unit-locus

Locus is a tiered ground unit (a heavy tank-style unit) that fills the role of a durable, high-throughput frontliner. It appears as a spammable, bulky vehicle with a hitscan rail weapon that pierces multiple targets; its combination of high health, armor and rapid fire makes it effective at breaking bases and soaking damage for other attackers. Loci are intended to be produced quickly and in numbers, and they function well as a straightforward early- to mid-game assault unit or defensive bulwark.

The Locus main weapon is a RailBullet-type hitscan shot with an effective range around 20 tiles (bullet length 20). It fires at about 3.33 shots/sec (0.3 s reload, 18 ticks) and rotates at roughly 1.4° per tick. Each hit deals 36 damage, and the projectile pierces: subsequent targets take a reduced fraction (pierce multiplier ~0.8x) of the previous damage. These characteristics let Loci chew through structures and line up multiple targets when properly angled.

Practically, Loci are most valuable when used en masse and positioned to surround or funnel targets so many tanks can fire simultaneously. They are:

• Extremely spammable due to low build times and relatively cheap cost, making them suitable for early rushes or rapid field reinforcement.
• Very tanky compared to same-tier units (noted as having more than double the bulk of the other two units in its tier), which helps them resist enemy armies and protect backline units from piercing or splash.
• Capable of handling incoming unit missiles and small swarms thanks to fast firing; hitscan pierce means point-defense systems that negate projectile arcs (e.g., Cleroi’s PD in some matchups) do not trivially delete them.

Use Loci to punch through bases that lack heavy splash defenses (Titans or high-tier turrets). Pre-positioning tanks to create a surround on chokepoints maximizes the number firing on a structure and minimizes losses. Their armor reduces the effectiveness of single-target strike weapons, so they serve well as shields for more fragile, higher-damage units.

Counters and caveats:

• They struggle when facing heavy splash-damage enemies such as Titans or Breaches; splash can be targeted to chip backline Loci that would otherwise be safe.
• Some area-effect weapons (for example, Sublimates with ozone/cyanogen ammo) can quickly shred clumps of Loci — reports indicate Sublimates can destroy Loci in seconds with the right ammo.
• A mixed enemy composition (tanks to absorb damage and mechs to walk over them) can counter Loci effectively; relying solely on light mechs is risky.
• Loci cannot pass through or shoot through large continuous walls; they also interfere with placing solid blocks directly in front of them, which can affect tactics that rely on dropping explosive containers under incoming units.
• Locus (and Precept) has a hidden interaction that allows them to instantly destroy power nodes on contact — a mechanic added to prevent trivial path-blocking by spamming power node blocks.

Balance and history notes: Locus was added in Build 136. Its weapon firing rate was reduced in Build 141 (from ~4.28 to 3.33/sec). Subsequent tweaks adjusted range slightly and altered drown/movement interactions with terrain; one change made drown time in water scale with hit size and increased it, and movement speed on slowed terrain was given a floor multiplier.