AI War:Warheads

Warheads are suicidal units only accessible to Human players. They are build by the Missile Silo. They require no Knowledge to be unlocked and are available from start. They are fittingly considered dangerous by the AI and induce AIP on death. They fire when they are killed of scrapped; they cannot be safely dismantled and, once built, they must either survive the game or induce their AIP at one point. Warheads are the only kind of units targeted by Core Warhead Interceptors.

Every construction of a non-Tachyon warhead delays the construction of every other non-tachyon warhead by an amount depending of its estimated power. Thus, warheads can be stockpiled but not built quickly in quantity.

Activating the Neinzul Rocketry Corps Minor Faction is the only way for players to face warheads. Thankfully, these special warheads don't induce AIP.

Warheads are used to deal with desperate situations such as CPA, Exogalactic Strikeforce, Homeworld final assaults and Hunter/Killer.

	Lightning Warhead A large bomb using one of the most brute-force weapons technology available to humanity. Capable of a truly disgusting amount of damage, this device focuses causes an enormous wave of devastation which first annihilates the weakest objects in its range and moves up from there. As objects are disintegrated, the wave's power diminishes, so the damage listed above is actually the maximum total possible that this device can deliver (regardless of the number of targets in range).
	Armored Warhead Armored version of the standard Lightning Warhead. Harder for enemy ships to destroy due to the armor and the cloaking, so it is more likely to reach its target. Further, Armored Warheads can concentrate any amount of their force upon a single target, where Lightning Warheads have a maximum amount of damage they can do to a single target. Finally, the explosion of this warhead is so violent that no salvage is left for recovery.
	EMP Warhead Does a small bit of localized damage and causes a planet-wide electromagnetic pulse when destroyed by enemy forces or by scrapping. Temporarily paralyzes most ships, disables cloaking, and disables force fields and mines on the planet on which it is set off. EMP effects last for 30 to 120 seconds (depending on mark level), and affect your ships as well as enemy ships. Does not affect mark V ships or starships.
	Tachyon Warhead Does a small bit of localized damage and causes a planet-wide tachyon pulse when destroyed by enemy forces or by scrapping. Reveals for 5 to 12 minutes (depending on mark level) all cloaked ships (enemy and allied alike) on the planet on which it is set off.
	Nuclear Warhead Causes a planet-wide nuclear explosion when destroyed by enemy forces or by scrapping. Destroys all resources and most ships on the planet on which it is set off. Does not affect mark V ships or starships. Also causes supply to be permanently lost for all teams at that planet, meaning you then cannot use science labs, docks, etc. Be VERY careful not to detonate it on a planet belonging to your team! AI Progress jumps upward by 50 every time a nuclear warhead is detonated, so make make each warhead count. The MkII version also affects all adjacent planets and the MkIII affects all the galaxy.