Logistics Guide — Water, Power & Compute

How do water, power, and compute work as logistics?

They are upkeep networks, not optional buffs: Captain’s Devlog #3 (8 September 2026) says buildings need ample water, power, and compute, and that the pipes and conduits feeding them take up space on the outpost footprint. Last verified: 2026-10-21 against Devlog #3/#4 and the Steam store description.

Think like a facilities engineer: production buildings consume crates, but upkeeps decide whether those buildings stay online. A refinery without power is scenery; a lab without compute stalls research; water lines tie into life support and several mid-game processes even though Devlog #3 does not enumerate each consumer.

Source: Kourou gameplay reveal (frame ~0:30). The footage does not label which of these buildings produce or consume which upkeep.

What does the official text actually promise?

Devlog #3’s logistics section is short but precise:

• 55+ unique resources move through harvest → refine → transport → use chains.
• Three upkeeps—water, power, compute—must be “factored into the design” of an outpost.
• Physical networks (pipes/conduits) occupy tiles, so layout is part of difficulty.

Devlog #4 (15 October 2026) adds a homestretch balance note: network infrastructure became mostly free of cost and instant to build, alongside tooltip work on where resources come from. That should reduce early friction when you first hook power to the Operation Center, but we flag it as unconfirmed post-launch until a patch note repeats it.

Nothing in those devlogs publishes numeric pump rates, watt caps, or compute units. We intentionally omit them here.

How should you plan power on the surface?

Start from proximity, then redundancy.

Community playbooks (for example Worldeka and GamesStarter) describe Solar Arrays as the Daegus default and Fusion Reactors as a later, fuel-hungry step. Devlog #2 discusses deuterium and fusion-era logistics at the system level—useful context for Kourou, not a day-one recipe list.

Practical layout rules that stay inside official facts:

1. Place the first generator adjacent to the Operation Center so conduit spans stay short (Devlog #3 space rule).
2. Add storage and harvesters downstream of power, not behind it—power is the gating upkeep for “function” per Devlog #3 wording.
3. Reserve a second power route before you double building count; Devlog #3 warns consumption rises with expansion even without giving numbers.

Source: Kourou gameplay reveal (frame ~1:54). Module clusters spaced along a yellow line; the line is not labeled in the footage.

Where does water fit relative to power and compute?

Official copy treats water as an equal upkeep alongside power and compute, not a soft suggestion. Devlog #3 does not say which building type breaks first when water runs dry—expect warnings in the UI rather than published thresholds here.

Layout-wise, water shares the same conduit discipline:

• Run parallel corridors for water and power instead of zig-zagging across the map; every tile counts because pipes occupy space.
• Keep crew quarters, mess halls, and medical inside the watered/powered core once those structures exist—Devlog #1 introduced onboard quarters to keep outposts self-sustaining while the Resonant travels elsewhere.

For planet-specific hazards that stress shields and life support, see /worlds/daegus-walkthrough/ and the broader /guides/beginner-guide/.

What is compute upkeep in practice?

Devlog #3 lists compute next to water and power but does not define the word beyond upkeep context. Store UI screenshots label a compute meter in the top bar alongside energy and water, implying research and advanced processors draw on a shared compute budget.

Until Magic Fuel publishes a glossary, treat compute like data-center capacity:

• Cluster Research Labs, sample processors, and other science modules so conduit runs stay short.
• Expand compute before you duplicate labs on the frontier; otherwise you may build structures that idling for lack of upkeep.

How do you keep logistics from eating the whole map?

Use a core-and-spoke plan:

Source: Kourou gameplay reveal (frame ~0:18). Yellow lines with round junction nodes on the ground; the footage does not label them.

Before you add a fourth copy of the same processor, ask whether a shorter pipe would solve the stall instead—Devlog #3’s intent is that logistics difficulty comes from geometry, not hidden math we could quote.

What should you read next?

• /guides/first-outpost-build-order/ — when to bring power and pads online.
• /guides/crew-shifts-and-morale/ — shuttle downtime while networks catch up.
• /guides/system-requirements/ — if low FPS makes large conduit layouts hard to edit.

Report post-launch patch IDs when they change upkeep rules; we will add gameVersion once Steam news names a build number.