Overview

Build queues can now be auto filled by loading one of 11 configurable build lists, drastically reducing micromanagement. A build list is a plain text file containing a list of buildable items and can be viewed and edited with any plain text editor (like Notepad on Windows). Build lists can also contain commands which affect how the queue is updated.

..//img/build]-list.png[Build Queue

The lists are bound to keys Q and 0-9, the corresponding files being BUILD.CFG, BUILD0.CFG, …​, BUILD9.CFG. Keys can be used in the Build screen and in the Colonies screen. Used in the Colonies screen, the list’s contents will be loaded to only the highlighted colony’s queue, or in combination with the SHIFT key to all build queues. The default lists are as follows:

Shortcut

List file

The default action

Q

BUILD.CFG

merge buildings

0

BUILD0.CFG

clear the queue

1

BUILD1.CFG

prepend ship design 1

2

BUILD2.CFG

prepend ship design 2

3

BUILD3.CFG

prepend ship design 3

4

BUILD4.CFG

prepend ship design 4

5

BUILD5.CFG

prepend ship design 5

6

BUILD6.CFG

prepend ship design 6

7

BUILD7.CFG

prepend freighter

8

BUILD8.CFG

prepend spy

9

BUILD9.CFG

append housing

BUILD.CFG (Q) contains a reasonably ordered list of buildings and is set to merge by default. This should suffice for colony buildup in casual games against the AI.

Syntax

In this chapter config keyworks are highlighted.

The portion of a line starting with # is a comment and is ignored, blank lines are also ignored. Otherwise a build list is just a list of items separated by spaces or newlines. Each buildable item is either:

  • a product

  • a mode

  • a command

Products are:

  • buildings: any building name like automated_factory or hydroponic_farm. The correct spelling can be made from in-game English name by lowercasing and inserting _ instead of spaces. If you aren’t sure how to spell the name refer to the default BUILD.CFG which contains a full list of building names.

  • landers: colony_ship, outpost_ship, transport.

  • custom ships: design1, …​, design6.

  • droids: android_farmer, android_worker, android_scientist.

  • special products: spy, freighter_fleet, trade_goods, housing, repeat.

Modes affect how products are inserted. Modes are:

  • append — items are inserted at the end of the queue unless the queue is full. This mode is the default if you haven’t specified a mode.

  • prepend — items are inserted at the beginning of the queue unless the queue is full.

  • merge — items from the list already present in the queue will be rearranged in build list order. This mode is intended for inserting newly-researched buildings with proper priority.

Commands are:

buy

buy a current product regardless of build progress.

buy10%

buy a current product if it’s at least 1/10 built.

buy50%

buy a current product if it’s at least 1/2 built.

buy75%

buy a current product if it’s at least 3/4 built.

unbuy

unbuy the current product if it’s bought.

clear

clear the queue apart from bought prod and ships being refitted.

clear_refits

delete from the queue ships being refitted, except the bought ones.

stop

stop reading the file and apply the list, ignoring all text after the stop.

Examples

Append a transport to the queue:

transport

Or, which is the same:

append
transport

Insert a spy and a freighter in the beginning of queue (but not if bought prod is present):

prepend
spy
freighter_fleet

Remove everything from queue apart from bought prod and refits and add two android workers:

clear
android_worker
android_worker

Scrap absolutely everything in queue and build design 6 repeatedly:

unbuy
clear
clear_refits
design6
repeat

Insert research lab on a colony where automated factory is already built and insert both otherwise:

merge
automated_factory
research_lab

You can do a few special tricks using merge mode. The idea behind it is that merge changes only those slots, the products from which are on the list. So you can do ‘clear’ or ‘buy only’ for specific products. For example to remove only hydroponic farms and food replicators from the queue:

merge
hydroponic_farm
food_replicator
clear

And to buy only automated factory:

merge
automated_factory
buy