Facilities Guide

Facilities are the infrastructure buildings that unlock and accelerate everything else in Galactico — your Shipyard, Research Lab, Robotics Factory, Terraformer, Missile Silo, and Nanite Factory. This guide explains what each one does, when to build it, and how high to take it.

Robotics Factory

The most underrated building in the game. Every level of the Robotics Factory reduces the construction time of all other buildings and facilities on that planet. The reduction formula means early levels give dramatic speed gains.

• Level 1: significant time reduction from base
• Level 2: approximately 33% faster construction than level 1
• When to build: immediately, within your first hour of play
• How high: level 5–7 is the sweet spot for most players; beyond that, the Nanite Factory takes over

Recommendation: build this to level 2 before continuing mine upgrades on day one. The time you recover on every subsequent build more than justifies the cost.

Shipyard

Required to build any ship or defense structure. Each Shipyard level reduces the time to produce ships and unlocks higher-tier vessels.

• Level 1: Small Cargo, Large Cargo, Light Fighter, Spy Probe available
• Level 2: Heavy Fighter
• Level 4: Cruiser
• Level 6: Battleship, Colony Ship, Recycler
• Level 8: Bomber, Destroyer
• Level 9: Battlecruiser
• Level 12: Deathstar

You cannot upgrade the Shipyard while ships or defense are being built. Plan upgrades during downtime between production runs.

Important: the Shipyard cannot be upgraded while the Research Lab is under construction either (and vice versa if they share a build slot). Watch your queue order.

Research Lab

Required for all research. Every level reduces research time, and the Research Lab level also gates which technologies you can access — many advanced techs require a high-level lab.

• Level 1: all basic research available
• Level 4: Impulse Drive, Laser Technology
• Level 6: Hyperspace Drive, Hyperspace Technology
• Level 10: Graviton Technology becomes researchable

Research time reduction is approximately proportional to lab level — a level 10 lab roughly halves research time compared to level 1.

Note: you cannot upgrade the Research Lab while research is running. Finish queued research before upgrading.

Terraformer

Expands your planet's available fields by 5 per level, consuming Deuterium to power it.

• Requires: Nanite Factory 1, Energy Technology 12
• Each level: +5 planet fields permanently
• Cost per level: significant Deuterium requirement

When to build: when your planet is nearly full (within 10–15 fields of capacity) and you want to continue expanding without colonizing a new planet. On planets with limited fields that you've identified as strategic locations, a Terraformer buys you many more levels of development.

Missile Silo

Stores and launches Interplanetary Missiles (IPMs) and Anti-Ballistic Missiles (ABMs). Each level increases missile storage capacity.

• Level 1: stores up to 10 missiles
• Each additional level: +10 missile capacity
• IPMs: attack enemy defense structures from any distance in the galaxy
• ABMs: intercept incoming IPMs before they hit your planet

When to build: mid-to-late game when you want to harass enemy defenses before a major fleet attack or protect your own defenses from missile strikes. Not a day-one priority.

Nanite Factory

The most powerful time-reduction building in the game. Each level of the Nanite Factory reduces build times for both buildings and ships dramatically — far beyond what the Robotics Factory alone can achieve.

• Requires: Robotics Factory 10, Computer Technology 10
• Each level roughly halves remaining construction time on top of Robotics Factory bonuses
• Level 1 is transformational; level 2 makes the planet a production powerhouse

When to build: late game. The prerequisites (Robotics 10, Computer 10) are expensive, but a planet with a Nanite Factory level 1–2 produces ships in a fraction of the time of an unprepared planet. Alliance members often designate one or two planets specifically as "shipyard worlds" with max Robotics + Nanite Factory for rapid fleet production before major wars.

Build order summary

For more on the research that these facilities enable, see the Research & Technology Guide.