Being a game defined by production and efficiency, Satisfactory allows players to build their own factory from the ground up on an alien planet. In addition to allowing players to build a factory, it also encourages players to explore various regions and to interact with its unique set of flora and fauna. Still in early access, the game recently received a major update that greatly altered the power system in the game and added a few new features like drones and ziplines.
But be it by a new update or building compilations in an established playthrough, broken power grids are one of the more irritating problems a player can come across. It halts the factory to a standstill and greatly impedes the player’s progress, and larger factories especially will find it infuriating. So below are a few notable methods players can try to get their power supply in working order.
Check the Material and Fluid Supply Lines in Satisfactory
It’s the first step in any type of power troubleshooting: check the power source(s) and the supply lines they rely on. If the player has segmented their factory depending on function, this should be fairly easy since the power generators should be located in the same general location. But players should check for is if their power generators are being appropriately supplied.
Sometimes the pipeline lines ran out of excess oil, coal generators may not have enough water supplying them, or maybe the player was doing some renovating earlier on and forgot to reconnect a few things. Whatever the cause, players need to identify the problem before they can really fix it. So a good start to begin checking fluid buffers and storage containers to see if there is any excess material the generators could use before looking at pipelines and conveyor belts.
When doing this, players may find that the fix is super easy. It could be something as simple as building a power line to reconnect a generator to the main power grid. Or maybe the player was renovating the pipeline system a while ago and forgot to rebuild a fluid pump. These weak links in the power system can be really easy to overlook, so players are advised to look over their power system first before they result too more drastic methods like turning off production lines.
Allow Power Sources to Fill Up in Satisfactory
When the power isn’t so easily solved, one method to fix it—even if only temporarily—can be done by allowing power generators to "load up" on the necessary resources. Performed by disconnecting the power generators from the majority of the factory, the idea is to fill the generators with as much material as possible to hopefully jumpstart the entire power grid in one fell swoop.
First, disconnect the power generators from the majority of the factory so it drastically lowers power consumption. The only things that should still have power are things like oil extractors, coal miners, uranium fuel rod production, and water extractors. Anything that contributes to power generation should still be kept online.
Then it's just a matter of waiting and allowing each power generator to fill up with its respective fuel type. When these generators reach their max capacity, then the player can reconnect the power generators to the main grid. If all goes well, the factory should be running again. But be cautious. While this sometimes permanently fixes the power issue, it can also be a temporary fix.
As such, players are highly advised to keep a close watch on the rate of material and fluid consumption in the power generators before they assume everything is fine. Use the time immediately after the power grid restart to determine where the weak link in the power chain is. Is there enough fluid being transferred in? If not, the player may need to add a few more pumps along the pipelines. Are the coal generators being provided with enough coal? Players may want to upgrade the miners, upgrade the conveyor lines, or straight up find another coal resource node to mine from.
Major updates tend to alter the rate of consumption for power generators, so it is really important for players to become reacquainted with how much material or fluid is necessary to keep the power generators at full power production.
Begin Deactivating and Disconnecting in Satisfactory
Aside from starting a new game, this is the method of last resort. But if players have found nothing wrong with their power grid, it is usually because of the simple fact that the power system as it is now is simply not sufficient to supply the entire factory with power. Meaning that to get back up to full production capacity players need to build new power generators and their respective supply lines. That can mean more miners, new pipeline systems, new conveyor belts, etc.
Players can’t do this immediately, so if they really want to get the factory up and running...it's time to start disconnecting to reduce power usage. It's a bummer, but it has to be done. Turn off every machine that isn’t necessary. If that means shutting down entire product lines, so be it. At this point, the aim isn’t to get the factory back to full production capacity, it's just to get the factory up and running in some capacity so players can expand their power capacity later.
Satisfactory is available on PC as an early access game