Summary: This bug differs from faction to faction and when you have or don't have enough nanites. Tested on Esamir, but it's most probably the same for other continents. Current behaviour: TR and NC with enough nanites - MBT. TR and NC w/out enough nanites - MBT and Liberator. VS with enough nanites works fine. VS w/out enough nanites - MBT and Liberator. https://imgur.com/a/nixAdwD Repeatability: Always.
Without nanites, you can't observe whether it's bugged or not. It looks like VS is working, but TR and NC show that you can pull an MBT without owning a tech plant. I say this because the galaxy icon is behaving correctly, with / without nanites.
You can. As example, icons of Liberator on the first and second screenshots have different colors. I can't interact with the first icon (works properly). But second icon says that I don't have enough nanites. Tech Plant gives access to Liberator and MBT. You can always spawn galaxy. P.S. I reported this bug on Issue Tracker, but it's now closed. They tried to fix this bug before.
