Unit properties and abilities (Rivals)

This page lists unit properties and abilities and how those impact the outcome of the skirmishes. It helps to understand the patch notes and unit statistics provided in this wiki.

Unit type

There are five classes of units: Infantry, Vehicles, Harvesters (ground units), Aircraft (air units) and Buildings (both ground and air). When a unit attacks, the damage it deals can be different for depending on the target's unit type.

Some units can't shoot at air units while others can't target ground units. If Riflemen and Phantom are next to each other, they will not be able to attack one another.

Health points

All units have health points assigned to them. If a unit is a squad, each individual member of the squad has their own health. The health bar shows the total health of the squad. Individual members in the squad and non-squad units do not lose their battle effectiveness as the health drops. Once the health drops to zero, the unit or squad member dies.

Repair Drone can restore health to mobile units, but can't repair buildings or revive the dead.

Damage

Units have different damage values against different unit types. The Damage Per Second is calculated using this formula:

Damage × Number of shots × Squad size ÷ Cooldown

This formula holds true even for seemingly continuous damage units like Giga-Cannon. The Damage is low, but the Cooldown is low too.

Squad

Some units are comprised of several individual members. For example, Riflemen consists of 5 individual infantrymen. When under attack, the weakest member in the squad is being targeted first. A squad takes up a population cap irrespective of how many members are there.

Squad advantages:

• Can survive longer against slow hitting units. An extreme example would be Obelisk of Light can fire only every 4 seconds, which means it takes 20 seconds for it to will clear a squad of 5 Riflemen. A single beam from the Obelisk has enough damage points to wipe out two Riflemen squads.
• Squads tend to be cheaper than the alternatives.

Squad disadvantages:

• When losing members they lose the firepower as well.Oftentimes a squad with only a single member left is more of a burdened due to population cap. If this is done deliberately, it's called pop capping.
• Tend to fall apart quickly against units with rapid rate of fire (low cooldown).

The pop capping can be countered by throwing units into their death or otherwise forcing an engagement.

Squad Mechanics - Acting On Instinct

Burst damage

While most units give out even rate of fire, like Rhinos, others give out a burst of damage, like Orcas. The burst damage allows to destroy units very quickly, sometimes without taking any damage in return. To compensate, such units usually have less damage per second and health compared to sustained fire units. Contrast the Orca and Mohawk Gunship.

Another weakness of burst damage units is that they are prone to baiting. If they target the wrong unit by accident, they become useless for their reload time duration.

Splash damage

Some units damage everything that occupies a tile. This type of damage is especially devastating to squad units and can also damage multiple non-squad units that are stacked on a single tile while they are moving. If a projectile affects multiple tiles, it is said to have Area of Effect.

All environmental hazards have splash damage characteristics.

Movement speed

Speed at which units move across the field. Movement speed determines if unit can make itself relevant on the field in time, whether it can make flanking maneuvers or escape form unfavorable engagement. The faster the better.

Time to move from one tile to the adjacent one can be calculated with this formula: 1 / ( [speed] × √3 /2 × 12). For example, if the unit speed is 6.9, the unit will take two seconds to move to the next tile.

Acceleration and deceleration

While most units get from zero to maximum movement speed instantaneously, some require extra time to speed up or come to full stop. This effect can give the opposing unit even more if defenders advantage.

Turn speed

The speed at which the unit can rotate itself or its guns to face the opponent. Units can't anticipate incoming attacks and will start turning only when the opponent has stepped into the attack range. If the unit has slow turn rate, attacking from behind can give a significant advantage.

Turn speed of the turret is usually different from that of the vehicle itself.

Turn speed is expressed as number of degrees per second.

Attack speed

Time between consecutive attacks. In case of squads, time between attacks for each member individually, not the whole squad. Also known as Cooldown. The shorter the better. High attack rate helps to deal with squad units. Doesn't matter much against units with many hit-points.

Attack separation delay

In squads, time between attacks if the first and second squad member. E.g. time between each rocket fired by a Missile squad is equal, wheres Sniper team will fire at first fire in quick succession and then will take long time to reload together. The lower the separation delay the better.

If units move fast and the separation is low, the squad can use it to kite.

Initial attack delay

Some units don't fire right away. It might take some time to begin to fire even if target is in the firing line. This value is shown in Cooldown section and is marked by (initial).

Raider

Normally a unit would have to stop on a tile and only then be able to fire. Units with Raider ability can fire even as they are moving. For example, if Hammerhead has a target right in front of it when it enters a tile, it will fire before entering the tile completely.

The raider is most effective with Turret. It allows to attack at all times so long as the proximity is maintained. This makes escaping much more difficult for the opponent.

Turret

This ability allows to move the guns independently from the rest of the vehicle. This ability is most effective when paired with Raider ability.

Lock-on timer

Some units like Scorpion tank can lock onto the target before it fires, meaning that if a unit walks into the attack range and fails to get out before the lock on time, it will be fired at even if it is at a safe distance.

Packing and unpacking

Some units can't start to attack right away, but need to deploy beforehand. If a unit needs time to pack, it also takes time to unpack and become mobile.

Attack range

The distance (in tiles) in which the unit can target. The longer range allows to attack before the opponent closes the distance. Units with attack range of 3 tend to have vision only at 2, requiring other units to scout to fully unlock the attack range.

Sight range

The distance (in tiles) how far unit can lift the fog of war.

Projectile

Not all projectiles are created equal. Bullets, flames and laser beams hit their targets near instantaneous, other projectiles might take a lot longer. Once the projectile is fired, it cannot be stopped until it hits its target. Artillery targets ground tiles, so the unit can at least partially dodge it, but if the projectile is set to hit a specific unit, it will find its target and will only fizzle out if the target unit dies before the projectile arrives. This behavior is especially noticeable with Attack bikes, where the rocket can fly over half the map before it hits a fast escaping target.

Stealth

Some units, like Stealth tanks and Shades can become invisible to non-infantry units in the battlefield. This ability breaks once the unit starts attacking, takes damage (from infantry attack, incidental damage or the environment), or moves onto a pad. After some timeout the unit gets cloaked again.

Detection

All infantry units except Scarabs have an ability to detect adjacent stealthed units, even when they can't target them. For example, if a cloaked Shade flies near a squad of Riflemen, a nearby Slingshot will be able to attack it.

EMP

Some units have an EMP ability, which can slow down some speed aspect of the opponent, like movement speed, attack speed, turn speed etc. Each EMP source has a different extent of the effect and the duration of the slowdown.

Flight

Ability for aircraft to move over opponents ground units (and those ground units can move under the flying units). Aircraft can body-block other aircraft.

Flying units can move and hover over obstacles, but can't go over the missile silo.