Sandustry Conveyor Belts and Launchers

The two logistics buildings divide the work by direction, and the division is absolute. Almost every “why won’t this build” moment in the first few hours comes from trying to make one of them do the other’s job.

Belts go sideways. Only sideways.

A Conveyor Belt is placed horizontally, and the direction it runs is set by the direction you drag while placing it. Launchers are the ones that can be placed vertically and diagonally.

So a diagonal belt is not something you have not figured out yet. It does not exist.

If you want to move material diagonally, you have two options and both are legitimate: a staircase of short horizontal belts with drops between them, or — faster — a row of angled Launchers, which the official page explicitly recommends for moving pixels horizontally at speed.

Built it backwards? Hold Shift while placing and the belt runs the other way. See controls for the rest of the modifiers.

The belt rule that explains most jams

A belt carries any number of pixels at once, as long as each has somewhere to go — the next spot, or over the end. When one pixel cannot move, everything behind it waits.

The part worth internalising is subtler:

Only the pixels actually touching the belt are moved by it. Everything in the pile above is carried along by the pixels underneath.

So a blockage at belt level stops the entire pile. Material does not flow over an obstruction the way you might expect from a heap of sand — the bottom layer is the engine, and if the engine stops, the load stops with it.

It also explains why a jammed Filter backs a line up so completely. The pixel that jams a Filter is wedged inside it, mid-transit — and a Filter is a belt, so a pixel stuck in one is a pixel stuck in the bottom layer, holding up everything behind and above it.

Belts block liquid. Except when they do not.

A Conveyor Belt blocks liquid, gas and the player — one of the four building blocks that stop water flowing at all, which is why a plain belt is the tool for keeping water off a line.

But direction is a different question from blocking: liquids ignore the belt’s direction of travel entirely and flow as they would over any other ground. A belt is a floor to water, not a conveyor. Moving water is the pump’s job.

One research node buys both halves — Logistics, at tier 1 and 30 Gold, is the Conveyor Belt and the Launcher together. Every building and what unlocks it has the rest of those bundles.

Launchers: the vertical half

A Launcher throws solid pixels upward. Pixels entering one are carried straight up, and at the top they keep going briefly on their own momentum before falling back and bouncing on top, waiting for somewhere to go.

Two behaviours make them into real infrastructure:

• A tower of Launchers is a lift. Stack them and material rides as high as you like.
• Only the top one comes out angled. So a tower with an angled cap carries material up and then throws it out to the side, which is a complete up-and-over in one structure.

When you place an angled Launcher it faces whichever side your cursor was nearest. The tell is the shape: the straight vertical side is the front, the angled side is the back. And if you want none of them angled, hold Shift while placing.

If a Launcher seems to ignore material sitting in it, wait a moment. Launchers check for new pixels on a timer, so pickup is not instant. That behaviour is documented, and it is not a sign your setup is wrong.

Unlike belts, Launchers block nothing at all — not liquid, not gas, not you.

The Mk.2 versions

Both buildings have a Mark 2 unlock further up the tree, and they do the obvious thing: move material considerably faster, and throw it with more velocity.

Because they are drop-in replacements, you do not rebuild a line to upgrade it — hold Ctrl and run along the existing belts with the new one selected. That is the replace hotkey, and it is the main reason to know it exists.

Related

• Sandustry Factory Layout — where the machines these belts connect should sit
• Sandustry Filters Explained — the belt that sorts, and why it jams
• How to Move Water in Sandustry — the fluid a belt will not carry
• Sandustry Controls and Shortcuts — Shift while placing, and the replace hotkey