In this Alternate Recipe tier list for Satisfactory, I will go over how alternate recipes stack up against their original recipes regarding power, buildings, resources, and items required.
Let’s go over a little bit over the criteria this tier list is based on.
- Total Items moving around the map
- Total Buildings needed in the whole production chain
- Power Use from all buildings in the production chain
- Raw Resources needed
One thing that you may wonder about alternate recipes is whether or not they are worth it, so here is an example.
If you were to try to build 20 Thermal Propulsion Rockets, 20 Nuclear Pasta, 80 Assembly Director Systems, 80 Magnetic Field Generators, and enough nuclear power with no waste to power it with original recipes, you would:
- Need 321,480 MW power
- Move 895,058 items around per min
- Build 23,780 buildings
- Use 335,158 resources
If you were to do the same using the alternates, you would:
- Need 207,603 MW power (-35.4%)
- Move 426,001 items around per min (-52.4%)
- Build 7,145 buildings (-70.0%)
- Use 154,850 resources (-53.8%)
As seen with the example above Alternate Recipes provide players with most often cheaper options than their counterparts.
And if this still sounds a bit too complicated for you, you can always take a look at Common Sense Gamer’s recommended Satisfactory alternatives you can play.
Tier List of all Satisfactory Alternate Recipes
Here I will go over the complete Alternate Recipe tier list, from the best standing in S-Tier, down to the worst in F-Tier.
An efficiency score will be displayed in parentheses before each of the Alternate Recipes.
| Tiers | Alternate Recipes |
| S (Super Highly Recommended) | (98.9) Silicon Circuit Board, (97.4) Caterium Circuit Board, (96.7) Heavy Encased Frame, (88.3) Copper Alloy Ingot, (87.4) Crystal Computer, (87.1) Super-state Computer, (86.0) Caterium Computer |
| A (Very Highly Recommended) | (83.1) Automated Speed Wiring, (82.3) Coke Steel Ingot, (74.4) Silicon High-Speed Connector, (71.8) Turbo Pressure Motor, (71.7) Heavy Flexible Frame, (66.5) Steeled Frame, (65.8) Fused Quickwire, (65.2) Pure Aluminum Ingot, (63.4) Turbo Electric Motor, (62.7) Fused Wire |
| B (Highly Recommended) | (60.5) Heat-Fused Frame, (58.7) Electrode-Aluminum Scrap, (58.6) Wet Concrete, (58.6) Rigour Motor, (58.3) Electromagnetic Connection Rod, (57.9) Encased Industrial Pipe, (57.8) Sloppy Alumina, (56.8) Steamed Copper Sheet, (56.7) Solid Steel Ingot |
| C (Recommended) | (56.2) Fine Concrete, (55.8) Electric Motor, (55.4) Rubber Concrete, (54.8) Steel Coated Plate, (54.1) Insulated Crystal Oscillator, (54.1) Flexible Framework, (54.0) Stitched Iron Plate, (53.4) Adhered Iron Plate, (52.9) Coated Iron Plate, (52.6) Diluted Fuel, (52.3) Residual Fuel, (52.3) Plastic Smart Plating, (52.2) Caterium Wire, (52.0) Heat Exchanger, (51.8) Radio Control System, (51.3) Steel Rotor, (51.3) Bolted Iron Plate, (51.2) Copper Rotor |
| D (Somewhat Recommended) | (50.9) Quickwire Stator, (50.9) Crystal Beacon, (50.6) Bolted Frame, (50.6) Recycled Plastic, (50.4) Pure Quartz Crystal, (50.3) Alclad Casing, (50.3) Residual/Recycled/Heavy Oil 3-1 Combination, (50.0) Steel Rod, (50.0) Coated Cable, (50.0) Steel Screw, (50.0) Cast Screw |
| F (Not Recommended) | (50.0) Iron Alloy Ingot, (50.0) Pure Iron Ingot, (50.0) Insulated Cable, (50.0) Quickwire Cable, (49.4) Residual Plastic, (48.1) Cooling Device, (47.0) Pure Copper Ingot, (43.2) Classic Battery, (42.7) Instant Scrap, (42.7) Pure Caterium Ingot, (39.1) Iron Wire, (38.6) Radio Connection Unit, (34.1) Recycled Rubber, (31.3) Compacted Steel Ingot, (30.8) Cheap Silica, (25.4) Residual Rubber, (7.4) OC Supercomputer, (5.2) Electrode Circuit Board |
This is the complete Alternate Recipe tier list, for Satisfactory.
S-Tier Alternate Recipes Breakdown
Now that you know how the alternate precipices compare to the originals, let’s break down the S-Tier on the criteria that made the tier list in the first place.
| Recipe | Items | Buildings | Resources | Power |
| (98.9) Silicon Circuit Board | -5.78% | -9.66% | -8.64% | -11.64% |
| (97.4) Caterium Circuit Board | -4.77% | -9.07% | -9.87% | -10.90% |
| (96.7) Heavy Encased Frame | -12.18% | -12.08% | -5.59% | -6.59% |
| (88.3) Copper Alloy Ingot | -2.80% | -14.34% | -7.34% | -0.11% |
| (87.4) Crystal Computer | -7.13% | -5.97% | -3.37% | -4.05% |
| (87.1) Super-state Computer | -3.75% | -6.87% | -4.41% | -5.17% |
| (86.0) Caterium Computer | -5.01% | -5.29% | -2.85% | -5.04% |
As you can see the S-tier Alternate Recipes, cut down a lot of the requirements, making them more than a simple upgrade to the original.
To make this whole tier list possible I had a lot of help from the game’s subreddit and wrigh516 – the data is used with their permission.
Final Thoughts
Despite the objectivity put into the tiers, each player will plan their own way through the game’s many challenges.
Forge your own path using the information you want to maximize time and efficiency.
If you want to try out a different kind of game, and cultivate special relationships, check out our guide on all the romanceable characters, in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life.
Knowing what you know now thanks to the Alternate Recipe tier list, in Satisfactory do your plans change?
Let us know in the comments down below, what you were surprised to learn, and if you have any tips for players starting out using the tier list as a base.
With thousands of hours played on Nintendo systems since the original Gameboy, Nikiforos is happy to share his endless passion for Nintendo franchises and everything he can get his hands on.
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