Every Space Center building, its levels, what each level gives, and what it costs to reach.
Research Centre
Building · one for your whole game
Turns discovery into parts. Each extension opens the next tier of the tech tree.
| Level | What it gives | Cost | Needs |
|---|
| 1 | TECH TIERS OPEN 1 | free | None |
| 2 | TECH TIERS OPEN 1 – 2 | 200 discovery + 2,500 credits | None |
| 3 | TECH TIERS OPEN 1 – 3 | 450 discovery + 6,000 credits | None |
| 4 | TECH TIERS OPEN 1 – 4 | 350 discovery + 8,000 credits | None |
| 5 | TECH TIERS OPEN 1 – 5 | 600 discovery + 14,000 credits | None |
Pairs with the tech tree: a node's tier is buyable only once this building reaches that tier. Level 3 opens the tier with the small helium-3 mine, level 4 the probe's warp drive of Tier 4, and level 5 the wide stack: the 8 m tanks, engines and adapter of Tier 5.
Launch Pad
Building · one for your whole game · Earth
Where rockets start. A bigger pad takes a taller, heavier ship.
| Level | What it gives | Cost | Needs |
|---|
| 1 | MAX MASS 12.0 t · MAX HEIGHT 20 m · RUNWAY 300 m | free | None |
| 2 | MAX MASS 50.0 t · MAX HEIGHT 40 m · RUNWAY 600 m | 4,000 credits | Staging |
| 3 | MAX MASS 250 t · MAX HEIGHT 80 m · RUNWAY 1200 m | 15,000 credits | Payload Bay |
| 4 | MAX MASS no limit · MAX HEIGHT no limit · RUNWAY 2400 m | 40,000 credits | None |
The only launch pad in the game: every flight starts here, and no other world ever has one. Pairs with the hangar's Fly, which goes straight to it.
The runway is part of the pad: a strip of flat ground east of the tower, as long as the RUNWAY row says. Fly sends any ship standing on landing gear there instead of to the pad. On the runway a ship is held to the pad's MAX MASS, and to its MAX HEIGHT as the longest ship the runway takes; the sheet's YOUR SHIP row reads its mass and length with the word runway beside them. See Aeroplanes.
Administration
Building · one for your whole game
Where companies come to buy flight tests. Each extension takes on more contracts at once, and harder ones.
| Level | What it gives | Cost | Needs |
|---|
| 1 | CONTRACTS AT ONCE 3 · CONTRACT TIERS 1 · PLAYER CONTRACTS AT ONCE none | free | None |
| 2 | CONTRACTS AT ONCE 5 · CONTRACT TIERS 1 – 2 · PLAYER CONTRACTS AT ONCE 2 | 35 discovery + 3,000 credits | None |
| 3 | CONTRACTS AT ONCE 7 · CONTRACT TIERS 1 – 3 · PLAYER CONTRACTS AT ONCE 4 | 110 discovery + 12,000 credits | None |
Pairs with the contracts board it opens: more levels here mean more offers on the board at once, and harder ones among them. From level 2 it also opens the Player contracts board, and PLAYER CONTRACTS AT ONCE is how many of those you may hold.
Astronaut Center
Building · one for your whole game
Where the Meek sign on. Each extension holds more of them at once, and opens more trades to the board.
| Level | What it gives | Cost | Needs |
|---|
| 1 | MEEK AT ONCE 3 · RECRUITS UP TO 6 / 10 | free | None |
| 2 | MEEK AT ONCE 6 · RECRUITS UP TO 8 / 10 | 35 discovery + 3,000 credits | None |
| 3 | MEEK AT ONCE 10 · RECRUITS UP TO 10 / 10 | 110 discovery + 12,000 credits | None |
Pairs with every pod: no crewed ship flies without a Meek from here aboard.
Comm Station
Building · one for your whole game · Earth
The home station: the one dish on the ground, standing on Earth. Every link ends here, so a probe out of Earth's sight is flyable only through relay satellites of your own — and levelling it up lifts every antenna already in orbit.
| Level | What it gives | Cost | Needs |
|---|
| 1 | ANTENNA 50 Mm | free | None |
| 2 | ANTENNA 10.0 Gm; other players' ships on your map | 3,500 credits | Deep Space Comms |
| 3 | ANTENNA 500.0 Gm | 12,000 credits | Interplanetary Comms |
Pairs with every antenna a ship carries: a stronger dish here lifts what is already in orbit, with no flight needed. There is no station on any other world, which is what makes a relay network worth launching. See Communications.
It is also your window on everybody else. At level 1 your map shows only your own ships, and the ship a player contract you hold sends you to; from level 2 it shows other players' ships as well. The sheet's OTHER PLAYERS row says which, in amber while they are hidden.