The relay is a small station for the Infonet, the network of relays that carries orders and messages between an ARCHON and its ships. It has a small hold, room for one generator and no dock, so ships cannot load or unload there.
Facilities
Its two facility slots take Infonet facilities only:
- An Uplink, which makes it a command post covering its own system.
- A repeater, which forwards packets across its own system and every system one jump away, but sends no orders.
- A firewall, a monitor or a data warehouse, for controlling and recording packet traffic.
- A key vault, for making keys and signing and opening what its owner sends and receives.
An uplink or a repeater needs no power, so a relay with only those needs no generator. The others draw power all the time from its generator and do nothing without it. While the station is disabled, it drops out of the Infonet.
Construction
A Constructor builds it from antennas, frames and concrete. As a command post its uplink covers less than a Forward HQ, which also covers the systems one jump away.