Structure

Structures are usually built by Hover Trucks, with the exception of Elevators (which are built by Drill Trucks) and Hedoth Enhancers (which are pre-existing on the map and cannot be built).

Most structures buildable by players have other structures as prerequisites, requiring at least one instance of the other structure to exist in a fully built state before becoming available. Until that time, the structure's build icon on the UI remains grayed out.

Some structures also have a layer restriction.

Characteristics

Construction

All structures have a MetaJoule cost, which determines both the cost of initial construction and the cost of repairs if the structure is damaged. The construction cost is deducted continuously while the structure is being built, not in advance, so construction can begin even without enough MetaJoules in storage. If the player runs out of MetaJoules before construction is completed, construction will proceed at a pace matching the player's MetaJoule income until either construction is completed or the player's MetaJoule income rises above the rate at which construction is expending MetaJoules.

When selecting the structure's desired location, the cursor turns into a colored preview of the structure that indicates the following:

• Green: Construction site is valid and inside a Defense Grid. For a Defense Relay, green color indicates that the Relay's area of effect is touching that of a nearby Defense Grid and constructing the Relay at that position will extend the Defense Grid to the Relay's range.
• Yellow: Construction site is valid, but is outside a Defense Grid. For a Defense Relay, yellow color indicates that the Relay's area of effect is not touching any Defense Grid, thus constructing the Relay at that location will have no effect until a Defense Grid is brought nearby.
• Red: Construction site is not valid. Usually caused either by impassable terrain, insufficient space (including units being in the way) or the current layer not allowing that particular structure. For Elevators, both the surface and underground layers require passable terrain at the construction site.

When construction begins, the structure's foundation appears with low health that rises gradually as the building nears completion, reaching 100% when the structure is completed. Structures also do not benefit from being inside a Defense Grid while being built. If construction is interrupted by the Hover Truck being destroyed or re-tasked elsewhere, the incomplete structure begins to lose health at 1 HP/sec until either construction is resumed, the building is destroyed (either from incoming damage or from being razed by a Hover Truck) or the structure reaches zero health, at which point the foundation disappears. The Hover Truck that initiates the construction must be able to reach the construction site before the foundation appears.

Multiple Hover Trucks can construct the same structure simultaneously to speed up construction without additional cost once the foundation has appeared, but they must be directly tasked on the foundation. Patrolling Hover Trucks assume any nearby incomplete structures to be damaged and move to repair them, which raises the structure's health to maximum but does not contribute to the structure's actual completion, so the structure still has to be finished even after reaching maximum health. Drill Trucks can also be tasked to an existing foundation to assist in the construction, even for structures other than Elevators. Similarly, Hover Trucks can assist in the construction of Elevators.

When playing against the AI, all of the AI's structures' MetaJoule costs are modified by the difficulty level:

• Easy: AI structure costs are doubled, often causing the AI to have trouble replacing lost structures once it no longer has access to untapped Lava Pits.
• Normal: AI structure costs are increased to 120%.
• Hard: AI structure costs are identical to those of the human player.

ManPower

Most, but not all, structures require ManPower to operate and will reduce available ManPower even while not actively doing anything. Unlike units, structures can be constructed even if there isn't enough ManPower available for the structure. If the player's current available ManPower goes into the negative for whatever reason (newly built structure, Cryo Farms lost to enemy attack), all ManPower-using structures suffer from severely decreased production speeds; in the case of Vehicle Factories and Hangars, production stops completely once it reaches 99%. Mobile Wall turrets also cease construction at 99%. This effect remains until the player's available ManPower returns to or above zero. Additionally, all ManPower-using structures can be manually disabled using the Evac button on the UI (not to be confused with the Evac Crew button on Assembly Bays and Matter Converters, which refers to any Combot Crews currently inside the structure), which disables the structure but frees up the ManPower it uses. The structure can subsequently be turned back on using the Evac button.

A structure's current Manpower usage status is displayed as coloration on the structure itself:

• Normal coloration: The structure is fully active and operational.
• Bluish discoloration flashing black: The structure is active, but is operating at reduced efficiency due to a global Manpower shortage.
• Black discoloration: The structure has been manually disabled by the player, using the Evac button on the UI. The structure is completely inactive until turned back on, but its ManPower has been returned to the global pool and can be used elsewhere.

Structures that do not use ManPower are not affected by ManPower shortages and cannot be turned off. Additionally, constructing an AI Facility reduces the ManPower usage of all ManPower-using structures for as long as the AI Facility remains intact.

Defense Grid

Unlike units, most structures do not innately have a Defense value, resulting in them taking full damage from incoming attacks. In order for these structures to gain any Defense, they must be located within a Defense Grid, fully constructed and, in the case of Mobile Walls, completely stationary. Structures usually have a fairly high Defense, although the exact values depend on the structure and the faction. Like with units, the UI displays the structure's current defense value in the "Def%" field on the bottom when the structure is moused over. The two numbers separated by a slash are the percentage multiplier by which incoming kinetic and energy damage, respectively, are reduced (thus a building with 78/13 Defense takes only 22% damage from kinetic attacks but 87% damage from energy attacks).

Matter Converters and Outposts always have non-zero Defense values due to creating their own Defense Grid. Recon Poles, Solar Panels and Elevators always have the same Defense regardless of whether they are in a Defense Grid or not (but Solar Panels benefit from increased Metajoule production rate while inside a Defense Grid). Mobile Walls, including turreted ones, only benefit from being inside a Defense Grid while not moving. Enhancers always have 100/100 Defense regardless of whether they are inside a Defense Grid or not and are permanently immune to all damage.

Layers

In the orbital layer, structures may only be built on asteroid platforms. Additionally, several buildings are limited to being built in only one or two layer:

• Hangars, Outposts, Assembly Bays (but not Parts Factories), Solar Panels and Rail Guns cannot be built underground.
• Elevators cannot be built in the orbital layer. Additionally, constructing an Elevator on either the surface layer or the underground layer immediately creates a second Elevator at the corresponding spot on the other layer as soon as construction is complete. Damage to one is not transferred to the other, but destroying either one immediately destroys the other as well, regardless of how much health it has left.

Campaign

Structures can be purchased upgrade levels between levels in the singleplayer campaign. Up to four levels can be purchased. Once a level has been purchased, it cannot be undone and its effect becomes permanent for the rest of the campaign.

Structure upgrades have the following in-game effects:

• Construction time is reduced by 15% per level.
• ManPower usage is reduced by 15% per level. Only affects structures that use ManPower and stacks with the reduction provided by the AI Facility.
• Defense is increased by 15% per level. Only affects structures that benefit from being inside a Defense Grid and only if the structure is actually inside the Defense Grid. Calculated separately for kinetic and energy Defense.
• Increased attack damage.

All modified values are rounded to the nearest integer where necessary and are calculated from the base value, ie. level 3 Defense is calculated as (level 1 value) * 1.3, not ((level 1 value) * 1.15) * 1.15.

List of structures

Buildable

• A.I. Facility
• Aircraft Hangar
• Assembly Bay
• Cryo Farm
• Defense Relay
• Energy Bank
• Elevator
• Matter Converter
• Mobile Wall
• Parts Factory
• Point Defense System
• Rail Gun
• Recon Pole
• Research Facility
• Solar Panel
• Outpost
• Vehicle Factory

Non-buildable

Hedoth Enhancers

• Attack
• Defense
• Construction
• Recon

Campaign-only structures

• Archaeology Station
• Prison