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The refinery is the resource processing center of the Beta and the Humans.

Easily the second most important building in any base, the refineries are the processing buildings for the energy produced and gathered by the extractor, which is placed over a catalyst site. The refinery automatically collects and processes catalyst using automatic harvesters.

Overview[]

Once a refinery is placed, the player can place a corresponding extractor for free on any catalyst field. Each refinery has one extractor, which can be replaced at any time. Replacing the extractor destroys the existing one.

Once both the refinery and extractor are complete, the refinery automatically produces harvesters, which travel to the corresponding extractor, collect catalyst, and return it to the refinery. Beta harvesters are more frequent, but carry less catalyst, than Human harvesters (both factions collect at the same overall rate).

The refinery produces one harvester every 15 seconds (Beta) or 20 seconds (Human), regardless of how far the refinery is from the extractor. This means that the further away a refinery is, the more harvesters will be out at the same time, so the collection rate is the same, irrespective of distance. This is different to harvesters in other RTS games where the distance to the extractor decreases the collection rate.

The amount of catalyst carried by each harvester depends on the yield of the catalyst field the extractor was placed on:

  • On an 8/s field, harvesters carry 120 (Beta) or 160 (Human) units.
  • On a 10/s spigot, harvesters carry 150 (Beta) or 200 (Human) units.
  • On a 13/s spigot, harvesters carry 195 (Beta) or 260 (Human) units.

Assuming the harvesters' journey is uninterrupted by the enemy, this guarantees the player the specified income per second, which is reflected in the UI once the first harvester arrives back at the refinery.

If the player’s catalyst stores are full, refineries stop sending harvesters.

Harvesters can take damage from enemy attacks. Harvesters are fully healed upon entering a refinery or extractor. If a harvester dies, it will automatically be replaced by the refinery. Harvesters that die on the way back to the refinery explode, dealing AoE damage to all nearby units (friend and enemy). If the refinery is destroyed or sold, all harvesters belonging to that refinery immediately die (harvesters on the way back explode).

Tips[]

  • There are two main advantages to placing refineries as close as possible to the extractor:
    • The refinery will not start producing income until the first harvester completes a round trip, so long-distance refineries have a longer setup time.
    • Leaving a large distance between the refinery and extractor leaves harvesters vulnerable to enemy attacks.
  • Beta players should usually place a small hub with a refinery right next to the extractor to minimize the mining distance. Human players must either build a conduit grid to the extractor (which is not always possible), or resort to long-distance mining.
  • If a Beta or Human opponent is long-distance mining, continually attacking their harvesters is a good way to stifle their economy. Each destroyed harvester denies 120--195 (Beta) or 160--260 (Human) units of catalyst.

See also[]

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