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Broken Arrrowoffers some serious realism in its RTS gameplay. Weapons are designed to counter specific threats, and they do so with deadly precision. If you don’t have a grasp of what you’re getting into, you’ll find your carefully-constructed battlegroup torn to shreds in seconds.
Mastering the game starts with understanding each of the units available, and that means figuring out their stats. This guide breaks down what each attribute means, and how it can affect your strategy. It’s a good idea to have it open as a reference while you play, until you’ve got it memorized.
Unit Stats
The stats of a unit determine their overall capabilities, regardless of which weapon they’re currently using. They establish the baseline of how fast the unit can move, how much damage they can take, and so on.
Optics And Stealth
Line of sight is critical in Broken Arrow, and in many cases you’ll need recon units to spot targets for artillery and other long-ranged attackers. A unit’s visibility is determined byOpticsandStealth.
To determine whether a unit is close enough to detect an enemy, simplydivide their Optics by the enemy’s Stealth.The result is the minimum distance required, though concealing terrain like forests and buildings may reduce the distance further.
As long as at least one allied unit can see an enemy unit,anybody on your side can target them.However, the moment detection is lost, the enemy will vanish from the map, and any rounds on their way to the target will likely miss.
Movement
Getting to objectives quickly and fortifying them is key in nearly every battle in Broken Arrow. You’ll need to rely on transport vehicles to help slower units cover ground effectively.
A unit’s movement speed is always represented byan arrow next to their unit type;infantry, vehicles, aircraft, etc. Infantry are the slowest, but can get atemporary burst of speed using the Sprintability, which has a default hotkey of Z.
Transport
Planning ahead when building your Battlegroup can help you ensure that you always have a way to bring your troops to the engagement area; smart use of transports is the way to do this.
Every unit has aweightlisted at the far right side of their stat panel. Transport aircraft have a maximum weight capacityindicated by a cargo container icon; if the combined weight of everything loaded into the transport exceeds its capacity, it won’t be able to take off.
Transporting infantry also requires you to takeseating capacityinto consideration, whether you’re sending troops by ground vehicles or by air. Multiple squads can load into a single transport, as long as their total size doesn’t exceed its seating capacity.They also need to abide by weight restrictionsas described above.
Armor And Health
Units don’t generally have a lot of hit points (represented by a cross icon); if something can penetrate their armor, there’s a good chance it can destroy them in short order.
HP are divided evenly among the soldiers in an Infantry unit. When a soldier dies,their weapon can no longer be used, permanently reducing the unit’s overall strength. Vehicles, on the other hand,risk system damagewhen they take hits, which can be repaired by supply crates.
Most units have at least some Armor,represented by a shield icon. When the unit is hit by an attack, their Armor is compared to the round’s Penetration; if the Armor is higher, theincoming damage is reduced proportionally.
Weapon Stats
Units can typically be equipped with a variety of different weapons when building your deck, allowing you to specialize your Battlegroup for the kind of enemies you expect to encounter.
A weapon’s capability is determined by theammunition type it is currently firing.While units can fire multiple weapons at once,each weapon can only fire a single ammunition type.
Basic Stats
You can see a round’s basic stats at a glance on the unit’s panel in the Army Builder; itsPenetration, Damage, and Effective Range.
Advanced Stats
In combat, highlighting a unit’s panel lets you see a more detailed breakdown of a weapon’s stats. Specifically, you’ll want to pay attention toAim Time and Reload Time; the former is how long it takes the unit to fire once it has a target, while the latter is how long it takes to reload once the weapon is empty. Taken together, they show how often the weapon can be expected to fire as long as it has ammunition.
TheSupply Weight of each roundis also important; units need to resupply from crates, and larger rounds take more from the stockpile. If you have heavy weapons teams holding a key point, it’s a good idea tosend larger cratesto keep them topped up.
