Sky Hydroponics Lab (SMAC)

Sky Hydroponics Lab
Requires	Orbital Spaceflight
Cost	12 rows
Maintenance cost	0
Effects	+1 satellite Nutrient at each base.

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"Sky farms are fantastically beautiful, with their kilometer long networks of glass framed in grids of metal, and the sunlight shining through jungles of vegetation inside. When one of them catches the light, you can see the refracted beauty for miles; they are life-giving stars on a desolate planet … gardens on the wing."
– Lady Deidre Skye, "Planet Dreams"

Sky Hydroponics Lab is a base facility in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.

Strategy

Each of your bases produces +1 additional nutrient per turn for each satellite built. This bonus is halved for bases without Aerospace Complexes and cannot exceed the size of the base in any case. You can build any number of satellites, for a cumulative bonus at every base. This makes them much more useful for larger factions than for smaller ones, as the cost is the same no matter how many bases you have to benefit from them.

These are the first of the satellite types to become available, in the middle phase of the game. If you want to use the satellite strategy, get the Cloudbase Academy if at all possible because it will almost double the effect of your entire satellite constellation. If you can't do this, then you will need to build aerospace complexes at as many bases as you reasonably can. Of course, the more satellites you have up, the bigger the payoff for each aerospace complex you build. Don't bother building one or two satellites and then stopping. Instead, if you're going to put up satellites at all then plan to keep going until you have 4-6 of each type. A large faction with a large constellation of satellites is well positioned for world dominance.

The primary effect of the sky hydroponics labs will be to increase the growth rate of your bases by increasing their nutrient production. They will also cushion your bases against adverse events such as planet blight. Finally, whenever you capture an enemy base it will immediately start getting this nutrient bonus, allowing it to more quickly recover from the population loss inherent in warfare (especially if you use aerial bombing campaigns against enemy farms as part of your war strategy).