Units

While you do not have direct control over any units in Offworld Trading Company, some buildings and actions will spawn autonomous units. Most units consume 0.2 Fuel per second while in the air. The consumed resource will change for all units if the player founds a Robotic HQ ( Power) or if the player patents Water Engine ( Water).

Freighters
Freighters carry resources from tiles that are not connected to your HQ and move at a rate of 10 distance units per second. The farther away resources have to be shipped from, the higher the fuel cost. The average fuel cost per second of a tile not connected to your HQ is shown when you mouse over that tile. The Expansive HQ's freighters move 50% faster and therefore consume two-thirds the fuel.

When you send a building to a tile not adjacent to your HQ, that building will consume fuel as it travels in the same way freighters do.

Freighters are vulnerable to Filthy Pirates and Magnetic Storms. If you use a Mutiny to take over a tile not connected to your HQ, then you will have to use freighters to move goods to and from that tile. Power buildings do not require freighters. If a player patents Teleportation, freighters are no longer spawned, though freighters currently in the air will complete their flight.

Freighters for different resources have different capacities. Water, Iron,  Aluminum,  Carbon, and  Silicon freighters hold 20 of the resource;  Food,  Oxygen,  Fuel, and  Steel freighters hold 40; and  Chemicals,  Glass, and  Electronics freighters hold 60.

Engineers
Engineers are responsible for constructing and repairing buildings. For the buildings are not connected to your HQ, they move at a rate of 6 distance units per second.

Engineers are vulnerable to Magnetic Storms, but not vulnerable to Filthy Pirates. If an engineer is hit by a Magnetic Storm, the resources used to begin construction of the building are not lost, but the engineer must start traveling from your HQ again. Engineers do not benefit from Teleportation.

MULEs
MULEs are a black market item used for gathering resources and move at a rate of 12 distance units per second. While active, they consume 0.1 Fuel per second.

MULEs are neither vulnerable to Filthy Pirates nor Magnetic Storms and do not benefit from Teleportation.