Foundation

The block of cells the object stands on, chosen from a fixed set of named sizes.

Structure footprint

Specification — Structure footprint

Applies to: BuildingType
File: art.ini
Section: [<Image ID>]Image ID: Image= value; ObjectType ID when omitted
Value: BSizeType
When omitted: 1x1

Parse behavior

read first from the Image= art entry, then from the building's own art entry; the second read overrides only when it resolves to something other than 1x1, so a 1x1 or an unrecognized value there cannot replace the footprint the image entry gave

The value is one of the fixed building foundation names, matched without regard to case. In the Image ID entry, any other value gives the structure a one-cell footprint.

The footprint alone fixes a structure’s shape on the map. It sets:

the cells the structure occupies, which ground units cannot enter, except that a gate’s cells are passable while the gate stands open;
the ring of cells around the structure that a finished object leaves by;
the structure’s width and height;
the shape the structure covers on the radar map.

[MYWEAP] ; example war factory, drawn from its own Image ID
Foundation=4x3

The width and height are the two numbers in the name, and 3x3Refinery counts as three by three. Base adjacency covers how far the footprint reaches for placement, and Bib=yes covers why it does not grow when a structure has a bib.

The irregular sizes

3x3Refinery is three cells by three but occupies eight of the nine. The cell two along and one down from its top-left cell stays open. Its exit ring is a single cell: its own top-left cell, inside the footprint.

0x0 occupies no cells, has no exit ring, and has a width and height of zero. A structure given it marks no cells on the map, and an object that leaves by the exit ring, such as a vehicle from a factory that is not WeaponsFactory=yes, has no cell to leave by.

6x4 is the only other name whose block is not a rectangle. It occupies 21 cells: its bottom row is three cells wide and starts one cell along. Its exit ring is a single cell, two along and one above its top-left cell. It is also the only size six cells wide, and a structure that wide is normally drawn without the shared depth shape that decides whether a neighboring object appears in front of it or behind it. ZShapePointMove covers the effect.

The second reading

To give a structure a one-cell footprint, write Foundation=1x1 in its Image ID entry and write no other size in the entry named after the BuildingType.

Terrain footprint

Specification — Terrain footprint

Applies to: TerrainType
File: art.ini
Section: [<Image ID>]Image ID: Image= value; ObjectType ID when omitted
Value: BSizeType
When omitted: 1x1

The value selects the block of cells a terrain object stands on. It is one of the building foundation names a structure uses, matched without regard to case, and any other value gives 1x1.

The object occupies every cell of the block. A vehicle is refused those cells unless it can destroy the object; Movement and terrain owns that test. Infantry standing places are filled only in the object’s top-left cell, as TemperateOccupationBits describes.

See also — Bib, BibShape, Adjacent, base-adjacency, production