American A Weapons Factory and Ship Yards are required in order to build ships, as are supplies of the relevant ores and enough money in the Vehicles fund. Click on the building to access the Ship Yards. Click on the Build icon to access the Construction menu. Small craft can be constructed in the Ship Yards: Scoutships, Combat Eagles and Assault Fighters. The Scoutships are immediately necessary, in order for you to locate and prospect other asteroids. All available ship types have a number of hardpoints, that is points to which weapons and/or shielding can be attached. To attach a weapon or defensive shield to your craft, click on the item required and then click on the hardpoint. If you change your mind, click again on the hardpoint to remove the item, and replace it with another. Any combination of ships can be built at one time. The number of any particular ship on order can also be decreased. Once you have decided what to construct, click on Return or right-click to return to the Ship Yard screen. The ships on order are displayed here with their time to construction, along with any messages telling you that you need more ores, or more money in the Vehicles fund, or that there is currently insufficient labor to complete the project. It is possible to cancel construction orders from here also, but it is only possible to cancel an order before construction of that particular ship has begun. It is worth checking the Ship Yards every now and again to see if construction is being held up for any reason. However, if you have hired a Colony Supervisor, they can be ordered to inform you of any problems. Only the smaller craft can be constructed in the Ship Yards; larger fighters are built in the Orbital Space Dock, constructed through the Command Center. Only one Orbital Dock can be built per asteroid. This works in a similar way to the Ship Construction; the Orbital Dock requires money in the Vehicles fund and high levels of certain ores, so it is wise to make sure you have these available before commencing construction. And here is one we built earlier! Click on the Orbital View icon to see the Dock, and also to see any larger craft you have built, and the Federal Ore Transporter when it arrives. Click on the Dock to access the construction facilities there. TetraCorp have provided you with the blueprints for Transporters and Destructors: any other blueprints must be purchased from Sci-Tek. Construction of these craft works in the same way as the terrestrial Ship Yards; completed ships will appear to the side of the Orbital Dock and will orbit the colony until given new orders or assigned to a fleet. This is the game arena; click on the Asteroid View Screen icon for a close-up view of your asteroid. This will take you to the surface of whichever asteroid is currently highlighted. Before you can build anything, you must allocate money to the Construction Fund. When you buy items from Sci-Tek or from black market traders, the cost will be deducted from the Money budget. Any money you receive during the game, from selling ores to the Federation or trading on the black market, will also be credited here. You can then allocate it to the Construction fund, for buildings; Vehicles, for constructing ships, the Orbital Dock and Spy Satellites; Missiles, for missiles; and Personnel, to pay your Colony Supervisors, security and agents. Allocating money is done by clicking and dragging right on the fund you want your money in.