Act of Aggression/Chimera Structures

Chimera's progression is divided into two protocols: SWORD and SHIELD. Both cost the same amount of resources and can be researched at approximately the same time - with SWORD requiring a SPEAR Vehicle Bay and SHIELD requiring only a Barracks. Whether SHIELD or SWORD is first will dictate a Chimera player's playstyle. The final tier consists of units and upgrades that require both protocols active.

Chimera is an extremely power-hungry faction, requiring power for all but two structures. The only two power-producing structures are the Headquarters and the Outpost, so Chimera players become extremely dependent on their Outposts for everything. Unlike the other two factions, their superweapon defence cannot be shut down. Even if the base undergoes a blackout, its superweapon defences remain active.

Chimera's structures are also noted to provide very little build space. Of all the factions, Chimera will produce the most cramped bases. However, they are also the easiest faction to begin another base with by building an Outpost.

For further details, see the Faction Overview.

Headquarters
Chimera's Headquarters is responsible or constructing all of the other structures in the base. It is also capable of producing Recon UGVs to search for resources and scout enemy positions.

The Headquarters also generates 30 credits per second, ensuring you will never really run out of resources. It also stores 2000 units of aluminum, rare earth, or a combination of each. Ensure your Field HQ remains protected, as it is not only expensive but losing it results in losing all the resources stored at it as well.

Unlike the other Headquarters, Chimera's headquarters produces ten units of power for the rest of the base. This is particularly important as virtually all of the Chimera's buildings require power to operate.

The Headquarters is also notable for producing the least amount of build space around it. This results in a very cramped base without much room to expand. Constructing Outposts, however, is the key to expansion with Chimera.

Refinery
Building refineries is key to extracting resources. It also produces Crushres to ferry the produced resources to the nearest Headquarters or Outpost for usage in other buildings. Refineries cannot extract Rare Earth until upgraded with the Rare Earth Extraction Protocol at the Headquarters. After obtaining this upgrade, all refineries will be able to process rare earth.

The refinery automatically extracts from one resource node at a time, regardless of the number of resource nodes within its reach. Unlike the refineries of the other two factions, each of Chimera's refineries can obtain the Full Extraction Protocol upgrade, which lets the refinery extract from two resource nodes at once. This useful upgrade is cheaper than the double refinery strategy, but Chimera's refineries are more expensive than the other two factions.

Unlike the high-capacity M993, the Crusher does not carry many resources and is hampered by terrain. Building multiple crushers is a necessity for Chimera. The best way to determine the number of crushers necessary for each refinery is to look at the number of crates in the refinery's loading stores; the more there are, construct additional crushers. If crushers are busy lining up at the refinery, sell a few.

The Refinery extracts at a rate of 14 units per second on a single node, which can be easily identified by having an extractor on it. The extractor itself is indestructible and only shows which of the oil or aluminum nodes the refinery is extracting from. The refinery extracts oil and aluminum at the same rate, and rare earth at 6 units per second.

Barracks
Chimera's barracks is extraordinarily cheap and produces all four of Chimera's infantry. While extremely cheap, infantry are not the most durable of units and are easily killed by anti-infantry vehicles. Their biggest strength are the large numbers they can be deployed in, and their ability to give fire support to other vehicles.

Prison
Chimera's Prison is a detention facility that must be built next to Chimera's barracks. Although the Prison must be built next to the Barracks, the Barracks can be sold or destroyed after the Prison is built without any consequences.

The Prison holds any enemy wounded infantry or pilots captured by Chimera's FELIN, SAS, or Exosoldier infantry. It produces four credits for each prisoner.

Unlike the American Field Hospital, the Prison can only exchange prisoners for rare earth; Humanitarian Corridor 1 exchanges five prisoner for 1500 rare earth (300 rare earth per prisoner), while Humanitarian Corridor 2 exchanges all ten prisoners for 3500 rare earth (350 rare earth per prisoner). Naturally, it is better to exchange all ten prisoners at once for rare earth rather than exchanging them in groups of five. Alternatively, build additional prisons for increased cash flow.

Unique to Chimera, Prisons are also capable of healing and reviving wounded infantry anywhere on the map for 100 credits (healing) or 200 credits (reviving). This can help in a pinch, in the event your medical Namers have been destroyed, but it is typically better to use the Namer instead of the Prison to heal your infantry.

Outpost
Chimera's versatility shows in its structures via the Outpost. The Outpost is Chimera's method of base expansion. Like the American FOB, the Outpost can be constructed anywhere on the map. It can also store both aluminum and rare earth. Outposts not only provides power and a small build radius around it, it also can be expanded into one of three roles.

The Construction Outpost enables the outpost to construct SPEAR structures on-site, instead of sending them all the way from Headquarters in vulnerable Kodiaks. Most used very far away from the base, the Construction Outpost is not too often seen, but retains the Outpost's power and resource storage abilities.

The Repair Outpost turns the Outpost into Chimera's method of repairing structures and vehicles. Repair Outposts cannot repair themselves, but two can repair each other. As this is Chimera's only method of repairing structures or vehicles, having multiple repair outposts is all but a necessity. If necessary, it can obtain an upgrade that improves its repair radius and the strength of its repair.

Finally, the Income Outpost turns the Outpost into a structure that produces credits on its own, similar to the American Administrative Center. Best used for base expansion close to your own base, the Income Outpost requires both SHIELD and SWORD protocols to be active and is quite expensive, necessitating its protection.

Sentinel Turret
A powerful defensive structure, Chimera's Sentinel has several upgrades and improvements to increase its effectiveness. Combining the anti-missile capability and stealth detection of the US Army's Phalanx with the flexibility of their MG Nest, Sentinel Turrets are a powerful catch-all base defence structure. It automatically detects all stealthed enemies, negating their first-shot advantage.

By default, it is equipped with a pair of machine guns that are effective against light helicopters and infantry. These guns can be upgraded with anti-missile software to engage enemy missiles, protecting the base and each other from long ranged threats.

Unlike the Americans, who use TOW missiles to defend against armoured attacks, the Sentinel Turret instead uses a powerful anti-tank gun. This anti-tank gun has the advantage of being immune to missile interception abilities of enemy units.

Finally, Sentinels that expect to be engaged by enemy aircraft can be upgraded with Starstreak missiles. These missiles pack a considerable wallop and can easily down helicopters as well as jets if fired en-masse.

Each of these upgrades must be applied to each Sentinel Turret, and are not global upgrades. Save money by equipping each Sentinel with the right upgrades.

Sentinels require power to continue functioning, unlike the American MG Nest. When constructing Sentinels, keep an eye on your power reserves. Support Sentinels with Repair Outposts to increase their effectiveness.

SPEAR Vehicle Bay
The SPEAR Vehicle Bay produces the standard land vehicles used by Chimera. These include the Puma light skirmisher, the antiaircraft Pantsir, and the Rhino artillery. Various upgrades for each of these vehicles can be applied from the SPEAR Vehicle Bay as well.

Support Bay
The Support Bay produces support and harassment units. Usually these units are inadequate at straight-up combat, but provide important options available to Chimera. The Ninja scout helicopter is produced here, and can be upgraded with powerful antiaircraft missiles. Ranking as one of the best scouts in the game, Ninjas are powerful tools that should be used often by Chimera.

Perhaps most notably for Chimera, the Namer personnel carrier is produced from the Support Bay. It can be upgraded with the Iron Fist APS to let it shoot down enemy missiles, as well as provide Chimera's infantry with healing abilities.

The remaining two units that the Support Bay produces are the Metal Storm and the ADS. The Metal Storm is available for players who want to harass enemies with quick, stealthed, self-healing drones, while the APS will reduce the fighting effectiveness of enemy infantry.

SynTech Lab
Chimera's equivalent to the American Administrative Center and the Cartel's Underground Stock Market, the SynTech Lab produces aluminum free of charge once constructed. Producing 10 aluminum per second, multiple Syntech Labs are required to create a fully self-sufficient base.

SynTech Labs are extremely pricey and require a lot of power in order to operate. The latter means that players must have aluminum already stockpiled in order to construct Outposts. Build your SynTech Labs and Outposts before you run out of resources.

Helipad
Capable of producing and upgrading the flexible Tigre and the Valor heavy lift helicopter, the Helipad provides some much needed mobility in Chimera's arsenal.

Rare Earth Outpost
Unlike the regular Outpost, Rare Earth Outposts cost very little aluminum and cannot be built everywhere. They also cannot be upgraded to provide construction, repair, or financial support. Players will typically snub Rare Earth Outposts in favour of producing regular ones.

Air Control Center
Unlike similar RTS games, aircraft in Act of Aggression are not constructed on the battlefield. Instead, they are constructed off map and then called in via Air Control Centers. They will fly in, make their attacks, and then try to withdraw from battle. Aircraft are very expensive and can be easily destroyed by concerted surface fire.

Each Air Control Center can call in three aircraft of any type. Building additional Air Control Centers is necessary to call in more.

The Air Control Center can also be upgraded to spot enemy aircraft further away. This upgrade allows players to more accurately plan the interception of enemy aircraft with PAK FAs.

Defensive Center
Researching a myriad of defensive technologies, the Defensive Center improves the ability of various vehicles to protect themselves, usually against air attack or stealth attack. The Exosoldier's and Metal Storm's autorepair upgrade can be obtained here.

Anti-Ballistic Center
The ability for Chimera to defend against incoming superweapons lies in the Antey 2500, which is produced from this structure. Anteys can also be upgraded here with additional launchers and improved range.

SWORD Vehicle Bay
The SWORD Vehicle Bay produces Chimera's heavy hitters, including the Terminator and the Buratino multiple missile launcher. It also produces the diminutive Fennek transport for infantry raids.

The AGS-30 Grenade Launcher upgrade, available for the Terminator, can only be acquired after obtaining the Ataka and Igla missile upgrades at the Research Lab and Defensive Center respectively.

Research Lab
Aimed at improving Chimera units' effectiveness in the field, the Research Lab allows access to several upgrades that improve the offensive power of various units. The Terminator can obtain the Ataka anti tank missile upgrade here, while the NURS Rocket upgrade improves the effectiveness and range of Buratinos. The X-38 Stealth Missiles upgrade grants PAK FAs the ability to engage enemy vehicles like the American Lightning, with the added ability of not dropping stealth while attacking.

Valors and Fenneks can acquire antiaircraft abilities by obtaining Stinger missiles here, and Exosoldiers and Metal Storms can improve their speed with the Intelligent Suspension upgrade.

Omega Blitzer
This high-powered howitzer fires a powerful shell across the map and to a designated location. Chimera's superweapon of choice, the Omega Blitzer hits reasonably hard but over a massive area. Each shot must be individually loaded into the Omega Blitzer, and requires a considerable amount of resources for each shot. Good recon can prevent an Omega Blitzer shot from being intercepted by enemy anti superweapon structures or units.