Mechanic · simulation · real-time strategy

Construction

How a game builds a structure or unit over time and charges for it.

stubAlso: base building, build queue, production, building productionUpdated 2026-10-22
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  2. Games
  3. References
  4. Sources

Construction is the clock and the bill for a new structure or unit. In Dune II a builder pays a share of the cost on each tick of progress, so a build pauses when its owner runs out of credits1. A computer house builds slower in early missions2, and its construction yard builds only the structures it has lost3.

  • Pay as builtDune II (1992). A builder pays cost ÷ build time each structure tick and waits when the money runs out; the computer builds slower early and only rebuilds what it lost.1,2,3Command & Conquer (1995). A factory pays in 108 installments over a time set by the item's cost and the house's power; a human player's extra factories speed it up.4

See also

Lineage

Games

GameYearHowNote
Factorio2016construction robots build the ghosts a blueprint lays down, and rebuild what is destroyed
Dune II1992Pay as builta builder pays cost ÷ build time each structure tick and waits when the money runs out; the computer builds slower early and only rebuilds what it lost
Command & Conquer1995Pay as builta factory pays in 108 installments over a time set by the item's cost and the house's power; a human player's extra factories speed it up
Infiniminer2009Pay up fronta block's whole price in ore leaves the builder's pocket the moment it's placed
Every claim about this mechanic, by game (11)
Dune II 1992A factory or construction yard counts a build down from 256 × the item's build time. On each structure tick, every 30 game-timer ticks at normal game speed, a builder at full health takes 256 off the count (less for a computer house; dune2/ai-build-speed) and pays the build cost ÷ build time, carrying fractions of a credit in 1/256ths; a damaged builder takes off and pays only its share of full health (hit points × 256 ÷ maximum) each tick. When its owner can't pay a tick's share, the build waits, and a player's build goes on hold with a message. Computed: at full health an item takes its build time in structure ticks and costs about its build cost, which OpenDUNE's 60 Hz game timer makes half a second per unit of build time at normal speed.Code
A computer house builds at no more than (20 × mission index + 95)/256 of full speed, where the first mission is index 0, and pays per tick in the same proportion. Computed: 95/256, about 37%, in the first mission, rising to 255/256 in the ninth.Code
A computer house's construction yard builds only structures the house has lost. Removing a structure records its type and position in the first free of five slots per house; while the house's AI is active and it has credits, an idle yard builds the first recorded type it can build, places the finished structure at once at the recorded position, and clears the slot. If no slot matches or placement fails at every match, the house gets the cost back and the structure is dropped.Code
Command & Conquer 1995In the remaster's code, a factory splits every build into 108 steps and pays in installments: each step costs the unpaid balance ÷ the steps left, and when the house can't pay it, the step is undone and the factory tries again at the next one. The build time in game ticks starts as the item's cost in credits, grows when the house's power fraction is below full (× 256/171), below half (× 256/103), or zero (× 4), and is divided by 108 into ticks per step (1 to 255). A human player's factory runs its step timer once per factory of that kind the house owns each tick; the code's comment says this acceleration "applies only to human players". Computed: for a human player's structure from one factory at full power, an item costing C credits takes 108 × ⌊C ÷ 108⌋ ticks, at least 108 and at most 27,540. Dune II also pays as it builds, but each tick costs cost ÷ build time, and a player's build goes on hold when the money runs out.Code
Infiniminer 2009In Infiniminer v1.5 the construction gun reaches 6 blocks along the player's view and puts the block in the last empty cell before the first solid one it meets. It fails when nothing is in reach, when the player carries less ore than the block costs, when a player stands in the cell (at feet or head height), at the map's edge, or when the surface aimed at is lava. On success it takes the whole cost from the player's ore; a sandbox server charges nothing.Code
In Infiniminer v1.5 a solid block or a road costs 10 ore; a translucent block, a jump block, or a ladder 25; a bank, a beacon, or a shock block 50; and an explosive 100.Code
Factorio 2016Construction robots build a ghost when its materials are in the logistic network and robots are free, or, for a player wearing a personal roboport and carrying construction robots, when the player has the materials. A ghost the player placed lasts for ever; one left by a destroyed building lasts a week of game time.Wiki
A recipe's time (energy_required, 0.5 s when unset) is its seconds at crafting speed 1, and a machine divides it by its crafting speed: at speed 0.5 a 1-second recipe takes 2 seconds, at speed 2 half a second.Publisher
Assembling machines 1, 2 and 3 craft at speeds 0.5, 0.75 and 1.25, drawing 75, 150 and 375 kW, with 0, 2 and 4 module slots. Machine 1 takes neither module nor beacon effects and can't craft recipes with fluids; machines 2 and 3 add the fluid category.Code
The player can craft by hand only recipes in the "crafting" category (and the hand-only "hand-crafting" one): nothing smelted, nothing with a fluid, and none of the advanced-crafting recipes such as the engine unit.Code
The player always crafts at speed 1. Asking for an item whose parts are missing but craftable queues those parts first (chain-crafting), which assembling machines don't do.Wiki

References

  1. ^ abA factory or construction yard counts a build down from 256 × the item's build time. On each structure tick, every 30 game-timer ticks at normal game speed, a builder at full health takes 256 off the count (less for a computer house; dune2/ai-build-speed) and pays the build cost ÷ build time, carrying fractions of a credit in 1/256ths; a damaged builder takes off and pays only its share of full health (hit points × 256 ÷ maximum) each tick. When its owner can't pay a tick's share, the build waits, and a player's build goes on hold with a message. Computed: at full health an item takes its build time in structure ticks and costs about its build cost, which OpenDUNE's 60 Hz game timer makes half a second per unit of build time at normal speed.CodeOpenDUNE
    How we know
    1665		s->countDown = oi->buildTime << 8;
    src/structure.c line 1665 at ebea79a · upstream ↗
    68		s_tickStructureStructure = g_timerGame + Tools_AdjustToGameSpeed(30, 15, 60, true);
    src/structure.c lines 66–69 at ebea79a · upstream ↗
    175				if (!s->o.flags.s.onHold && s->countDown != 0 && s->o.linkedID != 0xFF && s->state == STRUCTURE_STATE_BUSY && si->o.flags.factory) {
    src/structure.c line 175 at ebea79a · upstream ↗
    188					buildSpeed = 256;
189					if (s->o.hitpoints < si->o.hitpoints) {
190						buildSpeed = s->o.hitpoints * 256 / si->o.hitpoints;
⋮
198					buildCost = oi->buildCredits * 256 / oi->buildTime;
⋮
201						buildCost = buildSpeed * buildCost / 256;
⋮
208					buildCost += s->buildCostRemainder;
⋮
210					if (buildCost / 256 <= h->credits) {
211						s->buildCostRemainder = buildCost & 0xFF;
212						h->credits -= buildCost / 256;
⋮
215							s->countDown -= buildSpeed;
    src/structure.c lines 188–215 at ebea79a · upstream ↗
    265						/* Out of money means the building gets put on hold */
266						if (s->o.houseID == g_playerHouseID) {
267							s->o.flags.s.onHold = true;
    src/structure.c lines 264–269 at ebea79a · upstream ↗
    1168	Timer_Add(Timer_Tick, 1000000 / 60, false);
    src/opendune.c line 1168 at ebea79a · upstream ↗
    364	if ((s_timersActive & TIMER_GAME) != 0) g_timerGame++;
    src/timer.c line 364 at ebea79a · upstream ↗

    Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-22.

    Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-22.

    In the claim ledger

  2. ^ abA computer house builds at no more than (20 × mission index + 95)/256 of full speed, where the first mission is index 0, and pays per tick in the same proportion. Computed: 95/256, about 37%, in the first mission, rising to 255/256 in the ninth.CodeOpenDUNE
    How we know
    193					/* For AIs, we slow down building speed in all but the last campaign */
194					if (g_playerHouseID != s->o.houseID) {
195						if (buildSpeed > g_campaignID * 20 + 95) buildSpeed = g_campaignID * 20 + 95;
⋮
201						buildCost = buildSpeed * buildCost / 256;
    src/structure.c lines 193–202 at ebea79a · upstream ↗
    295			g_campaignID++;
    src/opendune.c lines 288–295 at ebea79a · upstream ↗
    931	g_campaignID = 0;
    src/opendune.c line 931 at ebea79a · upstream ↗

    Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-22.

    Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-22.

    In the claim ledger

  3. ^ abA computer house's construction yard builds only structures the house has lost. Removing a structure records its type and position in the first free of five slots per house; while the house's AI is active and it has credits, an idle yard builds the first recorded type it can build, places the finished structure at once at the recorded position, and clears the slot. If no slot matches or placement fails at every match, the house gets the cost back and the structure is dropped.CodeOpenDUNE
    How we know
    1338	for (i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
1339		if (h->ai_structureRebuild[i][0] != 0) continue;
1340		h->ai_structureRebuild[i][0] = s->o.type;
1341		h->ai_structureRebuild[i][1] = packed;
    src/structure.c lines 1338–1342 at ebea79a · upstream ↗
    1993	if (s->o.type == STRUCTURE_CONSTRUCTION_YARD) {
1994		for (i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
1995			type = h->ai_structureRebuild[i][0];
    src/structure.c lines 1993–2003 at ebea79a · upstream ↗
    308				/* AI maintenance on structures */
309				if (h->flags.isAIActive && s->o.flags.s.allocated && s->o.houseID != g_playerHouseID && h->credits != 0) {
⋮
316					if (si->o.flags.factory && s->countDown == 0 && s->o.linkedID == 0xFF) {
317						uint16 type = Structure_AI_PickNextToBuild(s);
    src/structure.c lines 308–319 at ebea79a · upstream ↗
    240								/* The AI places structures which are operational immediately */
⋮
247									if (!Structure_Place(ns, h->ai_structureRebuild[i][1])) continue;
⋮
254								/* If the AI no longer had in memory where to store the structure, free it and forget about it */
⋮
258									h->credits += nsi->o.buildCredits;
    src/structure.c lines 240–261 at ebea79a · upstream ↗

    Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-22.

    Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-22.

    In the claim ledger

  4. ^In the remaster's code, a factory splits every build into 108 steps and pays in installments: each step costs the unpaid balance ÷ the steps left, and when the house can't pay it, the step is undone and the factory tries again at the next one. The build time in game ticks starts as the item's cost in credits, grows when the house's power fraction is below full (× 256/171), below half (× 256/103), or zero (× 4), and is divided by 108 into ticks per step (1 to 255). A human player's factory runs its step timer once per factory of that kind the house owns each tick; the code's comment says this acceleration "applies only to human players". Computed: for a human player's structure from one factory at full power, an item costing C credits takes 108 × ⌊C ÷ 108⌋ ticks, at least 108 and at most 27,540. Dune II also pays as it builds, but each tick costs cost ÷ build time, and a player's build goes on hold when the money runs out.CodeC&C Remastered source · OpenDUNE
    How we know
    97			STEP_COUNT=108			// Number of steps to break production down into.
    TIBERIANDAWN/FACTORY.H line 97 at f1f0d42 · upstream ↗
    238		**	Determine the acceleration factor for factory production.
239		**	This applies only to human players. The computer builds
⋮
243		if (Object && House->IsHuman) {
⋮
258					stages = House->BuildingFactories;
⋮
261			stages = MAX(stages, 1);
    TIBERIANDAWN/FACTORY.CPP lines 238–261 at f1f0d42 · upstream ↗
    265		for (int index = 0; index < stages; index++) {
266			if (!Has_Completed() && Graphic_Logic()) {
⋮
269				int cost = Cost_Per_Tick();
⋮
279				if (cost > House->Available_Money()) {
280					Set_Stage(Fetch_Stage()-1);
281				} else {
282					House->Spend_Money(cost);
283					Balance -= cost;
    TIBERIANDAWN/FACTORY.CPP lines 265–296 at f1f0d42 · upstream ↗
    724		int steps = STEP_COUNT - Fetch_Stage();
725		if (steps) {
726			return(Balance / steps);
    TIBERIANDAWN/FACTORY.CPP lines 720–728 at f1f0d42 · upstream ↗
    402		Balance = object.Cost_Of() * house.CostBias;
    TIBERIANDAWN/FACTORY.CPP line 402 at f1f0d42 · upstream ↗
    544				time = Object->Class_Of().Time_To_Build(House->Class->House);
⋮
549			time /= STEP_COUNT;
550			time = Bound(time, 1, 255);
⋮
552			Set_Rate(time);
    TIBERIANDAWN/FACTORY.CPP lines 543–553 at f1f0d42 · upstream ↗
    296	int time = Raw_Cost();
⋮
334	int power = hptr->Power_Fraction();
335	int inv_scale(256);
336	if (power == 0x000) {
337		inv_scale = 64;
⋮
339	else if (power < 0x080) {
340		inv_scale = 103;
⋮
342	else if (power < 0x0100) {
343		inv_scale = 171;
⋮
345	time = (time * 256) / inv_scale;
    TIBERIANDAWN/TECHNO.CPP lines 291–345 at f1f0d42 · upstream ↗
    72			if (Rate) {
73				StageTimer--;
74				if (!StageTimer) {
75					Stage++;
76					StageTimer = Rate;
    TIBERIANDAWN/STAGE.H lines 71–77 at f1f0d42 · upstream ↗
    198					buildCost = oi->buildCredits * 256 / oi->buildTime;
⋮
210					if (buildCost / 256 <= h->credits) {
    src/structure.c lines 188–215 at ebea79a · upstream ↗
    265						/* Out of money means the building gets put on hold */
266						if (s->o.houseID == g_playerHouseID) {
267							s->o.flags.s.onHold = true;
    src/structure.c lines 264–269 at ebea79a · upstream ↗

    Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-22.

    Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-22.

    In the claim ledger

Sources

Code