However, also increases the number of Drones at base by one and increases vulnerability to enemy mind control
Cumulative with all other facilities of this type
The first of the major production-enhancing facilities
( along with the Robotic Assembly Plant , the Nanoreplicator
and the Quantum Converter), the Genejack Factory is
a double-edged sword. The reason it comes so much earlier than it's counterparts
is that it extracts a price from the base it's built in, in terms of extra drone
production and increased vulnerability to probe team action.
Although high production is, of course, central to a development game, this facility may not be worth the cost in such situations, particularly if you're trying to play an enlightened social system. Stability and security are even more important than mineral production, plus there's another drawback to building this facility early - it significantly increases the chance of ecological disruption at a time when your faction is prone to ecological accident. In such games, you're probably better off bypassing the Genejack Factory, or saving it until much later in the game, when your ecology and Psych are both well under control.
Conquest games, on the other hand, might be able to support an early Genejack Factory. If you're trying to keep up a strong production schedule while already supporting several units, Genejacks can be well-worth the trouble they cause. Also, military-focused societies will often come with higher Police and Probe ratings, to counteract the facility's drawbacks. As for ecological damage, what self-respecting conqueror ( save a Green one ) even cares?.
In the Genejack Factory's defense, its maintenance cost is a bare fraction of any similar facility's.
