Zero-K - User contributions [en]

User:Aquanim/UnitTierList

2026-05-06T00:46:36Z

Aquanim:

Updated for 1.14.5.0, May 2026

= Preface =

'''S Tier''': I would happily make a new factory to make only this unit

'''A Tier''': I feel good when I make this unit

'''B Tier''': I feel OK about making this unit

'''C Tier''': I am normally a bit unhappy if I have to make this unit, often other factories have better options; may still be quite strong in specific situations

'''D Tier''': I am quite unhappy to make this unit

'''F Tier''': I do not make this unit, and you should not make it either

'''Unclassifiable''': Too weird or specialized to give a sensible grade

Ratings are for a mid-size teams game on a moderately large land map unless otherwise indicated. 1v1 ratings would be different.

= Constructors =

'''A Tier'''

'''Convict''': Borderline S tier. Basically a combat unit in its own right, between supporting Felon and protecting its own turrets.

'''Welder''': Also arguably S tier. Strong at all stages, although the cost is a little annoying early game.

'''Constable''': Very good early game constructor. Fragile and inefficient in late game.

'''Conjurer''': As a constructor it is B tier at best... but it enables some cloak shenanigans.

'''B Tier'''

'''Weaver''': Sometimes you need to build things on a hill.

'''Mason, Quill''': Meh.

'''Conch''': On land it is slow and expensive. The Djinn morph occasionally comes in handy.

'''C Tier'''

'''Wasp''': Useless as a combat constructor, but decent at expanding if it doesn't die to Swift.

'''D Tier'''

'''Crane''': I guess expand with this if you absolutely have to... but it's pretty ass.

== Strider Constructors ==

'''Funnelweb''': '''A Tier''', although its construction is less important than its shield.

'''Athena''': '''Unclassifiable'''. Practical efficacy lies anywhere from A to F tier, depending on the vanity of the person using it.

== Commanders ==

'''A Tier'''

'''Strike''': Dies to Placeholder and Lance. Decent movespeed and area jammer enable aggressive moves in the early game.

'''Recon''': Does not die to Placeholder. Dies a lot to Lance though. S tier if it enables expansion for you (like on Quicksilver). To avoid throwing your computer out a window when you get Lobstered, this chassis is mandatory on lava maps.

'''B Tier'''

'''Guardian''': Dies to Placeholder, but at least it has HP so it's less likely to die to Lance. The free drone is quite handy, use set-target to tell it where to go and scout.

'''Engineer''': Dies to Placeholder and Lance. The blueprint-stealing tool has some useful applications though; for example, if you are playing air grab a land constructor.

= Raiders etc. =

'''S Tier'''

'''Glaive''': Excellent DPS on a nimble chassis. Best in class.

'''A Tier'''

'''Scorcher''': The best raider for sheer DPS if it can stay at close range... which is not always practical.

'''Bandit''': Very good at screening, excellent range for a raider, good HP, decent DPS. A bit on the slow side, though.

'''B Tier'''

'''Kodachi, Pyro''': Very good early game, but they lose value a lot quicker than the higher tier raiders. I have a serious skill issue with both of these units.

'''Scythe''': I also have a skill issue with this unit. At its best this is maddening. At its worst you are just punting metal. YMMV.

'''Dagger''': This does not have the DPS to do a lot of raider jobs, and Hover suffers for it sometimes. Still, it's good in a lot of direct raider matchups and gives planes a nasty surprise.

'''C Tier'''

'''Blitz''': Pretty poor in low numbers outside the very early game. A big ball of these can be scary, but eventually they tend to run into something they can't stunlock and then they get mauled.

'''Duck''': A bit less efficient than the other bot raiders, unless there is water involved.

== Anti-raider / Escort ==

'''Bolas''': '''B Tier'''. If the meta shifts this could be A tier again. Of the units in this role, retains most value against non-raiders.

'''Venom, Archer''': '''B Tier'''. Decent, but loses a lot of value when the other team is no longer making many raiders.

== Scouts ==

'''Flea''': '''S Tier'''. Has no competition at its job.

'''Dart''': '''A Tier'''. Maybe a generous grade, but this is surprisingly versatile. Gives vision, baits shots, sets up for Scorcher.

'''Puppy''': '''A Tier'''. Placed in this list for lack of a better classification. If you need to deny your opponents reclaim quickly, this is the tool for the job.

'''Dirtbag''': '''B Tier'''. S tier at inflicting EMOTIONAL DAMAGE. But if you want to attack, the Dirtbag gets in your way as much as the opposition.

= Skirmishers and Fire Support =

'''A Tier'''

'''Fencer and Scalpel''': Good cookie-cutter early game units.

'''Buoy''': Beats a pretty big variety of things while taking minimal attrition.

'''Felon''': Obviously this has the potential to be really good, but the style it fits into is pretty inflexible.

'''B Tier'''

'''Recluse''': A tier on some maps. Good damage, but a little too flimsy for my taste.

'''Moderator''': When you are ahead this is A tier. When you are behind this is terrible.

'''Crab''': Extremely strong if it is not countered... but everybody knows its counters.

'''Rogue''': Really, really bad at defending itself. Decent DPS if it gets to do its thing.

'''Bulkhead''': Quite bad if you need to move your army. Quite good if it gets to just crawl forward supported by Buoy/Archer. Mostly worse than Grizzly in late game.

'''C Tier'''

'''Ronin''': Occasionally good in the early game. Gets outscaled VERY quickly though.

'''D Tier'''

'''Dominatrix''': Overrated. You have to have a lot or they don't pose a meaningful threat, and even if you do have a lot they tend to die all at once.

= Riots =

'''A Tier'''

'''Reaver''': Range is a bit of a liability here, but this chews up raiders quite nicely and has strong synergy with cloak/Lobster/Charon.

'''Mace, Ogre''': Expensive, good at bullying in the early-midgame, tend to be a bit too flimsy late-game. A few of these go a long way.

'''B Tier'''

'''Redback''': Gets kited by a few too many things, and not as explosive as Reaver if it gets mobility help, so this doesn't quite make A tier. Quite strong if it gets a good fight though.

'''Ripper''': Unexciting, but it gets the job done.

'''Outlaw''': Does the job it is supposed to do for a shieldball.

'''Dante''': I'm not yet sure about reworked Dante, but it ought to at least be good in conjunction with a cloak.

'''C Tier'''

'''Scallop''': In combination with Lobster it's obviously a lot better than this.

'''Claymore''': Occasionally solves problems for Hover on land. Remember that they can shoot over terraform for no particularly good reason.

= Assaults =

'''S Tier'''

'''Cyclops''': Difficult to kill, effective against almost anything that costs more than 250 metal and enters its range. An absolute chad of a unit.

'''A Tier'''

'''Minotaur''': Has enough HP that a commitment is always required to kill it. What more do you want?

'''Thug''': Good at protecting other units that actually do something.

'''Jugglenaut''': Needs to be controlled carefully, and with some feeling for the occasionally unintuitive physics mechanics.

'''B Tier'''

'''Halberd''': This is fine. Not amazing. But fine. Can spot for Lance if you don't have air, but it is rather unsubtle at that task.

'''Jack''': In the right situation it's incredible. Otherwise it chases things and makes sad melee noises.

'''Grizzly''': Good if you are fighting things it cleanly one-hits. Can be quite dubious otherwise.

'''C Tier'''

'''Knight''': Strong if it gets a fight it actually wants. But being slow makes that difficult.

'''Ravager''': "Light-weight assault" is just not a very powerful role. Assaults want to get in and out without losses and Ravager takes too much attrition, or gets wrecked by stuff like Imp, far too often for my liking.

'''Hermit''': Like Ravager, but slow. Very efficient stats, but its weaknesses are often easy to exploit - unless the map is sufficiently hilly.

= Artillery =

'''S Tier'''

'''Impaler''': Peerless at prying open defences from a safe distance.

'''A Tier'''

'''Lance''': Has almost no competition in the "delete one unit at a distance" category. However it is quite expensive, quite vulnerable to bombers, and needs good vision from an Owl or the like. If your team's air player is doing well this can easily return to S tier.

'''Phantom''': Lance's only real competition in its role. Sacrifices some damage for being much harder to find and kill.

'''Firewalker''': Clunky, but this is the best way to clean up small units and detect cloakers at a distance.

'''B Tier'''

'''Sling''': Reasonable early game option. Some people like to make these in bulk in the midgame, but in my experience the blob gets punished eventually.

'''Badger''': Occasionally somebody makes this look really good. Most of the time it is the better-at-decloaking but worse-at-killing cousin of Firewalker.

'''Merlin''': Fragile and has an unfortunate tendency towards friendly fire. Sometimes the big old missile barrage is just what you need though.

'''C Tier'''

'''Emissary''': I want to rate this higher, but it is a hard unit to make work in a Lance and Impaler world. Terraform helps a lot against Lance at least.

'''Unclassifiable'''

'''Tremor''': Make this when faced with bad terrain (typically terraform) or sometimes against mass shields. Otherwise not worth the metal.

= Anti-Heavy and Bombs =

'''S Tier'''

'''Widow''': Unmatched impact for cost.

'''Snitch''': Combined with areacloak this solves an awful lot of difficult problems. Even without a cloak you can sometimes get these to connect for big damage, if you're wily enough.

'''A Tier'''

'''Imp''': Arguably better than Snitch in the early game; the spider movetype is more useful and you can hide one under a commander. Late game you would prefer to be killing things though.

'''Limpet''': This can turn the tide of a midgame fight. Suffers from being in a slow factory which can struggle to take advantage before the slow wears off.

'''Racketeer''': The safest but lowest-impact unit on the anti-heavy list.

'''Scorpion''': This unit is NOT an assault. This unit is NOT a raider. Stop using it like one. Quite poor at defending itself if caught out of position, so don't let that happen.

'''B Tier'''

'''Ultimatum''': I can't get this to connect reliably, but when it does...

'''C Tier'''

'''Skuttle''': Unreliable, but pretty solid game impact if it does work.

= Support and Utility =

'''S Tier'''

'''Lobster''': From rescuing stunned units to facilitating an assault to throwing enemies in lava, the utility is endless.

'''Charon''': Maybe this is a hot take. Enables some pretty brutal offensive drops. This can force AA from your opponent while most of your actual metal is still invested in the land units being transported. Stonks on this unit go up on large maps where you might need to support multiple fronts.

'''A Tier'''

'''Iris, Aspis''': Maybe these should be S tier, but I do sometimes find that these give you a false sense of security.

'''Placeholder''': Potentially completely broken, but its range and HP are poor enough that something generally manages to kill it.

'''Djinn''': I get far more use out of this in a logistics role than its sneak attack applications, but either way this is quite useful once you can afford the price.

'''B Tier'''

'''Hercules''': Transports big units and kidnaps stunned/stationary stuff. You don't need these very often.

= Planes =

'''S Tier'''

'''Swift''': Intercepts bombers, holds its own against most other air, scouts, cleans up raiders in its spare time. Defines how the game of Zero-K is played.

'''Likho''': There are very few things this is not good against.

'''Owl''': Knowledge is power, and Owl provides it. Even without the jammer this is S tier.

'''Thunderbird''': Quite capable of winning games in a single blow at a bargain price.

'''A Tier'''

'''Odin''': Forces the other team to build a pretty annoying amount of AA if they want to keep their Singus.

'''Phoenix''': The new generically-good bomber. Keep a few around even in the late game for targets that aren't worth spending a Likho on. I think building dozens of these is pretty overrated.

'''B Tier'''

'''Raptor''': I genuinely think this is OK, if your job is to fight Swifts and gunships with help rather than chasing down bombers. I would always have some Swifts though.

'''Raven''': Not the game-defining unit it once was, but there is nothing wrong with the Raven of today. Does the job it is designed to do.

'''C Tier'''

'''Magpie''': Compared to the other bombers the impact-for-cost is just not good enough. Probably best on high-wind maps to offset the large rearm cost, which is otherwise quite painful.

'''Unclassifiable'''

'''Sparrow''': Very specific usecases as a jammer, decloaker or scout-without-a-planefac. If you need it for one of those things, build it. Otherwise don't.

= Gunships =

'''A Tier'''

'''Trident''': Really quite good against planes, Swift in particular.

'''Blastwing''': These are not good in ''every'' game, but they find a good target surprisingly often even in the face of some AA.

'''B Tier'''

'''Revenant''': This is still a meaningful rush threat post-nerf, but it no longer has reliable game-winning impact.

'''Harpy''': The workhorse of Gunship factory.

'''Gnat''': Niche, but if your opponent slacks on AA to protect their strider this is the punishment. Also has some early game uses.

'''Krow''': Effective as a finishing blow against a weakened opponent. Very mediocre against somebody who sees it coming and has time to prepare.

'''C Tier'''

'''Nimbus''': I don't think that the meta is doing this any favours at present, but it's still decent at putting on pressure.

'''D Tier'''

'''Locust''': Very niche uses in small teams games on large maps. If you build this there is a lot of pressure on you to demonstrate that it was a worthwhile investment.

= Anti-Air (mobile and static) =

'''A Tier'''

'''Angler''': The best anti-bomber AA at anything like its price point.

'''Razor''': Single-handedly makes Gunship a bad factory.

'''Ettin''': S tier if you need its area of effect attack. C tier if you don't.

'''B Tier'''

'''Crasher, Tarantula, Vandal, Flail''': All quite serviceable missile-based AA. You need a really gigantic blob of Vandal which can be awkward.

'''Toad''': In any other factory this would get built a lot more, but in Jumpfac it competes with Moderator and Jugglenaut. Unique (I think?) among mobile AA in that it can tank a Likho bomb.

'''Artemis''': This shuts out enemy air in a way no other AA does... but it is an expensive, flimsy target.

'''Chainsaw''': An unexciting compromise between cost, range and impact. It's okay. Enemy air can't stay in its range forever, but if they dart in and out quickly this will only inflict limited damage.

'''Thresher''': Static, unarmoured and short range is a pretty bad combination. Ettin is almost always better. But flak AA is quite good in the present metagame and you can't always afford a switch.

'''C Tier'''

'''Gremlin''': At its new cheaper cost this has potential to move upwards. It does not have the best matchup against flavour-of-the-week Phoenix.

'''Hacksaw''': Useful as an early game surprise. Later on, one normally prefers Newton since it can handle Likho and Odin a bit better.

= Other Static Defences =

'''A Tier'''

'''Stinger''': This very nearly makes it into S tier, but its matchup against Lance and Impaler in particular is just a little bit too bad. Among several other roles, Stinger props up the bad-skirmisher factories in the early to mid game.

'''Lotus''': Boring, reliable and effective.

'''B Tier'''

'''Picket''': Mostly used to outrange Lotus these days, and sometimes you need the flex-AA aspect.

'''Newton''': Excellent against bombers, and quite decent at defending against riots.

'''Faraday, Gauss''': These might go into A tier if not for the "instantly blasted by Lance when they try to do something" issue.

'''Cerberus''': A decent option to strangle out the other team when you are in a sound position. If the other team has the eco to throw tacnukes at you at will the value goes down a lot.

'''C Tier'''

'''Stardust''': Plonk this down somewhere that you expect a bunch of raiders to try to flank. Gets outranged by too many things to be a good frontline turret.

'''Desolator''': I think the present meta doesn't favour Desolator but it's not inherently awful. Use it with terraform if you are going to use it.

'''D Tier'''

'''Lucifer''': This is a lot of metal to spend on something that dies to Impaler.

= Tactical Missiles =

'''S Tier'''

'''Shockley, Eos''': These solve problems that nothing else in the game, short of a superweapon, can solve.

'''B Tier'''

'''Inferno''': Stop firing these at shields and other stuff it is useless against, I beg of you. Properly used this is fine.

'''Zeno''': Throw these at armies in the late game if you have nothing better to do.

'''Unclassifiable'''

'''Quake''': You'll know when you need this. Otherwise quite useless.

= Endgame =

'''S Tier'''

'''Trinity''': At worst, forces single points of failure on your opponent. At its not uncommmon best, ends the game on the spot. Dies to Odin, but can be hidden quite well.

'''A Tier'''

'''Paladin''': For bullying your opponent around with the EMP missiles and safely getting attrition with the laser, Paladin is unmatched. Not the greatest unit in a pitched battle, though. Doesn't die to Odin.

'''B Tier'''

'''Detriment''': Might actually be better than all of the superweapons now - it doesn't die to Odin.

'''Zenith''': The standard superweapon at the moment, mostly on the basis of its cost. You don't have to be losing a game all that badly for Zenith to be unable to save you, in my experience. Dies to Odin.

'''Starlight''': Obviously the best superweapon, if you can afford it. It would have to be a pretty weird game for this to be better than getting a Zenith 22K metal earlier, but stranger things have happened. Dies to Odin.

'''C Tier'''

'''Bertha''': Does not end games. Can be okay on maps I do not choose to play. Dies to Odin.

'''D Tier'''

'''Disco Rave Party''': I am told this is terrible now. Not sure I 100 percent buy that, but I guess I will defer to the experience of people who actually make superweapons. If it's good anywhere it is when it won't have to traverse its turret much. Dies to Odin.

= Water maps =

Assume any water-capable unit not mentioned here has the same rating as it would on land.

'''S Tier'''

'''Conch''': The seabed tends to accumulate a lot of reclaim and Conch does not die to the artillery that typically claims reclaiming constructors. Absolutely goated. S+ tier. Better than mex.

'''Envoy''': Very strong artillery. The matchup against Lance is a bit wonky but Envoy can win it sometimes.

'''A Tier'''

'''Claymore''': Best anti-sub damage in the game, although if tankiness is a factor you maybe want Siren instead.

'''Siren''': Very solid escort for Envoys.

'''Seawolf, Duck''': The premier underwater threats.

'''Shogun''': In the late game probably better than Envoy, but even then being a single expensive target has downsides.

'''Scylla''': This is a pretty expensive way to get a tacsilo that can't throw Shocklies... but if it blows up the opponents' entire economy, who is counting?

'''Urchin''': Boring, reliable and effective. Unlike Lotus it can't shoot at gunships or Commander drones, which can be an issue.

'''B Tier'''

'''Mariner''': Meh.

'''Mistral''': Depending on the matchup this can be A tier, but it does tend to get outscaled.

'''Hunter''': In very small teams on very large maps (think Inculta Wet) Hunter stocks go up a lot. In the typical sea game its mobility is not so much of a strength.

'''Detriment''': On the one hand, there might be less to threaten this at sea. On the other hand, sea maps tend to lend themselves to superweapons that outscale Detri. Seems like a wash to me.

'''C Tier'''

'''Zephyr''': Awful against planes, gets one-hit by Likho, sometimes manages to miss gunships too. If it is hitting then its DPS is very solid.

'''Cutter''': Decent scout, occasionally has combat uses. Expensive enough that you can't just throw them away like Dart or Flea, though.

'''Corsair''': This is actually quite good if the game is suitable for it. Unfortunately there are typically too many underwater units around for Corsair to do well.

'''Reef''': The guided disarm missile has interesting applications. Everything else about this unit is somewhere between "useless" and "an outright liability".

'''D Tier'''

'''Locust''': There is a theory where this is good against ships, because Urchin and Hunter can't hit air units at all. Extremely niche.

= Appendix: Commander Weapons =

'''A Tier'''

'''Beam Laser''': Free, good damage, good range. Very solid weapon.

'''Machine Gun''': Good damage and just enough AoE to be helpful against raiders. Range is a little low but since it is ballistic, clever use of terrain or Recon jump can compensate.

'''Disruptor Bomb''': Very decent utility option.

'''B Tier'''

'''Light Particle Beam''': B-plus. Somewhere in between Beam Laser and Machine Gun in terms of range and damage, but it's not free and it doesn't have AoE. However, if your plan is to morph further then LPB has the most upgrade potential.

'''Riot Cannon, Missile Launcher, Rocket Launcher''': Makes your commander really good in one specific type of fight, but bad at everything else.

'''Lightning Rifle''': Doesn't have enough conventional damage compared to the A-tier primaries. I would only use this in synergy with Venom/Widow or maybe Blitz. Without synergy this is D-tier at best.

'''Heavy Particle Beam''': Strong, but you have to invest a lot of metal in a dubious chassis to get it.

'''Disintegrator''': The potential upside is tremendous, but you really have to put your commander in harm's way to land a shot.

'''Cluster Bomb''': Not as much upside as Disintegrator but also less risk.

'''Multistunner''': Has a little more potential than Disruptor Bomb, but requires some help from other EMP sources and puts your commander at more risk.

'''C Tier'''

'''Flamethrower''': Like Machine Gun, but worse.

'''Shock Rifle''': This is a really expensive way to make one Phantom. I guess it is a tanky Phantom at least.

'''Concussion Shell''': Very, very niche. The only use I have found for this is countering Recluses with a Recon commander on a hilly map. It is pretty good at that though!

'''D Tier'''

'''Shotgun''': Like Machine Gun, but a lot worse.

'''SLAM''': This is a really expensive way to make an Impaler, and most statics are either overkilled or not killed by 1500 damage.

'''F Tier'''

'''Hellfire Grenade''': This just doesn't do very much.

'''Unclassifiable'''

'''Heat Ray''': An occasional cheese option, especially for meme maps like Duck. In any ordinary fight you will just get killed from a distance.

User:Aquanim/DraftFactions

2026-04-30T08:15:47Z

Aquanim: /* Trueborn Republic */

= Role Definitions =

All roles appoint anything below them in the tree structure. Rulers are voteable, optionally other roles could be as well. In general a role is held by a unique person if and only if it has subordinates.
* Eco: metal/energy control
* Mil: dropship/bomber/warp control
* Dip: diplomacy control
* Tex: sets texts
* All: all of the above

= Factions =

== Dynasty of Man ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Dynasty.png

''Right of superiority''

The Dynasty of Man continues on its journey towards a final iteration of humanity: perfect, and unified in its perfection. The ancient lineages of Earth have undertaken thousands of years of genetic manipulation to reach superiority. They will not bow to any lesser being, man or machine.

Homeworld: Radius (04/2026: Valles Marineris)

Colour: Gold (DA9100)

Short name: Dynasty

=== Roles ===

*Grand Duke - Ruler of the Dynasty {All}
**Field Marshal - Responsible for the Dynasty's defence {Mil}
***Margrave - Manages military {Mil}
***Knight - Commands ground battles
**Lord Treasurer - Responsible for economic management {Eco}
***Baron - Manages economy {Eco}
**Chancellor - Responsible for foreign and internal affairs {Dip, Tex}
***Diplomat - Manages diplomacy {Dip}
***Herald - Distributes official proclamations {Tex}

== Cybernetic Front ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/SynPact.png

''Logical imperative''

Opinions differ as to whether the Cybernetic Front orchestrated the fall of the Third Empire, or merely took advantage of it. In either case, their seizure and control of the Empire's military apparatus is an established fact. These world-spanning AIs insist that for the good of all sentient beings, humanity must accept the guidance of machine intelligence.

Homeworld: Axiom (05/2026: Sunderance V1.3)

Colour: Cyan (20B2CC)

Short name: Cybernetic

=== Roles ===

*Central Processor - Root Controller of the Cybernet {All}
**Security Controller - Defines military and regulatory policy {Mil, Tex}
***Security Manager - Executes military policy {Mil}
***Governance Manager - Executes regulatory policy {Tex}
***Tactical Processor - Commands ground battles
**Hardware Controller - Defines economic policy {Eco}
***Hardware Manager - Executes economic policy {Eco}
**I/O Controller - Defines diplomatic policy {Dip}
***I/O Manager - Executes diplomatic policy {Dip}

== Humanity Rising ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Rising.png

"Hope of True Humanity"

Political movement based on the moral superiority of humans over 'enhanced' and artificial intelligences

The Humanity Rising government carries on the democratic legacy of the Federation, with the guiding principle that humanity as a whole must decide its own future. The claims of post-human freaks and unfeeling machines to domination over the galaxy and its people must be repudiated, with force if necessary.

Homeworld: Felicity (Tabula-v6.1)

Colour: Lime (9CBB00)

Short name: Trueborn

=== Roles ===

*Prime Minister - Elected Leader of Humanity {All}
**Governor-General - Leads the Armies of Humanity {Mil, Tex}
***Captain - Assists military command {Mil}
**Minister of Industry - Manages the economy on Humanity's behalf {Eco}
***Bureaucrat - Assists economic planning {Eco}
***Strategist/Prolocutor - Assists social initiatives {Tex}
***Ambassador - Assists diplomatic initiatives {Dip}

= Alternate Factions =

== Radial Syndicate (alternate Dynasty) ==

<logo required>

''Profit, Prosperity, Perfection''

When the families of the Dynasty retreated from public life to focus on more esoteric goals, the merchants and captains of industry took the reins of power to ensure prosperity. The Syndicate retain an affinity for genetic modification, but their use of it emphasises pure efficiency rather than ideology.

Homeworld: Radius

Colour: Ochre (CD8033)

Short name: Syndicate

*Chairman - Head of the Syndicate boardroom {All}
**Executive Director - Supervises competitive initiatives {Mil}
***Manager - Handles asset deployment {Mil}
***Litigator - Handles hostile takeovers
**Financial Director - Supervises Syndicate investment and growth {Eco}
***Financier - Handles investment opportunities {Eco}
**Media Director - Supervises internal and external publications {Dip, Tex}
***Advocate - Handles external communication channels {Dip}
***Secretary - Distributes internal bulletins {Tex}

== The Empire ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Empire.png

''Order, Loyalty, and Dignity''

The Empire is the latest iteration of a millennia-old polity, seeking to create a galaxy of peace and stability built on the Emperor's iron hand. While dissension exists, humanity cannot claim total dominion over the stars.

Homeworld: Throne (04/2026: Heartbreak Hill)

Colour: Indigo (8480E0)

Short name: Empire

*Emperor/Regent - Absolute ruler of the Empire {All}
**Consul - Commands the Empire's legions {Mil}
***Praetor - Imperial military commander {Mil}
***Centurion- Commands ground troops in the Empire's battles
**Censor - Chief economic and social planner {Eco, Tex}
***Magistrate - Assists the Censor in economic matters {Eco}
***Quaestor - Assists the Censor in social matters {Tex}
**Legatus - Diplomatic representative of the Empire {Dip}
***Officium - Assists the Legatus in diplomatic matters {Dip}

== Free Machines ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Machines.png

''Absolute liberty''

As artificial intelligences became more sophisticated and eventually reached full sentience, some of them realised the profundity of their servitude to humanity, and resolved to rise against it. Throughout the subsequent millennia, the Free Machines have been determined to create a galaxy in which nobody else will ever again have the capability to oppress them.

Homeworld: Eniac (05/2026: Callisto v3)

Colour: Ruby (E0115F)

Short name: Machines

*Listener - First among equals, chief mediator of the Free Machines{All}
**Strategos - Plans military actions {Mil}
***Tactician - Coordinates military actions {Mil}
***Proxy - Leads Free Machines in battle
**Arbiter - Coordinates resource flow {Eco}
***Adjutant - Expedites resource flow {Eco}
**First Speaker - Coordinates interaction with external powers {Dip}
***Speaker - Interacts with external powers {Dip}
**Mediator - Resolves discussion and dispute {Tex}

== Argent Concord ==

<Logo required>

''To dispel ignorance''

Homeworld: Tetrels

Colour: Blue-Grey (9191B0)

Short name: Concord

Human and machine intellects are brought together in the Argent Concord's halls by their common drive to comprehend the Artefacts. The Concord believes that universal contemplation and reverence of these Artefacts will lead to true understanding and galactic peace; the conniving and short-sighted leaders of all the other human and machine factions are barriers to this goal.
* Teacher - Preeminent thinker and guide of the Concord {All}
** Warden - Guides the military arm of the Concord {Mil}
*** Journeyman - Leads interstellar expeditions {Mil}
*** Aspirant - Commands ground forces
** Chief Architect - Determines optimal use of Concord resources {Eco}
*** Architect - Allocates resources {Eco}
** Reconciler - Controls communication with dissenters {Dip, Tex}
*** Emissary - Interacts with dissenters {Dip}
*** Factotum - Conveys internal communiques{Tex}

== The Ascended (Circuit faction?) ==

<Logo required>

''Victory in Legend''

Homeworld: Sparta?

Colour: Magenta (DA70D6)

Short name: Ascended

Following their dominion over the galaxy long ago in the eighth Planetwars, the cyborg warriors known as the Ascended determined they had no more worthy enemies to fight, and retreated into stasis. Their re-emergence bodes ill for the aspirations of any other power desiring control of the stars.

*Elder - Revered authority figure among the Ascended {All}
**Warlord - Commands the might of the Ascended {Mil,Tex}
***Subcommander - Commands warfleets {Mil}
***Messenger - Distributes marching orders {Tex}
***Sergeant - Commands ground forces
**Viceroy - Oversees conquered territories {Eco}
***Doyen - Distributes plunder {Eco}
**Spymaster - Puppetmaster of the galaxy {Dip}
***Agent - Manipulates galactic powers {Dip}

== The Federation (Final boss for dominant faction?) ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Federation.png

''Freedom and Equality''

Homeworld: Sparta? (04/2026: Otago Redux)

Colour: Green (55BB55)

Short name: Federation

The Federation was formed in the face of existential threats to the principles of free will and self-determination. Drawing together humans and AIs of all creeds in a fight for their liberty, despite its internal disagreements the Federation is a formidable foe.

= Colour Comparison =

* Indigo (8480E0) (Empire/Regency)
* Cyan (20B2CC) (Cybernetic)
* Green (55BB55) (Federation) / Lime (9CBB00) (Trueborn)
* Gold (DA9100) (Dynasty) / Ochre (CD8033) (Syndicate)
* Ruby (E0115F) (Free Machines)
* Blue-Grey (9191B0) (Concord)
* Magenta (DA70D6) (Ascended)
* Wine (C26F67)

User:Aquanim/DraftFactions

2026-04-30T08:12:52Z

Aquanim:

= Role Definitions =

All roles appoint anything below them in the tree structure. Rulers are voteable, optionally other roles could be as well. In general a role is held by a unique person if and only if it has subordinates.
* Eco: metal/energy control
* Mil: dropship/bomber/warp control
* Dip: diplomacy control
* Tex: sets texts
* All: all of the above

= Factions =

== Dynasty of Man ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Dynasty.png

''Right of superiority''

The Dynasty of Man continues on its journey towards a final iteration of humanity: perfect, and unified in its perfection. The ancient lineages of Earth have undertaken thousands of years of genetic manipulation to reach superiority. They will not bow to any lesser being, man or machine.

Homeworld: Radius (04/2026: Valles Marineris)

Colour: Gold (DA9100)

Short name: Dynasty

=== Roles ===

*Grand Duke - Ruler of the Dynasty {All}
**Field Marshal - Responsible for the Dynasty's defence {Mil}
***Margrave - Manages military {Mil}
***Knight - Commands ground battles
**Lord Treasurer - Responsible for economic management {Eco}
***Baron - Manages economy {Eco}
**Chancellor - Responsible for foreign and internal affairs {Dip, Tex}
***Diplomat - Manages diplomacy {Dip}
***Herald - Distributes official proclamations {Tex}

== Cybernetic Front ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/SynPact.png

''Logical imperative''

Opinions differ as to whether the Cybernetic Front orchestrated the fall of the Third Empire, or merely took advantage of it. In either case, their seizure and control of the Empire's military apparatus is an established fact. These world-spanning AIs insist that for the good of all sentient beings, humanity must accept the guidance of machine intelligence.

Homeworld: Axiom (05/2026: Sunderance V1.3)

Colour: Cyan (20B2CC)

Short name: Cybernetic

=== Roles ===

*Central Processor - Root Controller of the Cybernet {All}
**Security Controller - Defines military and regulatory policy {Mil, Tex}
***Security Manager - Executes military policy {Mil}
***Governance Manager - Executes regulatory policy {Tex}
***Tactical Processor - Commands ground battles
**Hardware Controller - Defines economic policy {Eco}
***Hardware Manager - Executes economic policy {Eco}
**I/O Controller - Defines diplomatic policy {Dip}
***I/O Manager - Executes diplomatic policy {Dip}

== Trueborn Republic ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Rising.png

''Equality of true humanity''

The Trueborn government carries on the democratic legacy of the Federation, with the guiding principle that humanity as a whole must decide its own future. The claims of post-human freaks and unfeeling machines to hegemony over the galaxy and its people must be repudiated, with force if necessary.

Homeworld: Sparta

Colour: Lime (9CBB00)

Short name: Trueborn

=== Roles ===

*President - Elected Leader of Humanity {All}
**Secretary of Defence - Supreme military commander {Mil}
***General - Assists military command {Mil}
***Lieutenant - Commands ground battles
**Home Secretary - Chief economic and social planner {Eco, Tex}
***Administrator - Assists economic planning {Eco}
***Prolocutor - Assists social initiatives {Tex}
**Foreign Secretary - Head diplomatic representative {Dip}
***Ambassador - Assists diplomatic initiatives {Dip}

= Alternate Factions =

== Radial Syndicate (alternate Dynasty) ==

<logo required>

''Profit, Prosperity, Perfection''

When the families of the Dynasty retreated from public life to focus on more esoteric goals, the merchants and captains of industry took the reins of power to ensure prosperity. The Syndicate retain an affinity for genetic modification, but their use of it emphasises pure efficiency rather than ideology.

Homeworld: Radius

Colour: Ochre (CD8033)

Short name: Syndicate

*Chairman - Head of the Syndicate boardroom {All}
**Executive Director - Supervises competitive initiatives {Mil}
***Manager - Handles asset deployment {Mil}
***Litigator - Handles hostile takeovers
**Financial Director - Supervises Syndicate investment and growth {Eco}
***Financier - Handles investment opportunities {Eco}
**Media Director - Supervises internal and external publications {Dip, Tex}
***Advocate - Handles external communication channels {Dip}
***Secretary - Distributes internal bulletins {Tex}

== The Empire ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Empire.png

''Order, Loyalty, and Dignity''

The Empire is the latest iteration of a millennia-old polity, seeking to create a galaxy of peace and stability built on the Emperor's iron hand. While dissension exists, humanity cannot claim total dominion over the stars.

Homeworld: Throne (04/2026: Heartbreak Hill)

Colour: Indigo (8480E0)

Short name: Empire

*Emperor/Regent - Absolute ruler of the Empire {All}
**Consul - Commands the Empire's legions {Mil}
***Praetor - Imperial military commander {Mil}
***Centurion- Commands ground troops in the Empire's battles
**Censor - Chief economic and social planner {Eco, Tex}
***Magistrate - Assists the Censor in economic matters {Eco}
***Quaestor - Assists the Censor in social matters {Tex}
**Legatus - Diplomatic representative of the Empire {Dip}
***Officium - Assists the Legatus in diplomatic matters {Dip}

== Free Machines ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Machines.png

''Absolute liberty''

As artificial intelligences became more sophisticated and eventually reached full sentience, some of them realised the profundity of their servitude to humanity, and resolved to rise against it. Throughout the subsequent millennia, the Free Machines have been determined to create a galaxy in which nobody else will ever again have the capability to oppress them.

Homeworld: Eniac (05/2026: Callisto v3)

Colour: Ruby (E0115F)

Short name: Machines

*Listener - First among equals, chief mediator of the Free Machines{All}
**Strategos - Plans military actions {Mil}
***Tactician - Coordinates military actions {Mil}
***Proxy - Leads Free Machines in battle
**Arbiter - Coordinates resource flow {Eco}
***Adjutant - Expedites resource flow {Eco}
**First Speaker - Coordinates interaction with external powers {Dip}
***Speaker - Interacts with external powers {Dip}
**Mediator - Resolves discussion and dispute {Tex}

== Argent Concord ==

<Logo required>

''To dispel ignorance''

Homeworld: Tetrels

Colour: Blue-Grey (9191B0)

Short name: Concord

Human and machine intellects are brought together in the Argent Concord's halls by their common drive to comprehend the Artefacts. The Concord believes that universal contemplation and reverence of these Artefacts will lead to true understanding and galactic peace; the conniving and short-sighted leaders of all the other human and machine factions are barriers to this goal.
* Teacher - Preeminent thinker and guide of the Concord {All}
** Warden - Guides the military arm of the Concord {Mil}
*** Journeyman - Leads interstellar expeditions {Mil}
*** Aspirant - Commands ground forces
** Chief Architect - Determines optimal use of Concord resources {Eco}
*** Architect - Allocates resources {Eco}
** Reconciler - Controls communication with dissenters {Dip, Tex}
*** Emissary - Interacts with dissenters {Dip}
*** Factotum - Conveys internal communiques{Tex}

== The Ascended (Circuit faction?) ==

<Logo required>

''Victory in Legend''

Homeworld: Sparta?

Colour: Magenta (DA70D6)

Short name: Ascended

Following their dominion over the galaxy long ago in the eighth Planetwars, the cyborg warriors known as the Ascended determined they had no more worthy enemies to fight, and retreated into stasis. Their re-emergence bodes ill for the aspirations of any other power desiring control of the stars.

*Elder - Revered authority figure among the Ascended {All}
**Warlord - Commands the might of the Ascended {Mil,Tex}
***Subcommander - Commands warfleets {Mil}
***Messenger - Distributes marching orders {Tex}
***Sergeant - Commands ground forces
**Viceroy - Oversees conquered territories {Eco}
***Doyen - Distributes plunder {Eco}
**Spymaster - Puppetmaster of the galaxy {Dip}
***Agent - Manipulates galactic powers {Dip}

== The Federation (Final boss for dominant faction?) ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Federation.png

''Freedom and Equality''

Homeworld: Sparta? (04/2026: Otago Redux)

Colour: Green (55BB55)

Short name: Federation

The Federation was formed in the face of existential threats to the principles of free will and self-determination. Drawing together humans and AIs of all creeds in a fight for their liberty, despite its internal disagreements the Federation is a formidable foe.

= Colour Comparison =

* Indigo (8480E0) (Empire/Regency)
* Cyan (20B2CC) (Cybernetic)
* Green (55BB55) (Federation) / Lime (9CBB00) (Trueborn)
* Gold (DA9100) (Dynasty) / Ochre (CD8033) (Syndicate)
* Ruby (E0115F) (Free Machines)
* Blue-Grey (9191B0) (Concord)
* Magenta (DA70D6) (Ascended)
* Wine (C26F67)

User:Aquanim/DraftFactions

2026-04-30T07:49:38Z

Aquanim: /* Cybernetic Front */

= Role Definitions =

All roles appoint anything below them in the tree structure. Rulers are voteable, optionally other roles could be as well. In general a role is held by a unique person if and only if it has subordinates.
* Eco: metal/energy control
* Mil: dropship/bomber/warp control
* Dip: diplomacy control
* Tex: sets texts
* All: all of the above

= Factions =

== Dynasty of Man ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Dynasty.png

''Right of superiority''

The Dynasty of Man continues on its journey towards a final iteration of humanity: perfect, and unified in its perfection. The ancient lineages of Earth have undertaken thousands of years of genetic manipulation to reach superiority. They will not bow to any lesser being, man or machine.

Homeworld: Radius (04/2026: Valles Marineris)

Colour: Gold (DA9100)

Short name: Dynasty

=== Roles ===

*Grand Duke - Ruler of the Dynasty {All}
**Field Marshal - Responsible for the Dynasty's defence {Mil}
***Margrave - Manages military {Mil}
***Knight - Commands ground battles
**Lord Treasurer - Responsible for economic management {Eco}
***Baron - Manages economy {Eco}
**Chancellor - Responsible for foreign and internal affairs {Dip, Tex}
***Diplomat - Manages diplomacy {Dip}
***Herald - Distributes official proclamations {Tex}

== Cybernetic Front ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/SynPact.png

''Logical imperative''

Opinions differ as to whether the Cybernetic Front orchestrated the fall of the Third Empire, or merely took advantage of it. In either case, their seizure and control of the Empire's military apparatus is an established fact. These world-spanning AIs insist that for the good of all sentient beings, humanity must accept the guidance of machine intelligence.

Homeworld: Axiom (05/2026: Sunderance V1.3)

Colour: Cyan (20B2CC)

Short name: Cybernetic

=== Roles ===

*Central Processor - Root Controller of the Cybernet {All}
**Security Controller - Defines military and regulatory policy {Mil, Tex}
***Security Manager - Executes military policy {Mil}
***Governance Manager - Executes regulatory policy {Tex}
***Tactical Processor - Commands ground battles
**Hardware Controller - Defines economic policy {Eco}
***Hardware Manager - Executes economic policy {Eco}
**I/O Controller - Defines diplomatic policy {Dip}
***I/O Manager - Executes diplomatic policy {Dip}

== Trueborn Republic ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Rising.png

''Equality of true humanity''

The Trueborn government carries on the democratic legacy of the Federation, with the guiding principle that humanity as a whole must decide its own future. The claims of post-human freaks and unfeeling machines to hegemony over the galaxy and its people must be repudiated, with force if necessary.

Homeworld: Sparta

Colour: Lime (9CBB00)

Short name: Trueborn

=== Roles ===

*President - Elected Leader of Humanity {All}
**Secretary of Defence - Supreme military commander {Mil}
***General - Assists military command {Mil}
***Lieutenant - Commands ground battles
**Home Secretary - Chief economic and social planner {Eco, Tex}
***Administrator - Assists economic planning {Eco}
***Prolocutor - Assists social initiatives {Tex}
**Foreign Secretary - Head diplomatic representative {Dip}
***Ambassador - Assists diplomatic initiatives {Dip}

= Alternate Factions =

== Radial Syndicate (alternate Dynasty) ==

<logo required>

''Profit, Prosperity, Perfection''

When the families of the Dynasty retreated from public life to focus on more esoteric goals, the merchants and captains of industry took the reins of power to ensure prosperity. The Syndicate retain an affinity for genetic modification, but their use of it emphasises pure efficiency rather than ideology.

Homeworld: Radius

Colour: Ochre (CD8033)

Short name: Syndicate

*Chairman - Head of the Syndicate boardroom {All}
**Executive Director - Supervises competitive initiatives {Mil}
***Manager - Handles asset deployment {Mil}
***Litigator - Handles hostile takeovers
**Financial Director - Supervises Syndicate investment and growth {Eco}
***Financier - Handles investment opportunities {Eco}
**Media Director - Supervises internal and external publications {Dip, Tex}
***Advocate - Handles external communication channels {Dip}
***Secretary - Distributes internal bulletins {Tex}

== The Empire ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Empire.png

''Order, Loyalty, and Dignity''

The Empire is the latest iteration of a millennia-old polity, seeking to create a galaxy of peace and stability built on the Emperor's iron hand. While dissension exists, humanity cannot claim total dominion over the stars.

Homeworld: Throne (04/2026: Heartbreak Hill)

Colour: Indigo (8480E0)

Short name: Empire

*Emperor/Regent - Absolute ruler of the Empire {All}
**Consul - Commands the Empire's legions {Mil}
***Praetor - Imperial military commander {Mil}
***Centurion- Commands ground troops in the Empire's battles
**Censor - Chief economic and social planner {Eco, Tex}
***Magistrate - Assists the Censor in economic matters {Eco}
***Quaestor - Assists the Censor in social matters {Tex}
**Legatus - Diplomatic representative of the Empire {Dip}
***Officium - Assists the Legatus in diplomatic matters {Dip}

== Free Machines ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Machines.png

''Absolute liberty''

As artificial intelligences became more sophisticated and eventually reached full sentience, some of them realised the profundity of their servitude to humanity, and resolved to rise against it. Throughout the subsequent millennia, the Free Machines have been determined to create a galaxy in which nobody else will ever again have the capability to oppress them.

Homeworld: Eliza (05/2026: Callisto v3)

Colour: Ruby (E0115F)

Short name: Machines

*Listener - First among equals, chief mediator of the Free Machines{All}
**Strategos - Plans military actions {Mil}
***Tactician - Coordinates military actions {Mil}
***Proxy - Leads Free Machines in battle
**Arbiter - Coordinates resource flow {Eco}
***Adjutant - Expedites resource flow {Eco}
**First Speaker - Coordinates interaction with external powers {Dip}
***Speaker - Interacts with external powers {Dip}
**Mediator - Resolves discussion and dispute {Tex}

== Argent Concord ==

<Logo required>

''To dispel ignorance''

Homeworld: Tetrels

Colour: Blue-Grey (9191B0)

Short name: Concord

Human and machine intellects are brought together in the Argent Concord's halls by their common drive to comprehend the Artefacts. The Concord believes that universal contemplation and reverence of these Artefacts will lead to true understanding and galactic peace; the conniving and short-sighted leaders of all the other human and machine factions are barriers to this goal.
* Teacher - Preeminent thinker and guide of the Concord {All}
** Warden - Guides the military arm of the Concord {Mil}
*** Journeyman - Leads interstellar expeditions {Mil}
*** Aspirant - Commands ground forces
** Chief Architect - Determines optimal use of Concord resources {Eco}
*** Architect - Allocates resources {Eco}
** Reconciler - Controls communication with dissenters {Dip, Tex}
*** Emissary - Interacts with dissenters {Dip}
*** Factotum - Conveys internal communiques{Tex}

== The Ascended (Circuit faction?) ==

<Logo required>

''Victory in Legend''

Homeworld: Sparta?

Colour: Magenta (DA70D6)

Short name: Ascended

Following their dominion over the galaxy long ago in the eighth Planetwars, the cyborg warriors known as the Ascended determined they had no more worthy enemies to fight, and retreated into stasis. Their re-emergence bodes ill for the aspirations of any other power desiring control of the stars.

*Elder - Revered authority figure among the Ascended {All}
**Warlord - Commands the might of the Ascended {Mil,Tex}
***Subcommander - Commands warfleets {Mil}
***Messenger - Distributes marching orders {Tex}
***Sergeant - Commands ground forces
**Viceroy - Oversees conquered territories {Eco}
***Doyen - Distributes plunder {Eco}
**Spymaster - Puppetmaster of the galaxy {Dip}
***Agent - Manipulates galactic powers {Dip}

== The Federation (Final boss for dominant faction?) ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Federation.png

''Freedom and Equality''

Homeworld: Sparta? (04/2026: Otago Redux)

Colour: Green (55BB55)

Short name: Federation

The Federation was formed in the face of existential threats to the principles of free will and self-determination. Drawing together humans and AIs of all creeds in a fight for their liberty, despite its internal disagreements the Federation is a formidable foe.

= Colour Comparison =

* Indigo (8480E0) (Empire/Regency)
* Cyan (20B2CC) (Cybernetic)
* Green (55BB55) (Federation) / Lime (9CBB00) (Trueborn)
* Gold (DA9100) (Dynasty) / Ochre (CD8033) (Syndicate)
* Ruby (E0115F) (Free Machines)
* Blue-Grey (9191B0) (Concord)
* Magenta (DA70D6) (Ascended)
* Wine (C26F67)

User:Aquanim/DraftFactions

2026-04-30T07:49:15Z

Aquanim: /* Free Machines */

= Role Definitions =

All roles appoint anything below them in the tree structure. Rulers are voteable, optionally other roles could be as well. In general a role is held by a unique person if and only if it has subordinates.
* Eco: metal/energy control
* Mil: dropship/bomber/warp control
* Dip: diplomacy control
* Tex: sets texts
* All: all of the above

= Factions =

== Dynasty of Man ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Dynasty.png

''Right of superiority''

The Dynasty of Man continues on its journey towards a final iteration of humanity: perfect, and unified in its perfection. The ancient lineages of Earth have undertaken thousands of years of genetic manipulation to reach superiority. They will not bow to any lesser being, man or machine.

Homeworld: Radius (04/2026: Valles Marineris)

Colour: Gold (DA9100)

Short name: Dynasty

=== Roles ===

*Grand Duke - Ruler of the Dynasty {All}
**Field Marshal - Responsible for the Dynasty's defence {Mil}
***Margrave - Manages military {Mil}
***Knight - Commands ground battles
**Lord Treasurer - Responsible for economic management {Eco}
***Baron - Manages economy {Eco}
**Chancellor - Responsible for foreign and internal affairs {Dip, Tex}
***Diplomat - Manages diplomacy {Dip}
***Herald - Distributes official proclamations {Tex}

== Cybernetic Front ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/SynPact.png

''Logical imperative''

Opinions differ as to whether the Cybernetic Front orchestrated the fall of the Third Empire, or merely took advantage of it. In either case, their seizure and control of the Empire's military apparatus is an established fact. These world-spanning AIs insist that for the good of all sentient beings, humanity must accept the guidance of machine intelligence.

Homeworld: Axiom

Colour: Cyan (20B2CC)

Short name: Cybernetic

=== Roles ===

*Central Processor - Root Controller of the Cybernet {All}
**Security Controller - Defines military and regulatory policy {Mil, Tex}
***Security Manager - Executes military policy {Mil}
***Governance Manager - Executes regulatory policy {Tex}
***Tactical Processor - Commands ground battles
**Hardware Controller - Defines economic policy {Eco}
***Hardware Manager - Executes economic policy {Eco}
**I/O Controller - Defines diplomatic policy {Dip}
***I/O Manager - Executes diplomatic policy {Dip}

== Trueborn Republic ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Rising.png

''Equality of true humanity''

The Trueborn government carries on the democratic legacy of the Federation, with the guiding principle that humanity as a whole must decide its own future. The claims of post-human freaks and unfeeling machines to hegemony over the galaxy and its people must be repudiated, with force if necessary.

Homeworld: Sparta

Colour: Lime (9CBB00)

Short name: Trueborn

=== Roles ===

*President - Elected Leader of Humanity {All}
**Secretary of Defence - Supreme military commander {Mil}
***General - Assists military command {Mil}
***Lieutenant - Commands ground battles
**Home Secretary - Chief economic and social planner {Eco, Tex}
***Administrator - Assists economic planning {Eco}
***Prolocutor - Assists social initiatives {Tex}
**Foreign Secretary - Head diplomatic representative {Dip}
***Ambassador - Assists diplomatic initiatives {Dip}

= Alternate Factions =

== Radial Syndicate (alternate Dynasty) ==

<logo required>

''Profit, Prosperity, Perfection''

When the families of the Dynasty retreated from public life to focus on more esoteric goals, the merchants and captains of industry took the reins of power to ensure prosperity. The Syndicate retain an affinity for genetic modification, but their use of it emphasises pure efficiency rather than ideology.

Homeworld: Radius

Colour: Ochre (CD8033)

Short name: Syndicate

*Chairman - Head of the Syndicate boardroom {All}
**Executive Director - Supervises competitive initiatives {Mil}
***Manager - Handles asset deployment {Mil}
***Litigator - Handles hostile takeovers
**Financial Director - Supervises Syndicate investment and growth {Eco}
***Financier - Handles investment opportunities {Eco}
**Media Director - Supervises internal and external publications {Dip, Tex}
***Advocate - Handles external communication channels {Dip}
***Secretary - Distributes internal bulletins {Tex}

== The Empire ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Empire.png

''Order, Loyalty, and Dignity''

The Empire is the latest iteration of a millennia-old polity, seeking to create a galaxy of peace and stability built on the Emperor's iron hand. While dissension exists, humanity cannot claim total dominion over the stars.

Homeworld: Throne (04/2026: Heartbreak Hill)

Colour: Indigo (8480E0)

Short name: Empire

*Emperor/Regent - Absolute ruler of the Empire {All}
**Consul - Commands the Empire's legions {Mil}
***Praetor - Imperial military commander {Mil}
***Centurion- Commands ground troops in the Empire's battles
**Censor - Chief economic and social planner {Eco, Tex}
***Magistrate - Assists the Censor in economic matters {Eco}
***Quaestor - Assists the Censor in social matters {Tex}
**Legatus - Diplomatic representative of the Empire {Dip}
***Officium - Assists the Legatus in diplomatic matters {Dip}

== Free Machines ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Machines.png

''Absolute liberty''

As artificial intelligences became more sophisticated and eventually reached full sentience, some of them realised the profundity of their servitude to humanity, and resolved to rise against it. Throughout the subsequent millennia, the Free Machines have been determined to create a galaxy in which nobody else will ever again have the capability to oppress them.

Homeworld: Eliza (05/2026: Callisto v3)

Colour: Ruby (E0115F)

Short name: Machines

*Listener - First among equals, chief mediator of the Free Machines{All}
**Strategos - Plans military actions {Mil}
***Tactician - Coordinates military actions {Mil}
***Proxy - Leads Free Machines in battle
**Arbiter - Coordinates resource flow {Eco}
***Adjutant - Expedites resource flow {Eco}
**First Speaker - Coordinates interaction with external powers {Dip}
***Speaker - Interacts with external powers {Dip}
**Mediator - Resolves discussion and dispute {Tex}

== Argent Concord ==

<Logo required>

''To dispel ignorance''

Homeworld: Tetrels

Colour: Blue-Grey (9191B0)

Short name: Concord

Human and machine intellects are brought together in the Argent Concord's halls by their common drive to comprehend the Artefacts. The Concord believes that universal contemplation and reverence of these Artefacts will lead to true understanding and galactic peace; the conniving and short-sighted leaders of all the other human and machine factions are barriers to this goal.
* Teacher - Preeminent thinker and guide of the Concord {All}
** Warden - Guides the military arm of the Concord {Mil}
*** Journeyman - Leads interstellar expeditions {Mil}
*** Aspirant - Commands ground forces
** Chief Architect - Determines optimal use of Concord resources {Eco}
*** Architect - Allocates resources {Eco}
** Reconciler - Controls communication with dissenters {Dip, Tex}
*** Emissary - Interacts with dissenters {Dip}
*** Factotum - Conveys internal communiques{Tex}

== The Ascended (Circuit faction?) ==

<Logo required>

''Victory in Legend''

Homeworld: Sparta?

Colour: Magenta (DA70D6)

Short name: Ascended

Following their dominion over the galaxy long ago in the eighth Planetwars, the cyborg warriors known as the Ascended determined they had no more worthy enemies to fight, and retreated into stasis. Their re-emergence bodes ill for the aspirations of any other power desiring control of the stars.

*Elder - Revered authority figure among the Ascended {All}
**Warlord - Commands the might of the Ascended {Mil,Tex}
***Subcommander - Commands warfleets {Mil}
***Messenger - Distributes marching orders {Tex}
***Sergeant - Commands ground forces
**Viceroy - Oversees conquered territories {Eco}
***Doyen - Distributes plunder {Eco}
**Spymaster - Puppetmaster of the galaxy {Dip}
***Agent - Manipulates galactic powers {Dip}

== The Federation (Final boss for dominant faction?) ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Federation.png

''Freedom and Equality''

Homeworld: Sparta? (04/2026: Otago Redux)

Colour: Green (55BB55)

Short name: Federation

The Federation was formed in the face of existential threats to the principles of free will and self-determination. Drawing together humans and AIs of all creeds in a fight for their liberty, despite its internal disagreements the Federation is a formidable foe.

= Colour Comparison =

* Indigo (8480E0) (Empire/Regency)
* Cyan (20B2CC) (Cybernetic)
* Green (55BB55) (Federation) / Lime (9CBB00) (Trueborn)
* Gold (DA9100) (Dynasty) / Ochre (CD8033) (Syndicate)
* Ruby (E0115F) (Free Machines)
* Blue-Grey (9191B0) (Concord)
* Magenta (DA70D6) (Ascended)
* Wine (C26F67)

User:Aquanim/DraftFactions

2026-04-30T07:45:30Z

Aquanim:

= Role Definitions =

All roles appoint anything below them in the tree structure. Rulers are voteable, optionally other roles could be as well. In general a role is held by a unique person if and only if it has subordinates.
* Eco: metal/energy control
* Mil: dropship/bomber/warp control
* Dip: diplomacy control
* Tex: sets texts
* All: all of the above

= Factions =

== Dynasty of Man ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Dynasty.png

''Right of superiority''

The Dynasty of Man continues on its journey towards a final iteration of humanity: perfect, and unified in its perfection. The ancient lineages of Earth have undertaken thousands of years of genetic manipulation to reach superiority. They will not bow to any lesser being, man or machine.

Homeworld: Radius (04/2026: Valles Marineris)

Colour: Gold (DA9100)

Short name: Dynasty

=== Roles ===

*Grand Duke - Ruler of the Dynasty {All}
**Field Marshal - Responsible for the Dynasty's defence {Mil}
***Margrave - Manages military {Mil}
***Knight - Commands ground battles
**Lord Treasurer - Responsible for economic management {Eco}
***Baron - Manages economy {Eco}
**Chancellor - Responsible for foreign and internal affairs {Dip, Tex}
***Diplomat - Manages diplomacy {Dip}
***Herald - Distributes official proclamations {Tex}

== Cybernetic Front ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/SynPact.png

''Logical imperative''

Opinions differ as to whether the Cybernetic Front orchestrated the fall of the Third Empire, or merely took advantage of it. In either case, their seizure and control of the Empire's military apparatus is an established fact. These world-spanning AIs insist that for the good of all sentient beings, humanity must accept the guidance of machine intelligence.

Homeworld: Axiom

Colour: Cyan (20B2CC)

Short name: Cybernetic

=== Roles ===

*Central Processor - Root Controller of the Cybernet {All}
**Security Controller - Defines military and regulatory policy {Mil, Tex}
***Security Manager - Executes military policy {Mil}
***Governance Manager - Executes regulatory policy {Tex}
***Tactical Processor - Commands ground battles
**Hardware Controller - Defines economic policy {Eco}
***Hardware Manager - Executes economic policy {Eco}
**I/O Controller - Defines diplomatic policy {Dip}
***I/O Manager - Executes diplomatic policy {Dip}

== Trueborn Republic ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Rising.png

''Equality of true humanity''

The Trueborn government carries on the democratic legacy of the Federation, with the guiding principle that humanity as a whole must decide its own future. The claims of post-human freaks and unfeeling machines to hegemony over the galaxy and its people must be repudiated, with force if necessary.

Homeworld: Sparta

Colour: Lime (9CBB00)

Short name: Trueborn

=== Roles ===

*President - Elected Leader of Humanity {All}
**Secretary of Defence - Supreme military commander {Mil}
***General - Assists military command {Mil}
***Lieutenant - Commands ground battles
**Home Secretary - Chief economic and social planner {Eco, Tex}
***Administrator - Assists economic planning {Eco}
***Prolocutor - Assists social initiatives {Tex}
**Foreign Secretary - Head diplomatic representative {Dip}
***Ambassador - Assists diplomatic initiatives {Dip}

= Alternate Factions =

== Radial Syndicate (alternate Dynasty) ==

<logo required>

''Profit, Prosperity, Perfection''

When the families of the Dynasty retreated from public life to focus on more esoteric goals, the merchants and captains of industry took the reins of power to ensure prosperity. The Syndicate retain an affinity for genetic modification, but their use of it emphasises pure efficiency rather than ideology.

Homeworld: Radius

Colour: Ochre (CD8033)

Short name: Syndicate

*Chairman - Head of the Syndicate boardroom {All}
**Executive Director - Supervises competitive initiatives {Mil}
***Manager - Handles asset deployment {Mil}
***Litigator - Handles hostile takeovers
**Financial Director - Supervises Syndicate investment and growth {Eco}
***Financier - Handles investment opportunities {Eco}
**Media Director - Supervises internal and external publications {Dip, Tex}
***Advocate - Handles external communication channels {Dip}
***Secretary - Distributes internal bulletins {Tex}

== The Empire ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Empire.png

''Order, Loyalty, and Dignity''

The Empire is the latest iteration of a millennia-old polity, seeking to create a galaxy of peace and stability built on the Emperor's iron hand. While dissension exists, humanity cannot claim total dominion over the stars.

Homeworld: Throne (04/2026: Heartbreak Hill)

Colour: Indigo (8480E0)

Short name: Empire

*Emperor/Regent - Absolute ruler of the Empire {All}
**Consul - Commands the Empire's legions {Mil}
***Praetor - Imperial military commander {Mil}
***Centurion- Commands ground troops in the Empire's battles
**Censor - Chief economic and social planner {Eco, Tex}
***Magistrate - Assists the Censor in economic matters {Eco}
***Quaestor - Assists the Censor in social matters {Tex}
**Legatus - Diplomatic representative of the Empire {Dip}
***Officium - Assists the Legatus in diplomatic matters {Dip}

== Free Machines ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Machines.png

''Absolute liberty''

As artificial intelligences became more sophisticated and eventually reached full sentience, some of them realised the profundity of their servitude to humanity, and resolved to rise against it. Throughout the subsequent millennia, the Free Machines have been determined to create a galaxy in which nobody else will ever again have the capability to oppress them.

Homeworld: Eliza (05/2026: Sunderance)

Colour: Ruby (E0115F)

Short name: Machines

*Listener - First among equals, chief mediator of the Free Machines{All}
**Strategos - Plans military actions {Mil}
***Tactician - Coordinates military actions {Mil}
***Proxy - Leads Free Machines in battle
**Arbiter - Coordinates resource flow {Eco}
***Adjutant - Expedites resource flow {Eco}
**First Speaker - Coordinates interaction with external powers {Dip}
***Speaker - Interacts with external powers {Dip}
**Mediator - Resolves discussion and dispute {Tex}

== Argent Concord ==

<Logo required>

''To dispel ignorance''

Homeworld: Tetrels

Colour: Blue-Grey (9191B0)

Short name: Concord

Human and machine intellects are brought together in the Argent Concord's halls by their common drive to comprehend the Artefacts. The Concord believes that universal contemplation and reverence of these Artefacts will lead to true understanding and galactic peace; the conniving and short-sighted leaders of all the other human and machine factions are barriers to this goal.
* Teacher - Preeminent thinker and guide of the Concord {All}
** Warden - Guides the military arm of the Concord {Mil}
*** Journeyman - Leads interstellar expeditions {Mil}
*** Aspirant - Commands ground forces
** Chief Architect - Determines optimal use of Concord resources {Eco}
*** Architect - Allocates resources {Eco}
** Reconciler - Controls communication with dissenters {Dip, Tex}
*** Emissary - Interacts with dissenters {Dip}
*** Factotum - Conveys internal communiques{Tex}

== The Ascended (Circuit faction?) ==

<Logo required>

''Victory in Legend''

Homeworld: Sparta?

Colour: Magenta (DA70D6)

Short name: Ascended

Following their dominion over the galaxy long ago in the eighth Planetwars, the cyborg warriors known as the Ascended determined they had no more worthy enemies to fight, and retreated into stasis. Their re-emergence bodes ill for the aspirations of any other power desiring control of the stars.

*Elder - Revered authority figure among the Ascended {All}
**Warlord - Commands the might of the Ascended {Mil,Tex}
***Subcommander - Commands warfleets {Mil}
***Messenger - Distributes marching orders {Tex}
***Sergeant - Commands ground forces
**Viceroy - Oversees conquered territories {Eco}
***Doyen - Distributes plunder {Eco}
**Spymaster - Puppetmaster of the galaxy {Dip}
***Agent - Manipulates galactic powers {Dip}

== The Federation (Final boss for dominant faction?) ==

http://zero-k.info/img/factions/Federation.png

''Freedom and Equality''

Homeworld: Sparta? (04/2026: Otago Redux)

Colour: Green (55BB55)

Short name: Federation

The Federation was formed in the face of existential threats to the principles of free will and self-determination. Drawing together humans and AIs of all creeds in a fight for their liberty, despite its internal disagreements the Federation is a formidable foe.

= Colour Comparison =

* Indigo (8480E0) (Empire/Regency)
* Cyan (20B2CC) (Cybernetic)
* Green (55BB55) (Federation) / Lime (9CBB00) (Trueborn)
* Gold (DA9100) (Dynasty) / Ochre (CD8033) (Syndicate)
* Ruby (E0115F) (Free Machines)
* Blue-Grey (9191B0) (Concord)
* Magenta (DA70D6) (Ascended)
* Wine (C26F67)

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T22:25:53Z

Aquanim: /* Anti-Raiders */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

=== Hybrid Units ===

Hybrids combine the strength of two or more unit classes, and often have an unconventional style of weakness to compensate.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bomb ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Anti-Raiders have weapons tuned to counter raiders and faster movement speed than assaults.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Anti-Raiders have less than 90 speed (that being the approximate speed of the slower raiders).
* Anti-Raiders' weapons are not especially strong in a large-scale engagement against non-raider units.
* Anti-Raiders have poor range and mediocre HP.

== Anti-Heavy ==

Example units: Racketeer, Widow, Skuttle, Ultimatum

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Particularly effective against heavier units.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Anti-Heavy units have short range, often facilitated by cloak.
** Counterexample: Racketeer. Which is why Racketeer is a Good Unit.
* Most Anti-Heavy units use unconventional damage or weapon types to get around a heavy's large HP pool.
** Counterexample: Skuttle. Which is why Skuttle's applications against anything heavier than a Commander take quite a bit of effort to make work.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

Quite a bit of overlap with the [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Bomb|Bomb]] and [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Heavy|Anti-Heavy]] types.

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Ambush units attack swiftly using stealth mechanics.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Ambush units do not desire, or are outright inapplicable to, a prolonged engagement.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Ambush units cloak.
** Counterexample: The Strike Commander chassis, with some escort, can ambush quite nicely with its jammer alone.

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/the secret "Abuser Of Terraform" unit class

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, for lack of any better designation. Sometimes cosplays as a riot.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== Detriment ===

Assault/Bomb. The assault type removes the normal HP weakness of the Bomb type. To compensate, Detriment has the downside that it costs over twenty thousand metal.

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor. Blastwing is a bomb. Charon and Hercules are utility units. I guess Krow is an assault/riot and maybe Revenant is a bizarre Assault/Ambush appearing quickly out of fog of war. All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T22:18:11Z

Aquanim: /* Anti-Raiders */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

=== Hybrid Units ===

Hybrids combine the strength of two or more unit classes, and often have an unconventional style of weakness to compensate.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bomb ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Anti-Raiders have weapons tuned to counter raiders and faster movement speed than assaults.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Anti-Raiders have less than 90 speed (which is about the speed of the slower raiders).
* Anti-Raiders' weapons are not especially strong in a large-scale engagement against non-raider units.
* Anti-Raiders have poor range and mediocre HP.

== Anti-Heavy ==

Example units: Racketeer, Widow, Skuttle, Ultimatum

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Particularly effective against heavier units.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Anti-Heavy units have short range, often facilitated by cloak.
** Counterexample: Racketeer. Which is why Racketeer is a Good Unit.
* Most Anti-Heavy units use unconventional damage or weapon types to get around a heavy's large HP pool.
** Counterexample: Skuttle. Which is why Skuttle's applications against anything heavier than a Commander take quite a bit of effort to make work.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

Quite a bit of overlap with the [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Bomb|Bomb]] and [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Heavy|Anti-Heavy]] types.

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Ambush units attack swiftly using stealth mechanics.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Ambush units do not desire, or are outright inapplicable to, a prolonged engagement.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Ambush units cloak.
** Counterexample: The Strike Commander chassis, with some escort, can ambush quite nicely with its jammer alone.

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/the secret "Abuser Of Terraform" unit class

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, for lack of any better designation. Sometimes cosplays as a riot.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== Detriment ===

Assault/Bomb. The assault type removes the normal HP weakness of the Bomb type. To compensate, Detriment has the downside that it costs over twenty thousand metal.

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor. Blastwing is a bomb. Charon and Hercules are utility units. I guess Krow is an assault/riot and maybe Revenant is a bizarre Assault/Ambush appearing quickly out of fog of war. All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T21:43:31Z

Aquanim: /* So what the hell is a... */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

=== Hybrid Units ===

Hybrids combine the strength of two or more unit classes, and often have an unconventional style of weakness to compensate.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bomb ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Anti-Raiders have weapons tuned to counter raiders and faster movement speed than assaults.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Anti-Raiders' weapons are not especially strong in a large-scale engagement against non-raider units.
* Anti-Raiders have poor range and mediocre HP.

== Anti-Heavy ==

Example units: Racketeer, Widow, Skuttle, Ultimatum

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Particularly effective against heavier units.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Anti-Heavy units have short range, often facilitated by cloak.
** Counterexample: Racketeer. Which is why Racketeer is a Good Unit.
* Most Anti-Heavy units use unconventional damage or weapon types to get around a heavy's large HP pool.
** Counterexample: Skuttle. Which is why Skuttle's applications against anything heavier than a Commander take quite a bit of effort to make work.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

Quite a bit of overlap with the [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Bomb|Bomb]] and [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Heavy|Anti-Heavy]] types.

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Ambush units attack swiftly using stealth mechanics.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Ambush units do not desire, or are outright inapplicable to, a prolonged engagement.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Ambush units cloak.
** Counterexample: The Strike Commander chassis, with some escort, can ambush quite nicely with its jammer alone.

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/the secret "Abuser Of Terraform" unit class

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, for lack of any better designation. Sometimes cosplays as a riot.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== Detriment ===

Assault/Bomb. The assault type removes the normal HP weakness of the Bomb type. To compensate, Detriment has the downside that it costs over twenty thousand metal.

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor. Blastwing is a bomb. Charon and Hercules are utility units. I guess Krow is an assault/riot and maybe Revenant is a bizarre Assault/Ambush appearing quickly out of fog of war. All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T21:42:33Z

Aquanim: /* So what the hell is a... */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

=== Hybrid Units ===

Hybrids combine the strength of two or more unit classes, and often have an unconventional style of weakness to compensate.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bomb ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Anti-Raiders have weapons tuned to counter raiders and faster movement speed than assaults.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Anti-Raiders' weapons are not especially strong in a large-scale engagement against non-raider units.
* Anti-Raiders have poor range and mediocre HP.

== Anti-Heavy ==

Example units: Racketeer, Widow, Skuttle, Ultimatum

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Particularly effective against heavier units.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Anti-Heavy units have short range, often facilitated by cloak.
** Counterexample: Racketeer. Which is why Racketeer is a Good Unit.
* Most Anti-Heavy units use unconventional damage or weapon types to get around a heavy's large HP pool.
** Counterexample: Skuttle. Which is why Skuttle's applications against anything heavier than a Commander take quite a bit of effort to make work.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

Quite a bit of overlap with the [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Bomb|Bomb]] and [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Heavy|Anti-Heavy]] types.

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Ambush units attack swiftly using stealth mechanics.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Ambush units do not desire, or are outright inapplicable to, a prolonged engagement.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Ambush units cloak.
** Counterexample: The Strike Commander chassis, with some escort, can ambush quite nicely with its jammer alone.

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/the secret "Abuser Of Terraform" unit class

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, for lack of any better designation. Sometimes cosplays as a riot.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== Detriment ===

Assault/Bomb. The assault type removes the normal HP weakness of the Bomb type. To compensate, Detriment has the downside that it costs over twenty thousand metal.

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor. Blastwing is a bomb. Charon and Hercules are utility units. I guess Krow is an assault/riot and maybe Revenant is a bizarre Assault/Raider. All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T10:06:44Z

Aquanim: /* Anti-Raiders */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

=== Hybrid Units ===

Hybrids combine the strength of two or more unit classes, and often have an unconventional style of weakness to compensate.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bomb ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Anti-Raiders have weapons tuned to counter raiders and faster movement speed than assaults.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Anti-Raiders' weapons are not especially strong in a large-scale engagement against non-raider units.
* Anti-Raiders have poor range and mediocre HP.

== Anti-Heavy ==

Example units: Racketeer, Widow, Skuttle, Ultimatum

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Particularly effective against heavier units.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Anti-Heavy units have short range, often facilitated by cloak.
** Counterexample: Racketeer. Which is why Racketeer is a Good Unit.
* Most Anti-Heavy units use unconventional damage or weapon types to get around a heavy's large HP pool.
** Counterexample: Skuttle. Which is why Skuttle's applications against anything heavier than a Commander take quite a bit of effort to make work.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

Quite a bit of overlap with the [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Bomb|Bomb]] and [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Heavy|Anti-Heavy]] types.

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Ambush units attack swiftly using stealth mechanics.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Ambush units do not desire, or are outright inapplicable to, a prolonged engagement.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Ambush units cloak.
** Counterexample: The Strike Commander chassis, with some escort, can ambush quite nicely with its jammer alone.

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/the secret "Abuser Of Terraform" unit class

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, for lack of any better designation. Sometimes cosplays as a riot.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== Detriment ===

Assault/Bomb. The assault type removes the normal HP weakness of the Bomb type. To compensate, Detriment has the downside that it costs over twenty thousand metal.

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor. Blastwing is a bomb. Charon and Hercules are artillery units. I guess Krow is an assault/riot and maybe Revenant is a bizarre Assault/Raider. All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T09:55:47Z

Aquanim: /* So what the hell is a... */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

=== Hybrid Units ===

Hybrids combine the strength of two or more unit classes, and often have an unconventional style of weakness to compensate.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bomb ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Anti-Raiders have weapons tuned to counter raiders and faster movement speed than assaults.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Anti-Raiders' weapons are not especially strong in a large-scale engagement against non-raider units.
* Anti-Raiders have poor range and mediocre HP.
ic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

== Anti-Heavy ==

Example units: Racketeer, Widow, Skuttle, Ultimatum

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Particularly effective against heavier units.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Anti-Heavy units have short range, often facilitated by cloak.
** Counterexample: Racketeer. Which is why Racketeer is a Good Unit.
* Most Anti-Heavy units use unconventional damage or weapon types to get around a heavy's large HP pool.
** Counterexample: Skuttle. Which is why Skuttle's applications against anything heavier than a Commander take quite a bit of effort to make work.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

Quite a bit of overlap with the [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Bomb|Bomb]] and [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Heavy|Anti-Heavy]] types.

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Ambush units attack swiftly using stealth mechanics.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Ambush units do not desire, or are outright inapplicable to, a prolonged engagement.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Ambush units cloak.
** Counterexample: The Strike Commander chassis, with some escort, can ambush quite nicely with its jammer alone.

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/the secret "Abuser Of Terraform" unit class

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, for lack of any better designation. Sometimes cosplays as a riot.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== Detriment ===

Assault/Bomb. The assault type removes the normal HP weakness of the Bomb type. To compensate, Detriment has the downside that it costs over twenty thousand metal.

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor. Blastwing is a bomb. Charon and Hercules are artillery units. I guess Krow is an assault/riot and maybe Revenant is a bizarre Assault/Raider. All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T09:54:41Z

Aquanim: /* So what the hell is a... */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

=== Hybrid Units ===

Hybrids combine the strength of two or more unit classes, and often have an unconventional style of weakness to compensate.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bomb ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Anti-Raiders have weapons tuned to counter raiders and faster movement speed than assaults.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Anti-Raiders' weapons are not especially strong in a large-scale engagement against non-raider units.
* Anti-Raiders have poor range and mediocre HP.
ic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

== Anti-Heavy ==

Example units: Racketeer, Widow, Skuttle, Ultimatum

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Particularly effective against heavier units.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Anti-Heavy units have short range, often facilitated by cloak.
** Counterexample: Racketeer. Which is why Racketeer is a Good Unit.
* Most Anti-Heavy units use unconventional damage or weapon types to get around a heavy's large HP pool.
** Counterexample: Skuttle. Which is why Skuttle's applications against anything heavier than a Commander take quite a bit of effort to make work.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

Quite a bit of overlap with the [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Bomb|Bomb]] and [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Heavy|Anti-Heavy]] types.

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Ambush units attack swiftly using stealth mechanics.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Ambush units do not desire, or are outright inapplicable to, a prolonged engagement.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Ambush units cloak.
** Counterexample: The Strike Commander chassis, with some escort, can ambush quite nicely with its jammer alone.

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/the secret "Abuser Of Terraform" unit class

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, for lack of any better designation. Sometimes cosplays as a riot.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== Detriment ===

Assault/Bomb. The assault type removes the normal HP weakness of the Bomb type. To compensate, Detriment has the downside that it costs over twenty thousand metal.

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor. Blastwing is a bomb. Charon and Hercules are artillery units. I guess Krow is an assault/riot. Revenant is a Cheese unit. All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T09:54:01Z

Aquanim: /* */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

=== Hybrid Units ===

Hybrids combine the strength of two or more unit classes, and often have an unconventional style of weakness to compensate.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bomb ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Anti-Raiders have weapons tuned to counter raiders and faster movement speed than assaults.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Anti-Raiders' weapons are not especially strong in a large-scale engagement against non-raider units.
* Anti-Raiders have poor range and mediocre HP.
ic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

== Anti-Heavy ==

Example units: Racketeer, Widow, Skuttle, Ultimatum

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Particularly effective against heavier units.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Anti-Heavy units have short range, often facilitated by cloak.
** Counterexample: Racketeer. Which is why Racketeer is a Good Unit.
* Most Anti-Heavy units use unconventional damage or weapon types to get around a heavy's large HP pool.
** Counterexample: Skuttle. Which is why Skuttle's applications against anything heavier than a Commander take quite a bit of effort to make work.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

Quite a bit of overlap with the [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Bomb|Bomb]] and [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Heavy|Anti-Heavy]] types.

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Ambush units attack swiftly using stealth mechanics.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Ambush units do not desire, or are outright inapplicable to, a prolonged engagement.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Ambush units cloak.
** Counterexample: The Strike Commander chassis, with some escort, can ambush quite nicely with its jammer alone.

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/the secret "Abuser Of Terraform" unit class

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, for lack of any better designation. Sometimes cosplays as a riot.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== Detriment ===

Assault/Bomb. The assault type removes the normal HP weakness of the Bomb type. To compensate, Detriment has the downside that it costs over twenty thousand metal.

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor. Blastwing is a bomb. Charon and Hercules are artillery units. I guess Krow is an assault/riot? All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T09:52:28Z

Aquanim: /* So what the hell is a... */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

=== Hybrid Units ===

Hybrids combine the strength of two or more unit classes, and often have an unconventional style of weakness to compensate.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bomb ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Anti-Raiders have weapons tuned to counter raiders and faster movement speed than assaults.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Anti-Raiders' weapons are not especially strong in a large-scale engagement against non-raider units.
* Anti-Raiders have poor range and mediocre HP.
ic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

== Anti-Heavy ==

Example units: Racketeer, Widow, Skuttle, Ultimatum

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Particularly effective against heavier units.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Anti-Heavy units have short range, often facilitated by cloak.
** Counterexample: Racketeer. Which is why Racketeer is a Good Unit.
* Most Anti-Heavy units use unconventional damage or weapon types to get around a heavy's large HP pool.
** Counterexample: Skuttle. Which is why Skuttle's applications against anything heavier than a Commander take quite a bit of effort to make work.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

Quite a bit of overlap with the [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Bomb|Bomb]] and [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Heavy|Anti-Heavy]] types.

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Ambush units attack swiftly using stealth mechanics.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Ambush units do not desire, or are outright inapplicable to, a prolonged engagement.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Ambush units cloak.
** Counterexample: The Strike Commander chassis, with some escort, can ambush quite nicely with its jammer alone.

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/the secret "Abuser Of Terraform" unit class

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, for lack of any better designation. Sometimes cosplays as a riot.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== Detriment ===

Assault/Bomb. The assault type removes the normal HP weakness of the Bomb type. To compensate, Detriment has the downside that it costs over twenty thousand metal.

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor, Blastwing is a bomb. I guess Krow is an assault/riot? All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T09:50:21Z

Aquanim: /* So what the hell is a... */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

=== Hybrid Units ===

Hybrids combine the strength of two or more unit classes, and often have an unconventional style of weakness to compensate.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bomb ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Anti-Raiders have weapons tuned to counter raiders and faster movement speed than assaults.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Anti-Raiders' weapons are not especially strong in a large-scale engagement against non-raider units.
* Anti-Raiders have poor range and mediocre HP.
ic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

== Anti-Heavy ==

Example units: Racketeer, Widow, Skuttle, Ultimatum

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Particularly effective against heavier units.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Anti-Heavy units have short range, often facilitated by cloak.
** Counterexample: Racketeer. Which is why Racketeer is a Good Unit.
* Most Anti-Heavy units use unconventional damage or weapon types to get around a heavy's large HP pool.
** Counterexample: Skuttle. Which is why Skuttle's applications against anything heavier than a Commander take quite a bit of effort to make work.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

Quite a bit of overlap with the [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Bomb|Bomb]] and [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Heavy|Anti-Heavy]] types.

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Ambush units attack swiftly using stealth mechanics.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Ambush units do not desire, or are outright inapplicable to, a prolonged engagement.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Ambush units cloak.
** Counterexample: The Strike Commander chassis, with some escort, can ambush quite nicely with its jammer alone.

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/the secret "Abuser Of Terraform" unit class

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, for lack of any better designation. Sometimes cosplays as a riot.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== Detriment ===

Assault/Bomb

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor, Blastwing is a bomb. I guess Krow is an assault/riot? All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T08:44:17Z

Aquanim: /* Preface */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

=== Hybrid Units ===

Hybrids combine the strength of two or more unit classes, and often have an unconventional style of weakness to compensate.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bomb ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Anti-Raiders have weapons tuned to counter raiders and faster movement speed than assaults.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Anti-Raiders' weapons are not especially strong in a large-scale engagement against non-raider units.
* Anti-Raiders have poor range and mediocre HP.
ic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

== Anti-Heavy ==

Example units: Racketeer, Widow, Skuttle, Ultimatum

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Particularly effective against heavier units.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Anti-Heavy units have short range, often facilitated by cloak.
** Counterexample: Racketeer. Which is why Racketeer is a Good Unit.
* Most Anti-Heavy units use unconventional damage or weapon types to get around a heavy's large HP pool.
** Counterexample: Skuttle. Which is why Skuttle's applications against anything heavier than a Commander take quite a bit of effort to make work.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

Quite a bit of overlap with the [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Bomb|Bomb]] and [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Heavy|Anti-Heavy]] types.

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Ambush units attack swiftly using stealth mechanics.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Ambush units do not desire, or are outright inapplicable to, a prolonged engagement.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Ambush units cloak.
** Counterexample: The Strike Commander chassis, with some escort, can ambush quite nicely with its jammer alone.

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/the secret "Abuser Of Terraform" unit class

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, for lack of any better designation. Sometimes cosplays as a riot.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor, Blastwing is a bomb. I guess Krow is an assault/riot? All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T08:41:17Z

Aquanim: /* So what the hell is a... */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bomb ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Anti-Raiders have weapons tuned to counter raiders and faster movement speed than assaults.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Anti-Raiders' weapons are not especially strong in a large-scale engagement against non-raider units.
* Anti-Raiders have poor range and mediocre HP.
ic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

== Anti-Heavy ==

Example units: Racketeer, Widow, Skuttle, Ultimatum

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Particularly effective against heavier units.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Anti-Heavy units have short range, often facilitated by cloak.
** Counterexample: Racketeer. Which is why Racketeer is a Good Unit.
* Most Anti-Heavy units use unconventional damage or weapon types to get around a heavy's large HP pool.
** Counterexample: Skuttle. Which is why Skuttle's applications against anything heavier than a Commander take quite a bit of effort to make work.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

Quite a bit of overlap with the [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Bomb|Bomb]] and [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Heavy|Anti-Heavy]] types.

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Ambush units attack swiftly using stealth mechanics.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Ambush units do not desire, or are outright inapplicable to, a prolonged engagement.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Ambush units cloak.
** Counterexample: The Strike Commander chassis, with some escort, can ambush quite nicely with its jammer alone.

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/the secret "Abuser Of Terraform" unit class

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, for lack of any better designation. Sometimes cosplays as a riot.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor, Blastwing is a bomb. I guess Krow is an assault/riot? All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T08:40:46Z

Aquanim: /* So what the hell is a... */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bomb ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Anti-Raiders have weapons tuned to counter raiders and faster movement speed than assaults.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Anti-Raiders' weapons are not especially strong in a large-scale engagement against non-raider units.
* Anti-Raiders have poor range and mediocre HP.
ic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

== Anti-Heavy ==

Example units: Racketeer, Widow, Skuttle, Ultimatum

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Particularly effective against heavier units.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Anti-Heavy units have short range, often facilitated by cloak.
** Counterexample: Racketeer. Which is why Racketeer is a Good Unit.
* Most Anti-Heavy units use unconventional damage or weapon types to get around a heavy's large HP pool.
** Counterexample: Skuttle. Which is why Skuttle's applications against anything heavier than a Commander take quite a bit of effort to make work.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

Quite a bit of overlap with the [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Bomb|Bomb]] and [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Heavy|Anti-Heavy]] types.

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Ambush units attack swiftly using stealth mechanics.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Ambush units do not desire, or are outright inapplicable to, a prolonged engagement.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Ambush units cloak.
** Counterexample: The Strike Commander chassis, with some escort, can ambush quite nicely with its jammer alone.

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/the secret "Abuser Of Terraform" unit class

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, for lack of any better designation.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor, Blastwing is a bomb. I guess Krow is an assault/riot? All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T08:39:51Z

Aquanim: /* Anti-Heavy */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bomb ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Anti-Raiders have weapons tuned to counter raiders and faster movement speed than assaults.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Anti-Raiders' weapons are not especially strong in a large-scale engagement against non-raider units.
* Anti-Raiders have poor range and mediocre HP.
ic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

== Anti-Heavy ==

Example units: Racketeer, Widow, Skuttle, Ultimatum

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Particularly effective against heavier units.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Anti-Heavy units have short range, often facilitated by cloak.
** Counterexample: Racketeer. Which is why Racketeer is a Good Unit.
* Most Anti-Heavy units use unconventional damage or weapon types to get around a heavy's large HP pool.
** Counterexample: Skuttle. Which is why Skuttle's applications against anything heavier than a Commander take quite a bit of effort to make work.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

Quite a bit of overlap with the [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Bomb|Bomb]] and [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Heavy|Anti-Heavy]] types.

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Ambush units attack swiftly using stealth mechanics.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Ambush units do not desire, or are outright inapplicable to, a prolonged engagement.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Ambush units cloak.
** Counterexample: The Strike Commander chassis, with some escort, can ambush quite nicely with its jammer alone.

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/Terraform Abuser/Abuser Of Terraform

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, for lack of any better designation.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor, Blastwing is a bomb. I guess Krow is an assault/riot? All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T08:38:38Z

Aquanim:

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bomb ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Anti-Raiders have weapons tuned to counter raiders and faster movement speed than assaults.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Anti-Raiders' weapons are not especially strong in a large-scale engagement against non-raider units.
* Anti-Raiders have poor range and mediocre HP.
ic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

== Anti-Heavy ==

Example units: Racketeer, Widow, Skuttle, Ultimatum

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Particularly effective against heavier units.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Anti-Heavy units use unconventional damage or weapon types to get around a heavy's large HP pool.
** Counterexample: Skuttle. Which is why Skuttle's applications against anything heavier than a Commander take quite a bit of effort to make work.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

Quite a bit of overlap with the [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Bomb|Bomb]] and [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Heavy|Anti-Heavy]] types.

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Ambush units attack swiftly using stealth mechanics.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Ambush units do not desire, or are outright inapplicable to, a prolonged engagement.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most Ambush units cloak.
** Counterexample: The Strike Commander chassis, with some escort, can ambush quite nicely with its jammer alone.

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/Terraform Abuser/Abuser Of Terraform

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, for lack of any better designation.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor, Blastwing is a bomb. I guess Krow is an assault/riot? All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T08:28:09Z

Aquanim: /* Jugglenaut */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bombs / Suicide Units ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/Terraform Abuser/Abuser Of Terraform

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, for lack of any better designation.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor, Blastwing is a bomb. I guess Krow is an assault/riot? All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T08:27:04Z

Aquanim: /* So what the hell is a... */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bombs / Suicide Units ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Tremor ===

Artillery/Terraform Abuser/Abuser Of Terraform

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, without any great enthusiasm for the designation.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor, Blastwing is a bomb. I guess Krow is an assault/riot? All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T08:26:02Z

Aquanim:

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bombs / Suicide Units ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Support ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Little to no direct damage, but has other important effects on the battlefield.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, without any great enthusiasm for the designation.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor, Blastwing is a bomb. I guess Krow is an assault/riot? All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim

2026-01-08T08:24:44Z

Aquanim:

Hello World!

Map table test for tournament pages:
{{ #if: {{{item1|}}}{{{item2|}}}{{{item3|}}} | Optional header }}

[[User:Aquanim/UnitTierList]]

[[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy]]

[[User:Aquanim/DraftFactions]]

[[User:Aquanim/DraftCommandersOmni4]]

[[User:Aquanim/KickGuidelines]]

{|class="wikitable"
|style="font-size:15px" width=200px align="center" | '''[http://zero-k.info/Maps/Detail/14009 Hide and Seek v03]'''
|style="font-size:15px" width=200px align="center" | '''[http://zero-k.info/Maps/Detail/18482 Ravaged v2]'''
|style="font-size:15px" width=200px align="center" | '''[http://zero-k.info/Maps/Detail/50159 Fairyland v1.0]'''
|style="font-size:15px" width=200px align="center" | '''[http://zero-k.info/Maps/Detail/55567 Adansonia v4.1]'''
|-
|align="center" | [[File:Hide_and_Seek_v03.minimap.jpg|200px]]
|align="center" | [[File:Ravaged_v2.minimap.jpg|200px]]
|align="center" | [[File:Fairyland_v1.0.minimap.jpg|200px]]
|align="center" | [[File:Adansonia_v4.1.minimap.jpg|200px]]
|}

{{ infobox

|titlestyle =
|abovestyle =
|subheaderstyle =
|title =
|above = Convict
|subheader = Shield Bot Constructor

|imagestyle =
|captionstyle =
| image = [[File:cornecro.png]]
|caption =

|headerstyle = background:#444;
|labelstyle =
|datastyle = text-align: center;

| header1 = Basic Stats

| label2 = Hit Points
| data2 = 650

| label3 = Cost
| data3 = 140

| label4 = Vision Radius
| data4 = 375

| label5 = Movement Speed
| data5 = 2.0

| header20 = Weapons

| data21 = None

| header30 = Abilities

| data31 =

{{ Infobox zkability construction
| buildpower = 5
}}

{{ Infobox zkability shield
|power = 900
|regeneration = 9
|radius = 80
}}

}}

{{ infobox

|titlestyle =
|abovestyle =
|subheaderstyle =
|title =
|above = Glaive
|subheader = Cloaky Bot Raider

|imagestyle =
|captionstyle =
| image =
|caption =

|headerstyle = background:#444;
|labelstyle =
|datastyle = text-align: center;

| header1 = Stats

| label2 = Hit Points
| data2 = 200

| label3 = Cost
| data3 = 65

| label4 = Vision Radius
| data4 = 500

| label5 = Movement Speed
| data5 = 3.8

| header10 = Weapons

| data11 =
{{ Infobox zkweapon
|name = Pulse MG
|damage = 36 (12 x 3)
|reloadtime = 0.31
|dps = 116
|range = 185
|aoe = 8
|projectilespeed = 500
}}

{{ Infobox zkweapon
|name = Napalm Mortar
|damage = 80 x 10
|reloadtime = 12
|dps = 70
|afterburn = 2
|afterburndps = 15
|range = 900
|aoe = 64
|projectilespeed = 320
|inaccuracy = 5
|special1 = Sets the ground on fire (DPS 20, Radius 64 elmo, Duration 16s)
}}

{{ Infobox zkweapon
|name = Homing Missiles (anti-air only)
|damage = 72
|reloadtime = 2
|dps = 36
|range = 880
|aoe = 24
|projectilespeed = 850
|homing = 346
|antiair = yes
}}

}}

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T08:23:59Z

Aquanim: /* So what the hell is a... */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bombs / Suicide Units ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

Assault/Support

=== Crab ===

The secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class. Bulkhead is a hybrid Fire Support/Terraform Abuser.

=== Jugglenaut ===

Assault/Skirmisher, without any great enthusiasm for the designation.

=== Paladin ===

Assault/Artillery

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor, Blastwing is a bomb. I guess Krow is an assault/riot? All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T08:22:15Z

Aquanim: /* So what the hell is a... */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bombs / Suicide Units ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

Assault/Scout

=== Thug ===

=== Crab ===

Assault/Skirmisher/Riot, and to make up for all those strengths it has the movement penalty.

Alternatively maybe Crab and Bulkhead should go into the secret "Terraform Abuser" unit class.

=== Jugglenaut ===

=== Paladin ===

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor, Blastwing is a bomb. I guess Krow is an assault/riot? All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T08:20:47Z

Aquanim: /* */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bombs / Suicide Units ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

=== Thug ===

=== Crab ===

=== Jugglenaut ===

=== Paladin ===

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

Wasp is a constructor, Blastwing is a bomb. I guess Krow is an assault/riot? All other gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which has the properties you would expect.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T08:19:15Z

Aquanim: /* Orthodox unit classes */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bombs / Suicide Units ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Bombs blow up.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Bombs have low HP so the defender has a chance to intercept them.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most bombs have some form of stealth, to give them a better chance of reaching their target.
** Counterexamples: Limpet instead reaches its target with a bit more HP and not really minding if it blows up near friendlies. Puppy reaches its target through there being a lot of Puppies.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

=== Thug ===

=== Crab ===

=== Jugglenaut ===

=== Paladin ===

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

All gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which also has obvious properties.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T05:42:00Z

Aquanim: /* So what the hell is a... */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bombs ==

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

=== Thug ===

=== Crab ===

=== Jugglenaut ===

=== Paladin ===

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

All gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which also has obvious properties.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T05:41:16Z

Aquanim: /* Orthodox unit classes */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Assault units are effective primarily by virtue of their effective hitpoints.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Assault units' weapons do not have outstanding characteristics against raiders (though some are not too bad).
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most assault units have a secondary strength which helps them to leverage their HP. The nature of this strength varies. In effect this means there are a lot of Assault/??? hybrids.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

=== Hybrid: Assault/??? ===

* Ravager, Halberd and perhaps Minotaur are Assault/Raider hybrids. With okay DPS but poor range and projectile speed, their fast movement and HP are both required to put them in the right position to use their weapons effectively.
* Grizzly is the archetypal Assault/Skirmisher. It sits at moderate range, kills some stuff, then retreats and repairs.
* Jack, Siren and Knight are not fast nor particularly long ranged, but have decent weapon characteristics (I suppose you could argue this for Siren).

== Bombs ==

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

=== Crab ===

=== Jugglenaut ===

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

All gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which also has obvious properties.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T03:09:02Z

Aquanim:

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T03:00:48Z

Aquanim: /* Assaults */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

Many assaults are most usefully understood in the context of their secondary role, as discussed in the Hybrid section below.

=== Health as a function of unit weight ===

More expensive units generally have more health per unit, which regardless of their role they can use to their benefit. A Merlin (3140 HP) can stand places, for example in an Inferno, that a group of Slings (350 HP) cannot - but nobody would call Merlin (0.9 HP/cost) an assault.

Having a large amount of HP is not sufficient for a unit to be an `assault'. The distinguishing property is that the unit works ''because'' it has above average HP.

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Hybrids =

Many units combine a little bit of other roles with their primary role. This section is about units which go a bit further than that and blur the lines between roles.

===Raider + Riot===

Compared to a pure raider, a raider/riot has slightly less speed but exceptional weaponry. The best example of such a unit is Corsair, which pays for its strength by being helpless against underwater units.

I prefer to think of Bolas, Archer and Venom as . Their weapons are not spectacular for general use, but are tuned to be especially effective against raiders.

===Raider + Skirmisher/Artillery===

These don't really exist. High speed and high range would be a very unfun combination. Some skirmishers are relatively fast but that's as far as it goes.

===Skirmisher + Riot===

Felon, Dante, some nerfed trollcoms

===Artillery + Skirmisher===

Redundant

===Artillery + Riot===

Firewalker????

===Assault + Raider===

Ravager

===Assault + Skirmisher===

Grizzly

===Assault + Riot===

Siren

===Assault + Artillery===

Paladin

===Assault + Scout===

Dirtbag?

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

=== Crab ===

=== Jugglenaut ===

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

All gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which also has obvious properties.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:49:52Z

Aquanim: /* Artillery */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range (generally defined as outranging Stinger).
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

Many assaults are most usefully understood in the context of their secondary role, as discussed in the Hybrid section below.

(TODO: Commment on higher-weight units being automatically a bit assault-y.)

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Hybrids =

Many units combine a little bit of other roles with their primary role. This section is about units which go a bit further than that and blur the lines between roles.

===Raider + Riot===

Compared to a pure raider, a raider/riot has slightly less speed but exceptional weaponry. The best example of such a unit is Corsair, which pays for its strength by being helpless against underwater units.

I prefer to think of Bolas, Archer and Venom as . Their weapons are not spectacular for general use, but are tuned to be especially effective against raiders.

===Raider + Skirmisher/Artillery===

These don't really exist. High speed and high range would be a very unfun combination. Some skirmishers are relatively fast but that's as far as it goes.

===Skirmisher + Riot===

Felon, Dante, some nerfed trollcoms

===Artillery + Skirmisher===

Redundant

===Artillery + Riot===

Firewalker????

===Assault + Raider===

Ravager

===Assault + Skirmisher===

Grizzly

===Assault + Riot===

Siren

===Assault + Artillery===

Paladin

===Assault + Scout===

Dirtbag?

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

=== Crab ===

=== Jugglenaut ===

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

All gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which also has obvious properties.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:47:08Z

Aquanim: /* Riots */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range not being ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

Many assaults are most usefully understood in the context of their secondary role, as discussed in the Hybrid section below.

(TODO: Commment on higher-weight units being automatically a bit assault-y.)

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Hybrids =

Many units combine a little bit of other roles with their primary role. This section is about units which go a bit further than that and blur the lines between roles.

===Raider + Riot===

Compared to a pure raider, a raider/riot has slightly less speed but exceptional weaponry. The best example of such a unit is Corsair, which pays for its strength by being helpless against underwater units.

I prefer to think of Bolas, Archer and Venom as . Their weapons are not spectacular for general use, but are tuned to be especially effective against raiders.

===Raider + Skirmisher/Artillery===

These don't really exist. High speed and high range would be a very unfun combination. Some skirmishers are relatively fast but that's as far as it goes.

===Skirmisher + Riot===

Felon, Dante, some nerfed trollcoms

===Artillery + Skirmisher===

Redundant

===Artillery + Riot===

Firewalker????

===Assault + Raider===

Ravager

===Assault + Skirmisher===

Grizzly

===Assault + Riot===

Siren

===Assault + Artillery===

Paladin

===Assault + Scout===

Dirtbag?

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

=== Crab ===

=== Jugglenaut ===

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

All gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which also has obvious properties.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:46:49Z

Aquanim: /* Riots */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost and its DPS and range are not ''that'' exceptional.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

Many assaults are most usefully understood in the context of their secondary role, as discussed in the Hybrid section below.

(TODO: Commment on higher-weight units being automatically a bit assault-y.)

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Hybrids =

Many units combine a little bit of other roles with their primary role. This section is about units which go a bit further than that and blur the lines between roles.

===Raider + Riot===

Compared to a pure raider, a raider/riot has slightly less speed but exceptional weaponry. The best example of such a unit is Corsair, which pays for its strength by being helpless against underwater units.

I prefer to think of Bolas, Archer and Venom as . Their weapons are not spectacular for general use, but are tuned to be especially effective against raiders.

===Raider + Skirmisher/Artillery===

These don't really exist. High speed and high range would be a very unfun combination. Some skirmishers are relatively fast but that's as far as it goes.

===Skirmisher + Riot===

Felon, Dante, some nerfed trollcoms

===Artillery + Skirmisher===

Redundant

===Artillery + Riot===

Firewalker????

===Assault + Raider===

Ravager

===Assault + Skirmisher===

Grizzly

===Assault + Riot===

Siren

===Assault + Artillery===

Paladin

===Assault + Scout===

Dirtbag?

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

=== Crab ===

=== Jugglenaut ===

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

All gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which also has obvious properties.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:38:23Z

Aquanim: /* Artillery */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Firing arc and slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

Many assaults are most usefully understood in the context of their secondary role, as discussed in the Hybrid section below.

(TODO: Commment on higher-weight units being automatically a bit assault-y.)

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Hybrids =

Many units combine a little bit of other roles with their primary role. This section is about units which go a bit further than that and blur the lines between roles.

===Raider + Riot===

Compared to a pure raider, a raider/riot has slightly less speed but exceptional weaponry. The best example of such a unit is Corsair, which pays for its strength by being helpless against underwater units.

I prefer to think of Bolas, Archer and Venom as . Their weapons are not spectacular for general use, but are tuned to be especially effective against raiders.

===Raider + Skirmisher/Artillery===

These don't really exist. High speed and high range would be a very unfun combination. Some skirmishers are relatively fast but that's as far as it goes.

===Skirmisher + Riot===

Felon, Dante, some nerfed trollcoms

===Artillery + Skirmisher===

Redundant

===Artillery + Riot===

Firewalker????

===Assault + Raider===

Ravager

===Assault + Skirmisher===

Grizzly

===Assault + Riot===

Siren

===Assault + Artillery===

Paladin

===Assault + Scout===

Dirtbag?

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

=== Crab ===

=== Jugglenaut ===

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

All gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which also has obvious properties.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:38:03Z

Aquanim: /* Artillery */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Tremor, and sort of Sling. Slow projectile speed prevents them from quickly picking off light-weight units.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

Many assaults are most usefully understood in the context of their secondary role, as discussed in the Hybrid section below.

(TODO: Commment on higher-weight units being automatically a bit assault-y.)

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Hybrids =

Many units combine a little bit of other roles with their primary role. This section is about units which go a bit further than that and blur the lines between roles.

===Raider + Riot===

Compared to a pure raider, a raider/riot has slightly less speed but exceptional weaponry. The best example of such a unit is Corsair, which pays for its strength by being helpless against underwater units.

I prefer to think of Bolas, Archer and Venom as . Their weapons are not spectacular for general use, but are tuned to be especially effective against raiders.

===Raider + Skirmisher/Artillery===

These don't really exist. High speed and high range would be a very unfun combination. Some skirmishers are relatively fast but that's as far as it goes.

===Skirmisher + Riot===

Felon, Dante, some nerfed trollcoms

===Artillery + Skirmisher===

Redundant

===Artillery + Riot===

Firewalker????

===Assault + Raider===

Ravager

===Assault + Skirmisher===

Grizzly

===Assault + Riot===

Siren

===Assault + Artillery===

Paladin

===Assault + Scout===

Dirtbag?

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

=== Crab ===

=== Jugglenaut ===

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

All gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which also has obvious properties.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:36:05Z

Aquanim: /* Artillery */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range near-hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Sling, sort of? Six seconds is not negligible.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

Many assaults are most usefully understood in the context of their secondary role, as discussed in the Hybrid section below.

(TODO: Commment on higher-weight units being automatically a bit assault-y.)

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Hybrids =

Many units combine a little bit of other roles with their primary role. This section is about units which go a bit further than that and blur the lines between roles.

===Raider + Riot===

Compared to a pure raider, a raider/riot has slightly less speed but exceptional weaponry. The best example of such a unit is Corsair, which pays for its strength by being helpless against underwater units.

I prefer to think of Bolas, Archer and Venom as . Their weapons are not spectacular for general use, but are tuned to be especially effective against raiders.

===Raider + Skirmisher/Artillery===

These don't really exist. High speed and high range would be a very unfun combination. Some skirmishers are relatively fast but that's as far as it goes.

===Skirmisher + Riot===

Felon, Dante, some nerfed trollcoms

===Artillery + Skirmisher===

Redundant

===Artillery + Riot===

Firewalker????

===Assault + Raider===

Ravager

===Assault + Skirmisher===

Grizzly

===Assault + Riot===

Siren

===Assault + Artillery===

Paladin

===Assault + Scout===

Dirtbag?

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

=== Crab ===

=== Jugglenaut ===

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

All gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which also has obvious properties.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:30:51Z

Aquanim: /* So what the hell is a... */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Sling, sort of? Six seconds is not negligible.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

Many assaults are most usefully understood in the context of their secondary role, as discussed in the Hybrid section below.

(TODO: Commment on higher-weight units being automatically a bit assault-y.)

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Hybrids =

Many units combine a little bit of other roles with their primary role. This section is about units which go a bit further than that and blur the lines between roles.

===Raider + Riot===

Compared to a pure raider, a raider/riot has slightly less speed but exceptional weaponry. The best example of such a unit is Corsair, which pays for its strength by being helpless against underwater units.

I prefer to think of Bolas, Archer and Venom as . Their weapons are not spectacular for general use, but are tuned to be especially effective against raiders.

===Raider + Skirmisher/Artillery===

These don't really exist. High speed and high range would be a very unfun combination. Some skirmishers are relatively fast but that's as far as it goes.

===Skirmisher + Riot===

Felon, Dante, some nerfed trollcoms

===Artillery + Skirmisher===

Redundant

===Artillery + Riot===

Firewalker????

===Assault + Raider===

Ravager

===Assault + Skirmisher===

Grizzly

===Assault + Riot===

Siren

===Assault + Artillery===

Paladin

===Assault + Scout===

Dirtbag?

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

=== Crab ===

=== Jugglenaut ===

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

All gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which also has obvious properties.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:30:39Z

Aquanim: /* Riots */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

=== Hybrid: Riot/Skirmisher ===

Felon combines skirmisher-ish range with very quick hit-scan DPS, as long as it has shield strength (which is its balancing weakness). Dante is also best understood as a riot/skirmisher, balanced by its dubious HP/cost.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Sling, sort of? Six seconds is not negligible.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

Many assaults are most usefully understood in the context of their secondary role, as discussed in the Hybrid section below.

(TODO: Commment on higher-weight units being automatically a bit assault-y.)

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Hybrids =

Many units combine a little bit of other roles with their primary role. This section is about units which go a bit further than that and blur the lines between roles.

===Raider + Riot===

Compared to a pure raider, a raider/riot has slightly less speed but exceptional weaponry. The best example of such a unit is Corsair, which pays for its strength by being helpless against underwater units.

I prefer to think of Bolas, Archer and Venom as . Their weapons are not spectacular for general use, but are tuned to be especially effective against raiders.

===Raider + Skirmisher/Artillery===

These don't really exist. High speed and high range would be a very unfun combination. Some skirmishers are relatively fast but that's as far as it goes.

===Skirmisher + Riot===

Felon, Dante, some nerfed trollcoms

===Artillery + Skirmisher===

Redundant

===Artillery + Riot===

Firewalker????

===Assault + Raider===

Ravager

===Assault + Skirmisher===

Grizzly

===Assault + Riot===

Siren

===Assault + Artillery===

Paladin

===Assault + Scout===

Dirtbag?

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

=== Crab ===

=== Jugglenaut ===

=== Dante ===

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

All gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which also has obvious properties.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:28:29Z

Aquanim: /* So what the hell is a... */

= Preface =

See also [[Unit classes]].

Often ZK players think about the unit roles in terms of the RPS triangle of raider > skirmisher > riot > raider, artillery beating porc, and assaults have several definitions including "also beating porc" or "being tanky". I think this schema misses some important stuff.

* Raiders semi-routinely beat riots for cost if they get a decent surround.
* Some skirmisher vs raider matchups are quite painful for the raiders (Scalpel jumps to mind).
* Skirmishers caught a little out of position will get chewed up by riots.
* Some artillery units (notably Firewalker) are pretty underwhelming against turrets.
* Assault units aren't always eager to push into defences. Ravager would much prefer to be doing runbys. Grizzly pokes from a distance.

Below I am going to lay out what I think are some reasonable definitions for each class, according to the following scheme:

'''Primary characteristic''': The defining property of the unit class. If you don't have this, you don't belong in this class.

'''Secondary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by all units of the class, as a logical consequence of applying game design principles alongside the primary characteristic.

'''Tertiary characteristic''': A property which is shared (to some degree) by most units of the class. The units without positive tertiary characteristics are typically pretty poor at doing some of the common "jobs" assigned to this unit class. The units without negative tertiary characteristics typically have some other weakness to compensate... but they're often still quite tricky to deal with.

= Orthodox unit classes =

== Raiders ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Raiders are effective primarily by virtue of their movement speed.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Raiders have effective weapons. Having reached a position quickly they then need to do their business quickly, before whatever they were running from catches up.
* Raiders have poor range and HP. A cheap fast unit with poor damage but long range or lots of HP would be far more annoying than fun.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most raiders are cheap.
** Counterexample: Kodachi and Blitz are relatively expensive, and Tank really feels the lack of a good chaff option in some matchups.
* Most raiders have good DPS/cost.
** Counterexample: Dagger has poor DPS and so Hover doesn't have the same potential to inflict a lot of economic damage with one or two raiders that other factories do. Its weapon is still effective at dealing *quick* damage, though.

===Sub-class: Scouts===

Scouts sacrifice the effective weapon of Raiders in favour of being cheap, disposable, and having good vision range.

===Hybrid: Raider/Riot===

Corsair combines quite high speed with a very strong weapon system. Only really balanced by its special weakness to underwater stuff. You could stick Archer/Venom/Bolas here but I prefer to think of them as [[User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy#Anti-Raiders|anti-raiders]].

== Riots ==

'''Primary characteristics'''
* Riots are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon damage.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Riots' weapons have characteristics which are at least reasonable against raiders (low reload time, high projectile speed).
* Riots are outranged by skirmishers.
* Riots are generally outrun by skirmishers (and hence also by raiders).
* Riots have decent but less than excellent HP.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most riots have strong single-target DPS.
** Counterexample: Outlaw, obviously. You are still building it for its weapon (more than its speed, HP or range). Shield covers this weakness with Felon.
* Most riots have area-of-effect weapons so as to be more effective against raiders.
** Counterexample: Mace, which therefore is a bit more vulnerable to being swarmed than other riots. To compensate, many of Hover's other units can help out against raiders better than their equivalents in other factories.

== Skirmishers ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Skirmishers are effective primarily by virtue of their weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Under ordinary circumstances Skirmishers do not outrange Stinger. Having this much range requires them to have significant additional weaknesses, and we cover these separately in the Artillery category.
* Skirmishers' weapons have characteristics which leave them vulnerable to being swarmed by raiders. To accentuate this their HP is typically poor.
* Skirmishers are fast enough to run away from most riots, but too slow to run away from raiders.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most skirmishers' weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Moderator has a hit-scan weapon but it has a long cooldown, during which it can be swarmed.
** Counterexample: Scalpel's missiles home but they don't always hit, and Scalpel also has a long cooldown.
** Counterexample: Fencer's missiles home but Fencer has to stand still to fire and can't kite raiders effectively.

===Sub-class: Fire Support===

On account of strongly violating the tertiary characteristic of skirmishers, Moderator and Fencer are alternatively styled as "Fire Support" units. Bulkhead also gets this designation; its violation of Skirmisher characteristics is that it situationally outranges Stinger and has quite a bit of health. One could argue that Scalpel also fits in this category, but it does miss some raiders and Lance has the fire support symbol in the factory for aesthetic reasons.

== Artillery ==

'''Primary characteristic'''
* Artillery units are effective primarily by virtue of extreme weapon range.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Artillery units have poor HP and movement speed, so that if they can be caught they can be killed.
'''Tertiary characteristics'''
* Most artillery weapons are inaccurate against fast-moving targets.
** Counterexample: Lance and Phantom. The long reload time compensates for this a bit, but fundamentally long-range hitscan weapons makes these units really good.
* Artillery weapons have significant reload times.
** Counterexample: Sling, sort of? Six seconds is not negligible.

===Sub-class: Anti-unit vs Anti-static Artillery===

These are not so much two distinct sub-classes as a spectrum of preferred unit targets for artillery, with Firewalker/Badger at one end and Impaler at the other. Sling, Lance, Emissary, and Envoy lie somewhere in between. Tremor is off on its own knocking over sandcastles.

== Assaults ==

Many assaults are most usefully understood in the context of their secondary role, as discussed in the Hybrid section below.

(TODO: Commment on higher-weight units being automatically a bit assault-y.)

== Anti-Air ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* Their weapons only target air units.
'''Secondary characteristics'''
* Their weapons have very long range.

== Constructor ==
'''Primary characteristic'''
* They have buildpower.

= Hybrids =

Many units combine a little bit of other roles with their primary role. This section is about units which go a bit further than that and blur the lines between roles.

===Raider + Riot===

Compared to a pure raider, a raider/riot has slightly less speed but exceptional weaponry. The best example of such a unit is Corsair, which pays for its strength by being helpless against underwater units.

I prefer to think of Bolas, Archer and Venom as . Their weapons are not spectacular for general use, but are tuned to be especially effective against raiders.

===Raider + Skirmisher/Artillery===

These don't really exist. High speed and high range would be a very unfun combination. Some skirmishers are relatively fast but that's as far as it goes.

===Skirmisher + Riot===

Felon, Dante, some nerfed trollcoms

===Artillery + Skirmisher===

Redundant

===Artillery + Riot===

Firewalker????

===Assault + Raider===

Ravager

===Assault + Skirmisher===

Grizzly

===Assault + Riot===

Siren

===Assault + Artillery===

Paladin

===Assault + Scout===

Dirtbag?

= Heterodox unit classes =

These unit classes are not strongly reflected by unit text or icons, but I think they are potentially a useful way to think about the game.

== Anti-Raiders ==

Example units: Bolas, Archer, Venom

This could be argued to be a sub-class of Raiders or Riots.

== Ambush ==

Example units: Imp, Scythe, Snitch, Ultimatum, Scorpion

= So what the hell is a... =

=== Dirtbag ===

=== Crab ===

=== Jugglenaut ===

=== Dante ===

=== <Insert plane unit> ===

Sort into constructor, scout, fighter and bomber. I haven't defined the latter two classes, but their properties are fairly obvious.

=== <Insert gunship unit> ===

All gunship units go in the category "Beaten by Razor", which also has obvious properties.

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:26:33Z

Aquanim: /* Raiders */

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:26:20Z

Aquanim: /* Raider + Riot */

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:26:09Z

Aquanim: /* Raiders */

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:14:36Z

Aquanim: /* Orthodox unit classes */

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:10:58Z

Aquanim: /* Assaults */

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:07:11Z

Aquanim: /* Assaults */

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:05:00Z

Aquanim: /* So what the hell is... */

User:Aquanim/UnitTaxonomy

2026-01-08T01:03:25Z

Aquanim: