Spider Factory

The Spider Factory is a factory that produces all-terrain spiders.

Spider Factory (factoryspider)
Produces Spiders, Builds at 10 m/s
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Stats
Cost	800
Hit Points	4000
Vision Radius (elmo)	273
Abilities
Construction Build Power 10
Weapons
None

Description

Optimized for rough terrain, the Spider Factory relies primarily on range and maneuverability rather than brute force. Key units: Flea, Recluse, Hermit, Crab

The Spider Factory builds:

• Weaver   Construction Spider
• Flea   Ultralight Scout Spider
• Hermit   All Terrain Assault Bot
• Venom   Lightning Riot Spider
• Redback   Riot Spider
• Recluse   Skirmisher Spider (Indirect Fire)
• Crab   Armored Heavy Riot/Skirmish Spider
• Tarantula   Anti-Air Spider
• Widow   Cloaked Scout/Anti-Heavy

Tactics and Strategy

All of the Spiders can climb any hill, no matter how steep, giving you a wider range of angles from which you can attack and to which you can retreat. The Hermit, Recluse and Crab are especially powerful when firing from hills since they can abuse their long range. The Spider factory has an effective scout in the Flea, but no true raider; the Venom compensates for this as a comparatively fast Spider which stuns enemy raiders, allowing you to destroy them at your leisure.

The strength of the Spiders lies in defence, since they are much weaker when they come down from the hills and they are lacking in conventional artillery. With sufficient numbers they can overrun enemy positions (especially with Hermits) but it is not their specialty. Using Gunships or Airplanes to assist your Spiders will give you an offensive boost without comprimising your advantage on hilly terrain. Alternatively, heavier factories such as the Strider Hub or Heavy Tank Factory will benefit from the utility and capacity to control hills which the Spider Factory offers.

Example Unit Combinations

Use Venoms to stun enemy units, then bring in Fleas, Redbacks or Hermits to eliminate the helpless foe.

Protect your Recluses from enemy raiders with Venoms and/or Redbacks.

Using Weavers or other constructors, terraform a high tower, then place your Crab on top; this will give it greater range and immunity to many attackers.

Since they are fast and cheap, Fleas are very effective at protecting heavy units such as the Grizzly or Paladin from stealthed anti-heavies such as the Widow, Skuttle, Ultimatum or Scorpion. Order them to circle-guard the valuable unit you wish to protect.

Placing Fleas in enemy territory at the beginning of the game will give you invaluable intelligence, and precise targeting information for long-range artillery pieces like the Impaler and Emissary which require it.

Later on, you can move Widows into enemy territory to achieve the same effect. Widows can also stun enemy units for a long duration, allowing your artillery to destroy mobile units which they would ordinarily be ineffective against.

Beating Spiders

First and foremost, don't attempt to fight the Spiders in their preferred terrain if you can possibly avoid it. Hit them with artillery to force a fight on your terms, or attack somewhere else where the terrain is less imposing.

If you attempt to raid a Spider player, make sure you bring multiple raiders and they are spread apart - if not, a single Venom may nullify your entire attack. The Spider player probably has Fleas all over the map and will see your raid coming, so don't count on surprise.

The Crab is the greatest threat of the Spider factory, and it's generally safe to assume that an opposing Spider player will be constructing one sooner rather than later. Take precations in advance, if you can. An armored Crab on a spire is nearly impossible to dislodge with a conventional attack. Instead, use height-independent artillery like the Impaler to chip away at it, knock it off the spire with a Likho or Jugglenaut, or remove the spire entirely with a Quake. Of course, attacking elsewhere will also make the Crab-tower redundant.

If your opponent masses Hermits or Recluses, you will need a way to kill them - driving them back up their mountain so they can repair will probably not be sufficient. Air power is a good answer, or switch to Spider and make your own Crab.