Hello all! This DevDiary is the second in a series looking at tactical combat. Today we’re going to have a look at some of the in game units, looking at what abilities they have and what possibilities they bring to the battlefield!
Each unit presented here fits into the same place onto their races’ roster, they’re all the first T2 combat unit the race has available. As you will see, we’ve been working hard to make sure that each race has their own distinct tactical feel on the battlefield.
The Vanguard Assault Bike
The Assault Bike is a high speed vehicle designed to engage enemy units at medium to close range, it mounts powerful, high impact laser weaponry but sacrifices armor along its flanks to make up for it.
The Assault Bike’s main attack is its Focused Laser Array, a medium range (5 hex) single target attack which does a moderate amount of thermal damage. The attack also counts as a High Impact attack, meaning it will stagger many units, knocking them out of Defense Mode and draining their action points. The blast hits so hard, in fact, that Light Units will be knocked into an adjacent hex, allowing the Bike to knock units out of cover or into dangerous terrain hexes.
As a secondary attack, the Assault Bike can reconfigure its weapons to spray laser fire over the 7 hexes directly in front of it. This attack lacks the punch needed to actually displace its targets into another hex, yet it can still stagger enemy unit it hits. The short range makes this a risky maneuver, but it can be devastating if used correctly.
To quickly run over the rest of the unit card:
The Kir’ko Hidden
The Hidden are one of the descendents of the Kir’ko queens, who were wiped out by the Star Union. Bred as guerilla fighters, the Hidden championed the cause of Kir’ko rebellion from the shadows. As with all Kir’ko females, the Hidden have powerful psionic abilities, which they use to both attack and elude their foes.
The Hidden attack with psionic sniper rifles, having both a high powered shot which uses up all their action points, and a short range snap shot which they can use after moving. The damage output of the rifle is slightly lower than that of other sniper rifles, but this is balanced out by the fact that psionic attacks completely bypass a unit’s armor (though they are still blocked by shields)
The Hidden also have the ability to teleport short distances across the battlefield using Shrouded Step. Shrouded Step also creates a 7 hex smoke screen at the location the unit is teleporting to, providing a safe place to hide for the Hidden and its allies.
As its name suggests the Hidden is also a capable stealth unit, with Universal Camoflage granting it concealment in all types of terrain. It also has a special Defense Mode called Evasion, where the standard defense mode makes a unit 25% harder to hit, Evasion makes a unit 50% harder hit.
Looking at the rest of the unit card:
And that’s it for this week! Next week we’ll continue this series looking at the Amazon and Dvar units that fill in this role!
Each unit presented here fits into the same place onto their races’ roster, they’re all the first T2 combat unit the race has available. As you will see, we’ve been working hard to make sure that each race has their own distinct tactical feel on the battlefield.
The Vanguard Assault Bike
The Assault Bike is a high speed vehicle designed to engage enemy units at medium to close range, it mounts powerful, high impact laser weaponry but sacrifices armor along its flanks to make up for it.
The Assault Bike’s main attack is its Focused Laser Array, a medium range (5 hex) single target attack which does a moderate amount of thermal damage. The attack also counts as a High Impact attack, meaning it will stagger many units, knocking them out of Defense Mode and draining their action points. The blast hits so hard, in fact, that Light Units will be knocked into an adjacent hex, allowing the Bike to knock units out of cover or into dangerous terrain hexes.
As a secondary attack, the Assault Bike can reconfigure its weapons to spray laser fire over the 7 hexes directly in front of it. This attack lacks the punch needed to actually displace its targets into another hex, yet it can still stagger enemy unit it hits. The short range makes this a risky maneuver, but it can be devastating if used correctly.
To quickly run over the rest of the unit card:
- The unit has 45hp and 4 armor, making it highly durable; however the Exposed Flanks property means it loses two points of armor when attacked from the back or sides.
- 40 movement points indicates this unit moves very quickly (Standard move speeds are 40, 32 and 24)
- The unit takes less damage from Psionic Attacks, but more from Arc attacks. This is standard for all Mechanical units.
- The unit is Stagger Resistant, meaning it cannot be staggered by High Impact attacks, though it can still be staggered by Massive Impact attacks, such as those from artillery.
- All Vanguard Units gain a morale bonus while fighting in Arcadian terrain.
- This unit is also currently in friendly territory, meaning it recovers an extra 6hp per turn on the world map.
- Heavy Unit is a standard property given to most vehicles and larger units. It is the source of the unit’s stagger resistance, and also means the unit will not turn to face its attacker when shot at.
- Skirmisher Unit means that this is an advanced, combat focused unit.
The Kir’ko Hidden
The Hidden are one of the descendents of the Kir’ko queens, who were wiped out by the Star Union. Bred as guerilla fighters, the Hidden championed the cause of Kir’ko rebellion from the shadows. As with all Kir’ko females, the Hidden have powerful psionic abilities, which they use to both attack and elude their foes.
The Hidden attack with psionic sniper rifles, having both a high powered shot which uses up all their action points, and a short range snap shot which they can use after moving. The damage output of the rifle is slightly lower than that of other sniper rifles, but this is balanced out by the fact that psionic attacks completely bypass a unit’s armor (though they are still blocked by shields)
The Hidden also have the ability to teleport short distances across the battlefield using Shrouded Step. Shrouded Step also creates a 7 hex smoke screen at the location the unit is teleporting to, providing a safe place to hide for the Hidden and its allies.
As its name suggests the Hidden is also a capable stealth unit, with Universal Camoflage granting it concealment in all types of terrain. It also has a special Defense Mode called Evasion, where the standard defense mode makes a unit 25% harder to hit, Evasion makes a unit 50% harder hit.
Looking at the rest of the unit card:
- 45hp and 1 armor mean this unit is fairly fragile. It relies on not getting hit to stay alive.
- 32 move points is the standard move speed for most units
- All Kir’ko units get a morale bonus when fighting in Fungal terrain.
- Like most snipers, the Hidden can use Overwatch. Improved Overwatch means that she gets an accuracy bonus for overwatch shots.
- Rapid Regeneration is a standard Kir’ko ability, meaning the unit heals an extra 6hp per turn on the world map.
- The Kir’ko are all latently psionic, and when they form groups this psionic power manifests itself as a protective shield. Swarm Shields grants a Kir’ko 2 shields when it is adjacent to another Kir’ko.
And that’s it for this week! Next week we’ll continue this series looking at the Amazon and Dvar units that fill in this role!
