In the hours I’ve spent stripping planet Massage-2(Ab)b of resources to pour down the poorly optimized maw of my wretched Satisfactory production lines, my movement has only ever been clumsy. Getting around my base is a barely-directed stumble across gnarled conveyor belts. When I venture beyond my tangled sprawl, I’m trudging along with slapdash platform staircases and ill-advised jump pads. But thanks to the Satisfactory subreddit, I’ve seen a better, faster, more graceful way to navigate the early game on my way towards higher-tier transit tech—one where my feet will never have to touch the ground. Provided my materials last, of course.
The trick, shown off by redditor farzher in a clip posted over the weekend, is a pretty straightforward one: Simply always be ziplining. The zipline, a piece of equipment you can research fairly early in the game, allows you to propel yourself along power lines, typically requiring those power lines to be built beforehand. However, you keep a lot of your momentum when you leap from a power line, which means—if you’re quick—you can jump, add another power line segment to the end of your current zipline track, and snap back onto the power line without ever touching the ground or losing speed.
Farzher’s video makes it look simple, but contrary to what you might think, building the zipline you’re currently ziplining on takes some coordination. Here’s the steps involved, as farzher describes them:
1. Jump off your initial zipline by right-clicking
2. Enter power line build-mode by hitting 2 (or whatever you bind power lines to on your hotbar)
3. Left-click while aiming at the power pole at the end of your current power line segment to extend that power line
4. Aim at a valid build location for another power pole
5. Left click to begin building the next powerline segment
6. Press 2 again to exit build mode
7. Reattach to the zipline with right-click
8. Aim where the next pole is building, so you can extend it during your next jump
9. Repeat
Easy, right? Not so much, because every step after the first is happening in midair during the space of a single jump. Seems worth figuring out, though; because the player’s momentum is carried forward as they jump from the zipline and back, the technique provides a rapid means of travel across fairly level terrain. Farzher’s able to cross a much longer stretch of grassland in the 30 second clip than you’d be able to replicate without higher-tier Satisfactory technology.
The only downsides I can see are the material requirements—you need to be carrying the supplies to build each stretch of power line, after all—and the fact that you’ll be leaving a long, superfluous network of powerlines everywhere you go. Then again, Satisfactory isn’t exactly an endeavor in sustainable design to begin with.
If you’re getting your own production lines up and running and want more pointers, check out our Satisfactory tips and tricks to ensure you’re having the finest factory experience possible.