Moon Sweepers Dust, Sand & Stone: Production and Value

Is Moon Sand worth more than Moon Stone?

A price per kilogram is not the price of one complete brick. In the Windows launch-week discussion checked against the 1.0.4 period, players corrected two common assumptions: sand was reported at $3/kg without economy upgrades, and a stone brick was reported as 2 kg at $7/kg, giving $14 for that brick. The original question treated sand as $4 and a whole stone brick as $7; that mixes an incorrect base comparison with the wrong unit.

Reported base example	Unit price	Example mass	Value of that mass
Moon Sand	$3 per kg	1 kg	$3
Moon Stone	$7 per kg	One 2 kg brick	$14

These are reported unupgraded example rates, not a promise that every upgraded save has those same prices. Before committing to a factory, read your current machine output and selling screen. Economy upgrades, actual delivery rate and the raw inputs consumed matter; the table does not prove a universal profit per minute.

A small sand line is simpler to build. Stone adds a processing stage and another input to maintain. Choose between them using a working chain and your current prices, rather than assuming the higher item value alone guarantees better throughput.

Build the chain from the output backward

Start with a place to sell, then connect one complete processing route. Prerequisites are the construction tool and the relevant pressure chamber, stone press and belt options unlocked in your save. No fixed first-purchase order or exact sector count is required by this guide.

1. Identify a station intake that can receive the final belt. A belt merely ending beside the sales interface is not the same as a connected intake. Factory players describe using the small dust intake doors outside the station; watch for an actual paid delivery.
2. Place a stone press and read its named input ports. It needs sand and dust. Split incoming dust so one path can supply the press while another supplies the pressure chamber. Do not send every bit of raw dust through the chamber and starve the second input.
3. Connect the pressure chamber’s sand output to the press’s sand input. Keep this belt distinct from the raw-dust branch. Read the live ports rather than relying on a left/right instruction that may depend on the view or rotation.
4. Supply the machines’ power requirements. Inspect the machine state through the day/night cycle before treating an idle machine as evidence of the wrong ratio. Do not assume the number of solar units in another player’s blueprint fits your base.
5. Supply raw dust from your garage or catcher route. First watch one full path: dust arrives, sand is made, the press receives both inputs, stone exits and the intake pays.
6. Scale the part that is actually limiting output. If a belt is backed up, duplicating presses can add more idle equipment. If the press lacks sand, trace the chamber and its inputs before adding another catcher.

For automated raw-dust collection, use J.O.O.N.A.S. and capsule catchers. That guide separates robot activity, catcher storage and the choice of direct selling versus processing.

Does two pressure chambers to five presses mean the best layout?

It is a machine-cycle comparison, not proof of the best complete factory. One published layout reports a chamber making five sand every 12 seconds and a press consuming one sand every six seconds. If those are the cycles shown in your current save:

• Two chambers make 10 sand per 12 seconds.
• Five presses use 10 sand per 12 seconds.
• The sand-only cycle ratio is therefore 2 chambers : 5 presses.

A different compact blueprint uses 4 chambers : 8 presses, aiming to load its belts and fit a scalable layout. The two layouts optimize different constraints. The 2:5 calculation does not include dust delivery, power, ports, belt capacity or output unloading. It cannot establish that every press will stay busy.

Use the cycle ratio as a starting hypothesis. Verify the current recipe cycle on each machine, build a working module, then watch which buffer fills or empties. This guide does not invent an exact universal belt speed or insist that one community layout is the only correct solution.

Check the chain before building more machines

What you observe	Next check	Useful decision
Catcher stays full	Output belt, splitters and first receiving machine	Fix the blocked route before adding robot input
Press waits while sand is available	Its raw-dust input and power state	Feed both inputs; sand alone is not a complete recipe supply
Chamber output backs up	Sand route into the press and press output	Clear the downstream bottleneck before making more sand
Stone reaches the belt end without payment	The actual station intake connection	Observe one paid delivery before extending the line
Many machines stop together despite supply	Version, common power/output states and the exact displayed error	Preserve evidence; do not assume one extra press will fix every save

The 1.0.4 notes say a “Could not pack a capsule” pause was fixed, while later players still report halts. A specific unresolved report is not a confirmed universal cause. Avoid destructive save edits or dismantling the whole base on that evidence.

Browse the guide index for your next task, or read the editorial policy for how we handle changed mechanics and player observations.