Settlement architecture received a top-to-bottom transformation in the Beacon update. Instead of passively waiting for random policy cards to rescue a struggling town, every single structure across your street now carries its own independent tier from C-class up to S-class. Floating holographic class badges hover above each roof and appear inside your Analysis Visor, letting you scan your skyline at a glance and spot exactly which unimproved C-class halls are dragging down your daily budget with heavy maintenance.
Upgrading individual buildings from C to S-class
Your town shares a single active construction or upgrade slot at a time, so starting one timer temporarily pauses other architectural work until the scaffolding comes down and you cut the completion ribbon. To upgrade an existing building, walk directly up to that specific structure's own exterior or doorway terminal rather than looking inside the Overseer's Office. Advancing a hall from C to B, B to A, and A to S-class consumes industrial trade goods, planetary alloys, and advanced electronics such as Enormous Metal Cogs, Non-Stick Pistons, Quantum Computers, Superconducting Fibre, Aronium, and Lemmium, followed by a short real-time build countdown and final reopening.
Veteran upgrade priority to crush starter debt
The golden rule for turning any newly claimed settlement profitable is upgrading your Farms (Agricultural Units) and Warehouses or Industrial Utility Modules from C-class straight to A-class and S-class before touching leisure halls. Each tier on a Farm or Warehouse delivers massive jumps in daily Productivity while trimming relative upkeep, rocketing net output past expenses so existing debt melts away automatically. Once net income is deeply positive, upgrade Saloons for Happiness and custom ByteBeat jukebox tracks, Marketplaces for Galactic Trade Terminals and expanded warehouse choices, Starship Docks for ship salvage and Multi-Tool cases, Towers for radar scans and Sentinel suppression, and Dwellings for Population.
Permanent footprints and base boundaries
Approved settlement buildings are permanent fixtures that can never be demolished or relocated once built, so skip duplicate low-value sheds when the Administration Terminal offers two blueprints and wait for core economic facilities if needed. Avoid squeezing a personal Base Computer right onto the edge of town to drop custom walls inside the street, because future settlement plot expansions spawn on fixed procedural sockets that clip straight through player-built floors without warning.