Material flow diagram for Sand, Water, Wet Sand, Shaker outputs, Residue, Burnt Residue, Kinetic Press, Gold, Seed, Snow, Steam, rain, and unresolved plant links.
Solid lines are official facts, dashed lines are community reports, and dotted lines mark editorial or unresolved connections.

Early Gold chain

Follow the material, not a claimed rate

  1. Create Wet Sand

    One Sand plus one Water becomes two Wet Sand.

  2. Process Wet Sand

    Each Wet Sand becomes one Residue and has a one-in-four chance to add one Gold.

  3. Collect direct Gold

    Gold falls through the Shaker and must reach a Collector to enter the Research bank.

  4. Separate Residue

    Residue stays on top of the Shaker and needs a side route.

  5. Create Burnt Residue

    Ignited Residue has a 25 percent chance to become Burnt Residue and may otherwise burn away.

  6. Use the Kinetic Press

    One Burnt Residue falling at least 25 blocks becomes one Gold plus one Seed.

Evidence level for the early chain.
ConnectionResultEvidence levelImportant boundary
Sand + Water2 Wet SandOfficially documentedConsumes both input pixels.
Wet Sand + Shaker1 Residue + 25% chance of 1 GoldOfficially documentedProbability is per Wet Sand, not a fixed batch rate.
Residue + fire25% chance of Burnt ResidueOfficially documentedResidue may burn away with no output.
Burnt Residue + 25-block Press drop1 Gold + 1 SeedOfficially documentedWrong material or short drop blocks the Press.
Any full-line machines-per-minute ratioNot suppliedUnknownCycle time and stable throughput are not documented.

Water and atmospheric state changes

Documented Water-state links.
InputProcessOutputEvidence note
IceHeatWaterOfficially documented.
Water or SnowFireSteamOfficially documented.
SteamReaches the skyRain / WaterOfficially documented.
Cryoblaster SnowSteam then rainRenewable WaterOfficial page describes the route; no stable net rate.
Existing Water closed loopSnow, Steam, rainClaimed multiplicationConflicting community reports; excluded from the solid flow.

Later plant links remain version-sensitive

What can be planned safely

  • Reserve separate Gold and Residue exits at the Shaker stage.
  • Keep Burnt Residue isolated before the 25-block Press chute.
  • Provide separate destinations for Press Gold and Seed.
  • Treat Water production and Water recovery as different capacities.
  • Leave unresolved plant material outside a critical automated loop.
Use the flow map to locate the missing edge.
SymptomBroken edgePage to use
No Wet Sand reaches processingSand + Water contact or containmentWater Guide
Shaker bank fillsWet Sand input or Residue outputShaker Clogging
Gold exists but Research balance does not riseGold to CollectorFirst Gold Line
Press top fillsBurnt Residue purity, drop, or outputKinetic Press
A Water loop gains then loses volumeRenewable source versus buffer or glitchWater #renewable-water

Update record

  • 2026-08-21 — Replaced the thin Hub with a claim-labelled material dependency map.
  • 2026-08-21 — Removed unsupported aggregate ratios and exposed the plant-page conflict.

Frequently asked questions

What is the early Gold production chain?

Sand and Water become Wet Sand. A Shaker converts every Wet Sand into Residue and may also produce Gold. Gold goes to a Collector; Residue can later be burned into Burnt Residue and processed by a Kinetic Press.

What is the Sand-to-Gold ratio?

No aggregate ratio is published here. Official Wiki pages conflict on an approximate full-chain ratio even though the per-pixel Shaker chance is documented. Use the transformations as a dependency map, not a throughput calculator.

Why are plant links marked unresolved?

Current Wet Seed and Research pages describe Wet Seed to Flower, while older Seed and Planter Box pages describe Wet Spore to Seed to Flower. Without a shared build label, joining them would hide a version conflict.