shipbuilding Tech Comparison
Capital Yards vs Rapid Fabrication
Comparing the Capital Yards (Tier 3) and Rapid Fabrication (Tier 2), both shipbuilding technologies in Starforge MMO. Use this to decide which to queue first when your research lab can only run one project at a time.
Research Comparison
| Attribute | Capital Yards | Rapid Fabrication |
|---|---|---|
| Tier | T3 | T2 |
| Research time | 24 | 9▼ |
| metal cost | 60,000 | 12,000▼ |
| crystal cost | 30,000 | 6,000▼ |
| Effect | enables capital class: true | +20% -ship build time |
▼ marks the lower resource / time cost. Cheaper isn't always better — weigh it against the effect each tech unlocks.
Capital Yards
Enables construction of capital ships.
Unlocks buildings: capital shipyard
Unlocks ships: frigate mk1, hauler mk1
Requires: shipbuilding 2
Rapid Fabrication
Parallel nanofab bays reduce all ship build times by an additional 20%.
Unlocks buildings: nanofab bay
Requires: shipbuilding 1
Which Should You Research First?
The Rapid Fabrication is the lower-tier prerequisite step and typically comes first in the shipbuilding branch, opening the path toward Capital Yards.