Defence Core

## Introduction

**Defence Cores** are special unmanned support vehicles fielded by General Alexis Alexander. They are produced at the Command Center and are capable of deploying into their respective tier 1 base defence at nay suitable location.

## Overview

After Alexander saw the nation she served suffer heavy losses during the Second War against the GLA, she decided to improve her own units. After reviewing all of her arsenal, she noticed that she needed more vehicles with at least some ambush offensive attacks. Hence, the Defence Core Project was born into fruition.

The Defence Core is an on-site hybrid unmanned vehicle/structure buggy on a small trapezium-shaped chassis with six wheels to move around. Its main feature is its ability to unfold itself with its preconstructured defense turrets by burrowing itself underground then assemble the parts on board. In a time less than a minute, a new defense structure is built. The newly built turret will work as usual depending on what the turret originally is. This UAV has its own solar panels to sustain itself in power. However, it also needs to be connected to the Command Center's radar in her main base for it to work properly and put a burden on the enemy detection system. Should her base go offline or be on low power, the structure will be disabled as the enemy detection system also goes offline with the Command Center's radar.

There exist three types of defence cores: EMP Patriot, Ion Tower and Grendel. The defence cores can be produced at General Alexander's Command Center, their costs are usually the cost of the base defence itself + 50% of the Dozer's price.

Defence Cores are capable of being used both offensively and defensively, in the beginning of the battle, they can be sent out to secure key strategic locations such as supply depots or important tech buildings. They're also very suitable for the super weapon general's "Siege" play style, as it's usually safer and more effective to use the Defence Cores to expand her defensive line instead of sending out workers to build more.

However, Defence Cores are in essence non-combatant and have weak armor, they also have no methods of defending themselves, therefore it's often necessary to use Valanxes, Centurions and Thor Gunships to escort and cover them. They are most vulnerable when they are in the process of deploying.

Another thing to bear in mind is to keep an eye on your power supply, building defences from these defensive cores doesn't mean that they don't consume electricity. Make sure your Ion Plants are plentiful and well protected.

## Assessment

Pros:

* Very versatile, depending on the commander's skill
* Very useful for rapid base expansion.
* Effective in both offensive and defensive operations.

Cons:

* Poorly armored.
* Unarmed, requires escorting in certain circumstances.
* Takes time to deploy.
* More expensive than simply building defences with dozers.

## Trivia

* Originally, it's possible to load Defence Cores into Chinooks, this ability has already been patched out for balancing issues, likely due to the fact that the player can severely hamper an opponent's early game by directly transporting a defence core into the opponent's base and wreck havoc.