Production
Production is used to add new units to the game, which allows players to replace lost units and expand their hangars.
Each faction owns a number of factories, and these factories produce units of particular types - for example, you can have an Assault Mek factory or a Light Aero factory. Factories require components to produce units, and factions produce components based on the planets they own and the activity of their players. Every 15 minutes there is a game tick, and at the game tick, the faction produces new components.
Components accumulate until they are used. A player may click on one of their faction's factories to produce a new unit, using a set number of components of the appropriate type from the faction's component pool. They will also need to pay C-Bills and influence to buy this unit. Buying a unit will produce a random new unit from the faction's build table directly into that player's hangar, and it will de-activate the factory for a period of time.
If components accumulate past a certain point, then they will be consumed automatically to prevent an excess from building up. For light units, this cap is enough components to produce 30 new units, and for all other weight classes, the cap is enough components to produce 20 new units. If the cap is reached, components components may be destroyed, or they may be used for automatic production. If components are destroyed, a message will show up in Miscellaneous chat as part of the tick notification saying something like "A large number of Assault Aero components were donated to the Salvation Army", and the component stockpile of the faction will be reduced accordingly. If auto-production happens instead, the message will instead be something like "A new HBK-4G was created at your Medium Mek factory on Terra!". In this case, a new Mech will be added to your faction's hangar, which can then be bought by players. Auto-production is more common for lighter units, and destruction of components is more common for heavier units.
Generally, each faction will have a strategy for which units they try to auto-produce versus which ones they expect players to buy directly from factories. Since buying from the faction hangar is half the cost of buying directly from the factory, auto-production is a good way to save a lot of C-bills and influence for faction members, but it produces fewer units overall due to the chance of component destruction. Read your faction's MOTD to see what you should do with each weight class.
Component production can be increased substantially by player activity. A single player who goes active with multiple legal armies can more than double their faction's component production every tick, which can allow for many more units to be created over time. Even if you can't find a fight, it can help your faction's production immensely to make a habit of going active whenever you can get away with it.
