mass driver

The Mass Driver is a long-range item transport block that launches items as high-speed projectiles to a distant receiver. It functions as a point-to-point delivery system rather than a continuous conveyor: items placed into a Mass Driver are packed into a bolt and fired in a straight line toward a matching Mass Driver or through open space, allowing supplies to cross gaps, terrain, and enemy lines without physical conveyors. Mass Drivers are commonly used to bridge large distances, bypass chokepoints, and deliver resources to forward bases or production hubs.

Mass Drivers fire discrete bolts that carry one or more items; bolts travel at 41.25 tiles/second and can be intercepted by enemy units, force fields, or point-defense systems. If a bolt is intercepted or otherwise despawns, it deals 75 damage to the intercepting entity and all items contained in the bolt are voided. Bolts do not interact with ordinary blocks, so conveyors, walls, and buildings cannot stop or capture them. Depending on the transported item, the projectile can create an explosion, fire, or electrical effect on impact.

Throughput and operation details follow predictable mechanical limits. A single Mass Driver has an effective maximum throughput of 36 items/second when idealized (calculated as 120 shots per minute × 0.3 items per shot under the referenced timing assumptions). As with other transport systems, the overall throughput of a delivery network is constrained by the busiest driver in the chain; designers mitigate bottlenecks by branching chains of drivers or adding parallel launchers and receivers. The driver has a recoil animation and finite projectile travel time, both of which affect practical throughput when distances and firing cadence are considered.

Practical usage notes and tactics:

• Place a receiving Mass Driver or compatible catcher at the destination aligned with the firing direction; bolts require unobstructed line-of-fire to arrive intact. Receivers must face the incoming bolt vector.
• Use Mass Drivers to cross impassable terrain, water, or enemy fortifications where conveyors cannot be built. They are ideal for supplying remote outposts and resource islands.
• Protect bolts from interception over contested corridors: clear enemy units, disable enemy force fields, or route bolts along less-defended trajectories. Point-defense towers and mobile interceptors can reliably destroy incoming bolts and waste the sent items.
• Increase sustained throughput by running multiple Mass Drivers in parallel or branching sender chains so no single driver becomes the bottleneck.
• Expect special effects on impact depending on the item moved; design landing zones to tolerate or exploit explosions, fire, or electricity produced by delivered items.
• Remember that items in a destroyed bolt are permanently lost; avoid sending rare or high-value goods through exposed routes unless protected.
• Because bolts ignore blocks, you can fire over friendly structures without risk of accidental interception, but be mindful of allied force fields which will still stop and destroy bolts.