Ore Factory Squad pallet guide: forklift, truck, mining lift, and loading bay basics for moving ore, filling contracts, and running an efficient co-op factory.
Placing pallets, running the forklift, and buying a bigger truck.
Ore Factory Squad pallet searches — alongside forklift and truck questions — are some of the highest-volume launch queries for new squads, and for good reason: nothing else in the game moves as much material with as little effort. Pallets, forklifts, and trucks are the layer between manual hand-carrying and full belt automation.
This hub covers every confirmed logistics entity, how pallet mode actually works, what forklifts and trucks cost and do, and how drop zones and warehouse bots take the babysitting out of a factory line once it is running. Pair it with the automation guide for conveyor belts and the contracts guide for the delivery pallet these vehicles ultimately move.
From official materials and gameplay footage: Forklift, Truck, Pallets, Mining Lift, Loading Bay. Each one solves a different part of the same problem — getting ore and finished goods from a dig site to a machine, and from a machine to a sale or contract drop-off.
| Entity | Role | When you need it |
|---|---|---|
| Pallets | Stack items for bulk movement | From the moment your first machine produces output |
| Forklift | Pick up and move loaded pallets | Once hand-carrying pallets starts wasting trip time |
| Truck | Long-haul cargo — property to town, dealer runs | Any time your backpack cannot carry enough in one trip |
| Mining Lift | Vertical ore exit from deep digs | Once tunnels go far enough below the surface |
| Loading Bay | Contract and stock-sale drop-off point | Every delivery, once you are past the tutorial |
Pallets are the base unit of bulk logistics — everything else on this page exists to move a filled pallet somewhere else. Open the equipment wheel with Q, switch to Pallet Mode, and place one directly in front of a machine or conveyor output.
The in-game tutorial spells the rule out directly: if there is no pallet in front of a machine, produced items drop to the ground and scatter. Place a pallet, and the same items keep stacking on it until the pallet is full — which is the entire reason experienced squads never let a machine run without one parked at its exit.
A filled pallet does not walk itself anywhere — you either hand-carry it short distances or pick it up with a forklift for anything longer. Co-op squads often split this duty: one player runs "pallet duty," ferrying full pallets to the loading bay or truck while others keep mining and feeding machines.
The forklift is the tool that actually moves a loaded pallet once hand-carrying stops being efficient — approach a pallet, pick it up, and drive it to wherever it needs to go, whether that is a crusher input, a warehouse shelf, or the loading bay. A second forklift has been priced around $2,000 in gameplay footage, worth budgeting for once one player is permanently stuck on pallet duty and slowing the whole line down.
The truck exists for everything a forklift's short trips cannot cover: property-to-property runs, hauling packed ore back from a dig site, and trips into town. The game's own early tutorial is explicit about why this matters — your backpack has limited capacity, but a truck can carry much larger amounts in a single load.
Beyond the vehicle you start with, town dealer lots sell upgraded models — a Heavy Flatbed has shown up listed around $6,500 in gameplay footage, offering a noticeably bigger cargo bed than the starter truck. Treat exact model names and prices as needs-check until confirmed against a patched build, since dealer stock may vary between sessions.
Save for a bigger truck once your squad is running multiple properties or regularly hitting the backpack limit on delivery runs — it pays for itself the first time it saves a second or third trip on a single contract deadline.
| Mistake | Why it hurts | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No pallet parked at machine output | Produced items scatter on the ground and get lost | Place a pallet before you start the machine, every time |
| One player stuck on pallet duty all session | Slows mining and automation progress for the whole squad | Rotate the duty or buy a second forklift once you can afford it |
| Hand-carrying loads a truck could take in one trip | Wastes backpack-limited round trips | Load the truck for anything beyond a single backpack's worth |
| Confusing a contract delivery pallet with regular stock | Wrong load reaches the drop-off, wasting the trip | Check the contracts menu for the flagged delivery pallet first |
Once a basic pallet-forklift-truck loop is working, the next upgrade is removing yourself from it entirely. A pallet drop zone — priced around $10 in gameplay footage — is a placeable marker that catches a machine's output automatically, so nobody has to babysit an empty pallet by hand.
Warehouse robots go a step further: once unlocked, they transport pallets between machines and storage on their own, closing the loop between production and the loading bay without a player walking the route. The Mining Lift solves a different problem — once tunnels run deep enough, it gives you a vertical shortcut back to the surface instead of walking the full dig path out every trip.
The Loading Bay is where finished goods actually leave your factory for cash — contract deliveries and stock sales both route through it. Keep it close to your final machine in the production chain and stocked with a small buffer of finished pallets so a slow forklift trip never stalls a delivery deadline; see the contracts guide for the delivery-confirmation step that easily gets missed.
Switch to Pallet Mode from the equipment wheel (Q) and place a pallet in front of a machine or conveyor output. Items keep stacking on it until full; with no pallet placed, produced items drop and scatter instead.
Around $2,000 in gameplay footage reviewed so far — treat as needs-check until confirmed against a patched build, since prices can shift.
Yes for anything beyond short in-base moves — trucks carry far more per trip than your backpack and are the practical way to haul ore between properties or into town.
It automatically catches a machine's output without a player parking a pallet by hand — priced around $10 in the footage reviewed, a cheap early automation upgrade.
A vertical shortcut back to the surface once your dig tunnels go deep — useful once walking the full path out every trip starts costing real time.
Yes, once unlocked they transport pallets between machines and storage on their own, cutting a player out of that specific loop entirely.
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