Direct Answer
Explore the dunes and deeper world to recover alien Artifacts, then later research the Locator for 3000 Gold. Fill the Locator with Voidjuice so it can scan for hidden Artifacts. Artifact Rooms contain puzzles, but a complete current list of Artifact locations, names, and effects is To be confirmed.
What Artifacts are
Artifacts are alien objects connected to exploration and progression rather than ordinary Materials. The official Beginner's Guide describes spending resources to unlock access to their benefits. A Steam achievement named Ancient Technology confirms recovering an alien Artifact from the dunes.
Because Artifacts are not normal factory inputs, they should not be described like Sand, Water, or Fluxite. Their value comes from exploration challenges and unlockable benefits. The authoritative sources reviewed do not provide a complete table of all Artifact names and effects.
Find early Artifacts through exploration
Creator guidance recommends exploring the map early instead of remaining inside the factory. Artifacts can help progression, and the official achievement confirms at least one recovery from the dunes. Exact coordinates are not established by the supplied material.
The minimap shows the nearby world, and objective arrows can point toward current objectives. Those tools support general exploration, but the research does not say every Artifact appears as a normal minimap icon. Marker behavior before the Locator is unlocked is To be confirmed.
Unlock and use the Locator
The Locator becomes available later in progression and has a confirmed Research cost of 3000 Gold. Fill it with Voidjuice to scan for hidden alien Artifacts. This is the verified search tool for Artifacts that are not found through ordinary visible exploration.
The supplied material does not specify the Locator's exact scan radius, Voidjuice capacity, consumption rate, or cooldown. Those values must not be invented. If the device does not respond, confirm its Research unlock and Voidjuice input before assuming a bug.
Artifact Rooms and puzzles
Artifact Rooms contain puzzles tied to ancient structures. Official patch context says some building restrictions exist specifically to stop players bypassing those puzzles. An earlier first Artifact Room also restricted Rocket Launcher use.
Older demo patches mention a first Artifact puzzle, but demo layouts should not automatically be treated as the current Early Access sequence. The number of rooms, puzzle solutions, and current weapon restrictions are not completely documented in the supplied research. Those details are To be confirmed until verified for the live build.
What Artifact benefits are confirmed
The official Beginner's Guide confirms that Artifacts provide benefits that can be unlocked by spending resources. It does not provide a complete current catalog in the collected material. This page therefore does not assign invented bonuses, names, or percentages to individual finds.
Old demo videos can demonstrate the general importance of Artifacts, but their completion routes and counts may not match Early Access. Use them as historical or creator context, not as the sole authority for current rewards. Every unverified location or effect remains To be confirmed.
How Sandustry materials behave
Every pixel in Sandustry can have its own physical properties, and resources may be solid, liquid, gas, Wisp, terrain, or non-physical currency. Heat can move a solid toward liquid or a liquid toward gas, while cold structures reverse those state changes. Individual resource pages must still follow their specific burnable, meltable, wettable, density, and tool rules.
The Material Scanner upgrade helps reveal how a resource can be refined or used in another process. Creator evidence shows why this matters: fire can affect Slag while not affecting Spores, and different hard materials need different digging tools. Exact interactions not named by the supplied sources remain To be confirmed.
Transport depends on matter type
Conveyor Belts and Launchers are the primary verified tools for moving many solid resources. Filters separate mixed solid piles with Allow and Block rules, while Advanced Filters later extend that behavior to solid, liquid, and gas resources. Amethelis is also launchable and can be moved in large piles with an Aerokinetic Fan.
Pumps, Pipes, and Liquid Vents move fluids other than lava. A shared pipeline can carry multiple fluids, but the vent cannot filter them and prioritizes the closest liquid. Water may also pass through many building blocks, making material-specific containment part of logistics design.
Resources connect progression systems
Water and Sand produce Wet Sand, which can later yield Gold and Residue. Water and Seed produce Wet Seed, which grows into a Flower and supplies Amethelis plus Gold. Amethelis then supports the Dry Amethelis, Florin, Florinol, Battery, and Energy chain.
Fluxite serves Upgrades and later becomes producible from Voidbloom through a Flux Emanator. Artifacts follow a different route because they are exploration and progression finds rather than ordinary Materials. Aura is also distinct because it is a non-physical late-game currency created through Auralite Crystals and nanobots.
How uncertain values are handled
The supplied research confirms selected recipes, outputs, costs, drop heights, densities, and tool restrictions. It does not provide every timing, throughput, map coordinate, spawn chance, or optimal machine ratio. Missing values are marked To be confirmed rather than estimated from visual footage.
Official Wiki information takes priority over older Demo discussions when the two differ. Creator layouts remain useful for showing possible automation patterns, but their dimensions and labels are not automatically universal. This lets each resource page integrate multiple sources without blending verified facts with assumptions.
Use this guide with the current Early Access build
Sandustry entered Early Access on August 13, 2026 and continues to receive official updates. The current official Wiki is the primary gameplay reference when it differs from an older Demo discussion, while Steam and Xbox listings are the primary platform references. A creator video can demonstrate a working layout, but it does not automatically establish a universal value or current-version rule.
Check the page's verified sources when an update changes a recipe, cost, tool restriction, platform feature, or interface path. This guide preserves confirmed numbers only where the supplied research names them and labels unresolved details To be confirmed. That approach keeps the answer usable for search while preventing an unsupported count, character name, redeem code, command, or production ratio from becoming false guidance.
Verified sources used
This page filters and consolidates the supplied research. Any detail not established by those sources is marked To be confirmed.