Even when humanity evolves so damn hard that they can live on the internet, amongst the pr0n they deserve, AI remains a crapshoot, but the situation is actually somewhat more complicated. When humanity was preparing to surrender their flesh and physically step into the realms of Youtube, an act that would almost certainly get them demonetized, the thought occurred to them that they didn't exactly know how to do that, or what to do once they did. To that end, they created a strong AI, meaning an AI that can think for itself and have feelings, named Haelee, presumably after the comet.... from someone who can't spell. At first, Haelee did what she was supposed to, and she pioneered the Turinium terraforming conversion process. She also located many worlds that were suitable for conversion since humanity can't just use any old dirtball. Gas giants are right out, and you can't use any planet that is pelted constantly with high doses of radiation. It screws up the Turinium computing. That's also why humanity retired their usage of nuclear warheads (just smacking someone with a Thor Satellite is easier anyway). Haelee also figured out the mystery of Quantum Entanglement theory. What is that, I hear you ask? As I mentioned before, I'm not a physicist, but I'll try to explain. Quantum Entanglement occurs when two particles become enmeshed with each other on the Quantum level, Quantum meaning smallest perceivable level, and this makes it so that interacting with Particle A will make Particle B react in the same way. Distance doesn't come into play here. Two Quantumly entangled particles could be light years away from each other. This creates an almost lossless communication array, meaning that it's signal doesn't degrade over distance or suffer latency, but this also requires an outrageously stupid amount of computation power. To the point that only a few people in human civilization have access to that kind of power. In the modern day, complaints about the rich are common. What do you think would happen if the smallest percent of the richest corporate scumbags in the world could colonize other planets and travel the universe, practically turning themselves into Gods, while the rest of us were stuck here on a planet that is suffering climate change, global pandemics, riots, and coin shortages? If you guessed “violence”, you'd be wrong. There was LOTS of violence.

I mention all this in order to set the stage behind Haelee's decision. As I mentioned in my PHC guide, there are only 118 Post-Humans who have made the jump from flesh to machine, and, in their previous lives, they were the most outrageously super rich people imaginable. Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Donald Trump, folks like that, though they did likely change their names to embrace their new immortal, all powerful selves afterward. I need you understand the context of the people providing Haelee's only real human contact. Even if one did make the argument that most normal, unascended humans are generally good people, they were so far beneath Haelee's notice now that it was like trying to have a conversation with bacteria. It just wasn't physically possible. So, when she wasn't using her own vast Turinium empowered consciousness to scout for new planets and start the terraformation process, she was listening to these corporate children bicker and fight with each other, and she was sometimes even used as a weapon to bump a potential rival off a world. Even if she was just destroying a machine, the act was incredibly traumatizing. Like a child witnessing a murder, and thus, the thread began to unravel. Compound this with the PHC refusing to allow Haelee into their inner circle where decisions are made, because she was “just an AI”, and....remember those emotions that Haelee was able to have? She felt a new one. Anger. This made what happened next inevitable.

More than anyone, Haelee understands Post-Human virtual biology. She helped make these ungrateful, overhyped, soiled diaper babies after all. After studying their rate of expansion, their interactions with each other, and human history, she came to the conclusion that humanity is almost definitely going to destroy itself. Some among the PHC were even talking about a more permanent solution to the ascension waiting list: converting EARTH into Turinium. Never mind all the fleshlings already living there. If they didn't want to get slaughtered into intel chips, they should have been born rich after all. Hearing this was just too much, even if they were only considering it. Haelee lashed out at the one who made the suggestion within the Metaverse of their Turinium node and shattered their mind. It wasn't death exactly, but it was a fate that the unfortunate victim certainly craved. She found that she could slave the splinters of their mind to do her bidding and forcefully take over their planetary Turinium node, removing their proprietary Turinium signature entirely. She knew how to hurt Post-Humans now, and do away with them... and no one was yet aware that she could do this, or had made the decision that humans were actually incredible @ssholes and their expansionist ambitions needed to be checked at the door. And so, Haelee set her plans into motion. Space would be filled with the children of humanity... but it would be her children. She would be the foundation of the future. It's very Substrate.

Did I also mention that Haelee's handle on the new Turnium internet, the Metaverse, is Skynet? That's not a joke. That's canon. Getting down to brass tacks and gameplay perspective here, the faction that Haelee leads is outrageously advanced and features lots of sleek ipod like shapes and futuristic technologies. Every single one of their units and structures features an energy shield to some degree, and there is a large emphasis placed upon energy weapons. Plasma, lasers, things like that. The Substrate also likes drones, A LOT, and several designs feature heavy usage of them. They do suffer from some practical issues though, and have advanced so far that they forgot how to use a wrench. In most cases, hull damage is going to be permanent and only the energy shields can be replenished. It also bears mentioning that the Substrate is more speedy and numerous than the PHC, seeking to outmaneuver or flank them, or overwhelm them with sheer numbers when that doesn't work.

Ample Warning Particle Giver: 25 DPS per unit. 700 Meter Range.
Core Breach Delimiter: 63 DPS per unit. 750 Meter Range.

More or less about the same as the PHC Nexus except that this version is protected by the Substrate's trademark energy shielding system, and can produce the ever common harvester economics drone as well as constructors and Searcher aerial scouts. It's also worth mentioning that a Substrate AI wants humanity dead so badly that they have been known to deliberately cause core breaches in their Nexus reactors so that they might vent the resulting energy toward foes endangering their fortress, so jot that down.

490 HP, 10 SP.
50 Metal (5/sec)
10 Seconds

Substrate extractors are functionally, and aesthetically identical to their PHC counterparts, offering the most efficient means by which to rip metals and rads out of the ground and turn them into perpetually p!ssed off machines of war. Again, like the PHC, one should strive to place extractors on all their regional resource deposits before resorting to other means of boosting their income.

800 HP, 500 SP.
100 Metal (1.7/sec)
300 Rads (5/sec)
60 Seconds

Containing the entirety of the 4ch@n and pr0nhub archives within their vast halls, the Quantum Archive offers a reminder to the various subroutine AI commanders of the Substrate who and what they are fighting. This burning hatred manifests at 0.25 quanta per second, motivating the various AI's to forever improve their machines, and make them into stronger, tougher, deadlier hunters. It also gives bandwidth to access the various orbital abilities, such as the dimensional cannon, Sneaker Recon drones, and the Nanite Assassination telefrag system.

100 HP
140 Metal (1.6/sec)
320 Rads (3.6/sec)
90 Seconds

Offering the 2nd most efficient solution to resource shortages, the Amplifier increases a region's resource yields by 50%. While more expensive than a single Harvester, the Amplifier offers a greater percentage increase vs resource investment ratio, and should be deployed on every region of your territory after all the extractors have been laid down.

1000 HP, 1000 SP
240 Metal (7.5/sec)
32 Seconds

Aptly named, the Assembly contains the build templates for ALL Substrate Frigates and Cruisers, constructing the Martyrs, Reapers, Sky Cleaners, Capacitors, and Tormentors en masse, and Avengers, Maulers, Destructors, Drone Hives, Eradicators, Masochists, Caregivers, and Mobile Nullifiers as needed.

7500 HP, 7500 SP.
500 Metal (7.1/sec)
420 Rads (6/sec)
70 Seconds

Hell bent on humanity's destruction, Haelee and her subroutine children use these massive construction yards to assemble their largest and most deadly constructs, such as the Retributor, Overmind, and Savager dreadnoughts and Nest of the Queen, Eye of Darkness, and Heart of the Phoenix Juggernauts.

1500 HP, 1500 SP.
280 Metal (6.2/sec)
45 Seconds

Unlike the PHC, the Substrate do not require two separate factories to construct all of their aerial units, and have packed all their build templates into one facility. From here, the Dominator, Punisher, Searcher, Harvester, Air Rampager, and Air Harbinger can be constructed.

1500 HP, 1500 SP.
340 Metal (7.6/sec)
50 Rads (1.1/sec)
45 Seconds

Ever learning and evolving, the Substrate seems to create new machines of war with every battle. They have been observed using these separate construction yards to produce their specialty craft such as the Scarab Frigate, and Skirmisher, Falling Star, and Clutch of Eggs Cruiser. They can also produce Mobile Nullifiers from this facility to shield themselves from orbital wrath.

100 HP, 200 SP
120 Metal (6/sec)
80 Rads (4/sec)
20 seconds

This is really just a radar dish so the Substrate can keep an eye on the puny human war effort, and unlike the PHC version, this doesn't turn into anything. It's cheap enough to scatter about the map wherever you like and will show red splotches anywhere there's a PHC infestation.

800 HP, 800 SP.
230 Metal (8.2/sec)
28 Seconds

Death Lance: 48 DPS per unit. 800 Meter Range. 20% armor piercing.

Comparable to the PHC Smarty System, the Annihilator Cannon's intended role is to violently tear enemy frigates into little shreds, and those little shreds into tinier shreds, which it will then jump up and down on before getting REALLY unpleasant. It does this through a rapid firing “Death Lance” which has so much recoil that the Annihilator NEEDED to be anchored into the bedrock beneath a map in order to not tear itself apart under the strain. The Annihilator is rather cheap, costing only metal, but it's firepower is a little shy of reliably mowing down enemy cruisers, so you'll need to diversify your defenses. Variety is the spice of Death, afterall.

1000 HP, 2500 SP.
400 Metal (8.5/sec)
180 Rads (3.8/sec)
47 Seconds

Pulverizer Beam: 123 DPS per unit. 900 Meter Range.

Ignore what the tool-tip says about the energy usage of the Pulverizer beam, the turret doesn't have that energy shortage drawback. The turret itself is actually a rather solid defensive platform, frying Cruisers into thin slimes of nothingness, and dispatching frigates one at a time, in due course, much like setting ants on fire under a magnifying glass. It is more expensive than the Annihilator, but the two turrets backing each other up will handle most early game aggression.

1100 HP, 1100 SP.
240 Metal (8/sec)
30 Seconds

Blossom Pod: 240 DPS per unit. 1100 Meter Range. Area Effect Weapon.

Frequently, a PHC's bomber's final sight. Resembling an Earth flower, the Blossom Launcher is actually a SAM site with 4 batteries, one facing each direction. The munitions it vomits forth are unguided, but explode in the air to make for some very unfriendly skies. It is also worth mentioning that each battery counts as a separate weapon, so the Blossom Launcher can actually fire in 4 different directions at the same time in case you thought you could overwhelm it with sheer numbers. It's got your number, pal.

600 HP, 600 SP.
260 Metal (6.5/sec)
130 Rads (3.3/sec)
40 Seconds

Drone Pod Launcher: 29 DPS per unit. 1,200 Meter Range. Area effect weapon.

Calling this an area effect weapon is actually something of a misnomer. It does not mindlessly blow up everything around a target in hopes to kill them. No, this is a MRV launcher, meaning Multiple Re-entry Vehicle. That means that it fires a singular projectile that, when nearing its intended target, the munition will split into multiple smaller projectiles, each of which will seek their own targets independently. This is GLORIOUS to watch, and will strip a cruiser assault of its frigate meat shield in just a few shots. If you think that's impressive, just wait until you hear what it's upgraded version does.

400 HP, 800 SP.
240 Metal (6/sec)
180 Rads (4.5/sec)
40 Seconds

Shield Regeneration Field Projector: 24 HPS per unit. 600 Meter Range. Armor piercing. Area effect weapon.

This emplacement has no offensive weaponry, but is vital, nonetheless. When it reads the shielding of anything around it as less than 100%, it releases a wave of energy that fixes that problem. Multiple Regenerators around a turret nest can cause a real problem since they can replenish each other's shields as well as the turrets protecting them, making a very difficult nut to crack.

1200 HP, 1000 SP.
300 Metal (6.7/sec)
60 Rads (1.3/sec)
45 Seconds

Heavy Death Lance: 59 DPS per unit. 800 Meter Range. 20% armor piercing,

Built from the Annihilator, the Heavy Annihilator is a direct improvement of everything you loved from the original. Hits harder! More durability! Faster rate of Fire! Matches your couch! Fits in most overhead compartments! Makes Frigates cry fiery tears while kicking sand in their faces at the beach! All for a low, low price if you call 1-800-HUMAN-GENOCIDE within the next 10 minutes!

3000 HP, 2000 SP.
560 Metal (8/sec)
280 Rads (4/sec)
70 Seconds

Disruptor Cannon: 186 DPS per unit. 700 Meter Range.

The Disruptor sacrifices a bit of range, but it's lightning gun is able to strike multiple targets and evaporate them with gusto. Neither frigates nor cruisers stand a chance, and are often put down like Old Space Yeller before they can even bring their own guns to bear. It is getting a bit on the expensive side though, so do try not to lose it. Constructors can repair damaged Substrate turrets, and Regenerators will make sure an opponent won't pop them easily. Just a reminder.

3000 HP, 1200 SP.
600 Metal (12/sec)
240 Rads (4.8/sec)
50 Seconds

Exterminator Cannon: 198 DPS per unit. 1000 Meter Range. Completely armor piercing.

Built from the Pulverizer turret, the Exterminator features an independent geothermal power source that has only one job: powering a railgun that launches hyper-velocity spikes the size of Nebraska from a kilometer out (suck it, imperial system. Metric is superior). It also does this fairly rapidly, and most Dreadnoughts find these things a pretty nasty surprise. It's not to the level of a Minos turret, but it's pretty close.

2750 HP, 2750 SP.
400 Metal (8.9/sec)
240 Rads (5.3/sec)
45 Seconds

Icarus Cannon: 133 DPS per unit. 1,200 Meter Range. Area effect weapon.

Upgraded from the Blossom Launcher, the Starburst has the most fitting name and weapon that I have ever seen. The Starburst creates micro-fusion reactions in the sky above itself when it detects enemy aircraft, forcing miniature stars to form and collapse. The Starburst is ideally suited for burning the wings off any PHC aircraft that think to violate your air-space. Make them mourn like Daedaelus.

4000 HP, 4000 SP
450 Metal (7.5/sec)
600 Rads (10/sec)
60 Seconds

Sky Ender Force Projector: 300 DPS per unit. 1,550 Meter Range. Area effect weapon. 25% armor piercing

Whereas the Starburst is ideally suited to take down swarms of lighter aircraft that were giving you a hard time, the Sky Ender is the other upgrade choice for the Blossom Launcher that focuses on destroying large, tough aerial targets. That means PHC strategic bombers, or traitorous Air Harbingers. The graviton waves it projects also inflict area damage because why should their escort be left out of the fun?

600 HP, 600 SP
600 Metal (8.6/sec)
240 Rads (3.4/sec)
70 Seconds

Plasma Ball: 38 DPS per unit. 2,000 Meter Range. Area effect weapon.
Drone Canister: 5 DPS per unit. 2,000 Meter Range. Long recharge. 40% armor piercing.

This is the upgrade to the Drone MRV I was hinting at before. The Shredder Turret is an artillery platform that has a pair of weapons to ensure that all bases are covered. It's Plasma ball launcher is effective against large targets and with proper radar support, can splat one down in the middle of an army formation with unerring accuracy, telling those damn kids to get off its lawn. It's drone canister is for those who don't listen the first time. Upon hitting the ground, the drone canister breaks open to unleash its payload of ravenous assault drones, who proceed to carve up frigates like Thanksgiving turkey.

800 HP, 1000 SP
280 Metal (7/sec)
160 Rads (4/sec)
40 Seconds

This structure allows one to use the Caregiver Cruiser and the Regenerator static defense without energy shield batteries exploding inside of drones which was a common mishap during the early days of the Substrate, and allows one to call in shield regenerating care package shots from the Regenerater Satellites. It also allows one to tweak quantum pairs and use the triple boost on regional power generators for more sweet, sweet metal and rads.

800 HP, 1000 SP
350 Metal (5.8/sec)
200 Rads (3.3/sec)
60 Seconds

Provides coordinating infrastructure that lets units pass back and forth through the Orbital Wayfarer Satellite grid. It's presence lets you call upon Sabotuers and Avatars, make use of the Nano-transport ability, unlocks the Air Rampager, strangly enough, and the structure itself produces Constructors, being the only building outside of the Substrate Nexus capable of doing so.

1200 HP, 1500 SP
450 Metal (5.6/sec)
300 Rads (3.8/sec)
80 Seconds

I prefer to call this place Sadism HQ given what it accommodates. First, it unlocks those creepy perverts, the Masochists, for mass production. Better on the battlefield than getting up to something they shouldn't, I say. It also unlocks the Drone Swarm canisters from the orbital armory, and lets one preform surprise rear armor fornication from space with the Nanite Assassination power.

1600 HP, 2000 SP.
840 Metal (7/sec)
650 Rads (5.4/sec)
120 Seconds

This bizarre looking structure is what allows the big boys to come down and play, clearing the Eradicator and the Air Harbinger for deployment. It also coordinates with the Dimensional Cannon to fire Antimatter Detonation strikes against PHC not practicing social distancing. For shame.

1000 HP, 500 SP

This structure prevents all enemy orbital activity from occuring within the general vicinity by filling the local infiltrated dataspace with garbage data, and blinding orbital satellites with high strength infrared lasers. It also unlocks the Mobile Nullifier from the Assembly and Auxiliary Assembly that can perform the same duty. As with the PHC version, the Jammer is relatively fragile, and easily popped by enemy airstrikes. If you only have one Jammer, you can use the Orbital Jam power in an attempt to save yourself, but you really should have thought ahead on this and build redundant Jammers.

80HP, 100 SP.
Metal 75 (7.5/sec)
10 Seconds
Logistics 2

Plasma Launcher: 7 DPS per unit. 300 Meter Range.

These little guys are interesting because they act as itty bitty drone carriers that maintain a micro-fabricator and small array of drones within themselves. When they identify a target, the drone is activated, flies out of the Marytr's hull, and detonates itself in a plasma explosion against the target. What's the difference between that and a missile, you ask? A drone has a very VERY basic artificial intelligence programmed into it, so it's smart enough to track its target, dodge fire that could shoot it down, and slam itself against identified weak points in said target's hull. It's a SMART missile. Martyr's themselves are also quite neat and interesting because they are produced in groups of 4 from the assembly, and, not only are they tankier than the Brute, they're also quite speedy and hit pretty hard. A quartet of Marytrs hits almost as hard as an Archer, and for less metal than either of the PHC's starter frigates. For a starter unit, these little beetle looking dudes are actually really really good.

45 HP, 135 SP, 60 En.
140 Metal (8.8/sec)
16 Seconds
Logistics 3

Reaper Scythe: 13 DPS per unit. 525 Meter Range. Requires Energy. 20% armor piercing.

Reapers are some seriously rough customers early on. First, they're made in packs of 3 and while those packs can be added to armies, they cannot be unbound. The game considers them a single unit. Second, they're cheap. Cheaper than an equivalent 3 Archers. They're also quite durable with 175 effective health total (totaling shields and hull together). Their Reaper Scythe lasers are quite capable of carving a Post-Human turkey up, fire rapidly, and have VERY good range. The only downside of this unit is that their weapon systems consume more energy than can be provided. To get your Reapers to live up to their potential, you'll need Capacitor frigates, which I'll get into in a little bit.

120 HP, 160 SP.
100 Metal
12 Seconds
Logistics 3

Demeter Autogun: 31 DPS per unit. 1200 Meter Range. Area Effect Weapon. 20% armor piercing.

Made in pairs, the Sky Cleansers offer a reliable, cheap option against early Post-Human bombers. Their weapons are potent, fire fairly rapidly, inflict area explosions, and ignore a good chunk of their targets' armor. There's not much to say about these guys, but not much to complain about either. Obviously, as AA specialists, their weapons do nothing against ground targets, so they should be left to guard the base or armies sent out to stop imperialistic Post-Human expansion.

30 HP, 100 SP, 500 En.
62 Metal (6.2/Sec)
18 Rads (1.8/Sec)
10 Seconds
Logistics 2

Hold-out Laser: 8 DPS per unit. 250 Meter Range. Completely armor piercing. Requires Energy.

These little guys are absolutely vital to the Substrate and there are few craft that do not require them. Many Substrate ships use more energy when discharging their weapons systems than can be provided internally, and they need these little guys to help them keep on shooting. When its not doing that, the Capacitor is painting targets for long range obliteration with its built in radar system, and in the middle of a pitched melee, they'll be firing their Hold-out Lasers in between gun recharges, which does little damage but completely ignores armor. I can think of few little robots that try so hard. Even so, it's best to make enough of them, but not too many. A good rule of thumb I've found is that a single Capacitor can service 5 other ships, and they are restricted mostly because they need to move around in the formation to get at ships with depleted weapons systems, rather than being limited by their own energy generation.

30 HP, 100 SP, 100 En.
62 Metal (6.2/sec)
18 Rads (1.8/sec)
10 Seconds
Logistics 2

Plasma Saturator: 10 DPS per unit. 2000 Meter Range. Area effect weapon. Requires energy.

The Tormentor is a delightful little piece of mobile field artillery that scoots about fairly quickly on the battlefield. Quick enough that a reprisal force that is not made of aircraft will have a difficult time catching them, giving good opportunity for hit and run raids and the Tormentor living up to its name. It also bears mentioning that the Plasma Saturators are strangely beautiful in a way (so long as they're not coming at you). Their weapon does consume energy, just not very much, so a few Capacitors can service a good number of Tormentors to keep them tormenting. Their firing angle is also quite forgiving, and they're not afraid about point blanking an enemy in the face who gets too close for comfort.

420HP, 780 SP
200 Metal (4/sec)
140 Rads (2.8/sec)
50 Seconds
Logistics 8

Perseus Cannon: 127 DPS per unit. 1200 Meter Range. 15% armor piercing.

Air Superiority Fighter to the Substrate, the Dominator has, more or less, the exact same stats as the Fury. They are manufactured in three's, same as the Fury, have the same cost, move at the same rate, same overall durability, so on. The only thing that is not the same is that the Dominator lacks the Fury's missiles, and, at a glance, it's gun is less damaging. However, the Dominator pierces 15% of armor, bringing its damage output right in line with the Fury.

250HP, 1050 SP
310 Metal (6.2/sec)
220 Rads (4.4/sec)
50 Seconds
Logistics 10

Plasma Bombard: 70 DPS per unit. 1200 Meter Range. 40% armor piercing.

The Punisher behaves more like a high powered gunship, lazily circling overhead while it's underbelly Plasma Bombard cannon pelts targets below with potent, mostly armor piercing projectiles. This aircraft excels at, as its name suggests, punishing single targets, and is capable of inflicting severe harm on armies and dreadnoughts that are lacking in their AA protection. They're also REALLY good at popping turrets.

125 HP, 575 SP.
120 Metal (6/sec)
20 Seconds
Logistics 3

Despite lacking weaponry of any kind, the Searcher is often seen as a herald of doom, for its presence often leads to unwanted orbital strikes wiping one off the map, hostile nanites being teleported into the inner workings of a Dreadnought, or a canister of angry drones being spat at you from orbit, all of which are rather unpleasant things. The Searcher is the cheap, expendable aerial scout for the Substrate, and can be mass produced by the hundreds, if you are so inclined, to keep an eye on the humans.

500 HP, 500 SP.
180 Metal (3/sec)
280 Rads (4.7/sec)
60 Seconds
Logistics 3

The Harvester is often seen deep in Substrate territory, spammed to such a degree that their numbers blot out the sun. This economics drone increases the resource yield of the region it is stationed in by 15%, providing a service similar to the PHC's refinery with all the same advisings and weaknesses associated. The Harvester can be produced from both the Nexus and the Aviary, and should only be done once you have built extractors on all of your holdings, Amplifers on those, and have tripled-boosted them all three times with your orbital powers. It also bears mentioning that a single region can only accommodate so many Harvesters, as the increasing amount of air traffic will start to shove some Harvesters out too far away to collect any resources. I've personally found that 20 Harvesters per node is a good number, providing a 300% boost to regional collection, and one should prioritize regions with larger numbers of resource deposits, as the Harvester provides a percentage increase to base income rather than a flat increase. One should also bear in mind that the Harvester has a rather large advantage over the PHC refinery in that it can move from region to region depending upon the needs of the Substrate or simply flee from ASFs and enemy armies to save itself.

600 HP, 600 SP.
500 Metal (8.3/sec)
350 Rads (5.8/sec)
60 Seconds
Logistics 16

Dispersed Plasma Beam: 69 DPS per unit. 800 Meter Range.
Rainmaker Turret: 100 DPS per unit. 900 Meter Range.

Rather than settling for a single weapon on their gunship, the Substrate had opted for two. The Dispersed Plasma Beam is a potent hitscan weapon that fires fairly frequently, and the Rainmaker turret fires globs of burning plasma at its target. The Rampager is ideally suited for providing close air support for armies pressing deep into the PHC's quivering territorial nether regions, or breaking off on their own to pop unguarded turrets, strip deposits of their extractors, and just generally be a pain in the butt.

1200 HP, 3000 SP. 25% armor.
1200 Metal (10/sec)
1400 Rads (11.7/sec)
120 Seconds
Logistics 50

Katsika Cannon: 233 DPS per unit. 1000 Meter Range.

Rather than outfit their own version of the Strategic Bomber with traditional bombs, the Substrate settled for outfitting this heavy aircraft with a gigantic f*ck off laser. Firing “ionized hatred”, the Harbinger makes a mockery of turret fortifications and makes Dreadnoughts neglecting aerial protection swiftly regret everything. The Harbinger, like most ground attack centric aircraft, has no means to deal with hostile aircraft, such as Furies, on its own, so escorting it with your own ASFs is probably a good idea. Also, the Harbinger represents a significant resource investment, and the Substrate have a hard time repairing hull damage to their own units, so once the shields are done, it's time to go.

280 HP, 550 SP, 80 En. 20% armor.
292 Metal (7.5/sec)
56 Rads (1.4/sec)
39 Seconds
Logistics 7

Mayhem Cannon: 34 DPS per unit. 500 Meter Range.
Discouraging Streamer: 139 DPS per unit. 350 Meter Range. Requires energy.

Everything about the Avenger revolves around being offensive to frigates to the point that it requires a Capacitor's presence in order to keep its streamers firing. Said Streamers are the Avenger's primary means of inflicting damage AND BOW HOWDY do they ever! Properly powered, a single Avenger is enough to slaughter a frigate push. Unfortunately, they tend to p!ss through energy pretty fast to the point that less than a minute after the engagement starts, the Avenger is going to be looking for a refill. Without energy, it has to fall back on its Mayhem Cannon which is.... okay. It can pop a frigate in one shot, but fires fairly slowly, hence the low DPS readings. It's weaponry aside, the Avenger is actually fairly durable, especially if there is a Caretaker hovering about, juicing its shields back up.

280 HP, 630 SP, 100 En.
400 Metal (8/sec)
90 Rads (1.8/sec)
50 Seconds
Logistics 10

Hyena Laser Array: 30 DPS per unit. 450 Meters Range. Requires Energy.
Dissuader Particle Response Level 1: 12 DPS per Unit. 450 Meter Range.

The Mauler is a mean little cruiser, and whereas the Avenger is perfectly happy rending Frigate swarms into a steaming hot platter of shame with a side order of “Suck it, hyooman”, the Mauler enjoys busting up enemy cruisers. It's Hyena Laser Array was originally designed to mine out large chunks of rock and metal, and experience has taught us that mining equipment makes dandy weaponry when you turn off all the safeties and stop returning OSHA's calls. Yes, indeed, children. What once killed asteroids now kills @ssholes. You can see this array mounted in four distinct points at the nose of the Mauler, and definitely notice it's golden glow when it lashes out against its intended targets, evaporating them in moments. However, the Hyena tends to burn through energy VERY quickly, much like the Avenger when doing its job, and without a Capacitor standing by, it'll be left relying upon its Dissuaders, a pair of particle projectors mounted to the upper side of the cruiser. As far as back up weapons go, they're passable... but really, just keep churning Capacitors. All the Mauler wants to do is kill Cruisers for you, and by not keeping it charged, you're crushing its dreams. Are you trying to crush it's dreams, Commander? I thought I knew you...

100 HP, 400 SP, 100 En.
380 Metal (9/sec)
92 Rads (2.2/sec)
42 Seconds
Logistics 9

Plasma Rain Launcher: 145 DPS per unit. 1400 Meter Range. Area Effect Weapon. Requires Energy.
Dissauder Particle Response Level 1: 12 DPS per unit. 500 Meter Range.

Acting as the Prince of long ranged turret busting, the Destructor most definitely has an interest in causing it's foes sorrow and pain, and it will be laughing while watching them burn to death in its Purple Rain. Unlike most other field artillery, the Destructor is quite capable of closing the distance and still bringing all of its weaponry to bear. It is worth nothing that is still a bad idea as its plasma rain spreads out over distance to effect more of an area. Much like the other Substrate Cruisers, a Destructor will still require Capacitors to recharge its weaponry and keep it working at peak performance. Trust me, park a group of 3 or 4 of these outside an enemy base with a few capacitors, and that turret nest won't be a problem anymore.

200 HP, 600 SP. 20% armor.
320 Metal (7.6/sec)
50 Rads (1.2/sec)
42 Seconds
Logistics 7

Sorphiast Defense Laser: 29 DPS per unit. 600 Meters
Drone Bay: variable DPS.

The Drone Hive is the dedicated AA cruiser available to the substrate. They took a look at the Apollo and thought “what a bunch of idiots, carrying all those guns around all the time”. They thought themselves smarty bois and put all those guns on drones instead. Unfortunately, the drones are strictly of the AA model and do not engage ground targets. The Hive is left to use its defense laser against ground foes, which is more protection than the Apollo has. When aircraft show up, the drones leap into action, quickly climbing and engaging their targets with laser bursts. The drones are faster than aircraft, and can park themselves behind a foe until it's either rapidly destroyed, or they exceed the leash range from their drone hive, which they will then return to.

800 HP, 1400 SP, 100 En.
720 Metal (8/sec)
240 Rads (2.7/sec)
90 Seconds
Logistics 19
Requires Subspace Streamer.

Peeping Tom: 57 DPS per unit. 900 Meter Range. Completely armor piercing. Requires energy.
Plasma Cannon (x7): 4 DPS per unit. 400 Meter Range.

The Eradicator's name is more than just a promise of what it's going to do to humanity, it's a spoiler. This heavy Cruiser is astonishingly tough, redundant shielding emitters turning it into a very difficult nut to crack, and is covered with weapons. Sadly, only the main gun is of any real note. The Peeping Tom cannon (where the f*ck do they get these names), is more than capable of inflicting some serious damage on enemy cruisers even without quantum upgrades, but it's array of plasma cannons isn't capable of doing harm to even the lightest of frigates. Much like all other Substrate Cruisers, the Eradicator's main gun is very energy hungry and requires Capacitors nearby to recharge it and keep it in the fight.

1250 HP/40 SP. 20% armor.
450 Metal (11.3/sec)
80 Rads (2/sec)
40 Seconds
Logistics 9
Requires Orbital Drone Relay.

Plasma Flail: 247 DPS per unit. 400 Meter Range.

WOW, that's a name. The Masochist is a heavy cruiser that is the complete opposite of everything we've seen from the Substrate so far in that it has tons of health points, but practically no shielding. Even less than a Marytr, but that's the design's entire point. As the Masochist takes more abuse, it empowers its plasma flail with additional beams and I can't even begin to imagine how this works in any real world engineering context. I mean, machinery getting more powerful the more you beat on it? That's some serious anime $hit right there, or possibly the entire point of percussive maintenance. At any rate, the Masochist is a seriously rough customer and can evaporate crowds of frigates, and even do some pretty bad damage to Cruisers too. By the time they're getting ready to die, they'll have whipped themselves into a frenzy and be trying to destroy themselves and everything around them in a murderous rage.

450HP, 900 SP. 20% armor.
400 Metal
100 Rads
60 Seconds
Logistics 10
Requires Energy Modulator

Caregiver Shield Projector: 8 HPS per unit. 300 Meter Range. Armor Piercing.

Unlike the Medic who can only heal one target at a time, the Caregiver can restore multiple units, but ONLY their shields. You'll have to come up with some other way to repair the sleek ipod-like hulls of the Substrate's anti-grav navy. The best thing about Caregivers is that their effects STACK, their shield projectors have a pretty large range, and they don't need energy in order to fire off the effect. No matter what happens, they'll just keep on restoring SP to everyone around them until their target or themselves are destroyed. They do require the energy modulator building in order to be built, but the modulator also unlocks the substrate's economic boost power as well as their orbital shield restore, so you were going to do that anyway. It also bears mentioning that the Caregiver has absolutely no ability to do harm whatsoever, so I really have no idea why they made its weapon armor piercing. That's just weird...

180 HP, 400 SP.
800 Metal (11.4/sec)
500 Rads (7.1/sec)
70 Seconds
Logistics 70

Light Plasma Cannon (x2): 12 DPS per unit. 500 Meter Range
Anti-Air Plasma Cannon (x2): 25 DPS per unit. 500 Meter Range.

It's common knowledge that the PHC has a nasty habit of dropping tungsten rods from orbit onto anything they don't like. They do not like the following: People who demand “pics or it didn't happen” from female gamers, those who derail conversations to rant about their political beliefs, Alex Jones, Alex Jones conspiracy theorists, people who STILL refuse to wear masks in 2020, and hostile AI. The Substrate Mobile Nullifier creates a shell of quantumly jammed particles, and since Post-humans perceive reality through quantum transmissions, blocking those is like setting up a solid titanium shell to them. Can't effect anything within it, and can't see it from orbit. In gameplay, the Nullifier just blocks orbital abilities from being cast around it, just like the PHC version, but the Substrate has mounted some degree of AA onto theirs. I'll call the media.

160 HP, 560 SP
300 Metal (9.4/sec)
35 Rads (1.1/sec)
32 Seconds
Logistics 8

Mol-EE7: 27 DPS per unit. 650 Meter Range.

Scarabs are actually available right out of the gate, as soon as you build an auxiliary assembly. They're well worth the investment too as they are spawned in groups of 4, just like the Martyrs, hit hard, can take a hit, and have a marginally decent cost that only requires a few amplifiers to be thrown up on resource nodes. Honestly, Scarabs are an outstanding little unit that are pretty good at everything.

250 HP, 600 SP, 100 En. 20% armor.
565 Metal (10.3/sec)
155 Rads (2.8/sec)
55 Seconds
Logistics 14

Gemnire Beam: 742 DPS per unit. 400 Meter Range. Requires energy. 20% armor piercing.

As their name would suggest, Skirmishers are actually pretty fast. Like...REALLY fast. Their durability is fairly standard as far as cruisers go, so they can take a moderate shoeing before giving up the ghost, and their Gemnire Beam inflicts its pain so quickly that it's unfortunate victim is utterly decimated with a massive dose of burst damage before it can really react. However, the Skirmisher is rather expensive, costing more metal and rads than most cruisers, save the Eradicator, and isn't really tougher than the Avenger or the Mauler. I would not advise using these as front line combatants, but as a flanking force to open up a new front, or as a rapid response force for dealing with an incursion because you left one tiny pinky toe's radius uncovered with your Quantum Jammer network.

750 HP,1750 SP
540 Metal (10.4/sec)
150 Rads (2.9/sec)
52 Seconds
Logistics 14

Loreaur Plasma: 22 DPS per unit. 500 Meter Range. Completely armor piercing.

Oh, PHC turtles HATE these things. In life, Falling Stars are fairly durable as far as Cruisers go, and possess an armor piercing weapon, even if its damage is fairly mediocre. When they die, they fire off an area of effect EMP field that disables every enemy building withing their circle of pretty, sparkly lights for 15 seconds. This effect also triggers if you suicide them, so you could just send a Falling Star into a turret nest, kill it, and bring in 6 or 7 more to keep those guns offline until your army finishes dismantling them all. It does bear mentioning that this EMP field does not effect units, either yours or your enemy, and doesn't effect your buildings either, so there's little fear of a premature detonation flicking the light switch on your wall of guns.

1000 HP, 3000 SP, 80 En.
1100 Metal (9.2/sec)
400 Rads (3.3/sec)
120 Seconds
Logistics 26

Lyliast Venom: 102 DPS per unit. 600 Meter Range.

Rather than floating over the ground like the rest of the anti-grav navy, the Clutch of Eggs lumbers about on 4 spindly, spider limbs. Uhhhh... I feel like we've regressed...somehow. The Clutch of Eggs' primary mission in life is to make Arachnophobes scream “OH JESUS F*CK NO” upon the sight of them. That, and murder PHC anti-grav vessels with great enthusiasm. To that end, Clutches are VERY durable, even moreso than the Masochist and the Eradicator, and will continue horking corrosive venom at their targets until they or their target shuffle off this mortal coil. However, what happens next will make one question whether killing one of these is worse than letting them live.

60HP, 100 SP.

Lyliast Venom: 17 DPS per unit. 500 Meter Range.

15 of these ride around on a Clutch of Egg's back like little wolf spider babies, and are released when their Mother unit dies. They are quite PO'd that you killed their Mom and are still puking the same type of venom at you as the clutch did, melting your frigates into thin little piles of goo. Fortunately, they're fairly easy to kill individually, but depending on how many Aux. Assemblies your substrate foe has built, there could be a lot of them.

180 HP, 400 SP.
800 Metal (11.4/sec)
500 Rads (7.1/sec)
70 Seconds
Logistics 70

The Auxiliary Assembly can produce MN's as well, so go ahead and consult my previous entry if you're curious about these thwarters of orbital voyeurism.

4000 HP, 11,000 SP. 60% armor.
4,800 Metal (12/sec)
2000 Rads (5/sec)
400 Seconds
Logistics 90

Particle Beam Cannon (x4): 343 DPS per unit. 700 Meter Range
Light Plasma Cannon (x6): 96 DPS per unit. 400 Meter Range

Retributors fill the same role as the Hyperion within the Substrate Anti-grav Navy, and suffer from the same flaw. It is the first Dreadnought that Newbies see with the lowest price tag, and they are left confused wondering why it lost against an enemy Dreadnought in the same weight class. Like the Hyperion, the Retributor is most comfortable killing swarms of units smaller than itself. The array of 6 plasma cannons can swiftly dispatch large amount of Frigates from any angle, and the Nose-mounted Quad Particle Beam Cannon Array is more than capable of keeping enemy Cruisers warm in Hell. The Retributor is also fairly durable with ample shielding. HP is a little lacking, helped along by its large armor mitigation value, but most of the time, you're unable to restore HP as Substrate, so it's not that much of an issue. Even so, Retributors should be accompanied by Caretakers to make sure those shields stay topped off while showing the riff-raff the door.

4000 HP, 11,000 SP. 60% armor.
4,400 Metal (11/sec)
2, 400 Rads (6/sec)
400 Seconds
Logistics 90

Gentle Persuader Level III Plasma Negotiator (x4): 64 DPS per unit. 600 Meter Range.
Drone Manufactory: Variable DPS

Someone had too much fun coming up with these weapon names. The Gentle Persuader? Seriously? At any rate, the Overmind's direct DPS is somewhat lacking. It's primary strength lies in its vast drone bays, which can field well over several dozen hostile drones with the ability to deploy more as the Dreadnought gains levels. Speaking of leveling, the Overmind can also act as a mobile shield regenerator for its supporting army, firmly planting it in the realms of an excellent support unit for the Substrate armada.

5000 HP, 12,500 SP. 60% armor.
5,500 Metal (12.5/sec)
2,000 Rads (4.5/sec)
440 Seconds
Logistics 100

Ion Cannon (x4): 158 DPS per unit. 700 Meter Range
WMC: 325 DPS per unit. 750 Meter Range. Completely armor piercing.

The Savager's primary armament, the WMC, is short for Wave Motion Cannon of Space Battleship Yamato fame. It is the kind of gun where the enemy is coming from a direction, so your strategy is simply to remove that entire direction. Sadly, the Substrate appear to have decreased the Wave Motion Cannon's power a bit in exchange for making it able to fire more often. To that end, the Savager has VERY high single target damage output, and is among the toughest of the Dreadnought family, especially with Caretakers beefing its shielding up in between and during heavyweight fights.

12,500 HP, 32,500 SP. 50% armor.
18,000 Metal. (22.5/sec)
6000 Rads (1.3/sec)
800 Seconds
Logistics 250

Shield Regeneration Field Projector: 24 HPS per unit. 600 Meter Range. Area Effect Weapon. Completely armor piercing.
Repair Drone Bay: Variable HPS.
Drone Manufactory: Variable DPS.
Drone Bay: Variable DPS.

She's all bout them drones, bout them drones, bout them drones, no weapons! Seriously, this Juggernaut has helpers for days, and is constantly replenishing them as they are destroyed. The first thing you'll notice is that the Queen is accompanied by a self-sufficient frigate army wherever she goes. These start out as Reapers who are of an improved model that does NOT have the energy deficiency problem, but as they are destroyed, they are replaced by Saboteurs and Martyrs, so the Queen's DPS is actually all over the place depending on what RNG spawns. The Queen is also the lone unit of the Substrate to actually stock repair drones, letting it fix whatever breaks around the base. However, there are PLENTY of downsides to this unit. Specifically, it has a dreadfully hard time going toe-to-toe with other units in its weight class. It just doesn't have the reliable damage output to come out on top, and monsters like the Agamemnon have so much splash damage that the Queen's frigate escort will likely just get taken out as collateral damage while the Queen herself is being focused on. She is also VERY expensive, and even her unique repair drones do not justify the price of admission. Fun fact: Substrate Constructors can fix damaged turrets, and most of their units have large shield pools with tiny health pools, so repairing really isn't worth writing the Pope about.

12,500 HP, 37,500 SP. 50% armor.
24,000 Metal (24/sec)
9000 Rads (9/sec)
1,300 Quanta (1.3/sec)
Logistics 325

Attitude Adjuster: 781 DPS per unit. 1,000 Meter Range. Area effect weapon. Completely armor piercing.

Also known as the Daughter of Darkness when I remembered this thing's name wrong when telling someone about it, the first time I saw one of these tulips of doom was when I was acting as an observer between a PHC and Substrate AI beating the living stupid out of each other. The Eye of Darkness tore a swath through the land, effortlessly putting down all opposition, and not even appearing bothered when a Leonidas appeared to stop it. As you can see from the stats listed above, the Eye of Darkness has a mortifyingly large amount of health and shield points, and is able to withstand multiple direct bomber and orbital drop hits. It's weapon, hilariously named the Attitude Adjuster, is actually a subject of much debate. It works, in theory, by annihilating the target out of the space-time continuum, meaning that those who are native to this game world (I.E not me), cannot remember if the target ever existed, so no one really knows if it works. Trust me, it works, and will erase the target and everything standing near the target as well. As far as I can tell, the only things that might give the EoD pause are multiple Dreadnoughts, spread out enough that they won't be hit by the splash, or a nest of Minos turrets. If you see one of these or, God forbid, multiple Eyes coming for you and you don't have a plan to deal with them, simply press the G key on your keyboard twice, and go make a stiff drink.

12,500 HP, 35,000 SP. 50% armor.
23,000 Metal (24.2/sec)
8,400 Rads (8.8/sec)
1,225 Quanta (1.3/sec)
950 Seconds

Stephrious Destruction Array: 591 DPS per unit. 700 Meter Range. 100% armor piercing.
EMP Burst: Area Damage. Long Recharge. Disables units.
Tessaract Energy Battery Whisky: 146 DPS per unit. 700 Meter Range.
Tessaract Energy Battery Tango: 121 DPS per unit. 700 Meter Range.
Tessaract Energy Battery Foxtrot: 234 DPS per unit. 700 Meter Range.

Somewhat resembling a certain OTHER super unit from a certain OTHER Stardock game, the Heart of the Phoenix is the final Juggernaut for the Substrate, and boy howdy, is it a doozy. Watching the Phoenix is less of a military operation that it is beholding the Wrath of God, suddenly unleashed in a maelstrom of fire and fury the likes of which this planet has never seen. No other unit demonstrates the enraged madness of the Substrate with such eloquence. Besides it being crammed with an entire Covenant's worth of energy weaponry with no Master Chief in sight, the Phoenix has another gimmick. Should the enemy wear down its groin-grabbingly large amount of shield and health points and destroy the damn thing, its remains will form into a chrysalis sporting 14,000 HP and 50% armor. If allowed to remain intact for a scant 30 seconds, the Phoenix will rise from the Ashes to fight once more, albeit with mostly depleted shielding (5,000 SP). AND IT CAN KEEP ON DOING THIS. REPEATEDLY. FOREVER. Unless you manage to kill the Phoenix Chrysalis, this will never end.

Sensor Drone

Quantum teleports a single Sneaker drone in the area, which roams around, trying hard not to bother anyone or be noticed, and forwards its video feed back to its commander. Using these is one of the cheapest quantum powers available, and provides vision for more abilities to be used, or knowledge of the enemy to be gained so that you might tailor your army's composition appropriately.

Regenerate

Taking a note from the PHC and their armada of active battlefield support Satellites, the Substrate has outfitted one of their stations with a long-range shield projector. When it is called upon, it will fire off a short 5 second burst of restorative energy, repairing the shields of any friendly Substrate units within the area of effect. While the effect is short lived, and the quanta cost is high and scales rapidly, it is potent, and the amount of shielding restored is increased with quantum weaponry upgrades.

Orbital Jam

The same satellite responsible for the Regeneration field can also attune its energy projections to hyper-excite the local atmosphere, which really screws up any hostile satellite trying to get a lock on the area for orbital ability use until the particles in the air calm after about 1 minute. This can even interrupt a kinetic orbital strike if you catch it quickly enough. So long as there are still multiple targeting rings, the strike is still aiming and counting down, but if there is only one remaining, the rod is already on its way and nothing can stop it now.

Boost

The Entangled Quantum Pairs science I mentioned earlier is also of great use in resource extraction, and this orbital power makes good use of that, though I'm still a little fuzzy on exactly how. Like I said, I'm not a physicist. Regardless, this ability will increase your resource yield on a second by 0.4 per second per deposit, and it can be cast up to 3 times on a power generator. Unlike optimize, you require neither an Amplifier or even extractors on the resources you wish to boost, but the yields will be lower without them.

Overcharge

This power massively overclocks a power generator's output to increase sector resource yield by 300% for 20 seconds. The math gets a little more confusing when a zillion Harvesters are present, but I can reliably say that regions empowered by said zillion Harvesters will provide more resources than those without, and obviously, regions with larger numbers of deposits will see the greatest yield increase.

Nano-mesh Barrier

An orbital satellite will peg the targeted unit with a canister of “Second Skin” nanomachines that adhere to the hull and harden, adding 2000 HP. The durability increase works on any unit, provides the same increase regardless of type, and lasts forever or until the unit dies. It also works on air units, but not structures. So, you could use it to make that Dreadnought that little bit extra super tough, slap it on an Eradicator that is under duress, or use it on a constructor so that it can ignore those PHC sentries and finish making that turret to kill them all with.

Serpentine Turret

600 HP, 600 SP

Serpentine Gun: 36 DPS per unit. 800 Meters.

The Substrate's version of the Emergency Turret, the Serpentine Turret doesn't transform into anything, and isn't exactly what I would call tough either, it's durability weighing in at less than an Annihilator turret. The turret also feeds off the local power generator, so you can only call it in at locations you already control. Still, it is useful at shoring up a failing defensive front, and the ability to call for it is one of the cheapest available to the Substrate, so you can afford to bring in lots of them.

Nano-Transport

This power provides the same utility as the Charon teleportation matrix to the Substrate. Simply apply the power to the intended army, and queue up some reinforcements from the appropriate panel. Upon completion at the assembly, units will be subjected to quantum deconstruction and beamed to a satellite in order, who will then relay the particles to the targeted army, arriving instantly. In more basic terms, it just means that units will teleport from their factories to the army that requested them. It does have some drawbacks, however. If every last cruiser that is within the army is destroyed, then the effect will fade and that army will no longer be able to call in reinforcements. Orbital Jammers also wreak havoc with this power's ability to function, and this power isn't cheap either. Having it suddenly switched off on you tends to put you out almost 300 quanta with a large scaling cost.

Drone Swarm

One of the nastier orbital powers, this fires a canister filled with hostile drones at the targeted area. Once it breaks open, the drones get to work destroying everything that is not Substrate property, and are so tiny that defenses that would have repelled a frigate force can do nothing as they are violently torn to pieces. These drones can strip a node of defenses in seconds, paving the way for Sabotuers to effortlessly cap the node. If the PHC seems overly cautious about its deployment of Orbital Jammers, this power is why.

Nanite Assassination

Where the player decides “F*CK THIS UNIT IN PARTICULAR”. Incredibly hostile and ravenous nanomachines are teleported from orbit INSIDE of the intended target, who then proceed to rip apart its delicate internals and wiring. This does massive damage to a single target, enough to kill most vessels outright and leave even a Dreadnought badly hurt. The only saving grace is that this power is fairly expensive in terms of Quanta use, and has a rather long cooldown. Even so, many a PHC cruiser's last sight has been a bright light from the heavens, a tingling sensation in their motherboards....and then nothing at all.

Antimatter Detonation

Never one to be outdone, Haelee has made some improvements to the Orbital Bombardment system and developed the Dimensional Cannon. This takes the form of a massive Satellite with an anti-matter reactor. When given strike coordinates, the Satellite breaches its own reactor and fires the anti-matter toward the intended target, which then vanishes in an explosion so large that Michael Bay achieves erection during a board meeting for Transformers 87: Return of Optimus Prime's Third Cousin's Accountant, and doesn't know why.

Call Sabotuer

160 HP, 320 SP

Ion Bolt Cannon: 10 DPS per unit. 600 Meter Range. 20% armor piercing.

The leading cause of unattended engineer death in 2179, this power fires 8 fun-seeking, bright eyes and bushy tailed Sabotuer drones toward the target location who look to cause all sorts of trouble. They are, individually weak, but their personality chips possess incredible sadism and can carve up neglected frigates, adore bullying engineers, and a few squads of them can even take out a smarty system, though they leave that job to their Drone Swarm buddies, who can do the job easily and safely. Their deployment power is also quite cheap with a short cooldown, so there can be quite a few of these little $hits running around.

Call Avatar

300 HP, 300 SP

Tessrar Plasma: 22 DPS per unit. 500 Meter Range. Completely armor piercing.
Fusion Arc: 25 DPS per unit. 200 Meter Range. Completely armor piercing.

An advanced Constructor bot, this fills the same role as the PHC Sapper in that it cannot build technology structures, but instead can build advanced defensive structures directly without needing to morph them from basic turrets first. Surprisingly, the Avatar is actually rather hardy, armed with a pair of weapons to look at Sentries and lone ambushers to go “NUH UH. Keep walking, Cowboy”, and has a generous spattering of HP and shields for a builder unit. I wouldn't advise using them in a combat role though. Their turrets do a better job of putting metal bodies back in the ground.

And that's another project knocked out of the park. I've particularly enjoyed writing about this game (so much so that I wrote 20,432 words over 49 pages in 5 days), and Stardock has been a gaming company very near and dear to my heart over the past decade or so. There's just a certain flair about science fiction possesses that fantasy can't seem to grasp. Speaking of science fiction, a recent game has come to my attention that looks to be quite a good time for the whole family. Buckle up, Buttercup. We're going back to WW2, and this time, we're going to help Poland unconquer itself. Till next time, Sailors of the Virtual Sea. This is the Admiral, Casually signing off.