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Table of Contents
Torque Tycoon > Game Components
Projects
Projects are the permanent buildings that turn a commissioned Settlement into regional infrastructure. A Project is bought outright from cargo already lying in that Settlement's Reserve: starting it spends the Reserve and finishes the building in the same moment. There is no build time, so the whole decision is made before the first crate is flown.
Three separate things decide what a Settlement can hold.
- The Settlement level hands out build slots. The level itself occupies none.
- A build slot holds one building, which then grows through its own levels. An upgrade stays in the slot it already occupies.
- The perk is what the finished building does. Levels replace each other: level 2 states the final value, it is not added to level 1.
Build slots
Hub Projects, City Projects, Institutions and the Airfield Project draw from four separate pools, so a slot in one can never be spent on another.
| Pool | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hub - Hub Projects | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| City - City Projects | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| City - Institution seat | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Active airfield - Airfield Project | 1 | 1 | 1 |
A Hub is therefore a specialist and a City a centre: level 3 gives a Hub breadth, and a City the one seat that carries a server-wide Institution. Five of the six Hub Projects are exclusive per region, so the Hub slots of a region form one shared budget rather than several independent ones.
Conditions that apply to every Project
| Condition | What it means |
|---|---|
| Cargo in the Reserve | The full cost must lie in the Reserve of the Settlement that will host the building. Cargo belongs to the site it was delivered to and cannot be moved to another Settlement. |
| A free slot | A new building needs a free slot in its own pool. Upgrading a building that already stands needs none. |
| Exclusivity | A Project marked one per region cannot be built a second time in that region, but the Settlement that owns it may still upgrade it. |
| Supply and Trust | The Settlement needs Trust of at least 55% and a Food stock of at least 85% of its demand. This is why a Settlement in unrest cannot build. The Direction-Finding station is the only entry in the catalogue exempt from this gate. |
| Prerequisites | The per-level conditions listed below. An unmet prerequisite never hides a Project: the Projects radio menu prints it as plain text together with the current value, so the distance to buildability is always visible. |
The Reconstruction Fund takes one crate off every line of every Project requirement, never below one crate per line.
Reading the cost
Crates are not equal. The flights figure below counts every crate delivery behind a requirement, including the raw material flown into the Factories upstream. It is the honest price of a Project.
| Cargo | Production chain | Flights per delivered crate |
|---|---|---|
| Lumber | Logs into a Sawmill | 2 |
| Fuel | Oil into a Fuel Refinery | 2 |
| Steel | Iron Ore and Coal into a Steel Mill | 3 |
| Building Materials | Steel and Lumber into a Building Materials Plant | 6 |
| Industrial Parts | Steel and Building Materials into an Industrial Parts Works | 10 |
Hub Projects
| Project | Levels | Scope | Domain | First gate | Complete build |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Survey Station | 2 | One per region | Exploration | Settlement level 1 | 40 flights |
| Checkpoint | 3 | One per region | Security | Settlement level 1 | 122 flights |
| Maintenance Works | 3 | One per region | Production | Three commissioned Sources in the region | 124 flights |
| Dispatch Office | 3 | One per region | AI logistics | Settlement level 2, Security 75%, Trust 60% | 136 flights |
| Forward Airfield | 2 | Each Hub | Operations | Settlement level 2 | 104 flights per Hub |
Survey Station
| Level | Cost | Flights | Requirement | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 Lumber | 16 | Settlement level 1 | Tier 2 rumors unlock across this region: Iron Ore and Coal Sources, Steel Mill, Building Materials Plant. |
| 2 | 12 Lumber | 24 | Settlement level 2 | Tier 3 rumors unlock: Oil Sources, Fuel Refinery, Industrial Parts Works. |
A region without a Survey Station never sees anything beyond Lumber and Food, so every Steel line on this page has to be flown in from another region. Demolishing the station removes the tier access it granted.
Checkpoint
| Level | Cost | Flights | Requirement | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 Lumber + 4 Steel | 24 | Settlement level 1 | Regional Security +10 once, and a Security floor of 25%. |
| 2 | 8 Steel + 4 Fuel | 32 | Settlement level 2 | Regional Security +15 once, floor 40%. |
| 3 | 6 Steel + 6 Building Materials + 6 Fuel | 66 | Settlement level 3 | Regional Security +20 once, floor 55%. |
The Security bumps are one-off and cumulative, the floor is replacing: level 3 sets 55%, it does not add to 40%. A region starts a fresh world at 20% Security, so the complete ladder carries it to 65% and every point beyond that has to be won in the air. This is why the Dispatch Office's 75% gate cannot be reached by building alone. Checkpoints keep working during unrest.
Maintenance Works
| Level | Cost | Flights | Requirement | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 Lumber + 4 Steel | 28 | Three commissioned Sources in this region | Source production interval x0.85 region-wide: 180 s becomes 153 s. |
| 2 | 12 Steel | 36 | - | x0.75: 135 s. |
| 3 | 12 Steel + 4 Building Materials | 60 | - | x0.65: 117 s. |
The effect applies to every Source in the region, so its value scales with how many Sources the region actually has. However many effects apply, a Source never produces faster than half its base interval.
Dispatch Office
| Level | Cost | Flights | Requirement | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 Lumber + 6 Steel | 34 | Settlement level 2, regional Security at least 75%, this Settlement's Trust at least 60% | AI transports start supplying this region. They carry Food. |
| 2 | 10 Steel + 4 Fuel | 38 | - | One more simultaneous AI flight in this region. |
| 3 | 6 Building Materials + 4 Fuel + 2 Industrial Parts | 64 | - | Two more simultaneous AI flights, replacing the one from level 2, and AI transports also carry Lumber and Steel. |
Without a Dispatch Office a region receives no AI flights at all. Building Materials, Industrial Parts and Fuel are never carried by AI at any level. The 75% Security condition is checked when the office is built and never again: if Security later falls, the office keeps dispatching and its transports simply start getting intercepted. A Dispatch Office serves only its own region until the Air Logistics Command exists. It keeps working during unrest.
Forward Airfield
| Level | Cost | Flights | Requirement | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 Lumber + 6 Steel | 34 | Settlement level 2 | Rearm and refuel services at this Hub. |
| 2 | 6 Steel + 6 Building Materials + 8 Fuel | 70 | - | The Hub becomes a player start location. |
The only Hub Project that is local rather than regional, so it is the only one whose cost multiplies with the number of Hubs: a region with three Hubs pays three times for three airfields. Both services stop while the Hub is in unrest.
City Projects
| Project | Levels | Scope | Domain | Complete build |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civic Administration | 2 | One per City | Trust recovery | 76 flights |
| Civil Defense Office | 2 | One per City | Unrest containment | 84 flights |
| Regional Depot | 2 | One per City | Source storage | 94 flights |
No City Project has a prerequisite. The slot is the gate: a City holds one from level 1 and two from level 2, so it takes two of the three and permanently forgoes one. The three are priced within a few flights of each other on purpose, so the choice is about the region's weakness, not about the bill.
Civic Administration
| Level | Cost | Flights | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 Lumber + 4 Steel | 28 | Settlements in this region regain Trust 25% faster. |
| 2 | 12 Steel + 2 Building Materials | 48 | Trust recovery 50% faster. |
It multiplies the recovery rate that already follows from Food stock, so it is worth most where supply is good. It rewards keeping a region fed; it does not rescue a neglected one.
Civil Defense Office
| Level | Cost | Flights | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 Lumber + 6 Steel | 30 | Unrest spreading into this region does half the damage. |
| 2 | 10 Steel + 4 Building Materials | 54 | Unrest spreading in does a quarter of the damage. |
Inbound only. A Settlement of this region that falls into unrest of its own still drags on its neighbours.
Regional Depot
| Level | Cost | Flights | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 Lumber + 6 Steel | 34 | Every Source in this region holds 2 more crates: 4 becomes 6. |
| 2 | 12 Steel + 4 Building Materials | 60 | Every Source holds 4 more crates: 4 becomes 8. |
Crates left lying on a Source's pad still occupy its storage, so the extra space also buys off a Source blocked by its own uncollected output. Additional space is capacity, not additional stock after a restart. The perk pauses while the City is in unrest.
Airfield Project
Every active airfield holds one slot of its own for a Direction-Finding station. This pool is separate from Hubs and Cities, and it is the only part of the catalogue with no prerequisite and no Trust or supply gate: the cargo is the whole condition.
| Level | Station | Cost | Flights | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Loop Direction Finder | 8 Lumber | 16 | 40 km network radius. Airfields, Hubs and Cities can act as relay sensors. Detects AAA. |
| 2 | Adcock Direction Finder | 8 Steel | 24 | 55 km radius, Factories join the sensor pool, MANPADS and light camps become detectable. |
| 3 | Watson-Watt Direction Finder | 6 Industrial Parts | 60 | 70 km radius, Sources join the sensor pool, checkpoints become detectable. |
Each level also narrows the bearing cone it reports and the direction sector of a rumor anchored at that airfield. Upgrading clears the station's calibration, because the antenna has changed. The full mechanics are in Enemy Detection and A/N Direction Finding.
Settlement levels
The level sits outside every slot pool and is always available. It is what pays for the slots the tables above consume.
| Level | Cost | Flights | Food demand | What it opens |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | - | 12 crates | Reached by commissioning. First Hub or City Project slot. |
| 2 | 8 Lumber | 16 | 18 crates | Second slot, Survey Station level 2, Checkpoint level 2, and the gates of the Dispatch Office and Forward Airfield. |
| 3 | 10 Steel + 2 Building Materials | 42 | 24 crates | Third Hub slot, Checkpoint level 3, and a City's Institution seat. |
A level is not free after it is paid for: Food demand rises permanently, and the 85% supply gate that every later Project has to pass is measured against the new demand.
Unrest
A Settlement in unrest cannot start Projects, because its Trust is below the 55% build gate. What already stands keeps running, with three exceptions.
| Building | While its Settlement is in unrest |
|---|---|
| Forward Airfield | Rearm, refuel and the start location stop. |
| Regional Depot | The extra Source storage is withdrawn. |
| Survey Station | Shown as paused. Tier access the region has already unlocked is not withdrawn. |
| Checkpoint, Maintenance Works, Dispatch Office, Civic Administration, Civil Defense Office, Institutions | Keep working. |
Unrest halts growth, not rescue: the buildings a region needs in order to recover are exactly the ones that stay on.
Demolition
Demolition is what makes a slot a decision rather than a trap. It removes the whole building: the track drops to level 0, every level of it is gone, and the slot comes back free.
| Term | Value |
|---|---|
| Cost | As many Industrial Parts as the level currently standing cost in crates, minimum 1. A Checkpoint level 1 (10 crates) costs 10 Industrial Parts, a level 3 (18 crates) costs 18. |
| Cooldown | Four hours per Settlement, one demolition per window. |
| Returned | The build slot only. |
At 10 flights per Industrial Part this is deliberately steep - demolition is a correction, not a way to rotate buildings through a slot. The Public Works Office halves the cost rounded up, refunds half of everything ever invested in that building rounded down, and removes the cooldown.
Demolishing a Survey Station takes the region's tier access with it, and demolishing the last Dispatch Office in a region stops its AI flights.
Where to spend the first slots
- Survey Station first in almost every region. It is the cheapest building in the catalogue and the only one that unlocks the cargo the others are priced in.
- The Checkpoint is a prerequisite in disguise. It is the only regional source of Security, and the Dispatch Office's 75% gate cannot be approached without it.
- Maintenance Works pays per Source. In a Source-rich region its 35% is the largest throughput gain on the map; in a region with the bare minimum of three it barely repays 124 flights.
- The Dispatch Office is the only route to AI flights, and level 3 is what makes Lumber and Steel routine instead of hand-flown.
- The Forward Airfield competes with itself. It is per Hub, so every Hub that wants one spends its own slot and its own 104 flights.
- A City picks two of three. Civic Administration if the region loses Trust faster than it recovers, Civil Defense Office if the damage arrives from neighbours, Regional Depot if Sources sit full while nobody collects.
Current F10 and Live Map values take precedence over this page whenever balance values change.
