Quad

*Favored by officers, the [Quad] can hover about the very edges of a combat zone. A smart burst of their signature machine gun dissuades the most villainous of cats.* --- old Quad description (now found on the Liaison plane variant)

The **Quad** is a class in *Steambirds Alliance.* New players start with only this plane unlocked.

### Manuever

The Quad has one maneuver, Hasty Retreat, which consumes 10 Steam and is activated with the Maneuver input (on keyboard, E key by default). On activation, the Quad moves a set distance backward relative to the plane's facing, gaining an invulnerability shield for the maneuver's 0.13-second duration.

Hasty Retreat has a 1-second internal cooldown which is represented by a shading effect on the plane's Armor slot.

### Upgrade Limits

The Quad has the following non-elemental upgrade limits (and the associated numerical effects at these limits):

* **Damage:** 40 (+40%)
* **Armor:** 30 (+30)
* **Armor Self-Repair:** 60 (+0.36/s)
* **Max Steam:** 10 (+10)
* **Steam Recharge:** 40 (+0.16/s)
* **Super Speed:** 25 (+1.5)

### Pilot Skills

 2

Laser equipped:
* Range: -20%
* Damage: +10%

Blaster equipped:
* Range: -20%
 3
 On kill (Duration: 3s, Cooldown: 5s):
* Damage: +50%
 On kill (Duration: 1s stacks up to 3 times):
 4
 On kill (Duration: 1s, Cooldown: 4s):
* Damage: +60% + 10% \* (L: 1-5)
 On kill (Duration: 3s):
* Cooldown: -25% - 5% \* (L: 1-3)

### Notes

* At level 1 with its T0 initial loadout, the Quad will have Armor and Damage values of, respectively, ~8.2 and 104% due to the effects of plane and leveling multipliers.

### Plane Variants

#### Tier 1 (Common) Variants

* **Attache**: Why darling, of course we need to go to the party tonight. Otherwise, who will plant the bomb?
* **Pepper's Pad**: There's a lady who paints flames on planes. That's her thing. She's got a bit of a following with the aficionados.
* **The Liaison**: Favored by officers, the Liason can hover about the very edges of a combat zone. A smart burst of their signature machine gun dissuades the most villainous of cats.
* **Animal Quad**: Why do birds make such good pilots? The answer is monocular vision. The ability to track targets in full 360 with both eyes moving independently is a critical advantage in combat.

#### Tier 2 (Rare) Variants

* **Speed Quad**: It looks fast. Amazing what a little tin and a clever paint job can do.
* **Power Quad**: Beefed up engines produced an intense thrumming that causes beaks to vibrate. Originally favored by unlicensed racers, chop ships still make 'em if you can find the parts.
* **Dirt Devil**: This grimy little beater was used for speed trials in the salt flats. That alkaline dust is near impossible to wash out. A little bit shakes off each time the engine turns over.

#### Tier 3 (Epic) Variants

* **Ghost Quad**: Silence falls across the sky as a lone quadcopter emerges from the clouds. Necks crane. Heartbeats slow. The ghosts have arrived.
* **Ornithopter**: An esoteric engine system that lift with a flapping motion rather than typical spinning props. Too expensive and high-maintenance for large scale production.
* **Snowcopter**: Originally used in mountain rescue by the Bernard family. Rumor has it they refused to give their allegiance to the empire. We found their quads abandoned in a remote hangar, still greased up against the cold. Ready to go.
* **Coward's Lament**: He built this plane piece by piece, using the work as an excuse to avoid enlisting. A finely-tuned fighting machine and the pilot too terrified to fly it.

### Trivia

* Quad used to be called "Walker". Due to Machine Guns having Star rule at the time, they were quite underpowered.