Sun Temple/1.03.24

Level 5
If the Ssrathi weren't cheating enough with their towers, then their keep can will decide it. Unlike all other keeps in the game, the Sun Temple is actually a small building, making it easy to place, and also is quick to assemble - and that's not taking the Chameleon's amazing build skill into count! Further more, it has two additional abilities on top of the usual converting of buildings. The Sun Temple is also home to their Titan, Iriki, which would normally make you consider carefully where to place the building to prevent such a large unit from getting stuck in your base, but since all the Ssrathi buildings are small in size, you can easily work around any sloppy building plans. Interestingly and surprisingly, the Sun Temple doesn't prevent defeat until level 5. This itself should surely be a bug, as every single keep in the game, regardless of level, all prevent defeat.

The additional abilities of Rites to Dawn and Couatl's Wrath only further the greatness of the Sun Temple. The other races that have the ability to change the weather / time usually can only do so after hitting tier 3 or tier 4. The Ssrathi on the other hand can do that right from tier 1. The Ssrathi have already countered the time war before it's even begun! There there's Couatl's Wrath - a tier 4 ability that allows the Sun Temple to emit a high powered, fiery, Titan explosion. Judging from the way the AI use it, it seems as if it were meant to be a defensive ability - something to ward away attackers. But also judging from the way the AI use it, it simply doesn't work as well as the concept would lead you to believe. It simply doesn't ward away enemy attackers as well as it does at destroying your own base. But who said Couatl's Wrath has to be used defensively? The amazing combination of the Chameleon's hyper build skill, their ability to infiltrate enemy bases indefinitely with the Summon Mana 3 skill, and the Sun Temple's unusually small size and fast build time makes for a hilariously effective distraction for your enemy. Basically, infiltrate an enemy base, build a Sun Temple somewhere and then emit that Couatl's Wrath a couple of times to destroy everything around it before your enemy has even had time to react. This should be used shortly before your actual army invades, catching the enemy off guard and leaving them in a state of Chaos before your true force strikes. This plan would work great if it weren't for the ridiculous cost needed to cast Couatl's Wrath just once - 750 gold! If it were cheaper or even crystal instead of gold, then it would be more viable. Furthermore, some races have elemental attack type towers, which can possibly take out the Sun Temple during construction depending on the number of towers around.

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