Description[]
- Race: Beetle
- Type: Unit
- Tech requirements: none
- Built where?: Harvester
- Build cost / time: 1 water / 1 turn
- Effects/Abilities:
- Attributes:
Mechanics[]
To gather ambria, engage any ready Harvester in your Base, then place an ambria counter on that Harvester. If a nearby Pheromone Pod has Hoard active, you may place two ambria counters on the Harvester.
To gather water, engage any ready Harvester, place it underneath a nearby Water pod, then place a water counter on that Harvester. If a nearby Pheromone Pod has Hoard active, you may place two water counters on the Harvester.
Note that each Harvester can hold a maximum of 4 resource counters at a time.
To bring a Harvester into play, an existing Harvester must split. There are two ways that this can be done:
- Pod splitting: Place a new Harvester face down underneath a ready Harvester. Engage both cards 1 turn and place them underneath a water pod. This takes up one of the water pod's three slots.
- Solo splitting: Remove one water counter from a ready Harvester. Place a new Harvester face down underneath it. Engage both cards 1 turn.
Note that when a Harvester splits, you may divvy up the resources it is carrying between the existing Harvester and the new one in any way you wish. For example, if a Harvester has 2 water and 1 ambria when it splits, a player might keep the waters on the original Harvester but give the ambria to the new one.
To morph Harvesters into a structure, locate the cost and the Morph Time attribute of the structure you want. Set aside a group of ready Harvesters which collectively hold enough ambria to pay the cost. Remove all counters from these Units, place them in a stack, place the structure face-down underneath the stack, then engage all cards in the stack according to the morph time attribute. When the stack reaches the ready orientation, the structure is turned face-up, and all units helping with the morph are discarded.
To morph Harvesters into a unit, follow the same instructions as structure morphing, but instead of removing all excess resource counters from the existing Harvesters, you may place one of their resource counters on top of the Unit that is being produced, and discard the rest. Once it finishes morphing, the new unit keeps the resource that was given to it. When the stack reaches the ready orientation, the unit is turned face-up, and all units helping with the morph are discarded.
Strategy[]
Much of Beetle strategy revolves around getting all of your Harvesters into play as early as possible, then continuously rebuilding them as they morph into structures and units. If you are going for long-term play, Harvesters should be kept out of combat whenever possible, especially if they are storing resources.
One tactical advantage that Beetles have over other races is the ability to quickly rebuild an entire army as long as there is at least one Harvester left in your base. This opens up the possibility for early rushes, such as the 9/7 Harvester rush.