Surface Factory

Surface factories can produce robots, robot spare parts, road materials and other potentially toxic materials which are not allowed into the underground environment. As with other surface structures, the factory is heavily shielded, but must be evacuated to keep the workers safe during solar flares.

Number of turns required to build this tile: 	6
Population required to operate this tile: 	1

Your surface factories engage in building five basic products:

• Road Material is a combination of dense and sturdy materials used to form a durable roadbed on a bulldozed surface. Road Material is produced at the rate of one unit per turn per factory.

  • Fuel Cells, used to power robots, are produced at the rate of one every ten turns. Fuel cells die after 200 turns of use. Each fuel cell takes two mass units of storage, so you can store 50 of them in a warehouse.
  • Robot Spare Parts are taken by repairbots from warehouses to repair broken robots. Spare parts are produced at the rate of one every ten turns.
  • Robots are manufactured in the Seed Factory when you arrive at your new home, but a regular surface factory can build the full range of robots, including the new types you`re able to develop through scientific research. A factory can produce only one robot type at a time, which you select, and can build them at the rate of one every five turns. Robot storage at a surface factory is limited to ten, after which production stops until the robots are deployed or stored in a warehouse. Warehouses can store 20 robots with fuel cells, or 33 robots without fuel cells.
  • Trucks can be produced by your surface factories. On Automatic Trucking, trucks are not affected by the robot command facility limit of ten robots each. Any trucks you build will remain in your warehouses unless one of the mine trucks breaks down, at which time your trucks will be used automatically. On the beginner difficulty setting, it is possible to get through most or all of a game without using trucks.