Crawler
Any player class can build Crawlers. The Collector class gets a ×1.5 active cap bonus (more Crawlers count as productive).
The Crawler is a surface mining drone that boosts the production of the three mines. Each Crawler has a small but cumulative effect on Metal Mine, Crystal Mine, and Deuterium Synthesizer output. However, they consume energy.
Base Stats
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Cost | 2,000 Metal · 2,000 Crystal · 1,000 Deuterium |
| Base weapons | 1 |
| Base shield | 1 |
| Base hull | 4,000 |
| Prerequisites | Shipyard level 5 |
Requirements
- Shipyard level 5
- Combustion Drive level 4
- Armour Technology level 4
- Laser Technology level 4
Production Bonus
Each Crawler provides a small mining bonus. The bonus per Crawler scales with the mine levels and is subject to a maximum cap per planet.
The Collector class raises this cap by 50%:
Crawlers beyond the active cap exist but produce nothing and still consume energy.
Crawlers beyond the maximum effective count provide no additional bonus. Match Crawler count to your cap.
- Metal Mine: +0.0002 production per unit per mine level
- Crystal Mine: +0.0002 production per unit
- Deuterium Synthesizer: +0.0002 production per unit
Rapid Fire Taken
Takes rapid fire from: Light Fighter (×5), Heavy Fighter (×5), Cruiser (×5), Battleship (×5), Battlecruiser (×5), Bomber (×5), Destroyer (×5), Deathstar (×1,250), Reaper (×5), Pathfinder (×5), Small Cargo (×5), Large Cargo (×5), Colony Ship (×5), Recycler (×5)
Energy Consumption
Crawlers consume energy. Each active Crawler uses 50 energy. Their economic benefit must be weighed against the energy cost of powering them.
Tips
Crawlers are a marginal gain — most useful on well-developed planets with mine levels 30+. Early game, those resources are better spent on mines directly.
Like Solar Satellites, Crawlers are ships and can be destroyed in battle. They live on the planet surface but are vulnerable to attacks.
Some servers give alliance members a production bonus. Crawlers stack with this.
See Also
Metal Mine · Crystal Mine · Deuterium Synthesizer · Solar Satellite · Player Classes