Quad

## Purpose

### Description

Drops plasma bombs on ground targets, repairing allied structures and damaging enemy ground targets. Capable of carrying medium-sized ground units.

## Research

### Research Cost

83000  Silicon
73000  Titanium
62000  Plastanium

The **Quad** is a Tier 4 support Air Unit on Serpulo obtained by upgrading the Mega through the Exponential Reconstructor. It drops massive bombs that both heavily damage enemies and repairs friendly structures. In addition, it is capable of building and carrying payloads, with a greater payload capacity (3x3) than the Mega. However, it loses the ability to mine. Quads controlled by AI prioritise destroying factory blocks such as the Graphite Press.

Quads can be upgraded into Octs through a Tetrative Reconstructor.

## Command Mode Options

 Repair
 Rebuild
 Assist Player

## Strategies

### Against

Quads tend to appear in later waves on attack sectors in the campaign and can be devastating to your base if you are not prepared. Unlike the Antumbra, its bombs are not intercepted by walls and can catch Conveyors in their explosion, meaning that you should take the unit down *fast*. The Scatter is ineffective due to its high armor, so other options such as the Swarmer, Cyclone, and Spectre are necessary. Fuses in particular are especially strong for their price. Antumbras of your own can also fire at the Quad without retaliation, as well as use their large size to slow it down. For a hard-counter, the Force Projector completely nullifies the damage from these bombs. As always, the Poly and Mega are useful for rebuilding conveyors and healing your damaged blocks, especially as the Quad cannot attack these units.

In PvP, enemy Quads circumvent defended choke points and can regenerate themselves by constructing Repair Points outside the no-build zone. Because they are so powerful, the best defense is to simply rush Plastanium and Phase Fabric and get your own Quads first. Alternatively, you can set up a perimeter of Fuses and get Surge Alloy for the Foreshadow, which more or less prevents any Tier 4 attacks from actually manifesting. For custom attack maps, the Quad may use its payload ability to drop Ground Units into your base. You must set up anti-ground defenses around the perimeter of your entire base, as well as have units such as the Arkyid or Antumbra to readily respond to any invasion.

### For

Quads are specialized for obliterating soft ground targets like conveyors and factories. If the enemy Core is poorly defended, bomb that instead to win. They can bomb down a few Scatters or lone Cyclones without much trouble, but cannot handle stiffer defense or other Air Units. They are nonetheless very useful, for their abilities to build and carry enable unconventional tactics that can bust those fortifications and harass your enemy's periphery to weaken them. A Thorium Reactor can be picked right up out from its Cryofluid and Thorium supplies and stop running, so it won't explode until dropped, making for a literal nuclear bomb that takes most of the Quad's health with it. This also works with Vaults full of Blast Compound and Liquid Tanks full of Oil. You can carry a turret around and supply it with the Quad's large item capacity, or carry a Vault with which to supply turrets built onsite. Once you gain a foothold, you can hijack your enemy's resource nodes with your drills to maintain ground.

Those things can only be done outside the construction exclusion zone. For the assault on the Core itself, you can ferry one Tier 4 ground unit at a time or several lower tier units into position behind enemy lines. A Quad can usually reach the Core before defenses destroy it, so if you don't mind the sacrifice, just float it exactly overhead and leave it there: the crash damage severely damages the Core, if not destroying it outright especially if the Quad was loaded with Blast Compound.

When assigned to repair, Quads behave similarly to Horizons where they fly past their target and circle back for cyclical bombing runs. This leads to them weaving around and dropping bombs all over the place. They will soak up some enemy fire and distract waves, and their bombs will heal up surrounding structures and harm ground units that were likely attacking the Quad's repair target.

## Gallery

Quad in-game.Quads carrying Toxopids in Version 6.0. Notice that the chassis of the Toxopid sticks out of the back of the Quads. This is no longer replicable in the current version.
## Changes

 Version 6.0, Build 125
* Weapon area damage decreased (230 → 220).
 Version 7.0, Build 127
 Version 7.0, Build 128
 Version 7.0, Build 130
 Version 7.0, Build 131
 Version 7.0, Build 136
 Version 7.0, Build 137
 Version 7.0, Build 138.1
	+ Old description: "Drops large bombs on ground targets, repairing allied structures and damaging enemies. Capable of carrying medium-sized ground units."
	+ New description: "Drops plasma bombs on ground targets, repairing allied structures and damaging enemy ground targets. Capable of carrying medium-sized ground units."

## Trivia

* The Quad is likely based on the Trident, a player upgrade ship in Version 4.0 that can build faster and drop repairing bombs.
* Quads are the fastest Tier 4 unit.
* The Quad was previously able to carry the Toxopid before Version 7.0 increased the latter's size.
* Despite being considered a support Air Unit, Quad is commonly used for offense.
* Quads are named after the Latin prefix quad-, meaning four.
	+ This likely refers to their four main functions.