abstract
| - The Mass fabricator is an economic unit. In Supreme Commander, Mass Fabricators employ the principles of mass-energy equivalence to create mass out of energy. The energy costs are, naturally, very great, so mass fabricators (often contracted to "Mass Fabs") are generally used when the limit on the mass obtainable by conventional means has been reached. Gameplay changes in Forged Alliance have deterred the use of mass fabricators as an economic staple. Mass fabricators can be first constructed upon reaching tech level 2, instead of early construction by tech 1 engineers. The production and energy costs have been raised, while the mass output has been cut in half, making turtling more difficult and forcing the player into territory control battles for access to more efficient mass extractors. The fact that Fabricators can be built almost anywhere allows you to use them to give factories bonuses. However their power requirements means that you need a large number of power plants. Make sure you have plenty of power before building them, and putting them next to tech 3 power plants makes it easier to maintain them. You need two tech 2 powerplants for one tech 3 fabricator. Because of their sheer inefficiency, Fabricators should only be constructed when all other methods of improving mass production have been exhausted- all Mass Extractors should be upgraded to T3 and surrounded with Mass Storage and all large stores of reclaimable mass should be utilized first.
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