Jack

From Zero-K
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The Jack is a melee assault jumper from the Jumpbot Factory.

Jack (jumpassault)
Melee Assault Jumper
jumpassault.png
Stats
Cost 600
Hit Points 6000
Movement Speed (elmo/s) 54
Turn Rate (deg/s) 237
Vision Radius (elmo) 350
Transportable Medium
Abilities
Jumping
Range (elmo) 400
Reload (s) 10
Speed (elmo/s) 120
Midair jump Yes
Weapons
Spike
Damage 300
Reload Time (s) 1
Damage per Second 300
Range (elmo) 122
Instantly hits
Ignores shields
Water capable

Description

The Jack is a melee assault walker with jumpjets. A few Jacks can easily level most fortification lines. Its small range and very low speed make it very vulnerable to skirmishers.

Tactics and Strategy[edit]

The Jack is another one of multi-use units in Jumpbot Factory roster. Jacks are both tanks, damage dealers and sometimes even raiders in their own right.

The Jack can take quite a punishment, allowing them to tank in front of less sturdy units like Moderators or Firewalkers. Their large healthpool and their jump ability also allows them to cross defence lines with ease, making it easy to send several Jacks behind enemy lines to wreak havoc.

The Jack has a surprisingly strong damage, mainly coming from its fast attack rate. You always want to outrange and outrun them in a fight. The best way of dealing with them are disabling methods. Units such as Venom, Bolas or Gnat will give your army a window to dispose of Jacks.

Jacks can also be utilized in a very specific tactic using Newton turrets and their Newton Firezones command. It can allow your opponent to quickly overrun your base of operations, so keep an eye out for that.

Jack Drops[edit]

This strategy requires the Gunship Plant to be performed. Queue some Jacks and an equal number of Charons from the Gunship fac, the earlier the better, though late-game Jack drops can still be quite dangerous. Load the Jacks into the Charon and fly them to the enemy base, avoiding AA if relevant. The Charons can take the Jacks into the base of the enemy and kill a factory, intercept an exposed frontline commander and chase it down and kill it (Jacks are faster than all commanders, barring any speed morphs, so it's possible to chase them down), or target another high priority target. It may be prudent to queue a return trip for the Charons so they may be reused, or alternatively attempt to pick-up and return the Jacks to restock for another drop.

Defending against it[edit]

Unless the Charons are intercepted before they arrive with Swifts, Raptors or anti-air defences, it's likely that the Jacks will get to their target. Normal methods of dealing with Jacks (like the aforementioned Venom, Bolas, or Gnat) be used once they have landed.