Monument Top

Monument Top is the uppermost segment of the Great Monument, a late-game decorative structure built in three parts: Monument Base, Monument Midsection, and Monument Top. When all three pieces are assembled, the structure becomes a Great Monument and serves as a statement of ownership over the asteroid. As with the rest of the monument, it is a special building rather than a standard construction piece, and its behavior is tied to the completed set as much as to the individual segment.

The material used to build Monument Top affects its stats differently from most buildings. Steel and Diamond provide additional overheat temperature bonus, and Diamond also grants an extra decor bonus. Because of this, the effective values end up at 2400 °C overheat temperature and +20 decor. In practice, however, once the Great Monument is fully completed, Monument Top becomes part of the finished monument and its own decor bonus and radiation radius are set to 0, so it will not appear as a separate decor source in the completed structure.

There is an important construction quirk: Monument Top only needs to be built on Monument Midsection and does not strictly require Monument Base to be present at the moment of completion. If you build the base, then the midsection, then remove the base before placing the top, the result is not considered a complete Great Monument. In that case, Monument Top retains a decor bonus of +12. This makes it possible to place the top before the monument is fully assembled, but the finished monument state is what removes its standalone benefit.

The completed monument also has a reversible behavior tied to demolition order. If Monument Base is removed first after completion, Monument Top’s decor bonus and radiation radius are restored. If Monument Midsection is removed first, they are not restored. This makes the order in which the monument is dismantled relevant if you want to preserve the top’s individual stats for as long as possible.

Monument Top’s melt point is determined by Glass. If it is melted down, the Diamond and Steel used in it are converted into the corresponding mass of Molten Glass.