Bodies and Propulsions

Designing units

Units are composed of three parts: a body, a propulsion and a turret. The body defines the armour, the propulsion the speed, and the turret the function.

Bodies

The body changes the cost and the armour level of a unit. They are broken into 3 tiers defining the size of the unit. The larger the unit is, the more advanced turret it can hold without impacting its speed and the more HP it has.

Medium (tier 2) and large (tier 3) bodies must be researched before you can produce them. In Battleplan, factory modules are not required to build larger tanks.

Each tier has 3 versions, identified by their faction and corresponding colour. The faction impacts the cost and armour of the unit.

Factions

The faction can be identified mostly by it's color.

New Paradigm (yellow) bodies are cheap with virtually no armour. They allow you to build units faster and increase your firepower at the cost of their durability.

Project (grey) bodies are all-rounder bodies, with average cost and armour.

Collective (green-blue) bodies are expensive and heavily armoured. They are longer to produce, so you will end up with with fewer but more robust units. Beware though, some weapons ignore armour so they are not always better.

Size (tiers)

Bodies come into three size for each faction. The small size (tier 1) is available from start (expect Nexus ones), the medium (tiers 2) and large (tier 3) ones must be researched first. Bodies of the 3 main factions are unlocked at once, the Nexus one still has to be researched after.

Larger bodies have more HP, more engine power and slightly more armour. Except Nexus bodies that get a huge armour bonus. They can get more speed with a lower tier turret, or keep the same speed as a smaller body with a lower tier turret.

Propulsion

The propulsion set the speed and hit points of a unit. There are 3 ground propulsion and one aerial. Wheels are the basic propulsion. Hover trades hit points for speed, and tracks speed for HP. Gain and loss are proportional to the base hit points of the body.

Wheels

Wheels are the average ground propulsion, with decent speed and hit points. They make versatile tanks, able to serve as mobile reinforcements as well as general strike forces.

They are a good choice when you need some mobility, either defensively to avoid being out ranged or send reinforcements, or offensively for hit'n run attacks.

Tracks

Tracks make slow but very durable tanks. They are a good choice when you need robust units at a very specific spot, like defending your base.

Those provides far more hit points and are more suitable for defense. But they can still sometime be out-ranged and they cannot be redeployed elsewhere quickly. When using tracks offensively, make sure you also have long range or aerial support to compensate their lack of mobility.

Hovers

Hovers make fast units able to cross water planes. They make perfect scouts and fast striking forces, but their lack of durability make them poorly suited for open battles.

They are a good choice for scouting when VTOLs are not available or attacking an undefended target before the reinforcements can arrive. But their effectiveness will drop when they meet some defenses.

VTOL

Vertical Take-Off and Landing are air-crafts. They cost more than ground tanks and have low HP like hovers. They can be targeted only when on ground, with other VTOLs, dedicated AA weapons or pulse guns. VTOLs also carry a limited amount of ammunition and must return to a rearming pad once it is depleted. They can be built only from a VTOL factory.

Faster than hovers and not bothered by the terrain, VTOLs can strike almost anywhere, anytime. But they don't pack that much firepower and don't stay long once anti-air defenses are set.

Some weapons cannot be mounted on VTOLs, like artillery turrets, cannons or missiles. Researching advanced mortars unlocks bombs.

VTOLs can have multiple uses, depending on how much of they you have. With a few ones, they can assist your tanks and and force your opponent to build some anti-air tanks or structures. When in mass, they can pick a few targets before your opponent can react. But you will still require a strong ground force.

VTOL movements are tricky. To prevent them from landing at the target without shooting, open the command tab and use patrol or fly in circles when moving them. They will stay in-air and will react faster when a target comes in range. Otherwise you can use Alt-click to make them target everything they see on their flight and land only once the area is clear.

Turrets

See the dedicated weapon page. There are also support turrets like construction, repair and sensors.

Statistics

Armour reduces incoming damage for each shot by its amount. The minimum amount taken is 10% of the base damage. Pulse guns and flamers ignore armour and always deal full damage.

Small bodies

Medium bodies

Large bodies

Propulsion