This guide explains how to build a massively scaled steel factory producing 810 steel beams and 2,160 steel pipes per minute. We will first discuss the alternates recipes we considered and the ones we actually used, then the ideal location, then the required production lines, and then tips for the various production lines.

Starting with the alternate recipes. There are a range of alternate recipes that can be unlocked by collecting hard drives, here is a guide to help you do that easily: https://auluftwaffles.com/2022/01/16/collect-all-hard-drives-easily-in-satisfactory/. For steel there are a few options. We will first discuss those we are not using and then what we actually picked and why. The first option is based on compacted coal which uses sulfur on to of iron ore and coal. This produces a comparable amount of steel as we will be producing./ It does require a source of sulfur, which is one of the rare materials in the game, which is also required for other important builds such as batteries and nuclear power plants. This is the reason I did not use this alternate recipe. The next option is to use petroleum coke instead of coal which also produces a good amount of steel. It does require a source of oil and the oil processing produced more than just petroleum coke so something needs to be done with with the other materials. If you already have petroleum coke you are sinking nearby this can be a good option, we didn’t have any petroleum coke nearby. Another option is to use the standard recipe, the reason I did not was because that produces less steel using more buildings than the recipes I did use. The recipe I picked was using pure iron ingots and solid steel ingots. The pure iron ingots are produces in refineries using water and iron ore and multiplies the iron ore to about 2x iron ingots (35 iron ore produce 65 iron ingots). This requires water and quite a lot of power, about 1 GW for this build. (If you need more power you might be interested in this guide on how to build nuclear power plants without long term waste storage: https://auluftwaffles.com/2022/01/13/70-gw-nuclear-power-plant-no-waste-using-raw-inputs-guide-in-satisfactory/). The solid steel ingots use coal and iron ingots to produce steel into where 2 iron ingots and 2 coal produce 3 steel ingots, again a 1.5x multiplier compared to the standard recipe.

Moving on to a good location, you will need water, iron ore and coal. Both iron ore and coal are abundant in satisfactory, I picked a location that had 2,160 of both available (using Mk. 3 miners and 1 power shard each) and put down the steel factory near a lake for access to water.

The next consideration is the required production lines. The following input materials are required:

• 1,163 iron ore per minute
• 2,160 coal per minute
• 665 water per minute

The following production lines are required:

• produces 720 water per minute in 6 water extractor
• 1,163 iron ore and 665 water produces 2,160 iron ingot per minute in 34 refinery (over capacity)
• 2,160 iron ingot and 2,160 coal produces 3,240 steel ingot per minute in 54 foundry
• 3,240 steel ingot produces 2,160 steel pipe per minute in 108 constructor
  • 1 steel pipe costs 3 / 2 = 1.5 steel ingot
• 3,240 steel ingot produces 810 steel beam per minute in 54 constructor
  • 1 steel beam costs 4 / 1 = 4 steel ingot

Finally, let’s discuss tips for putting together the production lines. The pure iron ingots require both water and iron ore at a rate that means that 2 water pipelines and 2 iron ore belts are needed. The water can feed about 30 refineries and each and one iron ore Mk. 5 conveyor can feed about 20 and a half refineries. This means that you will need to use more than 1 conveyor for the iron ore and will also need to combine the multiple conveyors in a way that ensures the 21st refinery, which can only receive half the required materials from the first conveyor, also receives all the required input. The water can feed exactly 30 refineries so the second pipeline will just need to start feeding the 31st refinery. The output is also somewhat tricky because 11 refineries don’t produce quite enough for a full Mk. 5 conveyor and 12 refineries produce way too much. I addressed this by dedicating the last refinery to top up the other 3 conveyors to ensure that the full 720 iron ingot per minute are delivered.

The steel production will consume all of the input coal and iron ingots and produce enough steel ingots for 4.5 Mk. 5 conveyors. I used 2 rows of foundries sharing input splitters. 18 smelters will consume all the coal and iron ingots from a Mk. 5 conveyor so at that point the conveyors need to be refreshed. Also, 12 foundries produce enough steel ingots for a full Mk. 5 conveyor of steel ingots so at that point a new steel aggregation belt will need to be started. You will need 54 foundries to consume all of the coal and iron ingots that are available.

For both the steel pipes and beams the production rates will be able to consume all of the steel being output. This means that if just one is needed the individual output rate is maximised. If both materials are demanded the factory will only produce half the maximum capacity for both the steel beams and steel pipes. The steel pipe production I put down is very similar to the steel ingots except constructors are used and only 1 input material is required. In this case, 24 constructors can be fed by 1 full Mk. 5 conveyor of steel ingots and 36 constructors produce enough steel pipes for 1 full Mk. 5 conveyor.

The steel beam production is quite similar except that steel beams require a lot more steel ingots than steel pipes. This is why only 54 constructors are required, where 12 constructors consume 1 full Mk. 5 conveyor of steel, and 48 constructors are required for 1 full Mk. 5 conveyor of steel beams.

All of the output is delivered into a transportation network. I made use of drones although any transportation type will work depending on your needs. I chose drones because there is no infrastructure that is required other than the drone ports which makes it easy to deliver long distances. Drones do require batteries which is a draw back. However, drones only need batteries available on one side of the transportation network since enough batteries are provided to the drones for a round trip.

That is everything. You now know how to create a scaled steel factory that can produce 3 full Mk. 5 conveyors of steel pipes and 1 and a bit full Mk. 5 conveyors worth of steel beams.