Landing Pad

The Landing Pad is an import terminal block that receives periodic item shipments from off-map. It was added in Build 147 and appears as a sector-level import building in campaign and sandbox modes. Each Landing Pad accepts a selectable item type and spawns batches of that item directly into the pad’s inventory, then outputs into connected conveyor networks like an item source with a limited throughput.

A Landing Pad receives a single batch every 5 seconds (a full cycle of 300 ticks), but the visible pod landing animation and its internal cooldown each last 150 ticks, so a pad is only eligible to take a new batch when it is completely empty and sufficient resources are available to consume. Each batch contains 100 items and consumes 1500 units of Water immediately upon landing. To sustain a continuous one-batch-every-5-seconds rate a pad therefore requires 300 Water/sec and an output throughput of at least 20 items/sec (100 items per 5 s). When multiple pads demand imports that exceed the sector’s overall import capacity, individual pads will be slowed or staggered so the shared import rate is not exceeded.

Interacting with a Landing Pad lets the player choose which item it will import; the UI also provides an option to redirect all exports of that chosen item to the current sector. In non-campaign (sandbox) games a Landing Pad will continually receive batches as long as its inputs and output demand are satisfied, effectively functioning as a limited Item Source. External speed boosts that affect production or transfer (for example Overdrive Projector-like effects) do not increase the Landing Pad’s import speed.

Practical usage and deployment notes:

• Throughput: A single pad’s theoretical maximum intake is 1200 items per minute (20 items/sec). This equals the import rate of six fully optimized Launch Pads; meeting that requires sustained 20 items/sec output to avoid backlog.
• Water supply: 1500 units consumed per batch = 300 Water/sec to keep one pad fully active. Example water-source equivalents provided by players: Mechanical Pumps, Rotary Pumps, Impulse Pumps, or Water Extractors will need to be scaled to provide this flow (source equivalents vary by pump type and coverage).
• Conveyors and unloading: For maximum continuous throughput, use high-speed conveyors. Plastanium conveyors are recommended over Titanium conveyors because two Titanium lines are space-inefficient; in practice two separate Plastanium conveyor starting points are preferred because a single Plastanium line cannot unload the pad fast enough for sustained maximum throughput.
• Staggering behavior: If two optimized pads both request the sector import maximum, pods will alternate landing between them rather than both landing simultaneously.
• Placement: Ensure the pad’s output network can maintain at least 20 items/sec of demand; otherwise the pad will remain filled and will not accept the next batch.
• Limitations: Landing Pads cannot be sped up by Overdrive Projector-like effects and only accept a new batch when entirely empty and when the Water cost can be paid instantly.

The Landing Pad is therefore best used as a high-throughput, water-intensive import node for supplying remote sectors or bootstrapping resource lines in late-game networks, provided you can supply steady water and sufficiently fast outbound logistics.