The buildings.xml configuration file contains configuration for settlement buildings. Buildings can be edited and new types of buildings can be defined here.

Each building is defined within "building" tags and must have a unique "name" attribute.

The "power-required" tag is required and describes the the buildings power requirements. The "base-power" attribute is the base-line power (kW) required by the building when it is fully powered, not including the additional power required for specific activities (such as life support). The "base-power-down-power" attribute is the base-line power (kW) required by the building when it is powered down.

Each building has a list of functions that the building is capable of performing. The "functions" tag is required, but it may be empty if the building performs no functions. A building can have any of the possible functions, but each function may only be listed in the "functions" tag once.

Here is a list of possible building functions and their details.

• life-support: This function indicates that the building is inhabitable by people. The "capacity" attribute is the number of people the building is designed to accommodate. Additional people can inhabit the building, but it will be overcrowded. The "power-required" attribute is the additional power (kW) required for life support to function.


• living-accommodations: This function indicates that the building has sleeping quarters. The "beds" attribute is the number of sleeping quarters the building has.


• research: This function indicates that the building has a research laboratory. The "tech-level" attribute is the technology level of the lab. Tech levels are described in the "conf/tech_level.txt" file. The "capacity" attribute is the number of researchers who can use the lab at the same time. A lab has one or more "research-speciality" elements that describe the sciences it supports. Sciences that currently can be supported by labs are "Areology", "Botany", "Materials Science" and "Medicine".


• communication: This function indicates that the building has radio/satellite communication equipment to communicate with rovers, other settlements and Earth. (note: This functionality isn't fully implemented in the simulation yet but is here as a placeholder.)


• EVA: This function indicates that the building has EVA (Extra Vehicle Activity) facilities, including an EVA suit storage area and an airlock. The "airlock-capacity" attribute is the number of people who can use the airlock at the same time.


• recreation: This function indicates that the building has recreation facilities such as movies, games, music, etc. that let people relax and de-stress.


• dining: This function indicates that the building has facilities for eating meals.


• cooking: This function indicates that the building has facilities for cooking meals. The "capacity" attribute is the number of cooks who can use the facility at a time.


• exercise: This function indicates that the building has exercise equipment. The "capacity" attribute is the number of people who can use the exercise equipment at once.


• resource-processing: This function indicates that the building has equipment capable of processing resources. The "power-down-level" attribute is the proportional efficiency of resource processes when the building is in power-down mode. Each process defined must have a unique name (for this building). It can have one or several "input" and "output" elements that represent resources being consumed or produced by the process. Resources can be any of the types defined in resources.xml. The rate of an input or output resource in a process is the amount of the resource (kg) consumed/produced per millisol (see "conf/time.txt"). The "ambient" attribute for input resources means that the resource is drawn in from outside the building (such as CO2 from the air outside) and for output resources it means that the resource is discarded outside the building.


• storage: This function indicates that the building is capable of storing certain resources. See resources.xml for a list of all resources. The "resource-storage" element shows the buildings capacity (kg) to store a particular resource. The "resource-initial" is the amount (kg) of a particular resource that the building starts with in storage.


• power-generation: This function indicates that the building is capable of producing power. The buiding can have multiple power sources. Each "power-source" has a type and power (kW) attribute. Current power source types supported in the simulation are "Standard Power Source" that has consistant power generation and "Solar Power Source" that only generates power when sunlight is available.


• medical-care: This function indicates that the building has a medical treatment facility. The "tech-level" attribute is the treatment technology of the building (see "conf/tech_level.txt"). The "beds" attribute is the number of people who can be treated in this building at once.


• farming: This function indicates that the building is capable of growing crops. The "crops" attribute is the number of crops that can be grown at a time in the building. The "power-sustaining-crops" attribute is the power (kW) required to sustain each growing crop. The "growing-area" is the total surface area (square meters) for growing crops.


• ground-vehicle-maintenance: This function indicates that the building has garage facilities for a ground vehicle. This allows a vehicle to be maintained without requiring an EVA (extra vehicle activity) to do so. The "capacity" attribute is the mass (kg) of vehicles that can be contained in the building at once.


• manufacture: This function indicates that the building has facilities for manufacturing. This allows people to perform manufacturing processes. The "tech-level" attribute is the manufacturing technology capability of the building (see "conf/tech_level.txt"). The "concurrent-processes" attribute is the number of manufacturing processes that can be performed in the building at once.