Control Tower

The Control Tower is a category of machine in Horizon Zero Dawn exclusive to The Frozen Wilds. Of all known machines, Control Towers are unarguably the most unique, in that they look botanical rather than zoological, are completely stationary, and pose no direct or indirect threat to humans whatsoever. Their sole purpose is the maintenance and repair of damaged machines.

History
Control Towers were developed by the artificial intelligence (AI) HEPHAESTUS, as a method of providing ready field repair and maintenance for its machines. They were deployed in various locations throughout the Banuk region known as The Cut. It may be presumed that damaged machines anywhere in The Cut would go to the nearest Control Tower for repairs. The Nora huntress Aloy first saw one when she met the Banuk shaman’s apprentice Naltuk while looking for his mentor Ourea. Naltuk asked Aloy to neutralize it in exchange for information on Ourea’s whereabouts. Aloy agreed and did so. She subsequently discovered and neutralized these machines at a total of nine sites while in The Cut, either by destroying them or overriding them.

Appearance
A control tower resembles a short palm tree. Its constant swaying movement resembles that of certain small stationary marine fauna such as sea anemones. The chassis consists of a stout, tree trunk-like armoured structure with six leaf-like structures at the apex, surrounding a central emitter. At the base of the machine are three data nodes. Near the top of the chassis is a triangular extendable cooling element, which the machine briefly extends following the release of its energy pulse.

Behaviour
A Control Tower has no behavior other than to sway back and forth, repairing and maintaining machines within its radius of influence via its energy pulse. They are completely defenceless, and are therefore guarded by Daemonic combat-ready machines. The mechanism by which Control Towers appear is unknown. Their absolute inability to ambulate suggests that whatever technology that produces them is transported to their deployment site by machines under HEPHAESTUS’ direction. The fact that they appeared very rapidly without construction during the battle against the Fireclaw in Cauldron EPSILON suggests that the technology is more advanced than any Zero Dawn machine-manufacturing technology.

Abilities
As per its function, a Control Tower is able to repair any damage sustained by a machine, save the destruction of armour or components. It accomplishes this by emitting a purple energy pulse every 10 seconds that repairs damaged machines within its radius of influence. The repair is cumulative; a critically damaged machine will eventually be fully repaired once it stays within the radius of the Control Tower’s pulses. This means that all of a hunter’s progress in damaging a machine can and will eventually be undone if the Control Tower is not neutralized. Additionally, the pulse electrically stuns overridden machines, which remain incapacitated until the Tower is neutralized, and disables the protective energy shield in Aloy’s Shield-Weaver outfit.

Known Locations
1=Location: East of Dark Oxide pigment, West of Tallneck (Frostfigures)

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Enemies: Daemonic Longleg, Scrapper 2=Location: West of Animal Figurine 6

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Enemies: Daemonic Shell-Walker 3=Location: East of Animal Figurine 6

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Enemies: Daemonic Scorcher 4=Location: West of Longnotch

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Enemies: Daemonic Stalker 5=Location: South of Stone Yield Bandit Camp

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Enemies: Daemonic Fire Bellowback 6=Location: The Claws Beneath's valley

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Enemies: Daemonic Rockbreaker 7=Location: Old world lodge north of Hollow Hall

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Enemies: Daemonic Scrapper, Stalker, Watcher 8=Location: Greycatch Lake

Level: 48

Enemies: Daemonic Longleg, Scrapper, Snapmaw 9=Location: Shaman's Path

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Enemies: Daemonic Frostclaw