Game Mechanics

General Game-Mechanics
Game Mechanics that apply to typically everyone with a few exceptions.

''Merc-Job Specific Mechanics are detailed in their respective roles.

Mercbucks and Antagbucks

 * Mercbucks/Antagbucks are currently heavily WIP.
 * Mercbucks/Antagbucks are round persistent currency that allow you to buy better gear or special equipment for a round, by increasing your weapon or gear budget by 2 per buck. You can also increase your #1 role's priority to be selected before anyone else who didn't do the same thing, which costs 5 bucks. (If you're just doing this for better gear, maybe consider spending those 5 Mercbucks on 10 W$ instead.)
 * There are NO weaker kits that allow you to gain more mercbucks or antagbucks.
 * Currently there is nothing to spend antagbucks on.
 * Faction points determine how you get M$ and A$, at a conversion rate of 100FP:1M$/A$.
 * This is rounded down to the nearest buck at the end of the round.
 * Mercbucks/Antagbucks are exchangable at a rate of 2 = 1. So 2 Antagbucks into 1 Mercbuck and etc.
 * There is going to be a limit on them. This means you can only get so much before you should start spending them. You are not going to be able to spam out the strongest guns for everyone, let alone 5 people.
 * Simply playing the game will give you Mercbucks/Antagbucks depending who you played as. Even when dead you count as being on that faction for 5 minutes. Accomplishing objectives (as Mercs) or increasing Hive Level (as Zurgs) will give more. Playing as a Merc Officer will give half a buck, and surviving as one will give the other half, but won't increase the payout from other sources.
 * There will NEVER be a option to donate for Mercbucks/Antagbucks. Earn them through playing the game. That's all you need to do.
 * Just to emphasize it. THERE REALLY WILL NEVER EVER BE A OPTION TO DONATE FOR MERCBUCKS. ABSOLUTELY NONE.

Victory and Defeat

 * It may sound simple to just simply win, but there are times where you just barely won, or absolutely crushed the enemy. This is where VICTORY POINTS come in.
 * There is a Victory Score, which can be seen on Bridge if you look there. Both Mercenaries and Zurganids have 4 Tasks they need to/can complete, each giving a +1 to Victory Score, allowing them to have a higher Victory Score by the end. By default they each have 2 Points that can adjust later on.
 * If Zurganids and Mercenaries are tied in Victory Score, then Zurganids gain a extra +1 for a Level 1 Victory, meaning Zurganids always win ties.
 * If Both Sides have Victory Points, then the result is both sides remove each other's Victory Score depending on how many Victory Points they have.
 * For Example. Mercs managed to jump away and completed objectives. Their ISP's alive count is 2, the Cryo and Bridge with, Saltshaker (clearly) alive. Zurganids did not get Exterminated, and they forced the Mercs off the planet, but didn't achieve OVERTIME. This means Mercs have 3 Victory Points while Zurganids have 2. Since they both have Victory Points, Mercs's 3 is reduced by 2 of Zurganids, leading to a result of 1. Mercs have achieved a Level 1 Victory, a Minor!
 * The 2 Tables Below details the current tasks to achieve victory.

Victory Levels are:

Level 0 - Defeat - ''You didn't win and lost. The Enemy's Victory Score is shown instead.''

Level 1 - Minor - ''You won, just barely. Still, a win is a win.''

Level 2 - Normal - ''You won. The most common cause for this is Merc Extermination with only one ISP, or Mercs losing during the Extermination.''

Level 3 - Major - ''You won greatly. You most likely destroyed the enemy fairly greatly, preventing the Mercs from finishing their objectives OR jumping, or preventing the Zurganids from killing ISPs. All is jolly (Unless SALT is happening).''

Level 4 - Crushing - ''You crushed the enemy team. You probably decimated them completely, wiping them out in ludicrously short time. Almost never happens, and requires both bad enemy players and good luck.''

Force Types and Armor

 * There is 3 Force Types that one can be damaged by, with a few unique ones floating around them.
 * There is SLASHING. SLASHING is damage in a line, like when you cut something with a knife. SLASHING is usually applied by Sharp Melee Weapons or such. Examples Include: Zurganid Claws, Sword and Chain Bayonet.
 * There is IMPACT. IMPACT is damage over a area, think smashing someone with a fist, a hammer or any other blunt object. IMPACT is usually applied by Blunt Melee, Guns with no Bayonets and some Zurganid Body types. Examples Include: Most Ranged Guns in Melee, Demolisher/Armored and Spore Zurganids, Fists.
 * There is PIERCING. PIERCING is damage on a point, stuff like spears, nails, bullets and such. PIERCING is usually applied by Pointed Melee Weapons and Ranged Weapons. Examples Include: Almost All Ranged Guns and Acid Spit.
 * There is a few special ones like ENGUFLING that aren't really force types but still do something interesting. ENGULFING in this case would hit a Character that for example is Swarm Body and ALL of his bodies at once instead just one of them.
 * In particular, Armor typically is percentile, so 50% Pierce will reduce damage from pierce by 50% and etc. However there is HEAVY armor. HEAVY armor is typically present on Zurganid Buildings, Demolisher, Queen, Gamma and Tonks. HEAVY features Direct Damage Resistance (DDR), which ignores a set amount of damage. You will do absolutely nothing if you don't have enough damage. AP, Acid Spike, Spike Cannon and others will penetrate through HEAVY typically. There is a variant of HEAVY called LIGHT-HEAVY which has typically less DDR than normal HEAVY, for things that don't need so much DDR but still need some.

Click Cooldown/Delay

 * While fighting, it won't matter how fast you spam your mouse, you won't be able to pull off 500 attacks in a second. Most of your actions will be restricted by a global click delay that attachments, weapons or a ability can modify.
 * For example, a M41A can only shoot so fast on single-fire, but with QF you can shoot way faster as the click delay is significantly lessened, meaning most of your mouse spam gets registered.
 * This also applies for Melee. Zurganids have fairly average click delay but with Faster Attacking they can get off more hits.
 * As a result, its more beneficial in total to have a slower but precise clicking when fighting with Melee and Slow Weapons and everything else but a more faster and spammy with QF Ranged Weapons. Most weapons that have a lot of ammo have Burst or Full-Auto so clicking faster won't change much there. Especially true in Melee as click dragging by accident results in you not attacking at all.
 * Note that Bump Attacks DO set off click delay. Don't try and push into another enemy while also trying to pull out a gun. The click delay won't let you pull it out.

Accumulative Damage (Merc Only)

 * Whenever you take damage, it accumulates, even when healed. Its impossible to currently tell how much accumulated damage you have.
 * Once it reaches a certain point, your screen edges will flash red, a loud sound will play and your ENDURANCE will go down by -1, reducing your max health.
 * What essentially this means is that if you keep fighting and getting injured, you will keep getting -1 Endurance. This can go as far as -3, in which case you just start dying.
 * Medics have a special ability called Nano-splint for this. It has only 2 uses so far, but can be refilled at AMA. When used, it brings your Endurance back to its original value (So if you were a VET with 1 Endurance, it goes back to 1 Endurance).
 * Alternatively or when Medics run out of Nano-splints, you have to go to AMA, which is near the morgue. Once you enter it, it will restore your Endurance back same as Nanosplint, but infinitely. Medics will also refill Nanosplints.

Bump Attacks

 * When you run at something or something runs at you that is hostile, a bump attack will occur. A bump attacks happens when your character or theirs collide with one another by trying to move. This only works with characters that are hostile.
 * Bump attacks pick the STRONGEST Melee Option and then try and hit the person who was bumped. This means if you have a Hammer with 200 Damage but Very Slow Attack Cooldown with a SMG that does 28 damage in Melee and Very Fast Attack Cooldown, the Hammer will get picked to attack.
 * Bump attacks allow hit and runs as a result by running into a person then quickly running away into another direction before they can turn around or shoot instead of needing to click.

Cover System

 * A certain cover system exists here to help you avoid bullets and acid flying over your head. There is 3 categories of it. Small, Medium, and Large.
 * Cover has a chance to block said projectiles depending on chance unless the shooter is close enough. Small gives 20% chance. Medium gives 40% chance. Large gives 60% chance. You can shift+click to examine objects to see what cover they are, if they are cover at all.
 * If the projectile is blocked by cover, the cover takes damage. Different covers are made of different materials, and some are way better at blocking different damage types. For example, Walls are almost immune to SLASHING and Reinforced Walls ignore SLASHING damage.
 * Note that this DOES NOT WORK FOR MELEE. The only thing cover would do at that point is block them from crossing it, and won't redirect hits even if you are in cover. This is for ranged projectiles only that are far away enough.
 * You can use Take Cover ability to take Cover behind said object if you are close enough. To do so, you must click and drag the cover object to your character, and they should take cover. When you do so, the projectiles that would hit you are always 100% redirected to Cover instead, meaning as long as you remain behind said cover and the shooter never comes too close, you will never be hit while it lives by their projectiles.
 * ALL Cover known can be destroyed, up to including reinforced walls. Their MATERIAL however will vastly determine what damage type should be used.

Materials

 * Materials are what almost every turf has. Be it either metal, liquid, nature or etc. Each one has varying HP, Resistance and etc.
 * As long as you have a ranged weapon (with a few exceptions where a melee can also hit said turf), you are able to shoot and inflict damage onto these turfs
 * The list below shows what type of MATERIALS there is and their respective resistance values. Each + is respectively 20% resistance, but +++++ is only 90%.
 * Armor resistance values were updated a while ago to happen in increments of 25%, but it's not clear whether this applies to materials. These values are likely only approximate.

Zurganid Only Game-Mechanics
Game Mechanics unique mostly to Zurganids

CARE

 * Unlike Mercenaries, Zurganids out as lowly and weak with only around 2 Evolution Points to spend. However as they eat more corpses and place more spores, they gain more evo points and begin to grow stronger.
 * CARE stands for Claws, Acid, Resin and Exoskeleton. They raise their melee damage, abilities, spawn time and health with armor respectively.
 * Zurganids for early-game will be weak even by the time Mercs land, having around 13-15 Evo points and around hive level of 11 or less. As they kill more Mercs and get more Biomass from spores, each level they have to work harder for as the biomass required increases, so a Hive level of 20 may require 8+ mercs devoured to level up.
 * This means that by late-game, if Zurganids have killed a good amount of Mercs, will be a very high Hive Level with incredible damage, durability and respawn times, easily overrunning what remains.
 * Zurganids that have been there from the start of the round vs Late-Joiners will have more evo points as their reward for sticking around for so long. A starting Zurganid may have 25 Evo while a Later-Joiner has 17 Evo or so.
 * Zurganids NEVER EVER equal Mercs at the start even when leveled up. If you put a Hive Level of 20 with 50 Zurganids in it against 50 Mercs with all of their equipment in a direct fight, the Zurganids would lose the battle, while not easily, they still lose that single battle. Although they would probably win the entire round by the end due to respawns and sheer attrition.

Building Pulse and Resin

 * Resin has one of the most strongest PIERCING resists in the game, having a whooping 90% PIERCING RESIST. Its only surpassed by LIQUID material, which is fully immune to Piercing.
 * The Weeds are indestructible, allowing Zurganids to place Buildings and heal faster ontop of it. While there is some slight possible way of mercs removing it with explosions, its heavily unlikely to remove more than a few patches you can easily recover.
 * Zurganids inside buildings will "heal" the building. Having more will possibly heal it more but there is a delay so you can't have 30 Zurganids out-healing the DAKKA against the Brood.

Boarding with Objectives

 * Zurganids can already instantly try to board the ship once it launches the Crawler. However, as long as the ECM is on, they won't be able to get on without instantly dying.
 * Currently the only objective is just to murder mercs, get hive level up and that's it.
 * Once they have enough Strength/Progression, Zurganids will be told they are strong enough to board, and will be able to place the Brood ontop of the ship, which can lead to possible Overtime.
 * (May be moved to General once more Antags get developed). OVERTIME means that the Saltshaker has managed to use Jump Order and succeeded but there is a Zurganid Brood on it. From this point on, Zurganids can't move the Brood and the game won't end until the Ship crashes or the Brood is destroyed. This does make Zurganids lose out on one of their points that they could have gotten for a better victory if they didin't let OVERTIME hit.