Crossroads

**Crossroads** is an attack sector on Erekir. It is an introduction to the other two Tier 4 units, the Tecta and Quell, expanding on the uses of Cyanogen. These units along with the Flux Reactor can be researched upon landing in this sector.

## Description

Your base starts in a walled-off crater with an opening to the bottom where Mech units come from the right, Vanquishes come from the left and Obviates come from the south. There is an additional ring of space outside the crater, which is accessible by the left and right enemy Cores. The middle-lower Core is where Obviates are produced. When starting off, your base will be in a power deficit and you must build Pyrolysis Generators, powering them using two pumps that give Arkycite and Slag.

The main gimmick of the level is the enemy-exclusive Large Shield Projector that creates a large, indestructible shield which prevents movement, unlike force shields on Serpulo. Many of them exist and are connected by enemy-exclusive Beam Links that connect across the map; some of the lines are visible in your starting area. Destroying one of the nodes will depower all of the Large Force Projectors, but only one (located in the Slag puddles to the right) will be exposed. Anthicus is produced from there, Cleroi in a base below without a Core, while tanks are produced from the left base. The leftmost base has two very dangerous Smite turrets, the rightmost is guarded by Afflicts while the bottom Core only has Breaches.

### Structured Events

Objective-editor events occur in the following order:

 u1 [sic]
 u3
 u4

*\*it is unknown whether the first flag being named u2 is intentional, as other attack maps start with u1*

## Strategy

While the description encourages you to use all three Tier 4 units, any Air Units should be sufficient to destroy the 3 Cores given decent micromanagement - perhaps in under 20 minutes. The Quell's spectacular range lets it fire safely against all turrets except for the Smite and Afflict. Disperse turrets do get outranged but will easily shoot down your units' projectiles, so you should distract them by making your Core unit targetable when carrying a payload. However, there are only three Disperses, meaning that you will not be stalled for very long if you take out their ammo supply. Smite and Afflict turrets are more dangerous and require massive swarms of Air Units to handle - a maxed-out army of Obviates or even Averts should be enough to overwhelm them (as well as the other defenses), while a large number of Quell will eventually fire so many missiles that the turret projectiles cannot damage anything. The leftmost Core is not covered by a Smite, which can be easily exploited.

Of course, none of this is relevant if you cannot survive the enemy units thrown at you. the Diffuse and Sublimate can both hold off Clerois very well, but struggle against the Anthicus once it comes at you. You should get Surge Alloy and build Afflicts around the entrance as they can deal with all the enemy types very effectively. The most dangerous unit that can come at you is the Obviate, which will spell a game over if they reach a blind spot. They will rush in along with Anthicus as soon as you build any units, if you are not fast enough to be able to build your Air Unit factory before the Air Units warning, cover the south side of your base with Sublimates, Afflicts, or Disperses. Enemy Vanquish attacks take a long time to begin, which lets you safely get Carbide production and the Lustre. The tanks may get stuck at the chokepoint with enemy Diffuses; in that case, Air Units can easily avoid them and will only be attacked by a single Disperse in the west and any Vanquish that may be present.

You may take out the southern Core with a Titan or Afflict if you wish to do so, while waiting for units to accumulate or sending them to attack the other Cores.

## Trivia

* Crossroads was introduced in build 140 of the v7 beta.
* Lasers like those of the Sublimate or Lustre can enter into shield projectors. In addition, blocks can be placed under it, although they are likely to be shot down by other defenses.