Desolator
The Desolator is a medium range defensive structure. It is extremely powerful and hard to take down directly.
| Desolator (turretheavy) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medium Range Defence Fortress Power by connecting to a 50 energy grid | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Stats | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost | 1600 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hit Points | 10000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vision Radius (elmo) | 763 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grid link range (elmo) | 50 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Description
Armed with a heavy plasma cannon and a Heat Ray, the Desolator 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.
Tactics and Strategy
Desolator is an immovable object to put in your opponent's path. Its plasma cannon will smash any typical army composition to bits, and the heat ray denies swarming tactics. While it is vulnerable to artillery, its extremely high health and damage reduction when closed means it can survive a siege for a long time, specially with some repair support from Caretakers or builders.
However, Desolator is very expensive for a fixed unit that protects only a relatively small area around itself. In addition, it needs to be connected to a sizable energy grid to use its plasma cannon, a logistical detail that might be difficult to guarantee in an imperiled frontline position.
Desolator is best reserved for situations of extremely dense combat, aka, when large numbers of units are being funneled towards a small area or chokepoint.
It can also be useful when you just need to buy lots of time while you're waiting for something to happen. One common such situation is if you're playing a team game and need to hold out against a superior force while your allies are pushing elsewhere.
