Pulsar

## Purpose

### Description

Fires arcs of electricity that damage enemy targets and repair allied structures. Capable of flight.

## General

### Abilities

Shield Regen Field:* Shields/wave: 40
* Range: 7.5 blocks
* Firing Rate: 0.2/sec

## Research

### Research Cost

2800  Silicon
2800  Graphite

The **Pulsar** is a Tier 2 Ground Unit on Serpulo obtained when a Nova is upgraded through the Additive Reconstructor. It fires a conical spread of electricity like the Arc, damaging units in an area and healing damaged buildings. In addition to being able to boost, it also passively gives allied units shield health that absorbs incoming damage.

Pulsars can be upgraded into the Quasar through the Multiplicative Reconstructor directly, through Payload Conveyors, or by being dropped in through a unit with payload such as the Mega.

## Weapons

Fires 3 lightning bolts.
 Shocked

*\*Rounded to 2 in core database.*

## Strategies

### **Against**

As normal enemies in the campaign, the Pulsar cannot use its special abilities and thus only pose the same danger as the Mace as they have less damage. The problem is that the Pulsar's attacks can bypass regular walls and you are unlikely to have Plastanium Walls at the point when you encounter them. Increasing your wall thickness to 4 tiles wide will solve this, alongside adequate Mender healing. The Lancer and Ripple are both solid options for defeating swarms, the latter being favorable if you do not want a close engagement.

In 1v1 PvP, a Pulsar rush has significantly higher DPS than with Novas, meaning that if they manage to land safely they can tear down your critical infrastructure and cost you the victory. As they will likely boost while traveling to your base, having a mild Scatter presence around your buildings is enough to deter them from landing, while placing mid-range turrets like the Arc and Salvo can decimate them on the ground.

### **For**

In enemy bases, the Pulsar's poor range leaves it rapidly dismembered by any turret that is not a Duo. The dangerous Parallax can force un-winnable engagements with turrets, especially the Scatter. It is inferior to the Horizon as a fragile and fast attacker, for the Horizon does not need to expose itself to anti-ground turrets to attack and deals greater damage, especially if it targets Mend Projectors or flammable materials. The only saving grace is that the Pulsar has item capacity for Blast Compound suicide bombing while the Horizon does not, but even then the Flare is much better suited for the job due to its minimal cost.

On the other hand, Pulsar's mining abilities give it a niche for logic-based mining (especially if you desire Sand, Scrap, and Coal.) This can be useful for saving on power and space if there are not enough tiles on the map for drills to provide adequate production for resources. Its shield regen field can somewhat improve your unit's survivability, but this depends on their health with Flares getting the most out of it (70 health to effectively 110 is roughly a 57% increase in health).

## Changes

 Version 7.0, Build 127
* Weapon fire rate increased (2x 2.36 shots per second → 2x 2.5).
 Version 7.0, Build 128
 Version 7.0, Build 129
 Version 7.0, Build 130
 Version 7.0, Build 136
 Version 7.0, Build 138.1
	+ Old description: "Fires arcs of electricity that damage enemies and repair allied structures. Capable of flight."
	+ New description: "Fires arcs of electricity that damage enemy targets and repair allied structures. Capable of flight."

## Trivia

* A Pulsar in real life is when a spinning neutron star emits electromagnetic radiation from its magnetic poles. All members of the Nova line are named after stars, celestial bodies or constellations.
* The Pulsar's shield regen field accelerates the regeneration of shield health on the Quasar and Oct.
	+ It is unknown whether this applies to the Tecta.