The Mining Spider is a giant four-legged platform used by Kaiser Vlad to extract the Staff of Qa-Len from a glacier in the northern Tundran Territories. In the final mission, it is surrounded by a shield and boasts laser batteries, which are relatively weak against your Battlestation alone, but do much damage overtime; the Battlestation must be protected, as it is the only unit that can destroy it. To deactivate the impenetrable shields, you must destroy the three generators nearby. When you suceed in destroying the spider, Vlad will exclaim that he has retrieved the Staff and will try to destroy the Alliance of Nations with it. However, when his escape copter is shot down, he and Kommandant Ubel will escape in a mini-spider down to the bottom of the glacier as the Staff activates. In the multiplayer Co-op mission "Under Siege" you must use bombers to destroy the mining spider outside Gorgisburg.
Strategy
When the shields are down, simply shell the spider with the Battlestation.. The Strato Destroyers can be easily destroyed, just order your Fighters and surviving Anti-Air Veterans and Anti-Air Vehicles to attack them; the weak backside makes them exceptionally weak to their missles, which home in from behind.. The best way to avoid damage is to circle around the spider while firing, like in a Light tank. Be sure to destroy any Heavy Tanks as you circle, as these can drain your Battlestation's health;they can easily be destroyed before attacking the generators, however. In multiplayer, fly downwards at a steep angle while bombing to get more bombs on-target. (This strategy also works with any bombing run against any enemy).Be sure to keep moving or else the mining spider will have time to focus it's lasers on you!
Trivia
- The mining spider alludes somewhat to the second Death Star in Star Wars. Once you destroy the shields, Kaiser Vlad will say, "Now, witness the power of this fully armed and operational Mining Spider!" the destruction of the shields also alludes to the shield generators on Endor in Star wars: Return of the Jedi.
- The design for the spider is said to have come to Vlad in a vision, and only two prototypes were made, both at the same plant where Xylvanian Battlestations are made.
- It is not known exactly how the Mining Spider is transported, who operates it, and how it extracts items such as the Staff.
- In the unit dossier, the Spider is stated to have various technologies "borrowed" from most of the other nations. This invites the theory of industrial sabotage.