The lab is the primary structure that all players must
have. If you lose your lab, you're eliminated and out of the game, so in effect
the lab is the player's king (some game modes and options do change this rule, however).
The lab is where most research is performed and is the location where henchmen are
recruited.
The water chamber is required if the player
wants to build creatures that can swim or that have certain aquatic parts. None
of these creature types in the player's army will be available until a water chamber
has been built. Once it is built, the player can build swimming and amphibious creatures
at the water chamber, and can also build amphibians in the land based creature chamber.
If all of the player's water chambers are destroyed, the player will need to build
a new water chamber to build new units of that type but all existing creatures will
not be affected.
The air chamber is required if the player wants
to build flying creatures, and is the only chamber able to build creatures of this
type. Any flying creature in the player's army will be unavailable until an air
chamber is built. If all of the player's air chambers are destroyed, the player
will need to build a new air chamber to build new flying units but existing flying
creatures will not be affected.
The Research Clinic allows for the research
of several enhancements including allowing henchmen to heal wounded animals, and
increasing the performance of both henchmen and buildings.
The Creature Chamber is the primary structure
for creature creation. Any creature that can walk on land can be built at a Creature
Chamber provided the player has fulfilled the requirements for that creature (rank,
water chamber for amphibians). To build creatures at a Creature Chamber the player
selects the Creature Chamber and builds creatures using the context sensitive menu.
This is a natural defense that has been used
against animal and man for millennia. The bramble fence does no damage until it
is fully-grown, but will still stop creatures from passing unless the fence is destroyed.
Each section of fence is treated as its own entity, with its own hit points. To
get through a bramble fence the player can go around it (provided it hasn't been
closed off), go over it using flight, or go through it by ordering an animal to
attack one of the sections. Note that digging creatures cannot go under a fence
due to the deep roots the brambles create. Any creature that directly attacks the
fence will take damage with every attack unless they have the barrier destroy ability
or are using an artillery attack.
The soundbeam tower is a rotating turret that
produces a cone shaped sonic attack with similar effects to that of various marine
creatures. It can only fire in one direction at a time, but can change that direction
by slowly rotating its emitter. The sonic attack only affects enemy creatures and
does not affect structures or enemy henchmen. The tower is designed to be a moderate
strength static defense that works best against ground targets.
Lightning rods are a cheap, easy way to collect
electricity by conducting large amounts of static electricity from the atmosphere
to the player's storage account. The player can place lighting rods on any open
ground location with each rod producing 2 points of electricity a second. Each player
is limited to 4 lightning rods per map.
Workshops are return points for collected coal.
They can be placed anywhere with sufficient open ground, but are best situated near
coal piles to decrease the distance henchmen must travel with their loads of collected
coal.
The Electrical Generator is a more expensive
but more efficient way to harness electricity. Each generator can produce 3 points
of electricity a second but can be upgraded to improve their efficiency. Generators
can only be built over geothermal geysers.
Once a Landing Pad has been constructed, the
player can build a gyro-copter, giving him the benefit of a flying henchman. When
a henchman is assigned to fly it, the gyro-copter can be used to build or repair
structures, collect coal, scout, tag enemies or transport creatures and henchmen.
So useful is the gyro-copter, you can only have one at a time.
The Genetic Amplifier allows the player to
improve upon their creature designs in many areas, such as the creatures speed,
armor, hit points, etc.
An anti-air tower is specifically designed
to provide an effective defense against flying units. It also allows the player's
lab to occasionally emit a radar pulse that reveals all enemy units and structures
on the map for a short period of time, even those that are camouflaged or are using
the dig ability.
