Factory production lines in Satisfactory will grow to immense sizes the longer you play, and it can be hard to manage. A good friend, though, will cut that work in half. Satisfactory offers both peer-to-peer multiplayer and server-based multiplayer, and each of them has their disadvantages. We'll talk about how to get each of them going here.

There are three ways to host games in Satisfactory: Peer-to-peer games, self-hosted servers and rented servers. Peer-to-peer and self-hosted server options are both free, while a rented server option will have a monthly cost associated with it. Meanwhile, peer-to-peer is the easiest to set up, followed by rented servers, and finally self-hosted servers.

Peer-to-peer

A peer-to-peer session has to be initiated by whoever has the save game you're playing in. Sessions can be private, meaning that you'll need an in-game invite to join, or set to Friends Only, meaning that anyone on your friend list can hop in via Satisfactory's Join Game menu. Each game has a Session ID. If you share this with someone, they can join a Friends Only game regardless of whether they're on your friends list. Each time you initiate a session, though, the Session ID will be reset.

This is, by far, the simplest option, and will be sufficient for most players, but it assumes your schedules will line up enough that the host can always be on when you feel like playing.

Self-Hosted Dedicated Server

A self-hosted dedicated server is something you set up on a computer you have access to, and leave it to run indefinitely, allowing multiple users to join it whenever they wish. The software itself is free, and comes with the game. This is the most complex option in terms of setup and maintenance, and you'll want to refer to the Satisfactory wiki on Dedicated Servers for the details--it's more than we can reasonably go into here. Your ability to do this can also depend on hosting rules set by your internet service provider, meaning that depending on who supplies your internet connection, this may not even be an option at all.

If you have the know-how or the patience, this option will give you the most freedom at the lowest price.

Rented Dedicated Server

A rented dedicated server gives you all the freedom of a self-hosted server, but on someone else's hardware. Most people don't just have a computer that sits around left on and unused all the time that they can set a server up on, so this is going to be a better option for most than the self-hosted option. You have a lot of set-up options, so it will take some patience to set up, but if you have a few friends with different schedules who want to play together, this is a great option. Hosting starts at around $10 a month, though reliable and performant hosting will likely be closer to $15. The more people you intend to have playing, the more important that will be. We're not going to call out any specific providers here, but there are many, many options out there through your favorite search engine.

This option is expensive, but is ideal for a group with multiple players who don't mind pitching in a few dollars to keep things going.

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Satisfactory Multiplayer: The Basics For Peer-to-Peer And Dedicated Server Hosting