Spiroct

## Purpose

### Description

Fires sapping laser beams at enemy targets, repairing itself in the process. Can step over most terrain.

## General

### Manufactured in

 Multiplicative Reconstructor with  Atrax

## Research

### Research Cost

10000  Silicon
6100  Titanium
2800  Metaglass

The **Spiroct** is a Tier 3 Ground Unit on Serpulo obtained by upgrading an Atrax through the Multiplicative Reconstructor. It replaces the Slag-spitting weapons the Atrax had with a new set of lasers that sap the health of blocks and units, repairing the Spiroct and pulling a unit in.

Spirocts can be upgraded into Arkyid through the Exponential Reconstructor directly, through Payload Conveyors, or by being dropped into one through a unit with payload such as a Mega.

## Appearance

The Spiroct's chassis enlarges upon upgrading, becoming wider and more pointed. Its weapons are now triangular, with a pair of large and small lasers. They shoot short-range purple lasers at a rapid pace. The Spiroct's legs are longer than the Atrax and now sports six legs instead of the latter's four.

## Weapons

 Sapped ~ 3 seconds
Pierce

## Strategies

### Against

It is important to never let a Spiroct leak through your defenses, as it can rapidly build its health back up while attacking your buildings. As they can walk through walls, you will either have to destroy them quickly or rely on Water projectiles from the Wave and Tsunami to keep them at bay. Thankfully, the cheap and effective Scorch is a viable turret against it as there are no slag puddles from the Atrax, making it perfectly safe. Alternatively, the Fuse can do a similar job at concentrating high damage against close-range units, although it is less space efficient and more expensive. If using liquid turrets with water, the Arc can stack huge amounts of damage by virtue of the *shocked* and *wet* combination.

### For

While the self-healing and wall bypassing capabilities make Spiroct sound like a viable option for attacking an enemy base, in practice it ends up being one of the worst possible units you can use when attacking bases. A close-range unit will crumble to the Fuses around the enemy Core and the Ripples that bombard it from afar. Not to mention that by producing Spirocts, you suffer the opportunity cost of using resources to build Zeniths instead. With how dangerous the ground path can be, it is simply unfeasible to waste time and effort into producing them up to the unit cap.

Fortunately, there is a small defensive niche that Spiroct slots nicely in defeating guardians. Because of it inflicting the *sapping* effect, anything the Spiroct attacks will take more damage and lose health over time. It has a winning matchup in small groups against some tier 4 units like the Vela and Scepter, resulting in an easy victory once smaller units are dispatched.

## Changes

 Version 7.0, Build 127
* Speed increased (0.4 → 0.44).
* Item capacity increased (50 items → 60).
* Sapping lasers' fire rate increased (first pair: 2x 2 shots per second → 2x 2.14, second pair: 2x 1.5 shots per second → 2x 1.66).
 Version 7.0, Build 127.2
 Version 7.0, Build 128
 Version 7.0, Build 132
* Speed increased (3.6 tiles/second → 3.8).
 Version 7.0, Build 136
* Speed increased (3.8 tiles/second → 4.05).
* Build speed decreased (75% → 0%.) Can no longer build.
* Command limit of 8 removed.
 Version 7.0, Build 138.1
	+ Old description: "Fires sapping laser beams at enemies, repairing itself in the process. Can step over most terrain."
	+ New description: "Fires sapping laser beams at enemy targets, repairing itself in the process. Can step over most terrain."

## Trivia

* Spiroct is named after the *Spiroctenus* genus of African araenomorph spider.
* The removal of Spiroct's immunity to *burning* and *melting* was probably due to the fact that it was inconsistent with how unit immunities worked (Spiroct's weapons don't have any incendiary properties.)
* The is a little diagonal Router at the front of its head.