Timed Explosives

Ability User:	Arcova Scout Frigate
Ability Type:	Active
Target:	Enemy Structures
Antimatter Cost:	0
Cooldown Time:	900
Delay before explosion:	15
Range:	N/A
Effect(s):	1200 damage (affected by Armor but not Shield Mitigation) Rebellion only: -50% damage reduction on the Arcova while the explosives are being deployed (15 seconds)

Places a high explosive charge on a target enemy structure, which will detonate after its timer expires. Extracted from the game.

Tactics

Timed Explosives allows the Arcova to do a large amount of damage against a single enemy structure (other than starbases). However, the ability has a very long cooldown time of 15 minutes, and the Arcova must hover motionless over the target structure for a few seconds while planting the charges.

If you manage to get a good sized number of Arcovas behind enemy lines (10 or 20 or even more), you can easily destroy a few factories or research labs on one of the softer inner planets of an enemy, which can cripple their manufacturing capabilities for some time.

Given the ability's cooldown time, it is best to use it only against important expensive enemy structures such as factories, research labs, or trade ports. In the early game, five explosives are normally sufficient to destroy any unarmed structure, but once the enemy gets armor and hull upgrades, it can take seven or more explosives to entirely destroy one.

If the rest of your fleet is in combat and you want to prevent the enemy from building more high-tech cruiser reinforcements, you can use Timed Explosives to destroy the enemy's military labs and then use your scouts to attack enemy constructors to prevent the enemy from building more.

Timed Explosives does not stack with itself during the 15-second delay. If you want to use several Timed Explosives on the target, you need to send the scouts in one by one.