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*************************** Chapter 9 - Outposts ****************************
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Outposts are robotic mining facilities located on the surface of a
world. Each ship, colony, or ground party may control up to 6
outposts. Only one outpost may be located in any location (sector 
and square) and an outpost may not occupy the same location as a colony. 
To build an outpost requires 10 STRUCTURAL UNITS and 10 TU's.  Outposts 
without mines will automatically be removed from the game by the computer, 
so don't forget to transfer one to it.

Outpost Mining

The only purpose of an outpost is to mine an ore deposit.  During
weekly adjustments each outpost produces an amount of ore equal to
the yield of its deposit times the number of MINES located there.

Outpost Interactions

You can transfer MINES to and from an outpost.  You can also
pick-up stockpiled ore from the outpost. Each transaction 
costs 4 TU's. 

An outpost has no defenses of its own. Anyone can land and remove
items. In fact anyone at the same location can steal the outpost
away from the current owner simply by reprogramming the MINES.
This reprogramming takes 30 TU's.

Each time anyone interacts with an outpost the interaction is reported 
to the owner on his next printout.

Defending an Outpost

The square in which an outpost is located is considered to be the
property of the outpost owner. He has the right to attack any
unauthorized ship or ground party entering this location.  In high 
risk areas it may be wise to place a ground party in this square with 
an appropriate enemy list to defend an outpost.  Such a ground party 
need not process turns very often as long as it remains supported.

Since an outpost is not a position you cannot list its number on your 
defend list.  To protect it you must put appropriate affiliations 
on your enemy list.

Outpost and Colony RTS

A Robotic Transport System (RTS) is an automated method of moving
items between your colony and its outposts or to other colonies. 
(provided they are located on the same planet)

Constructing an RTS costs 10 TRANSPORT MODULES and creates an RTS 
with a 20 MU capacity. Once constructed, the capacity can be increased 
by 20 MU's for each TRANSPORT MODULE added to the RTS. RTS' connecting 
to outposts will operate automatically each week, delivering ore from 
the outpost back to the colony.

An RTS connected to an outpost is only able to transfer MINES from 
the colony to the outpost. 

You can also build up to 3 RTS' that connect to other colonies. An 
RTS connected to another colony allows you to perform transfers of 
items to the other colony by simply writing an XFER order. You may 
not transfer more MU's per week than the capacity of your RTS. Each 
RTS is a one-way system. Only the colony who built the RTS may use 
it to send items. 
