Command : DESIGNATE

Basic

[##:##] designate <SECTS> <DESIGNATION>

In Empire all sectors have a designation. The designation represents the principal industry or activity taking place in that area. When a sector is designated a harbor, for example, the civilians in the sector start building shipyards and docks, (with a little help from any military present).

If the redesignated sector is already declared to be something else, and is efficient, then the workers will have to tear down the existing construction and then build the new sector. The workers dismantle existing sectors four times faster than they can build.

As work progresses the efficiency will climb toward a maximum of 100%.

If you don't specify the <DESIGNATION> argument in the command line as in:
[##:##] designate 1:3,2:5

The program will ask for each sector specified what you want the new sector designation to be.

However, if you wish to designate one or several sectors to be one particular thing and don't want to be asked on each one you can type something like:
[##:##] designate -6:6,-3:3 ?type=f +

This will designate all fortresses that you own within three sectors of your capital to be highways.

Note that you cannot re-designate bridge spans.

Normally, each point of efficiency added costs you $1. Some sectors may cost more, and some may also require the expenditure of lcms and/or hcms from the sector. In addition, some sectors may cost money merely to designate. (see the show command and info show for details)