shipbuilding Tech Comparison
Heavy Cruiser Armour III vs Rapid Fabrication
Comparing the Heavy Cruiser Armour III (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 | Heavy Cruiser Armour III | Rapid Fabrication |
|---|---|---|
| Tier | T3 | T2 |
| Research time | 6▼ | 9 |
| metal cost | 6,000▼ | 12,000 |
| crystal cost | 3,600▼ | 6,000 |
| Effect | unlock ship: iron-fortress | +20% -ship build time |
▼ marks the lower resource / time cost. Cheaper isn't always better — weigh it against the effect each tech unlocks.
Heavy Cruiser Armour III
Unlocks construction of the iron-fortress (cruiser class).
Unlocks ships: iron fortress
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 Heavy Cruiser Armour III.