Launch Pad

The Advanced Launch Pad (Legacy) is a sector export building that sends items off-map as exports. It functions as a simple, dedicated outlet for surplus resources: you place items into its internal inventory and, after a short cooldown, the pad removes them from the sector and credits them as exported goods. The building belongs to the export infrastructure rather than the defensive or production chains and is used primarily to convert manufactured or mined items into export value.

Launch Pads consume items at a steady rate when operating at full efficiency. At base speed and without downtime, a single Advanced Launch Pad processes about 3.33 items per second, which equates to 200 items per minute added to the sector’s exports. This rate assumes the pad is cycling continuously with no wasted time during its cooldown windows. Launch Pads respond to Overdrive effects, so their throughput can be increased by Overdrive Projectors; this makes them useful targets for temporary production surges when you want to rapidly clear inventory into exports. Landing Pads (the counterpart used for incoming deliveries) are not affected by Overdrive.

Practical usage notes:

• Keep Launch Pads well supplied so they can run at maximum efficiency; interruptions during the cooldown cycle reduce effective export rate.
• Because Overdrive affects Launch Pads, placing an Overdrive Projector nearby or powering an Overdrive setup can significantly increase exported throughput for short bursts.
• Use Launch Pads to clear bottleneck inventories or to convert bulk-produced items into export income; they are best paired with automated conveyors, routers, and sorters feeding them continuously.
• The implementation name for the modern launch pad differs internally: the current in-game entity is referred to as advancedLaunchPad to avoid conflicts with the legacy Advanced Launch Pad from earlier versions (6.0–7.0).