[VPAC Creeper Expansion] Air Sac Fabricator

The Air Sac is a peculiar Creeper construct which has heavily varying effectiveness. It is a cloud of Creep which can produce orbs of Creep. The cloud is shot down by missile launchers but can be too high for the missiles to reach. Snipers shoot the orbs, destroying their Creeper payload but can be overwhelmed by a swift volley of Creeper orbs (which are called “Glops” officially). So long as the Air Sac doesn't toss its orbs, it will accumulate a seemingly endless amount until the orbs touch terrain.

The Air Sac Fabricator is able to make these Air Sacs and most importantly, control them via an implanted control core. Using a neuro-network-like reinforcement structure, the Air Sac created by the fabricator is far more sturdy, over doubling the survivability of a fully repaired Air Sac. Upon fabrication, the created Air Sac is not immediately at full strength as the neuro-reinforcement needs time to “grow”.

• Creates controllable strong Air Sacs with various strengths over their natural counterparts.
• Maximum health of 10 compared to the natural 4.
• Glop Payload of 135 unlike the meager natural amount of 20.
• Maximum of 4 Air Sacs can be created and controlled by a single fabricator.
• Fabricators require stored Creep of 5,000 (pre VPAC v2.7.4.0 ⇒ 3,500) or to be submerged in Creep to begin producing an Air Sac. Creeper absorption can be toggled. There is no downtime of the fabricators activities. If it is submerged or has enough stored Creep, it will begin fabrication.
• Fabrication time takes 100 seconds. (Pre VPAC v2.7.4.0 ⇒ 150 seconds)
• Uses 2 power.
• Is very large.
• Does not need to be fully submerged in Creep to initially activate. Requires a depth of 3.
• Absorbs a mostly meaningless amount of Creep. It is only important when the fabricator is placed in shallow Creep as such an environment is inept at providing sufficient Creep quickly to begin Air Sac fabrication. Or in other words, build the fabricators at the backlines, not the front.
• If the fabricator is stunned or nullified, it will be unable to issue new orders to its Air Sacs. Air Sacs are controlled directly by their original fabricator.
• If a fabricator is destroyed, all Air Sacs controlled by it self destruct. This is a contingency failsafe.
• Disassembling the Air Sac Fabricator is a time-consuming process and can be canceled by clicking the cancel button. Or in other words, “destroying” the fabricator manually requires time much like the Stash Base and works much the same way.
• CAN BE STUNNED
• CAN BE NULLIFIED
• DAMAGED BY AC - Only in Play As Creeper mode.

For units like the Air Sac Fabricator which have some form of significant dependence on the Creeper depth around them after activation or are a very large structure, there is an in-game setting that you can disable to display a ludicrously more accurate depiction of the Creeper though it won't look all too nice and be very sharp, hence the setting “Smooth Creeper”. This can enlighten you to how difficult it is to obtain sufficient Creeper depth, saving you the frustration of “it looks submerged why is it not working?!”.

• Restricted to targeting a random structure. For some reason the created Air Sac spazzes out although the fabricator does not provide it with a constantly updating target location or target unit.
• Does not absorb Creep and instead begins fabrication after a Start Delay and after the Air Sac is fabricated. Fabrication time is the interval.
• NOT DAMAGED BY AC.
• All previous properties apply unless stated otherwise here.

During the VWC project, Air Sacs (and Forbs) were noticeably missing in the Creeper-Expansion arsenal. This specific arsenal is aimed at converting existing Creeper constructs to the VWC project's control. At the time, flow control and eggs were the only extensions of Creeper supported. Air Sacs and Forbs were planned but there were more interesting and pressing concepts requiring attention like the TCML and other such interesting and new units.

Eventually, the time came for Air Sacs to come into the fold. Of course, among the VWC project the way this was to be done was very simple. We have also seen many theorize on ways to make the natural Air Sac a more imposing threat against Rift Labs. The VWC project didn't do this, for we found it very, very, very obvious.

With a design philosophy being the main front of contention, it was eventually concluded to be a Creeper condenser with an implant as the core that the Creeper will “condense” (by force) around. The Air Sac Fabricator was by far one of the smoothest creations of a VWC system. Simple adjustments to further tune its operation was the only major process in its creation. The control of the Air Sacs and creation of was extremely simple and easy to implement.

Using the Neuro-Based-Control-Implant (NuBCI) as a condensation source, 4 force projectors are activated to force Creeper to press against the NuBCI and increase pressures to stimulate condensation. Although there is no vertical forces in this, it was proven to not needed and would of required a more complex design philosophy. Simple is better is many cases and this was one of them.

If the fabricator is submerged in Creep, there will be no need for any setup to begin fabrication, simply using the surrounding Creeper in the condensation process.
If it is not submerged, the fabricator will require stored Creeper to delicately conduct this process and will always try to accumulate sufficient Creeper unless told otherwise to account for this scenario. In the event this is the case, the stored Creeper is released and manipulated via nanites (hence no loss of Creeper during fabrication) which then use the force emitters as a reference force and work together to stimulate the Creeper to form into a semi-solid. These nanites also ensure the structural integrity of the forming blob of semi-solid Creeper to ensure it doesn't spill due to gravity (as the fabrication area is opened).

Once enough semi-solid Creeper condensate is available, the NuBCI will release stimulating chemicals to trigger the Creeper to form an Air Sac exactly like an Air Sac Caldron. From there on, the NuBCI controls the emergent Creeper behavior.

This is by far the most invasive and dangerous VWC system. All other VWC systems indirectly control the Creeper as well as manipulate them. The Air Sac Fabricator is the only instance of direct control. This makes this fabricator particularly vulnerable to the Creeper learning that it is being manipulated and attempt to reverse engineer Vertu technology. Because of this, the NuBCI will self destruct at any moment the Air Sac Fabricator's orders are ignored as well as any permanent disconnection between the NuBCI and the parent fabricator.
ERROR: FURTHER INFORMATION EXPUNGED.

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