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Chapter 12: Unit Statistics

Unit Building Blocks
Most Alpha Centauri units (apart from a few basic units) are formed by five building blocks: chassis, reactor, weaponry, armor, and special ability. Through experimentation and wise research, you can create literally hundreds of unit combinations. Use the following charts to formulate a battle plan; instead of randomly selecting items to research, use the weapons, armor, and special abilities listed to create unique and powerful units.

TIP Head over to Chapter 8 to receive an excellent course on the ins and outs of unit construction, including several useful custom unit examples.

Chassis
A unit's chassis determines the speed or movement rate of the unit. Infantry units can only move one square per turn (on nonfungus terrain), while a unit sporting a hovertank chassis can move up to three squares per turn, including over fungus squares. The chassis is the most basic building block; once you've acquired the prerequisite, you can begin constructing the unit and apply any weapons, armor, or abilities you've discovered.

Chassis	Type- Moves- Cost	Speed	Modality	Dimen- sions	Modifiers	Prerequisite
Infantry	Land-1-1	8km/hr	Manual	N/A	+25 percent vs. base	None
Speeder	Land-2-2	102km/hr	Wheeled	7.7x 3.6x 2.9m	+25 percent in open; -25 percent in rolling or rocky	Doctrine Mobility
Hovertank	Land-3-3	227km/hr	Aircushion - unaffected by fungus	6.9x 3x 3m	+25 percent in open; -25 percent in rolling or rocky	Nanominia- turization
Foil	Sea-4-4	62km/hr	Airfoil	162x 24.25x 17.5m	Cargo: 2 times reactor	Doctrine Flexibility
Cruiser	Sea-6-6	115km/hr	Naval keel	200 x50.5 x20m	Cargo: 4 times reactor	Doctrine Initiative
Needlejet	Air-8-8	766km/hr	Fixed-wing aircraft	18.6x 12.5x 4.4m	Fuel: 2 turns (crash landing eliminates unit)	Doctrine Air Power
'Copter	Air-8-8	523km/hr	Rotary	15.5x 6x 4m	Fuel: 1 turn (30 percent damage upon crash landing)	Mind-machine interface
Gravship	Air-8-8	102.1km/hr	Graviton booster	22x 8x 6m	Fuel: unlimited	Graviton theory
Missile	Air-12-12	232.2km/hr	Assisted airflow	15.5x 5x 5m	Fuel: 1 turn	Orbital spaceflight

Reactors
Supplying your unit with power, a reactor determines how much damage a unit can absorb in combat before it's eliminated. For each level of power, the reactor can absorb ten points of damage. For example, a unit using the fusion reactor can withstand 20 points of damage.

Until you reach the relatively high prerequisites for the other reactors, most of your initial units will feature the fission plant. The higher reactors, because of clean waste disposal, reduce the cost to support your units and the cost to create complex units.

Next: Projectile Weapons
 
 

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