Satisfactory Biomes: All regions, resources & best starting location

The place you start your journey in Satisfactory 1.0 is crucial for a successful factory, but which starting location is the best on the map, and where can you find all those ores?

Other than this open-world factory builder crashing on launch and a Plugin SML error popping up, most Satisfactory players have only had issues with choosing the best starting area or finding a specific ore.

Although it takes place on one large map, there are four starting areas to choose from, each with pros and cons, especially considering the ore nodes surrounding your base. We’ve got a breakdown of each location below.

All biomes & resources

Starting Biomes

• Grass Fields (Start 1)
  • Available Resources: Limestone, Coal, Caterium
• Rocky Desert (Start 2)
  • Limestone, Caterium, Iron, Copper, Bauxite, Raw Quartz,
• Northern Forest (Start 3)
  • Limestone, Iron, Copper
• Dune Desert (Start 4)
  • Iron, Copper, Coal, Limestone, Caterium

Dexerto/Coffee Stain/Satisfactory Calculator

All other biomes

• Southern Forest
  • Copper, Raw Quartz
• Blue Crater
  • Iron, Crude Oil, Sulfur
• Abyss Cliffs
  • Coal, Sulfur
• Swamp
  • Copper, Limestone, Iron, Caterium, Bauxite, S.A.M
• Titan Forest
  • Copper, Limestone, Iron, Bauxite, Raw Quartz
• Maze Canyons
  • Coal, Limestone, Iron
• Desert Canyons
  • Limestone, Iron
• Spire Coast
  • Crude Oil, Caterium, S.A.M
• Crater Lakes
  • Coal
• Red Bamboo Fields
  • Coal, Limestone, Bauxite
• Lake Forest
  • Crude Oil
• Red Jungle
  • Coal, Uranium, Raw Quartz, Bauxite, Limestone
• Eastern Dune Forest
  • Raw Quartz, Limestone, Uranium
• Western Dune Forest
  • Caterium, Limestone, S.A.M
• Snaketree Forest
  • Limestone, Iron
• Jungle Spires
  • Iron, Limestone, Caterium, Sulfur, Bauxite

What is the best Satisfactory 1.0 starting location?

Overall, the best starting location on Satisfactory 1.0’s map is the Rocky Desert.

Even though the Rocky Desert doesn’t sound too appealing, it’s by far the best place to start if you want a successful factory. First off, you get a great amount of open and flat space, which is perfect for building solid and clean foundations to place your machines.

Coffee Stain Studios

Although it seems like there’s a lack of greenery, you still get a ton of flora to make into leaves, which can be used to make Biomass for powering your builds. You also get a great balance of resource types when you’re looking for different versions of Pure Ore Nodes.

Essentially, the Rocky Desert will offer you a lot more than you may realize, and you cannot go wrong with it as your first, third, or 10th try at Satisfactory.

If you want to experience the other starting map areas however, we’ve ranked each one below:

2. Grass Fields

Any Satisfactory beginner will probably flock to the Grass Fields after seeing the game recommend it to new players. Sure, it’s a nice environment to learn the tutorial, but you won’t get a ton of open, flat areas like the Rocky Desert.

Coffee Stain Studios

There are a decent amount of useful resources nearby such as Iron for Screws, or Copper for Copper Sheets, but it starts to lack when you’re attempting to find rarer types of resources that are more abundant in other locations.

Try this one out if you’re fresh to Satisfactory and are going through the tutorial, but we would advise eventually creating a new save to start in the Rocky Desert.

3. Northern Forest

The Northern Forest is a place better suited for more experienced players, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good spot for them. You’ll barely find a flat, open plain in this forest, so you’ll inevitably struggle to find clear space for your factory.

Coffee Stain Studios

Despite there being an abundance of Leaves and Wood to create Biomass, and a diverse array of resources, anyone who likes to build organized factories won’t find many good spots here.

You should try this spot out if you’re looking for something new after hours of playing in the previous two areas, but you may quickly fall back to the incredible Rocky Desert after finding no solid space to build.

4. Dune Desert

Unfortunately, we wouldn’t recommend starting a new Satisfactory game in the Dune Desert, whether you’re a new or old player. Sure, you’ll find a lot of flat space in the dunes, but you’ll struggle to collect enough resources to survive.

Coffee Stain Studios

This location is very challenging despite the many mining spots available, but you’ll rarely find any flora that you can use to create Biomass. The toughest aspect of this area is keeping the lights on in your factory by feeding your power generators.

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of a challenge for veteran players, but you’ve been warned. The Dune Desert can provide a ton of space, but it lacks unique resources so you’ll find yourself traveling far and wide for them.

That’s everything you need to know about the starting locations in Satisfactory. For more on the game, check out our guides for all SAM Ore locations, how to make dedicated servers, console commands, best factory base layouts, and all Hard Drive locations.