[ Zone Upgrades, Economics, Rules ]

Planets and moons, and some other objects, have Zones. Zones represent large area's on which construction can take place. When used, a zone is devoted to a specific purpose, such as producing Raw Materials (called First Tier Zones) or Products (called Second Tier Zones) or Special Goods (usually Third Tier Zones). Other uses for zones are support or industry augmentation.

Zones contain not only the factories and mines necessary for construction, but also include housing, support services and the likes. Zones are mostly self-sufficient though certain zones require raw materials be delivered there to process. Second Tier Zones process raw materials and Third Tier Zones can process a combination of raw materials and products.

A zone does not actually have to represent a specifically set aside area - it may be many small area's or it may be mixed with other zones. It is an abstract representation of reality, not a binding model by which planets must be built.

You can construct or refurbish zones by spending . You can only have a single zone construction project per planet, but you are allowed to start the next one in the same turn you finish the previous one (as per Completions).

A normal zone costs 2000 to build and 1000 to upgrade with Improved Production. On a planet with Natural Life, this is reduced by half, 1000 to build and 500 to upgrade with Improved Production. The Natural Flight Racial Characteristic may further reduce the cost of building (but not upgrading with Improved Production).

You can upgrade zones with Zone Upgrades. Upgrading a zone counts as zone construction for the purposes of Completions.

It is possible to take advantage of existing infrastructure if a zone has to be refurbished to another zone type. However, because of the reuse of existing infrastructure, a zone can only be refurbished if:

• the new zone is an industry zone
• the old zone is already developed

The cost for reassigning a zone to another type will be 500, cut in half on planets with Natural Life to 250. The Natural Flight racial characteristic does not apply in this case.

If a zone had any upgrades which are unique to this zone type (for example because the required technology is not available for the new product or because the upgrade only exists for the former zone type) the upgrade is lost. In other cases, the cost of reassigning the zone will cost an additional 500 (or 250 with Natural Life) after which the upgrades are also applied. Note that the full combined cost must be paid before the zone is switched.

If the zone was specialised for the old zone type, you will lose the corporation bonus to production and the corporate headquarters will no longer generate income for the zone. You are allowed to specialise the changed zone as per the normal rules afterwards abeit with a different corporation.

Example 1: A player wishes to upgrade a zone on a planet without Natural Life from a zone to a zone. The cost of this upgrade is 500.

Example 2: A player wishes to upgrade an specialised upgraded zone on a planet with Natural Life to a zone. The cost of this upgrade is 250 + 250 = 500 and the will immidiately count as upgraded when finished, but it will no longer receive double income from being specialised.

Note: Specials such as Chthonian planet, Ancient Ruins or Retrograde Orbit do not allow you to change the type of bonus you receive when you change the production of the zone. For this reason, the same will hold for the Jackpot Special. Thus, you cannot change the bonus and altering the type of a zone from one raw material to another, you will lose the Jackpot special production bonus.

By default Zones are capable of producing a baseline of 100 of a resource. Various modifiers such as those from upgrades, population, from planetary orbit and climate or from various special conditions may increase this further.

Beyond this, zones can be upgraded to increase their basic production. The upgrade Improved Production adds 50 production. By default, a zone may be upgraded only once.

Additionally, production across an entire planet can be increased by adding Augmentation Zones to a planet. Augmentation Zones are dedicated to a single product or raw material and increase the production of all zones that produce this type of good by +15. You may have multiple Augmentation Zones per planet. These can either affect different products or raw materials or they may affect the same product or raw materials. The effects stack.

Other possible sources for production bonuses are: Atmospheres, Climates, Specials, racial bonuses or planetary focus.

Developing zones improves a worlds planetary defenses. For every three developed zones on the world it gains a +● in every ring of defense.

Industry zones are zones that produce goods, either by creating them, or by processing other goods. Industry Zones are divided into groups, or tiers, based on the zone's place in the economy. Each higher tier uses goods produced by a lower tier. For example, The Healthcare Products Zone is a Second Tier zone, as it depends only on the First Tier goods and .

→ read more... (or go to First Tier Zones, Second Tier Zones or Third Tier Zones)

Support zones are zones that do not produce goods, but instead provide features, infrastructure and services necessary to keep the economy running.

→ read more...

Augmentation zones are zones that directly influence other zones. Augmentation Zones are dedicated to a single product or raw material and increase the production of all zones that produce this type of good by +15. You may have multiple Augmentation Zones per planet. These can either affect different products or raw materials or they may affect the same product or raw materials. The effects stack.

→ read more...