Capacity, slipways and workforce

Section titled “Capacity, slipways and workforce”

Shipyards do two separate kinds of work. They develop the yard itself through slipway, capacity and retooling activities. They also run individual construction, repair, refit, automatic refit and scrap tasks on their slipways. Autonomous shipping lines build civilian ships instantly without shipyard build points, as autonomous shipping-line ship construction describes.

Player race production mechanics is the parent page, and its shipyard task summary links each section here. The parent owns the production cycle order and the elapsed-time conventions in resources and production timing. It also owns the shipyard output modifier that both yard rates multiply, under production capacity and modifiers, and the shared limiter and debit arithmetic in shortage arithmetic for mineral stockpiles. Ship and station design owns class locking and design-time refit compatibility. Technology to deployment follows a researched component into an admitted construction or refit task.

Naval, commercial and repair yards are distinct types. The yard activities are Add Slipway, Add 500, 1000, 2000, 5000 or 10,000 ton Capacity, Retool, Continual Capacity Upgrade and No Activity. Spacemaster Modification changes the values directly. The game database stores the yard type and the current activity as numbers.

Column Stored values
FCT_Shipyard.SYType 1 Naval Shipyard, 2 Commercial Shipyard, 3 Repair Yard
FCT_Shipyard.TaskType 0 No Activity, 1 Add Slipway, 2 Add 500 ton Capacity, 3 Add 1000 ton Capacity, 4 Add 2000 ton Capacity, 5 Add 5000 ton Capacity, 6 Add 10,000 ton Capacity, 7 Retool, 8 Continual Capacity Upgrade

A newly created naval yard has one slipway and 1,000 tons of capacity. A commercial or repair yard starts with one slipway and 10,000 tons. Upgrade progress starts at zero and the yard activity is not paused. Capacity is the maximum ship tonnage per slipway. The population’s capacity totals sum slipways x capacity separately for each yard type. Ship class Size is measured in hull spaces (HS) of 50 tons each, so class admission compares Size with capacity / 50.

Only the population summary refresh recalculates these per-type totals and the total slipway count, which is the sum of Slipways over the population’s yards. The totals are therefore display values. The production cycle neither refreshes nor reads them.

Population shipyard labour counts the yards that are not ship-based:

  • Naval: slipways x capacity x 0.00025.
  • Commercial and repair: slipways x capacity x 0.000025.

These amounts enter the manufacturing worker requirement described in workforce, radiation and stability inputs. Ship-based yards add no population labour requirement.

Annual modification rate

Section titled “Annual modification rate”

Let M be the shipyard output modifier. It is the product of the population governor’s Shipbuilding bonus, the sector governor’s quarter Shipbuilding bonus, species ProductionRateModifier, race ShipBuilding, race EconomicProdModifier, population Efficiency, the radiation production modifier, stability and the political status ProductionMod. A missing governor or sector governor contributes no extra multiplier. Recalculation helpers and refresh paths lists when the game recalculates M.

With C = yard capacity, in tons:

effective capacity = C              for naval yards
                   = 0.1 x C        for commercial and repair yards
modification rate  = (0.5 + effective capacity / 10,000) x M BP per year

Retooling runs at modification rate x slipways. All other yard activities run at one modification rate. The normaliser of 100 HS and the commercial capacity factor of 0.1 are fixed constants of the game.

The game evaluates the rate as 1 + (effective capacity / 5,000 - 1) / 2, which equals 0.5 + effective capacity / 10,000. The 5,000 is the shipyard size normaliser of 100 HS at 50 tons each. The game multiplies the result by M and stores it as the yard’s modification rate. The yard development step recomputes the rate before each yard’s work. The shipyard list on the Shipyards tab of the Economics window recomputes it for its Mod Rate column. The rate is not saved.

Activity costs

Section titled “Activity costs”

Let S = slipways, C = capacity in tons, O = race ShipyardOperations, and k = 1 for naval yards or 0.1 for commercial and repair yards. The base capacity upgrade cost is 120 BP per slipway per 500 tons.

Activity Required BP Result
Add Slipway (C / 500) x 120 x O x k One extra slipway
Add D tons, where D is 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 or 10,000 S x 120 x O x (D / 500) x k Capacity increases by D tons
Retool min(refit cost from the assigned class to the target, target class Cost) x (0.5 + 0.25 x S) x O The target becomes the assigned class
Continual Capacity Upgrade Required BP is zero. Ongoing work is charged on each cycle Capacity rises by fractions

O multiplies the required cost. The game does not divide the BP rate by O. The first class assignment of a yard with no assigned class is free and immediate. When the assigned class has a calculated refit cost of zero to the target, the assignment is also immediate. The target class becomes locked.

Retool candidates must belong to the race, have no shipping-line owner, not be obsolete, fit capacity / 50, differ from the current assigned class, and contain no prototype components. Commercial yards need commercial classes. Only naval and commercial yards offer retool candidates. Repair yards offer none.

The Shipyards tab of the Economics window refuses to modify a ship-based yard. It asks for confirmation before it replaces an existing activity. The window rejects a continual target capacity that is below the current capacity, and it converts the target to a whole number when the activity is set. Spacemaster Modification sets capacity and slipways directly without spending production. It also clears any current yard development activity and resets both its required and completed BP to zero. This clears development, not the separate ship construction or refit tasks.

Processing, resources and completion

Section titled “Processing, resources and completion”

Population production processes yard modifications before individual shipyard tasks. Both need a total population above zero in the normal population production path. Mining and industrial projects have already run by this point. Yard upgrades therefore have earlier access to local minerals than ships.

The yard development step skips yards with No Activity and yards whose activity is paused. It recalculates the rate on every cycle and proposes the effective rate x elapsed years, with no explicit rounding to four decimals. Finite activities cap the proposed BP at RequiredBP - CompletedBP. Then resources limit the actual work:

actual BP = min(proposed BP, 2 x available Duranium, 2 x available Neutronium)
wealth expense = actual BP
Duranium consumption = actual BP / 2
Neutronium consumption = actual BP / 2

So each actual BP costs 1 wealth and half a unit each of Duranium and Neutronium, and the work is capped at 2 x available stock of each mineral. If the actual BP is zero or less, no progress is applied. Player races draw on local population minerals and record the use under the Shipyard Upgrades mineral usage type (DIM_MineralDataType 9). For a player race, a Duranium shortage and a Neutronium shortage can each log a Mineral Shortage event as each limit applies. NPR races draw on their capital population and log no shortage event. The work is recorded as wealth spent under Shipyard Modifications (DIM_WealthUse 27). The yard development step has no wealth affordability check.

For finite activities, completion requires CompletedBP to equal RequiredBP exactly. The slipway, capacity or retool result is applied, and the activity, the required BP, the completed BP and the retool class are cleared.

Continual capacity gain is:

naval gain = actual BP / (120 x S x O) x 500 tons
commercial or repair gain = actual BP / (120 x S x O) x 5,000 tons

A positive CapacityTarget stops the activity when it is reached and clamps capacity to the target. A target of zero or less gives no stop condition. The step charges the whole interval’s work before it clamps. It does not cap BP at the capacity still needed to reach the target, so a final interval can consume excess wealth and minerals.

Pause, cancel and dates

Section titled “Pause, cancel and dates”

Pause Activity affects yard development only. Individual ship tasks have their own paused state. Cancelling a fixed capacity upgrade with Delete Activity keeps a partial gain rounded down to whole 100-ton steps:

preserved tons = floor((CompletedBP / RequiredBP x planned increase) / 100) x 100

Cancelling a retool or an Add Slipway activity keeps no partial result. Cancellation clears the activity and its progress and refunds no wealth or minerals. Replacing an activity through Set Activity applies the new activity directly and resets BP progress. It does not run the cancellation that keeps partial fixed-capacity gains.

The displayed completion date of a finite upgrade is remaining BP / modification rate years, converted at 31,536,000 seconds per year. The retool date also divides by the slipway count. Continual activities have no displayed completion date. These estimates assume full output and ignore mineral shortages.

Rate per task and slipway admission

Section titled “Rate per task and slipway admission”

Individual tasks are Construction, Repair, Refit, Scrap and Auto Refit, stored in FCT_ShipyardTask.TaskTypeID as 0 to 4 in that order. Each task carries its own TotalBP, CompletedBP, mineral amounts, ship and class references and Paused state.

Using the same modifier M as yard development:

adjusted HS = class Size x 0.25     for commercial classes
            = class Size            for other classes
build rate  = (0.5 + adjusted HS / 200) x M BP per year

The commercial factor is 0.25, and the divisor 200 is twice the normaliser of 100 HS. The commercial adjustment depends on the class’s Commercial flag, not directly on the yard type. Construction, repair and scrap use the task’s class. Refit and automatic refit use the refit target class. The game recalculates each task’s rate on every cycle.

The game evaluates the rate as 1 + (adjusted HS / 100 - 1) / 2 and multiplies it by M. The yard holds a single build rate value. The shipyard task step and the task list on the SY Tasks tab recompute it once per task, immediately before they read it. The task preview on the Shipyards tab recomputes it for the selected target class. The yard’s build rate therefore holds the rate of whichever class the yard computed last, and it is not saved.

Every active task receives its full class-based rate. There is no shared yard BP allocation divided among queued tasks. On the Shipyards tab of the Economics window, Create Task is disabled when the number of tasks assigned to the yard equals its slipways. Paused tasks still occupy a slot. The shipyard task step does not enforce this limit itself, and the window’s test is an equality, not an at-least test. Yard upgrades, retooling and a paused yard activity do not block individual ship tasks in that step.

The assigned task count includes every shipyard task at the yard, with no filter on paused state or task type. Both window tests compare that count with the slipways. The NPR repair and build pass instead takes slipways - assigned task count and skips the yard when the result is zero or below, which does stop an over-full yard.

A task at a ship-based yard gets no work in a cycle when the parent ship’s fleet is no longer assigned to the yard’s population. The game then shows a Task Not Possible message saying the ship-based shipyard is no longer in orbit.

Player admission and tooling compatibility

Section titled “Player admission and tooling compatibility”

Construction requires a target class, enough alien components in stock, no prototype components, and either the selected fleet or, with Use Admin checked, a selected naval administrative command. A name that a ship of the race already carries is rejected unless the class naming theme is No Theme. The chosen class becomes locked.

Normal construction and refit target selection lists the yard’s assigned class plus compatible alternatives. The assigned class itself is listed directly. An alternative must belong to the race, not be obsolete, not be a shipping-line class, not be a class of another race (OtherRaceClassID zero), fit the yard capacity, and be commercial when the yard is commercial. Its Size must be within 80% to 120% of the assigned class Size. The refit cost from the assigned class to the alternative must not exceed assigned class Cost / 5.

Refit and automatic refit creation rejects missing required alien additions, prototype targets, a missing selected ship, identical source and target classes, and a preview cost of zero BP. Normal source selection requires existing local ships, capacity and type eligibility, a source Size within 80% to 120% of the assigned class Size, no armour or component damage, and no existing task. The source class list does not apply the 20% cost compatibility rule of the target list.

Repair needs a damaged local ship of the race that is not already in one of the race’s shipyard tasks and that fits the capacity. Naval and repair yards accept military or commercial classes. Commercial yards need commercial classes. Repair needs no tooling for the current assigned class. Scrap selection allows damaged ships and obsolete classes, with capacity and type eligibility and no existing task.

General local ship selection takes ships whose fleet is within one coordinate unit of the population, excludes shipping-line ships, and can filter on damage and task assignment. That coordinate test does not itself require a matching system survey. Automatic refit succession uses the stricter test of exact coordinates plus a matching system survey.

The class list for a Scrap task and the source class list for a Refit task use related rules. The base list holds the race’s classes with no shipping line that fit capacity / 50, only commercial classes at a commercial yard, and applies no obsolete filter at all. The Refit source list is empty when the yard has no assigned class. It keeps only classes within the 80% to 120% band around the assigned class Size and only classes that have at least one ship of the race anywhere. It still lists obsolete classes. Both lists keep only classes of race ships whose fleet is within one coordinate unit of the population. The Scrap list therefore has no band and no existing-ship rule, and it lists obsolete classes. Construction and refit target lists use the tooling compatibility list above instead.

Task creation paths

Section titled “Task creation paths”

Four routes create shipyard task records, and they differ in what they copy.

Route Started by ClassID and RefitID TotalBP and minerals UseComponents Fleet and admin command
Player task Create Task on the Shipyards tab Source and target class for refit and automatic refit, target class otherwise The previewed BP and a copy of the previewed mineral amounts, then stock credits for construction and refits True for construction, refit and automatic refit, false for repair and scrap Selected fleet, or the selected admin command for construction with Use Admin checked. A non-construction task with a ship takes the ship’s fleet.
NPR repair task NPR repair pass Supplied class and refit class Supplied BP and a copy of the supplied mineral amounts, no stock credits False Supplied fleet, no admin command
NPR construction task NPR build pass The assigned class, no refit class The assigned class Cost and a copy of its mineral cost, no stock credits False, the default None. UnitName is empty.
Automatic refit successor Completion of an automatic refit The next ship’s class and the completed target class The completed task’s TotalBP and the same mineral list, then stock credits as if Use Components were checked when UseComponents is true Copied The next ship’s fleet

All four give the new task its own ID, set CompletedBP to zero and Paused to false, set NPRShip from whether the race is an NPR, and put the task in the game. Freighter, the first sort key of execution, comes from the target class for player tasks, from the supplied class for NPR repair tasks, from the assigned class for NPR construction tasks, and from the completed task’s source class for an automatic refit successor. None of the four routes checks slipway use. Only the player route locks the target class and clears the task fleet’s move orders.

Copying a mineral list copies its eleven mineral amounts. Each new task therefore owns its list, and later stock credits change only that task. The automatic refit successor is the exception, because it reuses the finished task’s list.

The NPR repair and build pass visits the population’s yards that have an assigned class and skips a yard with no free slipway. A yard first takes one repair task when a damaged, untasked ship with no move orders qualifies, and the pass then moves on to the next yard. Otherwise the yard computes its build shortfall. When that is positive, it creates min(whole hulls the stock covers, free slipways, shortfall) construction tasks, counting whole hulls of the assigned class mineral cost against the capital’s stock. The pass ends at the first yard whose whole-hull bound is not zero, so one pass queues construction at one yard at most. The bound counts whole hulls against the current stock, while the tasks then draw minerals fraction by fraction. New hulls therefore share a stock that may cover fewer of them in full. NPR colony and economic AI owns the repair candidate and shortfall rules, and whole-quantity bounds and affordability tests owns the bound.

Costs and mineral vectors

Section titled “Costs and mineral vectors”

Construction. The class BP cost is sum of component Cost x NumComponent. The class mineral cost is sum of component mineral cost x NumComponent over each component, and the task starts with a copy of that list.

Refit and automatic refit. Components are matched by ComponentID. For each target component, only a positive target quantity - source quantity is charged. A component that the source class lacks counts its full target quantity. Let A = sum of (addition x component BP cost) over those additions:

refit BP = A x (1.2 + abs(target Size - source Size) / source Size)
refit minerals = sum of (target component mineral cost x addition count rounded to 1 decimal)

The factor 1.2 is the additions plus a 20% overhead. The overhead and the size change surcharge add BP without additional minerals. Component removal gives no BP credit. A change that only removes components can have a calculated cost of zero, which player task creation rejects. The list opened by the Refit Details button on the Shipyards tab shows each addition with its amount and cost, then the Refit Overhead Cost, the Size Difference Cost and the Total.

Repair. BP is damaged component Cost x Number + armour Cost x damaged armour units / armour component ComponentValue. Damaged armour units are the armour damage summed over all columns. Mineral requirements are sum over damaged component records of (0.5 x component mineral cost) + 0.5 x armour mineral cost x damaged armour component count. The component mineral sum does not multiply by the damaged component Number, although the BP sum does. The game behaves this way as shipped.

Scrap. The preview BP and mineral values use the scrap multiplier of -0.25. The BP is then converted to its absolute value, which gives a positive task cost of one quarter of the class Cost. Scrap work consumes no minerals or wealth and does not credit that negative preview mineral list to the population. The actual recovery happens at completion through stored components and ship stores.

Using stored components

Section titled “Using stored components”

Construction uses stock components for all required class components. A refit uses them only for positive target additions. The withdrawal happens immediately when the task is created:

used = min(Amount of the first matching stock entry, quantity needed)
TotalBP = TotalBP - component Cost x used
task minerals = task minerals - component mineral cost x used
stock entry Amount = Amount - used

A stock entry that falls to zero is removed. With Use Components unchecked, components whose technology the race knows are skipped, but required alien components are still used. The alien component check sums all matching stock entries, while the withdrawal uses the first matching entry only. Stock components used for a refit reduce the component BP but do not remove the overhead or size surcharge already calculated.

The construction credit walks the class components. The refit credit does nothing for a task without a refit target class. It walks the target class components and finds the matching source entry by ComponentID. Both treat a component as known when the race has researched its technology, and skip a known component only when Use Components is unchecked. Both lower the task TotalBP by Cost x used and lower the task minerals by component mineral cost x used. Neither stops the result at zero. Only player task creation and the automatic refit successor apply these credits, so NPR tasks receive no stock credit.

Player construction and refit tasks set UseComponents to true after the initial checkbox state is applied, even when the box was unchecked. New tasks other than construction take the selected ship’s fleet, and creation clears the task fleet’s move orders.

Fully prebuilt construction caveat. Stock credits can reduce TotalBP to zero. Creation applies those credits with no guard against a cost of zero or less. The shipyard task step then divides the proposed BP by TotalBP before it tests completion. For a zero-cost task this is a division by zero. The game shows error Function #2097 and ends that population’s shipyard task step for the cycle. The task stays active, and the tasks after it in that population’s task order get no work in that cycle. The task does not finish instantly. Ordinary refit overhead generally remains after component credits, but automatic refit successors still inherit discounts with no floor.

Scheduling, rounding and shortage behaviour

Section titled “Scheduling, rounding and shortage behaviour”

Tasks run after yard development. They are ordered by Freighter ascending (military before commercial), then source class Size descending, then UnitName. Sort by Date on the SY Tasks tab changes only the display order.

For elapsed years Y, the shipyard task step uses this sequence:

proposed BP = Round(build rate x Y, 4)
fraction = Round(proposed BP / TotalBP, 4)
fraction = Round(mineral-limited fraction, 4)      except Scrap
BP = fraction x TotalBP
remaining BP = Round(TotalBP - CompletedBP, 4)
BP = min(BP, remaining BP)
fraction = Round(BP / TotalBP, 4)

Each rounding to 4 decimals sends an exact half to the even neighbour. The final fraction sets mineral consumption. BP sets wealth and progress. When BP is at least the remaining BP, completion runs and the task is removed. Otherwise BP is added to CompletedBP. Excess work does not carry over into another task.

The mineral limit examines positive task requirements in this order: Duranium, Neutronium, Corbomite, Tritanium, Boronide, Mercassium, Vendarite, Sorium, Uridium, Corundium, Gallicite. Each shortage reduces the fraction to available / full task requirement. A single event names the last mineral that further reduced the fraction. The limit applies before the remaining-work cap, so a shortage can be reported against the proposed work even when the actual remainder could be finished. The final rounding of the fraction to four decimals can slightly exceed the exact resource ratio. The mineral subtraction has no floor at zero.

Whether a task gets work in a cycle also depends on the remaining work of the last task handled in that cycle, which counts as zero for the first task. For ordinary nonnegative work, a mineral-limited fraction of zero generally gives the task no work in that cycle rather than pausing it. Small intervals can round a fraction to zero and stall progress. This rounding stall is part of the game, so an unrounded continuous formula does not reproduce progress over short intervals.

Player tasks use local population minerals. NPR tasks use the capital population’s minerals, and the step does nothing for an NPR race without a capital. Player mineral use is recorded under the Shipbuilding mineral usage type (DIM_MineralDataType 5) for construction, repair and refit alike. Wealth is recorded under Shipbuilding (DIM_WealthUse 5), Ship Repairs (49) and Ship Refits (50) respectively. Scrap records none. The shipyard task step has no wealth affordability check.

Completion, automatic succession and cancellation

Section titled “Completion, automatic succession and cancellation”

Construction completion allocates crew grade from the academy and creates the ship with the task class, name, yard and fleet or admin command. The chosen fleet is used only when it sits exactly at the population’s coordinates. A ship built for a player race takes its fuel and maintenance supplies from the population’s stockpiles, so a short stockpile gives a partly supplied ship. A ship built for an NPR race starts with full fuel and full maintenance supplies at no cost. Completion-time supplies and destination fleets describes what a completed ship draws from the population.

Repair completion clears the ship’s damaged components, armour damage and damage control queue, clears its destroyed state, adds a ship history entry and applies the replacement crew grade. It reduces the maintenance age in proportion to the task cost:

reduction seconds = (current game time - LastOverhaul) x (task TotalBP / old class Cost)
LastOverhaul = LastOverhaul + reduction seconds

The game logs the reduction in years. Maintenance state clocks and support covers the maintenance clock itself.

Refit completion uses the same maintenance age formula, with the old class cost and a TotalBP that stock credits may have lowered. When the new class has a different rank requirement, officers aboard disembark. Refit completion clears the weapon recharge state, queues the next automatic refit when the task is an automatic refit, and then changes the class. The class change clears damage and weapon and fire-control assignments and adds one to the target class TotalNumber. For ships of races , it sets shield strength to zero and switches shields off, sets the crew to the full crew of the new class, and adjusts the fuel, maintenance supplies and ordnance aboard against the new class. It then recomputes fleet speed. The class change does not return removed source components to the stockpile.

When the new class needs more crew than are aboard, the refit event reports a calculated replacement crew grade, but the ship’s actual crew grade stays unchanged. That calculation uses the old class crew requirement. A ship fully crewed for its old class reports its existing grade, while an understaffed ship can consume available academy crew and report a different grade that is never applied to the ship.

Automatic refit succession first tests that the yard still supports the target class, which must be the assigned class or one of its compatible alternatives. Otherwise it logs that the automatic refit task is abandoned. It selects the first ship of the source class at the exact population coordinates, with a matching system survey and no existing task at the population. It does not repeat the undamaged ship check or the alien component check. It copies the completed task’s already reduced TotalBP and shares the same mineral list. It does not recompute the baseline refit cost. When UseComponents is true, it applies stock credits again as if Use Components were checked. Successors can therefore inherit earlier discounts and gain further ones. The successor is added while the cycle’s task list is being worked and receives no work in that cycle.

The successor is queued before the class change of the finished ship, while the finished task still exists. The finished ship still matches the source class, but its own task excludes it as an assigned ship. The assigned ship list covers only tasks at the same population.

Scrap completion recovers intact components except those marked NoScrap. Recovery uses whole-number(class quantity) - Number, where Number is that of the first matching damage record, and adds only positive counts to the stored components. It returns all ordnance aboard to the population, credits the ship’s remaining fuel and MSP directly to local stock, detaches parasites and removes the ship. There is no direct raw mineral recovery from the task’s preview mineral list.

Pause and delete. Paused tasks do not run but still occupy their slipways. Delete Task on the SY Tasks tab simply removes the task. Stock components already used and minerals and wealth already spent are not returned.

Completion dates

Section titled “Completion dates”

The displayed task completion date is abs(TotalBP - CompletedBP) / build rate years, multiplied by 31,536,000 seconds and added to the current game time. Paused tasks still have a computed date, with Paused shown in place of their build rate. The dates assume full output and ignore mineral shortages, priority, future modifier changes and rounding stalls.

Autonomous shipping-line ship construction

Section titled “Autonomous shipping-line ship construction”

Shipping companies create civilian ships instantly. These ships do not accumulate shipyard build points. The civilian shipping and mining step of the construction cycle attempts one build per existing shipping line when the Civilian Shipping Lines Active option of the Game Information window (FCT_Game.CivilianShippingLinesActive) is on, the race can support civilian shipping, and the race owns at least one shipyard. This is an existence test. It does not select a shipyard or look at capacity, slipways, availability or build rate. Support is set for standard races that have the baseline Nuclear Radioisotope Engine technology and at least two colonies with a population above zero.

A company needs at least 500 wealth, two populated colonies and a capital population. Below 25,000 wealth it also rolls a d16. The threshold is 1 up to 6,000 wealth. Above 6,000 it is whole-number(wealth - 5000) / 1,000. The company builds only when the roll does not exceed the threshold. The threshold is not clamped. The build attempt does not scale its chance with elapsed time. Companies begin with 2,000 wealth, or 4,000 for an NPR race, and this start does not deduct race wealth. Recorded shipping income is added to company wealth.

The roles are freighter, colony ship, liner and fuel harvester. A company with fewer than 6 ships balances freighters and colony ships. Larger companies choose by ship counts and activity, and a ship is active when its fleet has move orders. Their balancing test has an unusual equality, because it needs more than half the freighters active and active colony ships equal to exactly half the colony fleet. Otherwise a freighter follows when more than half the freighters are active, a colony ship when more than half the colony ships are active, and a liner when every liner is active. Otherwise a die roll picks the role. Liners require more than one populated system. A harvester also requires the Allow Civilian Harvesters option (FCT_Game.AllowCivilianHarvesters), race technology 25148 (Sorium Harvester), and a surveyed gas giant or superjovian with Sorium in a system that contains a race population above 10. Ship construction and role choice gives the full decision list.

Design selection tries huge, large or small freighters or colony ships, the large or ordinary liner, or the harvester. A huge design needs more than 5 existing ships of that role, and a large design more than 3. The company reuses its class for that automated design when one exists that is not obsolete. Otherwise it generates one from race technology and a company commercial engine. With neither freighters nor colony ships it starts at the small design attempt. Acceptance normally requires a class cost strictly below company wealth. A company with more than 20 ships at attempt 1, or more than 10 at attempt 2, bypasses the affordability test. That allows a negative company balance once the cost is deducted.

The accepted hull appears at the capital in a newly created civilian fleet under the root naval administration command. It is created in instant mode with no shipyard and with full fuel and maintenance supplies, which are not withdrawn from population stock. It gets a full crew, and its missile loadout is set directly from the class templates when any exist. This path debits no minerals, no prefabricated components and no race or population wealth. The only debit is the class Cost subtracted from the company WealthBalance. The fleet receives civilian standing orders, avoids danger and alien systems, and has a friendly transponder.

After launch, the oldest company ship of the same role that is over ten years old (10 x 31,536,000 seconds) is scrapped immediately if idle, or marked for later replacement scrapping if moving. Idle retirement removes the ship outright. It does not run the shipyard scrap recovery that scrap completion describes. Game setup can also give a company a ship outright. This creates a fully supplied ship of a chosen design at a chosen population, with no wealth test and no cost deduction. Setup uses it for small freighters and small colony ships.

Worked examples

Section titled “Worked examples”

These examples apply the formulas above to illustrative inputs. They are not values from the game database as shipped.

Example Inputs Result
Yard modification 20 proposed BP, 3 Duranium and 20 Neutronium available 6 actual BP, 6 wealth, 3 Duranium and 3 Neutronium. The mineral cap leaves unused work.
Prebuilt yard component Base task 100 BP with one needed 20-BP component. That component is available and selected for use The component is withdrawn immediately. The remaining task BP becomes 80 and its recipe is subtracted from the task minerals. Cancelling does not restore it.
NPR whole-hull bound The assigned class needs 1,000 Duranium and 200 Tritanium, the capital holds 2,500 Duranium and 450 Tritanium, 3 free slipways, shortfall 5 The ratios are 2.5 and 2.25, the floor is 2, and the yard receives 2 construction tasks.

The yard example follows the yard modification debits in processing, resources and completion. The component example follows the stock credits in using stored components and the task deletion in completion, automatic succession and cancellation. The NPR example follows the whole-hull bound and the build shortfall in task creation paths.

Persistence and reload

Section titled “Persistence and reload”

This section covers the shipyard, shipyard task, class material and shipping line rows. Population stockpiles, stored components and mineral usage records are in persistence and reload on the production page.

Table Columns written On load
FCT_Shipyard Slipways, Capacity, CapacityTarget, SYType, BuildClassID, RetoolClassID, TaskType, RequiredBP, CompletedBP, PauseActivity and the defaults (DefaultFleetID, DefaultNavalAdminID, UseAdmin) A row is skipped when its race is missing. A missing population, assigned class or retool class leaves the yard without it.
FCT_ShipyardTask TaskTypeID, Freighter, FleetID, ShipID, NavalAdminID, ClassID, RefitID, NPRShip, UseComponents, TotalBP, CompletedBP, Paused, UnitName and the eleven task minerals A row is skipped when its shipyard, race or population is missing. A missing ship, class, refit class, fleet or admin command leaves the task without it.
FCT_ClassMaterials One row per class mineral above zero Each row is added to the class mineral cost
FCT_ShippingLines ShippingLineID, EmpireID, NPRace, LineName, ShortName, ShipNum, WealthBalance, CommEngineID and CommercialEngines A row is skipped when its race is missing. A missing commercial engine leaves the company with no cached commercial engine.

Before a reload, an automatic refit successor shares its mineral list with the task it replaced. After a reload, each task holds its own list with the saved values.

The class save writes FCT_ClassMaterials rows for positive mineral amounts only, so a zero or negative class mineral is dropped by a save and reload. The task save writes the eleven task minerals column by column without that filter.

The saves do not write the yard modification rate, the yard build rate, or a task’s completion percentage, estimated completion seconds and estimated completion time. The yard development and shipyard task steps recompute each rate before they read it, and the task list on the SY Tasks tab recomputes the three task estimates.

Concept map

Section titled “Concept map”

Resources

Section titled “Resources”

Related community documentation and developer posts. These may describe a different game version.