Manifold

Manifold is a non-combat support unit associated with Unit Cargo Loader infrastructure. It has no special skills or status immunities and carries no weapons; its sole purpose is to transfer items between a single Unit Cargo Loader and one or more Unit Cargo Unload Points that have matching filters. A Manifold is bound to the specific Unit Cargo Loader that created it and does not persist independently.

A Manifold takes items only from the Unit Cargo Loader that constructed it. If that loader is deconstructed or destroyed, the Manifold immediately despawns. When pulling items, the Manifold selects the single item type that is currently most abundant inside its associated loader and attempts to take up to 100 of that item in one operation. For example, if the loader contains 125 pieces of Beryllium and 75 pieces of Surge Alloy, the Manifold will first take 100 Beryllium, then make a subsequent trip to take the remaining 25 Beryllium after handling the Surge Alloy.

After picking up items, the Manifold deposits them at Unit Cargo Unload Points whose filters accept the item it carries. If multiple unload points match, the Manifold cycles through them in order. When an unload point cannot accept the entire stack immediately (because it is full or otherwise unable to take the quantity), the Manifold will deposit as many items as possible and remain at that unload point until it successfully offloads all of its carried items.

• Manifold has no combat role: no weapons, no special abilities, and no status immunities.
• It is strictly paired to the Unit Cargo Loader that built it and will despawn instantly if that loader is removed.
• Item selection is determined by the single most abundant item type in the associated loader; the Manifold attempts to take up to 100 of that item per transfer.
• Deposits are made only to Unit Cargo Unload Points whose filters match the carried item; multiple matching unload points are visited in sequence.
• If an unload point cannot accept the full carried amount, the Manifold remains and continues depositing until its cargo is empty.

The Manifold’s entry is normally hidden in the game's core unit database. It can be revealed with the console command UnitTypes.manifold.hidden=false. The unit can also be made player-controllable via UnitTypes.manifold.playerControllable=true, though older builds of the game experienced crashes when player possession of Manifolds was enabled.