Satisfactory Equipment: Slots, Filters and Scanners

Equipment slots are limited, and two of the most important items compete with the two most useful ones. Knowing which is which saves a trip back to base at the worst moment.

Slots and what competes

Item	Slot
Gas Mask	Body
Hazmat Suit	Body
Jetpack	Body
Hoverpack	Body
Object Scanner	Hands
Resource Scanner	Hands
Blade Runners	Legs

The body slot is the contested one. You cannot wear a Hazmat Suit and a Hoverpack at the same time, which is exactly the combination you would want for collecting artefacts near uranium deposits.

Blade Runners occupy the legs slot and never compete with anything, which is another reason they are the first equipment worth making.

The two protective items consume filters

Neither the Gas Mask nor the Hazmat Suit works passively. Both burn a consumable from your inventory while active.

Gas Mask consumes Gas Filters, and will not function without one in your inventory. Unlocked through the Mycelia Research chain in the MAM.

Hazmat Suit consumes Iodine-Infused Filters, made from a Gas Filter plus 8 Quickwire and 1 Aluminum Casing. Unlocked at Tier 7, and the suit itself costs 50 each of Rubber, Plastic, Alclad Aluminum Sheet and Fabric.

Two practical consequences:

Carry spares. Running out of filters in a gas pillar or a uranium field means the protection simply stops. Filters stack, so bringing ten costs you nothing.

Set up filter production before you need the suit. Iodine-Infused Filters need Quickwire and Aluminum Casing, so they are a small production chain rather than a hand-craft. Discovering that while standing next to a uranium node is poor timing.

Where each protection is needed

Gas Mask: Gas Pillars, and the spore-heavy areas around certain flora. A significant share of Somersloops and Mercer Spheres sit in exactly these places, which is why collecting expeditions stall without one.

Hazmat Suit: anywhere with uranium, and your own nuclear waste storage. This is the one that changes how you plan, because nuclear waste has to live somewhere and you will occasionally need to go there.

The suit-versus-flight conflict is worth planning around rather than fighting: treat radioactive work as its own trip, done on foot, rather than something you do in passing while flying.

The scanners are undervalued

Both occupy the hands slot and both are cheap.

Object Scanner — 4 Reinforced Iron Plate, 20 Wire, 50 Screws at the Equipment Workshop. Scans for objects within a 250 metre radius, and its upgrades come from MAM research, each adding another category of thing it can find.

This is the tool that turns hunting for crash sites, Somersloops and Mercer Spheres from wandering into a directed activity. If you have been finding collectibles by accident, this is why.

Resource Scanner — pings for resource nodes, showing the nearest patch with the largest icon and playing distance-relative sounds. Its upgrades are added by completing Milestones and MAM research, so its usefulness grows as you progress.

Both are worth crafting well before you feel you need them. The cost is trivial and they change how efficiently you explore.

Weapons, briefly

Combat is a minor system, and the equipment reflects that.

Rebar Gun is the practical answer to most hostile creatures: ranged, cheap ammunition, and it removes the surprise element that makes cave encounters unpleasant. Unlocked through MAM research.

Nobelisk Detonator is not really a weapon. Its main use is clearing cracked boulders, including the ones blocking resource nodes, and there is no alternative tool for that job.

Rifle exists for players who want it, and needs an ammunition supply.

If combat is not something you enjoy, the Game Modes menu lets you disable hostile creatures entirely, which costs you nothing mechanically.

A sensible order

1. Blade Runners — legs slot, no competition, improves every minute on foot.
2. Object Scanner — trivially cheap, makes exploration directed.
3. Rebar Gun — removes combat as a source of annoyance.
4. Gas Mask — unlocks a large share of collectible locations.
5. Jetpack at Tier 5, or a Jetpack Hog if one obliges.
6. Hazmat Suit at Tier 7, alongside its filter production.
7. Hoverpack at Tier 7, which changes how you build vertically.

Planning a collection expedition

Because so much equipment competes for one slot, a collecting trip is worth planning as a sequence rather than as one outing.

Pass one: everything reachable on foot with a Gas Mask. Gas Pillars, spore areas, cracked boulders. Bring the Detonator, the mask, a stack of filters and the Object Scanner. No flight needed, so nothing competes for the body slot except the mask itself.

Pass two: everything that needs height, with the Hoverpack or Jetpack. Cliff faces, mountain tops, ravines. No protective gear, so avoid the hazardous areas entirely on this pass.

Pass three: radioactive areas, on foot, in the Hazmat Suit. Short, deliberate, with spare Iodine-Infused Filters.

Trying to do all three in one trip means swapping equipment repeatedly and usually discovering you left something in a container.

Filters are a production decision

Worth separating out because it catches people at Tier 7.

Gas Filters need Coal, Rubber and Fabric. Fabric comes from Mycelia and Biomass, which are foraged rather than mined, so a Gas Filter line has an input that does not come off a conveyor by default.

Iodine-Infused Filters add Quickwire and Aluminum Casing on top.

For occasional use, hand-crafting a batch is fine. For sustained work around nuclear material — which is most late-game factories — automating filter production is worth doing properly, because running out mid-shift means walking back irradiated.

Common mistakes

Bringing a Hazmat Suit and expecting to fly. Both are body slot.

Going into a gas area without spare filters. The mask stops working when they run out.

Building the Hazmat Suit before its filter chain. Iodine-Infused Filters need Quickwire and Aluminum Casing.

Skipping the Object Scanner. It costs four Reinforced Iron Plate, and finding collectibles without it is substantially slower.

Treating the Nobelisk Detonator as optional. It is the only tool that clears cracked boulders, and some resource nodes are blocked by them.