Alpha

Alpha is a small flying combat unit used by the player and AI on Serpulo and other early maps. It functions as a light fighter with a rapid, short‑range gun and high mobility. Alpha occupies the game's role of a basic offensive flyer: it is fragile against heavy defenses but excels at harassing enemies, contesting territory, and scouting.

Alpha's primary weapon fires two small projectiles at 1.76 shots per second (2x) with 11 damage per bullet to units. Its damage to buildings is reduced by -99%, effectively dealing 0.11 damage to structures per hit. Bullets have a limited travel distance and despawn after traveling 18 tiles. The weapon gained homing behavior in later updates and its projectile velocity interactions with the unit have been adjusted across versions; bullets no longer gain extended lifetime when fired backward.

Alpha's movement and control are tuned for quick repositioning. In Version 7.0 the unit's speed was normalized to 22.5 tiles/second. It is vulnerable to concentrated fire and area weapons but can outmaneuver many ground threats and dodge slow projectile patterns. When player‑controlled and with the "Double‑tap/click to mine" option enabled, Alpha can mine sand tiles.

Historical changes of note: Alpha was reintroduced as the core unit for the Shard in later updates and visually resembles the Dart from earlier versions while retaining the Alpha name. Several updates adjusted range and projectile behavior: range was decreased from 19 to 18 tiles, command limit was removed, bullet velocity rules were toggled, homing was added, and bullet lifetime mechanics were refined.

Practical usage and interactions:

• Use Alpha to harass enemy units and pick off isolated targets; its high rate of fire and mobility suit hit‑and‑run tactics.
• Avoid using Alpha for direct structure assaults because building damage is nearly negligible due to the -99% building damage modifier.
• Take advantage of the unit's short projectile range by closing rapidly or kite past enemy firing arcs; bullets despawn after 18 tiles so prolonged chases will lose DPS.
• In player control, enable double‑tap mining to allow limited resource collection on sand when needed.
• Alpha is effective in swarms; multiple Alphas can overwhelm single targets despite low per‑shot damage to buildings.
• The unit appears alongside Beta and Gamma in the core unit set and shares the uncommon trait of bullets with a fixed travel distance.