Unit states

Most units and buildings have behavior states that can be set by the player to modify unit behavior on the fly. The state settings are set per unit to allow different behavior of the same unit types.

Some unit states are hidden by default. You can display them under Settings/Interface/Commands.

The right side of the menu displays the settings of the selected units. This display is used to edit the settings. Clicking on a state toggles it. Most states with more than two settings can be toggled backwards with right click.

There is a subtlety in the use of this display: When multiple units in the selection have the same settings different states the display only shows one of the states. A displayed state does not guarantee all units in the selection have that state. Clicking on a state guarantees that every selected unit has the setting displayed after clicking.

Factory States

Factories have many states that usually make no sense for an unarmed structure. Units produced by a factory inherit most of the factory's states if the units have no other default.

Default States

Units can be set to adopt a particular state upon creation from the menu (under Settings/Unit Behaviour/Default). For instance, an artillery unit could be set to Hold Position by default.

State List

Following is a list that explains each state and its settings.

Fire State

Firestate controls a unit's automatic targeting behaviour. This state is available for all armed units and structures. Player given commands and guard retaliation overrides firestate. As in a unit set to Hold Fire will still fire if it is given a direct order to attack. Units do not lose their current target when firestate changes.

Fire at Will — Fire at any/all enemies within range.

Return fire — Fire back at enemies that hurt the unit.

Hold Fire — Will not fire unless ordered to.

Move State

Movestate controls how freely a unit can move in pursuit of its target. All mobile units have movestate.

Roam — The unit will move to attack nearby targets and chase them if they run away. Constructors will only assist ally construction if set to Roam.

Maneuver — This behaves similarly to Roam, but with a shorter "leash".

Hold Position — Unit will not automatically chase enemies or use unit AI. Units will chase with an attack command and use unit AI if they have an Attack Move command.

Repeat

Repeat causes a unit's order queue to loop. Upon completing an order the order is added to the end of the queue. This is particularly useful for factories because a production queue can be repeated.

Repeat On

Repeat Off

Overkill Prevention

Some units have overkill prevention (OKP), such that if only one unit needs to fire to kill the target, other units will try to find a different target instead. This reduces wasted shots, useful for long-reload units such as Scalpels.

Overkill Prevention On

Overkill Prevention Off

Retreat

Sets the retreat level. See Retreat.

Max Retreat — Unit retreats to the closest retreat position when health drops below 99%.

2/3 Retreat — Unit retreats to the closest retreat position when health drops below 65%.

1/3 Retreat — Unit retreats to the closest retreat position when health drops below 30%.

No Retreat — Unit does not auto-retreat.

Selection Rank

See Selection Rank

Build Priority

Priority lets you control resource spending more accurately when spending exceeds income. See Economy Guide Priority

Misc Priority

Misc. priority is used for the unit's personal, non-construction resource consumption, i.e. from abilities like commander upgrades or Trinity stockpiling.

High Priority

Normal Priority

Low Priority

Factory Assist

Auto-assist Factory — Constructor do not follow the factory rally point. Instead they assist the factory that created them.

Default Behaviour — Constructor will continue to rally point when exiting factory.

Cloak

Toggles unit cloak. See Cloak

Enable Cloak

Disable Cloak

Unit AI

Toggles smart AI for the unit. See Unit AI

Unit AI ON — Turn ON the game's default unit AI for this unit (skirm, skirmish, and/or Anti-Air AI).

Unit AI OFF — Turn OFF the game's default unit AI for this unit.

On/Off

On/Off controls various miscellaneous unit states. It is used to toggle activation on radar, sonar and cloakers. It also toggles the armour ability of the Solar Collector, Lucifer and Desolator.

On

Off

Idle State

Aircraft can be told to fly in a holding pattern or land when idle.

Free Flying — Unit continues flying when idle.

Land on Idle — Unit lands when idle.

Float State

Some amphibious units can float to the surface of the ocean to fire their weapons. They are immobile when floating

Always Float — Unit automatically floats when idle.

Float to Fire — Unit automatically floats if an enemy is in range and sinks otherwise. Units with long reload time sink between shots.

Always Sink — Unit does not float.

Trajectory

Certain long range artillery units can be toggled between high and low trajectory firing.

High Trajectory — Shoot with a high arcing shot. This is useful for shooting over terrain that blocks direct line of sight, though it does moderately reduce accuracy.

Low Trajectory — Unit fire directly toward the enemy. This can be useful because directly fired projectiles are more accurate and spend less time in flight.

Fire at Radar

Some units with long-range precision weapons, like the Phantom and Lance, can be ordered not to fire on radar dots (i.e. targets inside radar range but outside visual range). These units will still fire on buildings outside line of sight if the target position is known precisely (indicated by the "ghost" building).

Fire at Radar Dots

Don't Fire at Radar Dots

Dive State

Raven by default dive bombs to attack units under area shields, and moving targets. It can also dive bomb normally or constantly fly at a lower altitude.

Dive Bomb Shield or Mobile

Dive Bomb Mobile

Always Fly Low — This causes it to fly at a lowered altitude all the time. It is weak to ground units in this state.

Always Fly High — Will not use dive bomb. This can make it difficult to hit moving or shielded targets.

Area Cloak

Toggles an area cloaker. Area cloak is also disabled if the unit's On/Off state is set to Off. See Cloak

Activate Cloaking Field — Cloak all allied units within cloaking field radius.

Disengage Cloaking Field — Do not emit cloaking field.

Gunship Strafe

Most gunships can circle-strafe their target when attacking.

Strafe — Dodge ground projectiles by circling over the targeted enemy.

No Strafe — Deactivate strafing for gunships. Use this to keep out of range of static AA.

Kill Captured

Dominatrix can be set to automatically destroy units that it captures.

Auto-Self Destruct — Immediately self-destruct the captured units.

No Self Destruct — Maintain normal control over captured units, no self-destruct.

Drone Construction

Units capable of drone production can switch it on or off.

Production of drones is ongoing

Production of drones is stopped

Impulse Mode

Newton and Jugglenaut can be set to push or pull units with their gravity guns.

Push

Pull

Ward Fire

Shoot at the shields of Thugs, Felons and Convicts when nothing else is in range.

Ward Fire Enabled

Ward Fire Disabled

Allow Attack Commands

State for Lobster to ignore attack commands and only respond to 'D' commands.

Disable Attack Off

Disable Attack On

Fire Towards Enemies

Shoots towards enemies when there are no other targets.

Disabled

Enabled

Avoid Bad Targets

Added in the Anti-Bait update , this state prevents a unit from automatically firing a long reload weapon at unit classes identified by metal cost.