Emphasizing guile over brute force, the Cloaky Bot Factory makes good use of stealth, mobility and EMP weapons to strike at the enemy's weak points. Key units: Glaive, Rocko, Warrior, Zeus, Hammer
Light and cheap, the Glaive makes short work of enemy skirmishers, artillery and economy, but should avoid and outmanouver riot units and defenses, where it is not as strong. Damaged Glaives regenerate when out of combat.
The Scythe isn't particularly tough in a stand-up fight, but its cloaking device lets it slip past enemy defenses to stab at the enemy's economy. Damaged Scythes can quickly regenerate when out of combat.
The Rocko's low damage, low speed unguided rockets are redeemed by their range. They are most effective in a line formation, firing at maximum range and kiting the enemy. Counter them by attacking them with fast units which can close range and dodge their missiles.
The Warrior's devastating heavy Energy Machine Gun is effective versus most enemy units, in particular raiders. It performs poorly versus static defense, so do not use it as an assault unit. Counter by staying out of their range, as they are slow.
Slowly and steadily, groups of Zeuses can shrug off heavy fire as they make their way towards enemy fortifications, until they can field their short-range lightning cannon, which damages and stuns entrenched foes. Counter with anything that can reliably kite it, making sure that you don't get paralyzed (in which case you are as good as dead.)
The Hammer has a long range plasma cannon that allows indirect fire over obstacles, and outranges static defenses up to heavy laser towers. Although effective versus mobile units, it should be guarded in order to prevent raiders and other fast units from closing range.
The Spectre's energy rifle inflicts heavy damage to a single target. It can fire while cloaked; however its visible round betrays its position. It requires quite a bit of energy to keep cloaked, especially when moving. The best way to locate a Spectre is by sweeping the area with many cheap units.
Fast and fairly sturdy for its price, the Gremlin is good budget mobile anti-air. It can cloak, allowing it to provide unexpected anti-air protection or escape ground forces it's defenseless against.
The Tick relies on its speed and small size to dodge inaccurate weapons, especially those of assaults and many skirmishers. It can paralyze heavy units or packs of lighter raiders which cannot kill it before it is already in range. Warriors or Glaives can then eliminate the helpless enemies without risk. Counter with defenses or single cheap units to set off a premature detonation. This unit cloaks when otherwise idle.
The Shield Bot Factory is tough yet flexible. Its units are built to take the pain and dish it back out, without compromising mobility. Clever use of unit combos is well rewarded. Key units: Bandit, Thug, Outlaw, Rogue, Racketeer
Convict - Shielded Construction Bot, Builds at 5 m/s [ ^ ]
The Dirtbag exists to block enemy movement and generally get in the way. They are so dedicated to this task that they release their dirt payload upon death to form little annoying mounds. While waiting for their fate Dirtbags enjoy headbutting and scouting.
The Bandit outranges and is somewhat tougher than the Glaive, but still not something that you hurl against entrenched forces. Counter with riot units and LLTs.
The Rogue's arcing rockets have a low rate of fire, but do a lot of damage, making it very good at dodging in and out of range of enemy units or defense, or in a powerful initial salvo. Counter them by attacking them with fast units, or crawling bombs when massed.
Weak on its own, the Thug makes an excellent screen for Outlaws and Rogues. The linking shield gives Thugs strength in numbers, but can be defeated by AoE weapons or focus fire.
The Racketeer launches long range missiles that can disarm key enemy defenses or units before assaulting them. Only one Racketeer is needed to keep a target disarmed, so pick a different target for each Racketeer. It is excellent at depleting the energy of enemy shields and rendering large units harmless.
This fast-moving suicide unit is very good against massed units, particularly assault tanks. It features a cloaking device which is automatically activated once the unit stands still, effectifely turning it into a mine. Chain explodes terribly, so best not to mass it. Counter with defenders and missile trucks, or single cheap units to set off a premature detonation.
The Aspis protects surrounding units with its area shield by destroying enemy projectiles and will automatically connect to other shield-equipped units to share charge. The area shield will not stop units and only intercepts projectiles on its perimeter, so enemies can get under the shield and shoot at the units inside. Recharging and maintaining area shields costs energy.
Produces Jumpjets and Special Walkers, Builds at 10 m/s
The esoteric Jumpjet/Specialist Plant offers unique tactical options for rapidly closing the distance in a knife fight, or getting over hills and rivers to cut a path through enemy lines. Key units: Pyro, Moderator, Jack, Firewalker, Sumo
Fast and capable of jumping over short distances or heights, the Freaker is the ideal constructor for rapid expansion. Armed with a light slowbeam, it can also provide combat support.
This fast-moving suicide unit is good for raiding and sniping lightly-armored targets. When standing next to wreckages, it automatically draws metal from them to replicate itself, grey goo style.
The Pyro is a cheap, fast walker with a flamethrower. The flamethrower deals increased damage to large units and can hit multiple targets at the same time. When killed, the Pyro sets surrounding units on fire. Additionally, Pyros also come with jetpacks, allowing them to jump over obstacles or get the drop on enemies.
The Placeholder is a support unit. Its projectiles create a vacuum that sucks in nearby units, clustering and holding them in place to help finish them off.
The Moderator's disruptor beam reduces enemy speed and rate of fire by up to 50% in addition to dealing damage, making it effective against almost all targets.
The Jack is a melee assault walker with jumpjets. A few Jacks can easily level most fortification lines. Its small range and very low speed make it very vulnerable to skirmishers.
Sumo - Heavy Riot Jumper - On to Repulse, Off to Attract [ ^ ]
The Sumo's impressive armor makes it a near-unstoppable sphere of death. It stomps on enemy units to break up their formation and can toss the survivors around with its Gravity Beams. Its stomp is the only way it can damage buildings.
The Firewalker's medium range mortars immolate a small area, denying use of that terrain for brief periods of time. The bot itself is somewhat clumsy and slow to maneuver.
The Archangel packs twin anti-air lasers and an autocannon for slaying enemy aircraft rapidly. It can also jump to quickly access high ground or to escape.
This slow-moving, expensive cloaked unit can jump on to enemy units and blast even a heavy tank straight to hell. Counter with swarms of cheap screening units. Be careful of its very small explosion radius when using it.
Optimized for rough terrain, the Spider Factory relies primarily on range and maneuverability rather than brute force. Key units: Flea, Recluse, Hermit, Crabe
Weaver - Construction Spider, Builds at 7.5 m/s [ ^ ]
The Flea can hide in inaccessible locations where its sophisticated sensor suite allows it to see further than it can be seen. It can be used in small groups to effectively raid mexes early on, and in maps with tall cliffs can attack from unexpected angles. It does very little damage and dies to any form of opposition.
The Venom is an all-terrain unit designed to paralyze enemies so other units can easily destroy them. It moves particularly fast for a riot unit and in addition to paralysis it does a small amount of damage. Works well in tandem with the Recluse to keep enemies from closing range with the fragile skirmisher.
An all terrain missile launching unit. Climb walls with this spider walker and take your enemy by surprise. The unguided rockets cannot hit a rapidly jinking target, but they have a fairly long range.
Crabe - Heavy Riot/Skirmish Spider - Curls into Armored Form When Stationary [ ^ ]
The Crabe's huge shells obliterate large swarms of cheap units, and can also outrange basic defenses. When it stops walking, Crabe curls up into armored form reducing incoming damage to a third. The Crabe's main weakness is its lack of mobility.
The Infiltrator is useful in two ways. Firstly it is an excellent scout, and very difficult to detect. It can penetrate deep into enemy lines. It also has the capacity to shoot a paralyzing bolt that will freeze any one target, good against heavy enemies and enemy infrastructure.
A traditional favourite, the Vehicle Plant is the ideal blitzkrieg fac with its fast, highly aggressive units. Those units that lack speed make up for it with copious firepower. Key Units: Dart, Scorcher, Ravager, Leveler, Slasher
Mason - Construction Vehicle, Builds at 5 m/s [ ^ ]
Cheap and fast, the Dart is deadly in the first minutes of the game if your opponent is caught off-guard. Use missile towers, LLTs or any quick units to stop them.
Capable of taking damage and dishing it out, the Scorcher is a versatile unit that remains very useful for more than just raiding, though it pays the price in manueverability and in cost. Though able to hold its own in combat, it is no match for anti-swarm and riot units or defenses. The Scorcher's heatray deals more damage up close.
Keep the Slasher at maximum range to harass the opponent's units. The Slasher's missiles track, so they are ideal to kill fast-moving raiders and crawling bombs. It is able to hit air, but is only really useful against fighters. Cannot fire over obstacles, and does poorly if enemies, particularly assault units, are allowed to close range. Unlike skirmishers, the Slasher cannot fire while moving.
The Leveler's riot cannon is effective at destroying swarms of raiders and halting enemy advances. The projectile does not arc, so Levelers should avoid clumping and be arranged in a line formation wherever possible. Due to their lack of speed and range, most skirmishers are effective against them. True to its name the Leveler's cannon flattens terrain to enable allied vehicles passage over harsh terrain.
Expensive and powerful, the Ravager is capable of holding its own against most opposition. Though its maneuverability is terrible, its strength is when moving at a considerable top speed in a straight line. Due to this, it is almost impossible to skirmish using raiders. In combat, you should attempt to keep travelling forward and not turn too suddenly, so as to maintain top speed. Circling your target at the edge of your range is a good tactic. An arcing projectile allows it to shoot over wreckage, other tanks, etc. Vulnerable to crawling bombs when in swarms.
The Dominatrix captures enemies, turning them against their former allies. Multiple Dominatrix can capture a single target faster, although only one becomes the controller. After taking control of a unit the Dominatrix cannot fire for 12 seconds. If a Dominatrix is destroyed all units it controls are freed.
The Wolverine lays mines which are fairly effective but have a limited lifespan from a distance (rather haphazardly). The Wolverine outranges most defenses comfortably, but is lightly armored and cannot flee easily so keep it screened with friendly units, possibly assisted by your own mines.
The Impaler fires vertically a high damage, high accuracy kinetic missile at long range. Its high arc makes it able to fire over any obstacle, however that makes the flight time so high that it's useless against moving targets. Use the Impaler to kill specific buildings.
Produces Heavy and Specialized Vehicles, Builds at 10 m/s
The Heavy Tank Factory is the ultimate in brute force methods - nothing gets the job done quite like a sustained artillery barrage followed by a decisive push with the largest tanks in the field. Key units: Pillager, Reaper, Banisher, Goliath
Welder - Armed Construction Tank, Builds at 7.5 m/s [ ^ ]
The diminutive Kodachi is a unique raider. Its small yet agile chassis has enough armor and speed to get it close enough to fire its weapon, a napalm bomb. The Kodachi should run in, get a shot off, and withdraw before it takes significant damage. Damaged Kodachis regenerate out of combat.
The Panther is a high-tech raider. Its weapon, a lightning gun, deals mostly paralyze damage. This way, the Panther can disable turrets, waltz through the defensive line, and proceed to level the economic heart of the opponent's base. When killed, it sets off an EMP explosion that can stun surrounding raiders.
Remarkably mobile for a riot platform, the Banisher packs twin high-velocity fragmentation missiles that are devastating to light units and aircraft alike, although they have limited range. Like other riot units, the Banisher does not have the range and speed to hold its own against most skirmishers. The missile is quite effective at flattening terrain so it is particularly useful at knocking down walls that Welders cannot reach.
A heavy duty battle tank. The Reaper excels at absorbing damage in pitched battles, but its low rate of fire means it is not so good at dealing with swarms, and its heavy armor comes at the price of manuverability.
The Goliath is the single heaviest tank on the field. Its main gun is a hefty cannon designed to smash lesser tanks into oblivion, while mounted on the turret is a short-range slowgun to prevent quicker foes escaping its grasp. However, it turns like a tub of water, its short range makes it easy prey for advanced skirmishers or air attacks, and its slow rate of fire makes it vulnerable to massed raider attacks. The heavy main cannon can shake walls down so it is somewhat able to spearhead assaults against areas with terraformed fortifications.
The heavy, long-ranging gun of the Pillager makes it the unit of choice for standoff shelling of enemy mobiles or structures. As always, it should be wary of anything that gets close to it.
The principle behind the Tremor is simple: flood an area with enough shots, and you'll hit something at least once. Slow, clumsy, vulnerable and extremely frightening, the Tremor works best against high-density target areas, where its saturation shots are most likely to do damage. It pulverizes shields in seconds and its shells smooth terrain.
The Hovercraft Platform is fast and deadly, offering the ability to cross sea and plains alike and outmaneuver the enemy. Key units: Dagger, Halberd, Scalpel, Mace, Penetrator
Quill - Construction Hovercraft, Builds at 5 m/s [ ^ ]
The Dagger is the hover plant's scout. It provides a cheap, disposable method of getting intel, and can also hit economic targets of opportunity. Its light Gauss gun can also hit underwater targets.
Use the Scalpel for hit-and-run attacks. Has a long reload time and not too many hit points, and should always be kept at range with the enemy. An arcing projectile allows it to shoot over obstacles and friendly units.
The Halberd buttons down into its armored hull when not firing, offering 4x damage resistance. Its slow, short-ranged weapon is unsuitable for use against highly mobile targets.
The Mace is a mobile laser tower. Its high firepower is useful for killing light enemy units. It is perfectly accurate and is good against gunships and fast units. However, its thin armor makes it vulnerable when targetted directly, especially by skirmishers.
The Penetrator's weapon, nicknamed 'the Blue Laser of Death', has the power and accuracy to skewer most units with a single shot. Use it against high armor units, but keep it behind the front lines - it has light armor and can't run from danger.
The Amphibious Operations Plant builds the slow but sturdy amphibious bots, providing an alternative approach to land/sea warfare. Units from this factory typically regenerate while submerged.
Conch - Amphibious Construction Bot, Builds at 7.5 m/s [ ^ ]
The Duck is the basic underwater raider. Armed with short ranged torpedoes, it uses its (relatively) high speed to harass sea targets that cannot shoot back, though it dies to serious opposition. On land it can launch the torpedoes a short distance as a decent short ranged anti-heavy weapon.
The Archer uses a powerful water cutting jet to hit enemies. While the water cannon loses firepower and range as its water tank empties, it can be refilled by standing in a body of water. Archers can float to surface in order to fight naval units.
The Buoy works around its inability to shoot while submerged by floating to the surface of the sea. Here it can fire a decently ranged cannon with slow damage. It is unable to move while floating.
The Grizzly is a classic assault unit - relatively slow, clumsy and next to unstoppable. Its weapon is a high power laser beam with high range and damage, ineffective against swarmers and fast aircraft but not much else. While its weapon cannot fire underwater, the Grizzly can float to surface in order to shoot.
Angler is amphibious anti-air bot designed to counter the factory's nemesis - Raven. Two of them together can float to the surface and kill a single Raven.
Djinn excels at moving large land based armies across bodies of water. When deployed it teleports units from around its pre-placed static beacon to its present location. The teleportation is one-way, so ensure the destination is safe.
The Airplane Plant offers a variety of fixed-wing aircraft to suit your needs. Choose between multirole fighters that can double as light attackers or specialized interceptors, and between precision bombers for taking down specific targets or their saturation counterparts for destroying swarms. The plant also comes bundled with one rearm pad.
Crane - Construction Aircraft, Builds at 4 m/s [ ^ ]
The Crane flies quickly over any terrain, but is fragile to any AA. Though it has relatively poor nano power compared to other constructors, it is able to build in many hard to reach places and expand an air players territory in a nonlinear fashion. Due to its mobility, it is ideal for reclaiming wrecks and other repetetitive tasks.
The Swift can hit both land and air. It is effective against air units with its guided missiles and lasers, but enemy AA and air superiority fighters will kill it quickly. In numbers, it can harass land units and is suitable for raiding. Perhaps most notably, they are equipped with afterburner jets that can be used to give the Swift a massive speed boost, allowing them to execute incredible combat and evasive maneuvers.
The Hawk specializes in bringing down anything else that flies. It is sturdy enough to take limited AA fire, although it has no ground attack capability.
The Raven drops a single high damage, low AoE bomb. Cost for cost, nothing quite matches it for taking out that antinuke or Reaper, but you should look elsewhere for something to use against smaller mobiles.
The Wyvern drops a single powerful bomb that can send units flying. It is sturdy enough to penetrate moderate AA and escape to repair, but should not be used recklessly - it's too expensive for that.
The Vulture provides an unparalleled means for deep scouting, and can locate underwater targets with its sonar. It is also equipped with an area jammer, which prevents radar from working in the area underneath.
The Gunship Plant is designed for close air support. It includes a selection of transports for hauling land units around, and combat gunships which can perform a variety of offensive or defensive roles.
Crane - Construction Aircraft, Builds at 4 m/s [ ^ ]
The Crane flies quickly over any terrain, but is fragile to any AA. Though it has relatively poor nano power compared to other constructors, it is able to build in many hard to reach places and expand an air players territory in a nonlinear fashion. Due to its mobility, it is ideal for reclaiming wrecks and other repetetitive tasks.
The Blastwing does only a small amount of damage, suitable for taking out mexes, solars, LLTs, wind farms and nanotowers, though it can offer a more fomidible punch en-masse. Be mindful of the speed and direction it is travelling, as much of the damage done by it is directional shrapnel that will continue on the trajectory of the bomb after it dies. In this way, you can spray an enemy with shards of metal even if your blastwing dies before it is in range. Do not pack them too tightly, as they can chain explode. Cloaks when landed.
The Gnat can be used to paralyze enemy units. It makes an excellent defensive unit, and when combined with banshees or other units can halt the enemy to give you time to kill him. Offensively it can paralyze even heavily fortified areas, but dies relatively easily to defenders.
The Banshee is a light gunship. Its high speed and decent damage makes it excellent for quickly taking out enemy economy or inaccurate units like assaults. However, it flies close to the ground and has a short range, meaning even other raiders can engage it on an equal footing. Like any raider, the Banshee should avoid riots and static defense.
The Rapier is a light combat gunship. While its missiles are not the most damaging thing around, they are quite accurate and their disruption warheads slow down their targets.
The Brawler is a fire support gunship that flies out of the reach of most ground mobiles. It is tough enough to survive limited anti-air fire, and its twin EMGs chew through units stupid enough to stay put.
The Black Dawn fires a volley of unguided rockets. It has high HP and a huge damage output, but is expensive and inaccurate, especially vs moving targets. It is best for taking on clumps of base structures, slow moving or stationary units. The Black Dawn should disengage between volleys to minimize damage taken.
The Krow may be expensive and ponderous, but its incredible armor allows it do fly into all but the thickest anti-air defenses and engage enemies with its three laser cannons. Best of all, it can drop a large spread of carpet bombs that devastates anything under it.
The Trident is a slow gunship that cuts down enemy aircraft with missiles. It is much slower than other gunships, so it is much easier to kill the Trident with ground units than with planes.
The Valkyrie is the basic air transport. It is ideal to ferry units to the front or make a drop deep behind enemy lines, but should not be used to land in areas with any kind of AA cover.
Stealthy, fast, and fragile, this Submarine can quickly strike unprotected targets. Slow damage allows it to effectively kill lone units. Watch out for anything with anti-sub weaponry, especially Hunters.
The Typhoon is a brawler, combining high speed, decent armor, and strong firepower at a low cost--for a ship. Use corvette packs against anything on the surface, but watch out for submarines.
This Destroyer packs a powerful, long-range main cannon, useful for bombarding fixed emplacements and shore targets, as well as a depth charge launcher for use against submarines. Beware of aircraft and Corvettes--the Destroyer's weapons have trouble hitting fast-moving targets.
The Serpent is truly a nightmare, for its long-range, deadly accurate, high lethality heavy torpedoes can sink almost any ship in a few shots. It is however extremely expensive and not particularly agile.
With its powerful twin anti-air laser batteries, the anti-air frigate protects your fleet from aerial attackers. As always, it is useless against targets that aren't airborne.
The Athena is the pinnacle of stealth strike capability. Equipped with a cloaking device and a radar jammer, it can slip through enemy lines to assemble squads of raiders, inflicting havoc on the opposition's logistics. The Athena can also resurrect wrecks on the battlefield while cloaked, adding them to your army.
The Flea can hide in inaccessible locations where its sophisticated sensor suite allows it to see further than it can be seen. It can be used in small groups to effectively raid mexes early on, and in maps with tall cliffs can attack from unexpected angles. It does very little damage and dies to any form of opposition.
The Bandit outranges and is somewhat tougher than the Glaive, but still not something that you hurl against entrenched forces. Counter with riot units and LLTs.
The Halberd buttons down into its armored hull when not firing, offering 4x damage resistance. Its slow, short-ranged weapon is unsuitable for use against highly mobile targets.
The Scythe isn't particularly tough in a stand-up fight, but its cloaking device lets it slip past enemy defenses to stab at the enemy's economy. Damaged Scythes can quickly regenerate when out of combat.
The Moderator's disruptor beam reduces enemy speed and rate of fire by up to 50% in addition to dealing damage, making it effective against almost all targets.
An all terrain missile launching unit. Climb walls with this spider walker and take your enemy by surprise. The unguided rockets cannot hit a rapidly jinking target, but they have a fairly long range.
The Panther is a high-tech raider. Its weapon, a lightning gun, deals mostly paralyze damage. This way, the Panther can disable turrets, waltz through the defensive line, and proceed to level the economic heart of the opponent's base. When killed, it sets off an EMP explosion that can stun surrounding raiders.
Slowly and steadily, groups of Zeuses can shrug off heavy fire as they make their way towards enemy fortifications, until they can field their short-range lightning cannon, which damages and stuns entrenched foes. Counter with anything that can reliably kite it, making sure that you don't get paralyzed (in which case you are as good as dead.)
The Spectre's energy rifle inflicts heavy damage to a single target. It can fire while cloaked; however its visible round betrays its position. It requires quite a bit of energy to keep cloaked, especially when moving. The best way to locate a Spectre is by sweeping the area with many cheap units.
The Impaler fires vertically a high damage, high accuracy kinetic missile at long range. Its high arc makes it able to fire over any obstacle, however that makes the flight time so high that it's useless against moving targets. Use the Impaler to kill specific buildings.
The Infiltrator is useful in two ways. Firstly it is an excellent scout, and very difficult to detect. It can penetrate deep into enemy lines. It also has the capacity to shoot a paralyzing bolt that will freeze any one target, good against heavy enemies and enemy infrastructure.
Fast and fairly sturdy for its price, the Gremlin is good budget mobile anti-air. It can cloak, allowing it to provide unexpected anti-air protection or escape ground forces it's defenseless against.
The Aspis protects surrounding units with its area shield by destroying enemy projectiles and will automatically connect to other shield-equipped units to share charge. The area shield will not stop units and only intercepts projectiles on its perimeter, so enemies can get under the shield and shoot at the units inside. Recharging and maintaining area shields costs energy.
Djinn excels at moving large land based armies across bodies of water. When deployed it teleports units from around its pre-placed static beacon to its present location. The teleportation is one-way, so ensure the destination is safe.
The Ultimatum packs only one weapon: a disintegrator gun that can vaporize a heavy tank in one blast. It is best used for sneaking up to enemy heavy striders and inflicting serious damage or destruction with a few shots. Defense against it is achieved by screening your heavyweights with lighter units.
The Missile Silo constructs and holds up to four different cruise missiles, each with a unique warhead. It offers excellent standoff strike capability for offensive and defensive purposes.
The Strider Hub deploys striders, the "humongous mecha" that inspire awe and fear on the battlefield. Unlike a normal factory, the hub is only required to start a project, not to finish it.
The Ultimatum packs only one weapon: a disintegrator gun that can vaporize a heavy tank in one blast. It is best used for sneaking up to enemy heavy striders and inflicting serious damage or destruction with a few shots. Defense against it is achieved by screening your heavyweights with lighter units.
The Scorpion paralyzes enemies with its lightning sting and then chews them up with its particle beam claws. Its tough carapace shrugs off most enemy fire, and can also turn the Scorpion transparent.
The Dante is a heavy combat unit that specializes in getting close and melting its target. Its flamethrower and twin heatrays aren't extraordinary, but its incendiary rockets can be fired in a salvo of twenty that devastates a wide swath of terrain.
The Catapult is an MLRS strider. It can launch a volley of rockets that guarantees the destruction of almost anything in the target area, then quickly retreat behind friendly forces.
The Bantha is an even heavier solution to a particularly uncrackable defense line, with a tachyon projector and EMP missiles for stand-off engagements, lightning hand cannons for general purpose combat, and a good deal of armor. Beware though, for it is defenseless against air and cannot be used effectively on its own.
The Detriment is the single heaviest strider in the field. It can defend itself against air attacks or use its rockets to hit distant targets, but the real meat lies in the massive gauss guns designed for one purpose - to kill other heavy units quickly and efficiently. Remember - the wise commander sends his Detriment out with adequate escorts against light unit swarms and air assaults.
The Leviathan provides a standoff precision strike weapon in the form of tactical missiles. It has no defense against direct attacks and should avoid contact with the enemy.
The most versatile ship on the high seas, the carrier serves several functions. It is equipped with cruise missiles for long range bombardment. Its anti-missile system safeguards the fleet from the threat of nuclear missiles, and it also serves as a mobile repair base for friendly aircraft. Perhaps most notably, the carrier provides its own complement of surface attack drones to engage targets.
A single salvo from one of these will pummel almost any surface target into submission. The psychological effects of the muzzle flash and the ship recoiling in the water are impressive enough, to say nothing of the effects of a direct hit. Be warned--battleships are not meant to be used on their own, lacking in anti-air and anti-submarine protection as they are.
The Aegis protects a modest area with its bubble shield that stops incoming projectiles (but not AoE effects). The shield has a significant energy upkeep and does not block very powerful weapons.
The Defender is a light multi-purpose missile tower. It is good for sniping units from a distance, providing some degree of anti-air protection, and skirmishing enemy LLTs from outside their range. However, it breaks when you sneeze on it.
The Lotus is a basic turret. A versatile, solid anti-ground weapon, it does well versus scouts as well as being able to take on one or two raiders. Falls relatively easily to skirmishers, artillery or assault units unless supported.
Newton - Gravity Turret - On to Repulse, Off to Attract [ ^ ]
The Newton is armed with an experimental graviton projector. This weapon does virtually no damage directly, but can push units toward or away from the Newton. You can use it on your own units as well, but beware of friendly fire.
The Faraday is a powerful EMP tower. It has high damage and area of effect. Greatly amplifies the effect of other towers, but virtually useless on its own. When closed damage received is reduced to a quarter. Be careful of its splash damage though, as it can paralyze your own units if they are too close to the enemy.
The Stardust sports a powerful autocannon. While it has a short range and is thus even more vulnerable to skirmishers than the LLT, its high rate of fire and AoE allow it to quickly chew up swarms of lighter units.
The Stinger is a medium laser turret. Its three rotating laser guns can kill almost any small unit, but its low rate of fire makes it vulnerable to swarms when unassisted.
The Gauss is a compact, resilent turret with a medium-range gauss cannon. When popped down, it recieves a quarter of incoming damage as well as small amount of health regeneration. It can also attack underwater targets.
Inside the heavily armored shell of the Annihilator lies the devastating Tachyon Accelerator. This fearsome weapon is capable of delivering pinpoint damage at extreme ranges, provided you keep it connected to a power source. Remember that the Annihilator is strictly a support weapon; leave it unguarded and it will be swamped with raiders. When under attack by long range artillery or bombers the main gun can retract to reduce incoming damage to a quarter.
Armed with a heavy plasma cannon and a Heat Ray, the Doomsday Machine forms a focal defense point against enemy assault pushes. It can bunker down to survive attack by long-range artillery or air attacks to reduce incoming damage to a quarter, although it cannot fire its weapons while doing so.
The Hacksaw's twin missiles can drop even the most heavily armored bomber in one pair of hits, but take a considerable amount of time to reload, making them less than ideal against light targets.
The Chainsaw is a long range anti-air turret, dealing out massive damage, able to knock bombers out of the sky very quickly. It can't take very much damage in return, though, and does poorly when attacked directly.
The Screamer is an extremely long-ranging first strike anti-air weapon that sends a clear message to enemy aircraft - can't go here, sonny. Each shot must be stockpiled for 20 seconds, but is well worth the time, for a quick salvo of missiles will wipe out almost any air attack without fuss.
The Behemoth offers long-range artillery/counter-artillery capability, making it excellent for area denial. It is not designed as a defense turret, and will go down if attacked directly.
The Bertha is a massive cannon that fires high-energy plasmoids across the map. Used appropriately, it can effectively suppress enemy operations from the safety of your base. Do not expect it to win battles alone for you, however.
The Silencer launches devastating nuclear missiles that can obliterate entire bases. However, it is easily defeated by enemy anti-nuke systems, which must be removed from the desired target area beforehand.
The metal extractor is the primary means of getting metal. If you have excess energy, metal extractors will automatically use it to extract more metal.
Solar collectors are the least cost-efficient of the energy structures, but they are also the most reliable and sturdy. When attacked, solars will curl up into armored form for 8 seconds, which reduces incoming damage to a quarter and offers excellent protection against raiders.
Fusion reactors provide a good amount of steady energy output at a fair price. They are attractive targets and not very well-armored, so keep them well-protected. When killed, fusion reactors will cause heavy damage to nearby units.
The Singularity Reactor generates massive amount of energy using a controlled black hole - which is about as safe as it sounds. When the reactor is destroyed, the black hole implodes violently, dragging units inside. An entire continent on which this is built should be considered unsafe ground.
Wind generators produce a variable amount of energy, depending on altitude and wind speed. They are extremely fragile and chain explode when bunched, so consider their placement carefully. When placed in water, they become somewhat more sturdy tidal generators with a good, constant output.
Geothermal plants are highly efficient energy sources that can only be built on geovents on the map. They explode quite violently when destroyed, so avoid placing anything directly adjacent.
Storages act as a buffer when one expects a big influx of metal, such as reclaiming a vast wreckage field. However, longer periods of increased metal income are better dealt with by acquiring more buildpower.
Energy Transmission Pylons help extend energy grids and connect more Extractors or energy sources. This in turn helps Extractors overdrive, producing more metal. Pylons can also provide a fast way to power defenses that rely on the energy grid. Note that over short distances or in low-energy situations using energy producers like solar collectors to connect grids can be a more cost efficient alternative.
The most cost-effective source of buildpower, the Caretaker is ideal for increasing the output of factories or automatically repairing nearby defenses. It cannot start any construction projects itself, however.
The Radar tower provides early warning of enemy units and their movements over a moderate distance at virtually no cost. It has a very small but steady energy cost and will automatically shut down if you run out of energy. Radar coverage is blocked by terrain such as mountains.
The advanced Radar Tower has a considerably greater range than the basic version. In addition each advanced radar tower halves the radar wobble of units. This works globally and affects all allied radars. Building one or two can be of great help, at a price.
Jammers such as this intefere with enemy radar waves, concealing your units' radar returns. Sneaky Pete is also equipped with a cloak shield to hide nearby units from enemy sight.
Pulse MG
EMP Explosion
Energy Shield
