Move loot across your island in Solarpunk with drones by assigning one to a chest, letting it collect stored items, and having it haul everything back to your base.
To haul loot across your island in Solarpunk, build and name a drone, assign it to a chest, then tell it to collect the loot — it flies over, empties that chest, and drops everything back at your base.
Moving stuff from one corner of your island to another in Solarpunk doesn’t have to mean flying back and forth yourself. A drone tied to a chest can do the legwork: it goes to the chest you point it at, grabs what’s inside, and brings it home. The one thing worth knowing up front is the direction of travel — a drone pulls loot out of a chest, it doesn’t pack loot into one.
What a drone-and-chest setup actually does
The whole trick is that a drone can be assigned to a chest. Once it has that assignment, you can tell it to come and pick up whatever is sitting in that chest, and it’ll carry the contents back to your base and drop them. That’s the loop — handy when you just want goods moved from one side of the island to the other without doing the walking yourself.
How to move loot with a drone in Solarpunk
STEP 1/4
Build and name a drone
Construct a drone and give it a name so you can assign tasks to it.
STEP 2/4
Assign the drone to a chest
Open the drone’s assignments and point it at a chest — a chest is one of the things you can hand it.
STEP 3/4
Tell the drone to pick up the loot
Interact with the chest and give the order to come and collect what’s inside.
STEP 4/4
Let it haul everything back to base
The drone flies up, empties the chest, and drops the load down at your base.
When you’re out gathering, drop a chest right where you’re working and assign a drone to it — the drone keeps emptying it back to base so you never have to break off and carry a full load home.
Video help
The limits worth knowing before you rely on it
This system is one-directional by design right now. The drone will grab everything out of the chest and bring it back, but it won’t take loot and store it into a chest for you — that simply isn’t an option at the moment, even though it would be a natural fit. Plan around retrieval only.
Putting drone hauling to work while you mine
It’s just as useful in co-op. One player can sit and mine a node while a drone shuttles the haul over to a teammate’s base — whoever’s back home building gets a steady supply of materials without anyone flying back and forth. It’s a clean way to split labor, especially early on when you can’t yet afford the automated machine to do the gathering for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a drone store items into a chest, or only take them out?
Only take them out. A drone assigned to a chest will empty that chest and carry the contents to your base, but it can’t deposit or store loot into a chest. That direction isn’t available right now.
Does this move items between completely separate islands, or just across one island?
What’s clearly shown is moving loot across a single island and between your bases. Transferring items between fully separate islands isn’t confirmed, so treat cross-island hauling as unverified for now.
Can drone hauling be used in co-op?
Yes. One player can mine or gather at a spot while a drone ferries the loot to a teammate’s base, keeping the person building back home stocked without anyone making the round trip themselves.
How much can a drone carry from a chest in one trip?
The chest used in the demonstration held only around two slots, so a trip moves a fairly small load. That number is approximate and may differ depending on the chest, so don’t count on it as a fixed limit.
