Quasar

## Purpose

### Description

Fires piercing laser beams that damage enemy targets and repair allied structures. Capable of flight. Shielded.

## General

### Abilities

Force Field:* Health: 400
* Range: 7.5 blocks
* Repair Speed: 18/sec
* Cooldown Time: 6 seconds

### Manufactured in

 Multiplicative Reconstructor with  Pulsar

## Research

### Research Cost

10000  Silicon
6100  Titanium
2800  Metaglass

The **Quasar** is a Tier 3 Ground Unit on Serpulo obtained after upgrading the Pulsar through the Multiplicative Reconstructor. It retains most abilities that the Pulsar has, including the ability to boost, mine (now being able to mine Titanium and Beryllium), and to heal allied structures with its weapons. The electric arc weapons become piercing Lancer-like lasers, while the shield regeneration ability is instead a durable hexagonal Force Projector-like barrier that absorbs bullets and regenerates if no further damage is taken.

Quasars can be upgraded into the Vela through the Exponential Reconstructor directly, through Payload Conveyors, or by a unit with payload such as the Mega.

## Strategies

### **Against**

Quasars reaching the front of a defensive line can damage small blocks like Conveyors through your walls via their piercing weapons. They can one-shot Power Nodes which can render your electrical artillery offline, but besides that, the damage is nothing too serious and is usually mended within seconds. Nevertheless, Quasars (or lower-tier versions) often indicate that far greater piercing enemies like the Vela and Corvus will show up, meaning that if you detect them you must rush the production of Plastanium to have walls that block their piercing laser.

When it comes to destroying them, take note that piercing lasers will bypass any force shields and build Lancers at optimal positions. This includes Quasars that you build, which simultaneously help kill enemies and heal your defense.

### **For**

Being able to weave through Lancers and Ripples by boosting allows them to reach the enemy cores of any sector of high threat or lower. Their shields prevent direct and over-time damage in addition to knockback from reaching the unit, making them survive longer than a group of Zeniths and have a greater chance of destroying the core. In case Lancers are next to the core, splitting them minimises the damage dealt.

When used on defense, they outclass the Lancer in terms of damage as they lack a pierce limit and can be crammed into tight spaces, although Repair Points are necessary should they get damaged. They also grant protection against bomb projectiles from the Horizon and Quad with only a fraction of the resource cost of a Force Projector (as well as requiring no power to maintain), which is very useful if an attack sector sends them early on.

Quasars can also mine at a very fast rate, making them suitable for logic-based mining especially if you need Titanium for purposes such as Tier 4 units or construction, or Sand for Silicon and Phase Fabric.

## Changes

 Version 7.0, Build 127
* Item capacity increased (40 items → 50).
* Weapon fire rate decreased (2x 0.6 shots per second → 2x 0.54).
 Version 7.0, Build 128
 Version 7.0, Build 129
 Version 7.0, Build 131
 Version 7.0, Build 136
 Version 7.0, Build 138.1
	+ Old description: "Fires piercing laser beams that damage enemies and repair allied structures. Capable of flight. Shielded."
	+ New description: "Fires piercing laser beams that damage enemy targets and repair allied structures. Capable of flight. Shielded."

## Trivia

* Quasar is named after the celestial body of the same name, consisting of a supermassive black hole surrounded by a gaseous disc.
* Quasar and Mega are the only units that can mine both Titanium and Beryllium.
* Lancer, Quasar, and Navanax share the same firing sound.