Ship Assembler

Ship Assembler is a Unit Assembler block used to produce high-tier ship units. It appears in the Unit Assemblers category and functions as a dedicated factory for advanced naval units rather than ground or airborne units. In the game's payload ecosystem it is one of the primary endpoints for creating unit payloads that can be carried, launched, or deployed by payload infrastructure.

The assembler requires steady inputs to operate: the documented required input rates are 150/sec and 12/sec, and it builds ship-class units on a multi-minute cadence — the listed production times include 60s for the standard build and 180s for the higher-cost variant. Because it constructs high-tier ships, the Ship Assembler sits alongside other unit assemblers that specialize in tanks and mechs; it is intended to be integrated into larger production lines that supply the constant item and resource throughput the assembler demands.

Use Ship Assemblers as the endpoint of a dedicated supply chain and integrate them with the payload block suite and unit-handling infrastructure:

• Feed the assembler with the full required input rates (150/sec and 12/sec) to avoid stalls; its build times assume those inputs are continuously supplied.
• Place Payload Loaders, Unloaders, and Payload Mass Drivers around assemblers when you need to transport completed unit payloads across a base or between planets. Payload Mass Drivers and their improved variants can move or shoot payloads to other locations.
• Use Payload Sorters and distributors to split and route unit payloads. A forward-moving payload block can shuttle payloads along belts, while a three-way distributor can act as a sorter for different deployment lines.
• The Deconstructor and its improved counterpart can break down payloads and return their item cost in full or slightly faster, respectively; this is useful for reclaiming resources from unwanted unit payloads or for reusing expensive components.
• When building bases on Serpulo-style maps, remember that unit payloads are the practical payload type to work with there; general payload blocks are organized around unit payload handling in that context.

Integration notes and practical strategy:

• Group Ship Assemblers with the rest of your high-tier unit production (tank and mech assemblers) so shared supplies and logistics structures can be reused.
• Because production is relatively slow per unit (tens to hundreds of seconds), maintain buffer storage and use distributors or mass drivers to queue or stage assembled units for rapid deployment during attacks.
• If you must reclaim or repurpose a payload, route it through a Deconstructor to recover its full item cost or through the improved Deconstructor for faster reclamation.
• Consider redundant supply lines or parallel assemblers if you need a sustained high tempo of ship production for large-scale naval operations.

Ship Assembler is therefore a specialized end-stage building in the unit production chain: it converts sustained inputs into high-tier ship units and is best used where dedicated logistics and payload systems can reliably feed and redistribute those units.