Command Center

The Command Center is the orbital headquarters of a star system. It is built automatically the moment you claim the system.

What it does

The Command Center coordinates every other structure in its system. The higher its level, the faster crews and supplies move, and the less time every build in the system takes.

Why it matters

Build time is one of the few things you can't buy back. Resources you can mine; time you can't. An empire with high-level Command Centers gets through its build queues meaningfully faster than one without, even when both have the same income.

The effect is per-system. Upgrading the Command Center in one system speeds up that system only.

Strategy

Early Command Center upgrades pay off compoundingly: every later upgrade in the system saves a slice of time, and those slices add up across the lifetime of the system.

That said, don't push it so far ahead of your economy that the cost feels punishing.