Forcefield

Forcefield

unit

(see more)

As an additional cost to buy Forcefield, consume a Drone (the Drone must be assigned).
(Prompt: blocks immediately)
(Fragile: does not heal)

Supply:	20
Cost:	1
Build time:	0
Health:	2
Notes:	Prompt Blocker Fragile
Consumes:	Drone
Position:	Front Far Left

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A Forcefield

Forcefield is a Green unit and part of the base set. It's a cheap unit that consumes a Drone to increase defense value.

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Strategy

Forcefield converts Drone into fragile defense--at very low cost, but at risk to your overall economy.

Many new players are apprehensive about losing their painstakingly amassed Drones to Forcefields, but this unit has a lot going for it:

• If you rebuy the lost Drone at the same time, you've paid 4 for 2 prompt defense. Since you typically have surplus energy in the midgame, this cost is clearly cheaper than Rhino (and doesn't run out your supply of potential attacking units). When green is abundant, this is even more efficient than buying Walls.
• By the time you don't care about Drones anymore, Forcefield gets even better. One way to look at it, ignoring energy, is that you get the same bargain as the previous bullet, and you also get to sell back a Drone at full price.
• Holding back a Drone as a blocker is highly inefficient, but relative to *that*, buying Forcefield instead is an insanely good deal. Essentially you get 1 additional soak for only one (and zero , because this way you still get to click the Drone). The down side is that if you end up not needing the soak, the Drone is already gone.
• You can buy preemptive soak using a Drone instead of 2 Engineers: you buy the Drone in advance, then when you need the soak, you convert it to a Forcefield then. This saves a up front, at the cost of a later--and if you can hang on that Drone for a bit, it you might even earn a gold or two in the meantime.
• Since can be stockpiled, Forcefield can help you survive sudden bursts of damage, or handle a sudden large expense (like a Centurion, or an incoming Scorchilla wave). If you were trying not to shrink your economy, just rebuy the Drones on a less crucial turn.

Caveats:

• Relying too much on Forcefield can give you granularity headaches unless you can keep a spare Engineer (or similar) on hand.
• When other Drone-eating units (Plasmafier, Steelforge, Vivid Drone, etc.) are present, be wary of running out of Drones.

Unit types
Colorless