Surge Tower

The Surge Tower is a block that functions as an adjustable connection node for nearby structures within a fixed radius, allowing the player to explicitly link and unlink blocks to control power or signal routing across a base. It operates by selecting individual blocks within its connection radius and toggling their association with that specific Surge Tower; it also provides a convenient planning behavior when multiple Surge Towers are placed in sequence.

Interacting with a Surge Tower is done through direct selection: click the Surge Tower, then click any block located within its effective range of 40 blocks to create a connection to that block. If the clicked block is already connected to that same Surge Tower, the action removes that connection instead. Clicking the Surge Tower itself again will clear all current connections assigned to it, offering a quick way to reset or reconfigure the tower’s linked network.

When laying out a chain of Surge Towers, the game’s placement planner attempts to space them approximately 40 blocks apart and to align the sequence in a straight line from the original tower toward the cursor’s current position. This automatic planning produces a linear string of towers between two points, simplifying the creation of long-distance connection corridors without manual placement of each tower. This straight-line planning behavior contrasts with the planner for some other blocks, which restricts placement to cardinal directions rather than along an arbitrary straight vector.

Practical notes and usage considerations:

• Use the click-to-toggle workflow to selectively connect only the structures you need within the 40-block radius; this enables fine-grained control over which generators, batteries, or buildings are routed through a given Surge Tower.
• The ability to clear all connections by clicking the tower itself is useful when repurposing or relocating a node: reset connections first, then reassign only the desired targets.
• When extending connections over long distances, place the first and target towers and let the planner populate intermediate towers — the planner’s straight-line spacing reduces manual alignment and ensures towers fall within mutual range.
• Because the planner targets a spacing equal to the Surge Tower’s radius, chains built via planning will maximize reach while minimizing the number of towers needed to bridge a gap.
• The planner’s straight-line behavior differs from blocks that snap to cardinal orientations; plan accordingly when integrating Surge Towers into base layouts that otherwise follow grid-aligned lanes.

These behaviors make the Surge Tower a useful tool for organized, scalable connection networks where selective linking and predictable spacing are important.