Locus

Locus is a tiered ground combat unit that functions as a durable, spammable tank in battle. It appears as a heavy, slow-moving unit with a hitscan rail weapon that pierces multiple targets. Loci are used for both offense against enemy bases and defense of chokepoints; their high health and armor let them soak damage while their rapid-fire, piercing rail shots shred structures and clustered enemies. They were added in Build 136 and have received several balance tweaks since.

The Locus main weapon fires a rail-style hitscan projectile at 3.33 shots/sec (18 ticks reload) with a rotation speed of 1.4 degrees/tick. Each shot deals 36 damage and pierces targets with a 0.8× damage multiplier per subsequent target, with an effective bullet length/range of roughly 20 tiles. The unit’s large hitSize and high bulk make it resistencia to piercing and many point-defense effects that stop smaller, non-hitscan ordnance.

Loci are inexpensive to build and have low build times, allowing rapid replenishment and massing. This makes pure Locus armies effective early-game attackers and defensive garrisons where enemy defenses are not yet capable of heavy area splash or high-rate single-target damage. To maximize damage output, surround targets and force chokepoint engagements so many Loci can fire simultaneously. Their fast firing rate gives them value against missile units as well, letting them intercept incoming projectiles when amassed.

Despite their strengths, Loci have clear counters. Turrets or units with strong area splash (for example Titans) can chip down clumped Loci and hit backline mechs they would otherwise protect. Sublimates with ozone or cyanogen ammo destroy Loci extremely quickly if they wander into range; ozone ammo can kill them in about four seconds and cyanogen in roughly two. Mixed enemy compositions pairing tanks to soak and mechs to walk over them also negate Locus advantages. Terrain that Loci cannot traverse forces them into unfavorable positions; use chokepoints and impassable terrain to whittle them from safety. Avoid attempting to block Locus paths by spamming power nodes—Locus has an instant-destroy interaction with power nodes that prevents trivial path-blocking.

Notable mechanical details: drown time in water for Locus scales with hitSize and was increased in a later update, and movement on slowing floors receives a floor-effect multiplier of 0.8. The unit also has a special interaction that allows it to instantly destroy a power node on contact, a design choice intended to prevent easy path-blocking by node spam. Recent balance changes include a decrease in main weapon firing rate (from 4.28 to 3.33 shots/sec) and small range adjustments.