Buildings are structures which develop your planets and moons. Each planet has a specific number of “Fields”, or spaces where buildings can be constructed; The larger the planet, the more fields it contains. Each level of each building occupies one field. A planet is “full” when there are no more empty fields on which to build. For an overview of what to build in the beginning, see the Quick Start Guide.
Construction of a building uses some of your resources (metal, crystal, and deuterium). The cost of a building depends on its level and the base cost of the specific building – each level of a building increases in cost. Construction can only be started if your planet has enough resources to build it. You can add additional buildings to your “construction queue”, but only one building can be built at a time. The resources needed for each building are deducted from your planet’s reserves when construction starts. Construction times are reduced by building Robotics Factories and Nanite Factories.
In addition to the cost of buildings, some facilities also require the existence of other specific buildings and/or the researching of certain technologies. See the Technology Tree for the requirements for certain buildings.
It is possible to cancel the production of a building before it is completed (tap “cancel” beside item in the construction queue). When it is canceled, the resources that had been subtracted from the planet are given back. This can be used as a method for saving resources in the event of an attack. It is possible to save a limited amount of resources from plunder by first starting a production of a building and then cancelling it when the attack is over.
Completed buildings on a planet or moon can be also deconstructed, which frees up the space it had occupied. To destroy a building, tap the “i” info symbol on the building’s icon in the production screen, and select “destroy”.