begin a new game, you will have to choose your starting location from four different options.

Each of the four starting locations has its own advantages and disadvantages. However, keep in mind that the entire game takes place on a single map, so the starting locations simply determine where on the map you spawn. you’re able to eventually travel to any of the other biomes if you want. Below, we’ll take a look at the pros and cons of each location to help you choose where to start.

The Grass Fields starting location, featuring a large open field of grass and bushes, while cliffs can be seen in the distant background.

Grass Fields

The Grass Fields is a very solid starting location, not just for beginners, but veterans too. It has nearby access to afew nodes of each type, includingcoal, as well as alake, which makesearly-game coal powereasily attainable.

This location is alsonice and flat, making building a sprawling factory easy. The only real downside to the Grass Fields is that thenearby nodes tend to be spread apart, so you’ll probably be running back and forth in the early stages to collect resources until you build long conveyor belts to a central location.

The Rocky Desert starting location, featuring a wide plain of sand with large rock formations in the background.

Rocky Desert

The Rocky Desert will give youthe strongest startin Satisfactory, and remains a great location into the middle and late stages of the game. There are plentifuliron, copper, and limestone nodeshere for your early building needs, andcoal is nearbyfor an early-game power solution.

Additionally, when you eventually unlockoil, you’re able to find a source near this location as well. Plus, the Rocky Desert is veryflat and open, allowing you to build a sprawling factory with ease.

The Northern Forest starting location, featuring an uneven grassy path, a few trees, and a rock formation to the left.

The only downside to the Rocky Desert is that itdoesn’t quite have as much Biomassas the Grass Fields or Northern Forest, but there’s definitely enough to get you by until you unlock coal.

Northern Forest

The Northern Forest is one of the best starting locations due to the presence ofrich resource nodesin the area. Of all the starting locations, Northern Forest has thehighest concentration of resources, allowing you to get your supply lines up and running fast.

However, this spawn point issurrounded by trees and rock formations, which can makebuilding large factories difficult. This can be remedied by buildingFoundations in the air above the trees, but this method isn’t exactly aesthetically pleasing.

The Dune Desert starting location, with sprawling orange sands and a few rock formations, with a large mountain in the background.

You can alsomake use of the Chainsaw early onto clear away these trees while alsogathering large amounts of Biomass, which makes powering your pre-coal factories much easier.

Dune Desert

Dune Desert is one of the hardest locations to start in, but ends up being one of thebest for late-game factories. This is because of thehigher number of Pure nodesin the area that yield more resources, as well as thelarge open spacethat is more suited to massivemega factories.

However, gatheringBiomassto power your early game factory will be difficult, and while there areplenty of iron nodeshere,copper and limestone are a bit more scarce. If you can push through the early game, however, you’ll be set up in a great spot for a massive factory, so Dune Desert is a great start forplayers thinking about the long term.