Tank Fabricator

The Tank Fabricator is a block that produces tanks and other vehicle units. It belongs to the family of unit-producing fabricators and refabricators and functions as a dedicated production building for armored units. The Tank Fabricator was added in Build 136; its power consumption was later reduced in Build 149 from 120 to 90 power units per second.

Like other unit fabricators, the Tank Fabricator can buffer materials to speed production and reduce starvation: it holds twice the items required to produce a single unit, which equates to 80 Beryllium and 100 Silicon in its internal storage. This allows short bursts of production without immediate resupply, but continuous output still depends on steady resource throughput.

Practical throughput relationships and setup notes:

• Beryllium supply: three tiles of unboosted Plasma Bores will support one Tank Fabricator but leave a small shortfall of 0.015/sec; plan slight overprovision or buffering to avoid occasional stalls.
• Silicon supply: one Silicon Arc Furnace supports three Tank Fabricators and produces an excess of 0.5/sec, making silicon less likely to bottleneck when fabricators are scaled in this ratio.
• Because unit fabricators draw large, intermittent quantities, it is recommended to split resource lines feeding the core and fabricators rather than funneling everything along a single shared line. Splitting reduces travel time and queuing at conveyors and helps keep the Tank Fabricator fed without starving the rest of the base.
• Use local buffering (e.g., small containers or dedicated junctions) to smooth arrival rates; the Tank Fabricator’s doubled internal input capacity synergizes with short-term buffers to maintain steady production during brief supply fluctuations.
• Given its significant power draw even after the Build 149 reduction, locate power generation nearby or ensure the grid can handle bursts of demand when multiple fabricators operate simultaneously.

Configure Tank Fabricators in clusters according to the above ratios and provide dedicated or well-buffered supply lines to achieve reliable, continuous vehicle production.