Ship Manufacturing (Civ4)/Final Frontier/Civilopedia

Manufacturing spacebound vessels requires a level of precision previously unattainable in Earth's mass production facilities. A single misplaced weld on an airlock could spell disaster for all those aboard a newly minted spacecraft, not to mention the reputation of the spacecraft's manufacturer. New production techniques, often known collectively as the Newcomb Method, properly balanced profits with precision, allowing the creation of humanity's first Capital Shipyards on the Earth. These facilities were in their infancy when the Colonies found themselves alone in 2302 AD, and the technology they required had to be rediscovered by the fledgling Colonial space empires. An unintended consequence of these new methods was a massive increase in industrial espionage, with hopes of stealing new methods of constructing and running these massive, expensive facilities. This development led to the widespread creation of Intelligence Centers to both acquire foreign trade secrets and combat the loss of domestic ones.