Hab Complex (SMAC)

is a base facility in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. The Hab Complex increases the population limit of the base by seven.
==Strategy==
What is there to say? Every base needs one to grow above size 7 except those of the Peacekeepers (size 9) and Morgan Industries (size 4). If you're at all interested in vertical growth, then you'll have to build some eventually. Having said that, Jamski has won a game on Transcend using the Gaians without building any, and won Diplomatic Victory in 2180. Lots of smaller bases with crawlers and specialists can perform very well in the early and middle game, and aggressive play in this period can ensure that your "swarm techniques" end up saving you the trouble of building the 8 rows and paying the 2 energy/turn needed for the Hab Complex.
The most important consideration when building Hab Complexes is timing. You don't want one sitting around in a size 5 base for turns and turns costing you money for no reason. In an ideal world you'd look to see how many turns until you grow to size 8, and time the Hab Complex to be either finished then, or at least in a position for you to rush it then.
Also, it's hardly worth the cost for bases that will only grow to size 8 and then stop. If you're really packing them close together and concentrating on boreholes and mines, this happens pretty often. You'll be paying 2 energy/turn for an extra worker, who as number 8 will be born a Drone, even on Citizen level. Consider it, and don't stick them everywhere, even in size 4 bases that were not growing because "I might get enough satellites up there eventually".