Help:Gameplay Guides/Example Hab Designs

All designs on this page are the work of Discord member Ericus1.

Early Game

T1 Research Platform

Very early game when you are just getting established you can build T1 Platforms like these for the RPs . 15 RPs early game for dirt cheap may seem trivial, but it's worth about the same monthly RP as a microstate, and lets you put your initial Mission Control to use.

Note you would not build these until after you've at the very least got Outposts and Mines on their way to Mars, as they would otherwise be draining the boost you would need. Once you have your Mars economy under construction if not up and running, you could build stations like these to claim spots in LEO and get some extra RPs going. You would also rush a station like this with a Spacedock to build your very first ships. Project Exodus and The Academy both start with Platforms (Tiangong and the ISS, respectively) which you could build out like this as the boost cost to build the station is already paid. Up to you to decide if the small Boost drain is affordable.

Note that you can run 3 labs off of a single Solar Collector, but a Fission Pile produces more power and is what you'd eventually want to upgrade to anyways for higher tier Stations. You would also want a Fission Pile to run the power hungry Spacedock.

General purpose Mars settlement

As Mars will be the first place you really colonize and develop out, I'll start with it. Here's a layout for a general Mars mining settlement that serves the purposes of:

• Providing your first solid bunch of :Projects: for your project bonuses. Between the 8-9 Martian sites I like to take, these will get you to near 100% project tech bonus.
• The nanofactories give a solid source of money to supply you with the money you need as you transition into the later game as well as having the decrease to future construction times.
• The single farm is sufficient to eliminate crew :Water:/:Volatiles: upkeep.
• The admin node is an easy, virtually free increase to mine output, and can be upgraded to a tower.
• The LDA is not intended to protect the hab (that's what a defense fleet is for) but to discourage bombardment and buy time for it.

Earth LEO Research Station

This T2 Orbital provides a full set of Research Centers that gives a tech bonus/interface bonus to every category, except Xenotech since those labs work differently. Again, the Farm is enough to defray :Water:/:Volatiles: upkeep, with sufficient power using basic fission to power everything. The Admin Node is for the LEO control point bonus.

I originally made the mistake of using Solar on the T1 Orbital these upgraded from, which is why all the power is off to the right. If you were upgrading organically from a T1 Platform you'd probably have the Admin Node and 2 Fission Arrays around the central hub.

You also can lay out all the T1 Labs versions into this configuration for the T2 Orbital, since you will likely have the T2 Orbital tech well before you get to the tech for T2 Labs. Then it's just an easy upgrade. I start with 10 of these or so in LEO when the Labs are at T1, then pare back a bit as I upgrade to the higher tiers Labs as you don't need as many to hit your cap for the tech/interface bonuses. I repurpose the other Orbitals for other things.

Xeno Science Station

Here's the corresponding Xenotech Orbital version to go with the other Research Stations. Again, power is on the right because I originally started solar. Since you don't need as many Xeno Labs to hit max bonus, I multipurposed this station to be my LEO2 refuel/repair yard. Note that when the modules were at T1 (Dock, Xeno lab) this station could fully power itself. I upgraded the modules and am leaving it as is for an eventual switch to heavy fission which would let the Orbital fully power again.

Generic Shipyard

With the significantly higher power costs now for all ship building modules, you are fairly constrained on how much module flexibility you have. Here's a design for my primary Earth (:Earth:) shipyard, but it could just as easily be used above any other body other than Mercury (:Mercury:), since :Mercury: would use solar.

Again, I favor a Farm and Nanofactory, but you could swap both for an LDA defense module to "harden" this Orbital. The Admin node is because this is in LEO and I want the CP interface bonus.

Mid-Game

Orbital Hospital

Once past the initial Luna/Mars rush, the utility of Boost (:boost:) falls off outside of higher tier Admin modules. These stations are a solid way to trade Boost for Income (:Currency:) to balance your faction's budget. You can trade between the Nanofactory and one of the Medical Centers for power depending on current needs, and an eventual upgrade to Heavy Fission would let the whole Orbital be powered even if the T1 Admin Node was upgraded to the T2 Tower.

Note I did add an LDA to this station as I want to discourage it from being attacked/instantly destroyed. You can do the same or not - these could make good atrocity-generating "bait" stations. The Admin Node is because this is also an LEO station, and it's a cheap way to increase the money income without needing to spend more Boost.

The single Farm isn't quite enough to completely eliminate the crew upkeep costs, but I was happy with the amount consumed. You could replace the LDA with a 2nd Farm and it would be sufficient to do so. Note these require a populous (10K people) system.

Influence Farm

Another example of an LEO Orbital that can be repurposed from one of your original Research Stations or built fresh. The T1 Broadcast Stations will eventually be upgraded to the T2 Communication Center module, but for now these provided a very nice addition to your Influence (:Influence:) income for use in missions, org purchasing, and Direct Investment. Note this Orbital can still be fully powered even after fully upgrading all modules.

Same general pattern as most of my other habs - at least one Nanofactory for the Funding (:Currency:), decreased build time, and event option choice; a defense module (LDA) on any hab I don't want to lose, and a Farm for :Water:/:Volatiles: upkeep.

Campus Orbital

This is a pretty basic layout that conforms to my general designs: LDA for defense/deterrent/destruction cooldown window, Admin module to boost output and because it was in LEO, enough farms to negate crew upkeep, and then as many campuses as would fit with the power to run it all. Heavy Fission had come online by this point, so those were used for better power efficiency.

315:Research: is about 40% of what US produces at game start, and a couple of these stations can significantly boost your space-based research output. Upkeep isn't too punishing, but is non-trivial - it will probably take the complete dedicated output of a richer wet carbonaceous asteroid to run 2 of these, and note the funding (:Currency:) and MC (:MissionControl: ) costs.

Remote mines, aka Asteroids

Here's an example of a remote site on an asteroid I will not actively defend. To that end it packs more defense modules to "discourage" it being attacked, but if I lose one also not a big deal as it is replaceable. I had unlocked Heavy Fission by the time I was building these and so built it standard to be power neutral; if you were still on regular fission you'd probably have to drop an Ops Center for another Fission Array.

These sites are essentially self sufficient - the Farm covers :Water:/:Volatiles: needs, the Ops Centers (plus eventual Admin Tower if you have the spare boost) makes it MC neutral, and the Nanofactory defrays most of the :Currency: upkeep. I generally try to put 1 Skunkworks at every hab for the Mining Bonus event choice for that event.

What to do about Mercury

Since I didn't have one, and couldn't remember how the hell I laid out my Mercury mines, figured I'd add an entry for Mercury bases. These are level 3 but you can see exactly how they were laid out at level 2:

Late Game

Robot Enslavement Centers, aka Factory Rings

Heavy industry Nanofactory Complex rings can be an excellent source of income (:Currency:) heading into the mid/late game. But be aware of the heavy upkeep cost against your space resources. A single one of these rings will consume the entire output of one or two decent T3 mining sites even with significant mining bonuses. You will definitely want an Admin Complex here for the 10% increase to output. Given the cost to build these, I do prefer a non-trivial level of defense modules on them.

As usual, the LEO version lacks a Foundry that would be standard on other Habs. The Mercury equivalent is more power efficient but significantly more expensive to build, costing an addition 2.5K :Metals:, and does include a Foundry.

Troll Farms, aka Influence Rings

This is the T3 equivalent to the T2 Influence (:Influence:) Orbital. Note they are very expensive to maintain, and more than a couple can quickly be a serious drain on your money income and require a lot of income from alternate sources, like the factory ring above. They will take about two and half years of putting the entirety of their :Influence: income into DI funding to break even. So while they will pay off in the medium term in the short term they aren't cheap.

Note these must be built in populous systems, and carry the bonus to PR mission strength for being in LEO.

Spac-ER aka Spouse aka Spay's Anatomy aka Spubs aka Spacey Acres Home for Old People, or How to Convert Boost to Money Through Space-Lifts and Space-Implants

This is the T3 equivalent to a orbital hospital above. Same basic idea, boost (:boost:) (and old/rich people) go in, money (:Currency:) comes out. Provides a pretty hefty bonus to Life Science too, but you'll probably already hit your soft cap from labs. 30 :boost: is not trivial though and would require significant investment or sources from :Earth:, but assuming you've been building it and taking over nations the AI has been building it in, you probably will have a fair surplus. These still require populous (50K people) systems.

Do notice that due to excessive hand washing by surgeons and bathroom usage by old men with prostate issues, these come with a hefty, unreducible :Water: usage as well as :Volatiles: upkeep, but they generate almost as much money as a Manufacturing Ring without the strain on your :Metals: income. The Nanofacturing Complex and Admin Complex come standard with this model, providing on-site production of billions of latex gloves for the aforementioned prostate problems (actually the good event choice) and the hordes of filing clerks to do all the HMO paperwork (10% bonus to incomes). If this was not in LEO a Foundry would probably be included and, like all stations I don't want to lose, is heavily defended.

Labs For Days

This is the straight upgrade from the T2 lab to the T3, assuming a slightly better original layout of the T2 version. You would only need 2 of these puppies to hit your tech bonus bucket for the 7 tech categories (Xeno is in a separate class of lab). As resource neutral as possible, with the addition of some Research Universities that started as Campuses to fill the extra space.

Exploiting Graduate Students For Fun And Profit, The Modern University Way

While you could make these slightly more Mission Control (:MissionControl:) efficiently around :Mercury: , the extra :Metals: build cost is significant and would require getting it to a fully (50K) populous system first. This is an :Earth:-based version. More :Research: output than most megastates in a single ring but the :MissionControl: and :Currency: upkeep for one of these is very heavy, and will likely require the complete :Water:/:Volatiles: output of one dedicated mining site to operate. You will not want to build these in large numbers without seriously hampering your economy. Heavy defenses as you will not want to lose one of these given the very high build cost.

Interplanetary Humanhood of Reactormakers, Adamantium Ship Builders, Exoticsmiths, Fusioners and Helpers, or, Where the SSS Titanic Was Made

• Nanofactory Complex and Foundry come standard with this model to (thematically) produce all those billions of ball-bearings your newborn ships will need and provide the latest in cutting edge Space Toilet technology.
• Enough Agricultural Complexes to stock your ships with a year's supply of fresh coffee.
• A couple of Command Centers to coordinate docking procedures so Aug. 23, 2031 never happens again.
• Rounded out with some Battlestations to make everyone on board at least feel safer. Because feelz before realz.
• And of course, the power to run it all and keeps the lights on. This isn't Vampires in Space©.