User:Robbx213/Sandbox/Ant Farm XEU12

GameInformer's interactive "Ant Farm"

The "Ant Farm" is the single base from which the player coordinates their fight against the alien menace. Everything one would consider to be the 'strategy' layer (as opposed to the 'tactical combat' layer) is handled here. Nicknamed the 'Ant Farm' by the design team, the base is presented with a side view cross-section that allows the player to zoom in on the different #Facilities. Click the image to go to the browser-based interactive "Ant Farm" presented by GameInformer.

Starting Base

The starting base comes with the following facilities. Each facility requires a certain amount of power units, which can be increased by building additional power generators.

• Hangar - Houses interdiction & troop transport aircraft
• Mission Control - Contains the Geoscape
• Situation Room - Funding Council, panic level, satellite cover, finances, & objectives
• Armory - equip soldiers
• Barracks - view & recruit soldiers, view lost soldier memorial
• Science Labs - Research
• Engineering - Manufacturing
• Infirmary - Injured soldier recovery after combat missions
• Access Lift - Access to lower levels

Base Expansion

The base has 24 expansion slots available to construct new facilities. The position of the facilities in relation to one another will provide bonuses to their output. Each slot must be excavated (§10; 5 days) in order to buld a facility. Facilities may also be removed (§5).

• Alien Containment - interrogate live captured aliens
• Officer Training School - train soldiers & upgrade squad size
• Laboratories - Boosts Science Lab
• Workshop - Boosts Engineering, "Random resource rebate on whatever you built"
• The Foundry - Large manufacturing projects, improving manufacturable item attributes
• Power Generator
• Thermal Power Generator - More power, require steam vent
• Satellite Uplink - Allows new satellites over other countries
• Satellite Nexus - An alternative to Uplinks allowing more satellites at increased cost

The lower, unbuilt base level ground bonuses are randomized for each game.

Base Design

The position of the facilities in relation to one another will provide bonuses to their output. For example, building Labs next to each other provide an adjacency bonus that increases the speed of research.

Be considerate of the available expansions slots you leave in the long-term. As an example, you could build several Satellite Uplinks for an overall lower monetary and resource cost than a Satellite Nexus. However, the Nexus takes up less physical space. Getting near the end of the game and finding out your limited on space, need to remove facilities (at cost), and then wait for new ones to build could cost you the game. On the flip side, there may be reasons you end up with 'extra' space: you may get lucky and have a lot of steam vents, you may be really good at combat such that you don't need as many research and manufacturing facilities, or you might just choose to protect a select few countries with fewer total satellites.

(This would be a great place to talk about adjacency once we figure it out; 2x2, plus shape, all-in-a-row, etc.)