Mind Control Spire

Overview

 * The Mind Control Spire is a control tower, affecting a single enemy within its range.
 * The cooldown (10-12 seconds) starts after the control duration has expired.
 * An enemy can be controlled only once by Mind Control Spires for the wave.
 * If the affected enemy is non-aggressive or there are no other lumes that it can attack, it will be stunned for the effect duration. This also applies for the semi-passive Hoverers & Hoverer queens. If the affected enemy is capable of fighting, it will change sides and attack other enemies, drawing their attacks on itself as well if they are aggressive lumes or Hoverers/Hoverer queens.
 * This is the only support control tower, whose controlling ability increases with overcharge - 0,001 sec per resource (= 1 sec per 1000 resources). As a comparison, the slowing towers as controlling ones improve only their range, but not their slowing strength.

Notes & tactics

 * Due to its properties, the tower can be used to heap up groups of aggressive enemies within a concentrated damage zone. Similarly to the slowing effects, it synergizes well with damage towers and also helps for better weapon damage.
 * It is usually best to set the targeting system of this tower to "most health", so the unit, who is controlled won't be killed quickly, thus preventing wasting the remaining duration of the mind control effect.
 * The Mind control spire can serve as a good extra tower that can function well along with the damage towers and the other support ones. It is a valuable addition in most maps when there are abundant resources like in maps with high resource income, coop games and survival mode.
 * While the overcharge here leads to a minor gain, it is the only way to extend the control duration of a single lume - having more Mind control spires would affect more lumes, but for a shorter period per lume. And due to the tower firing only once every 12 seconds, it is mostly not helpful extending its range over 12 seconds, since then the effect of holding aggressive crowds would linger. Spending resources for other purpose after reaching 12 seconds proves more fruitful.
 * Whether to choose this tower or to hurry for another support one is dependent or random factors, e.g. if there are multiple aggressive lumes and/or Hoverers, this might hold them for a while and in this time some towers like the ACP & the Focus can deal great damage to the stopped lumes. In such scenarios it is fine to get the tower even early-to-mid game. However, if the lumes are non-aggressive, the slowing towers and the Amp can shine more. Building the other needed support towers before the Mc spires usually can show better early-to-midgame results, but if there are multiple towers that cannot be buffed easily with Range spire, Amp and Slow fields/Kairos, then the Mind control spires might be a better choice, e.g. if there are multiple Lightnings. Generally talking, the Mind control spire is mostly a lategame-support tower, that can perform greatly after the other key support tower types are built. If there are slowing towers or effects, this can help greatly for more lumes getting controlled. While the Mind control spire is usually behind the upgraded Range spire in overall performance gain, it might be a bit tricky to choose between this tower and the other support ones for the next build.
 * Some of the best enemies to use the tower against are mutated lumes, since with Mind control spire(s) they can be held for longer in the radius of action of the Focus, ACP and other capable towers.
 * The Mind control spire is versatile in the terms of whether to build multiple ones or to overcharge. However, the overcharge has a limited effect and applies better effect vs one lume, so if there are multiple problematic lumes, it is fine to put 2-4 or even more spires. Usually they don't need to be buffed by a Range spire, but it is good to put them in a position that wouldn't cause them to block the damage of other projectile-using towers.
 * Like all projectile-using towers, the Mind control spire suffers from some sight obstructions like walls & rocks, so it is good to place the tower carefully. In this particular case other towers usually don't seem much of a problem for the spire's sight, since the spires appear to control lumes even through other towers. If, however, there are high solid wall/rock obstructions, the tower would not controll lumes through them even if they are seemingly in range.
 * Projectile-towers are the Scatter lasers & the ones with targeting system.
 * While in most maps it is fine to use the tower freely, there are some potentially dangerous scenarios and tricky lumes, that one should be careful with. These are the three ground bosses, and, in a much lesser extent, the Hoverers. While in random situations one can apply execution measures like AR/Rupture mines or Focus +/- Range spire, such cannot always be used effectively enough and random scenarios might limit or even exclude the usage of Mind control spires. Technically the most problematic map for this support tower is The End, since then all types of ground bosses appear. In maps with dangerous bosses, Makeshift cannons might be the correct way to go instead.
 * The Super heavy appears to be the most problematic boss lume when there are Mind control spires. Would it be the boss triggered by the tower, or a controlled lume to trigger the boss, he is going to apply his destructive beam into the direction of the lume, thus destroying everything on the beam's path. If this includes towers or crucial parts of the maze, this might lead to rather problematic situations. While this is the main reason not to use Mind control spire in the map The End, simplier maps like Last Chance, Dam and even Outpost can also be lead to early unwanted destructions if the Super heavies get triggered. Still, there are some safe scenarios - in 3-3: Roadworks the Super heavy would just be stunned if it reaches the tower's range and in 7-4: Last chance this tower could delay enemies a bit if put close to the spawn point of the bosses (if there are no key elements of the maze).
 * The Walker Patriarch is often somewhat safer than the Super heavy and sometimes even than the Hoverer queen. However, if he gets triggered by the Mind control spire or a controlled lume around, this might lead to a ground-slam attack by the boss and if there are towers or crucial parts of the maze nearby, this might lead to a significant destructive effect. There are still random safe or partially safe scenarios like the first boss in 2-4: Outpost (as a lone lume it'd simply be stunned) & the boss in 4-3: The Wilderness (other lumes appear much later).
 * The Hoverer queen can become problematic if triggered lumes come close to her. The main trouble that she makes are related to her attack, which stuns towers in its range. While this might randomly not be too much of an issue, in many of the maps with this boss (e.g. The End, The slums) the stunned-towers effect might allow other lumes to penetrate defenses intact. Of course, if the Queen gets controlled, she will be just stunned for the duration, usually not being a threat in this condition, unless its front blocks too much tower damage in its stunned position.
 * Both the Hoverers and their boss variant can become problematic due to some other tiny reasons, although this side of the things is mostly easy to deal with
 * If a Hoverer gets stopped in a position, in which the projectile-using towers hit only the invulnerable front, this might lead to lower utility of the damage towers and even to allow other lumes to penetrate, particularly if the player(s) rely on projectile-towers like the Focus for damage. Technically this isn't a problem for the Drone and less of an issue for the Scatter lasers, but it is better to "protect" the towers' damage from being blocked. To resolve this, usually the measure is to put the Mind control spire a bit after the damage towers, in a position that wouldn't cause Hoverers to block the tower damage with their fronts.
 * The other thing, mostly a simple one as well, is related to the knockback from the Hoverers' attacks. This can be a bit more problematic in maps, where it is easy to faint due to falling or drowning. The simple measure, of course, is just to keep some distance.
 * The fire rate of the tower in-game is converted into mind controls per second this way: One in-game speed unit is 1/60 shots per second and therefore come the calculations:
 * The Mind control spire early on has 6/60 = 0,1 mind controls per second = 6 controls per minute = 1 control per 10 seconds
 * Interestingly, even after just a little amount of resources 's been put in the tower, its fire rate becomes 5/60 ~ 0 ,083 controls per second = 1 control per 12 seconds = 5 controls per minute