Design Diary: Stun Weapons

May.20.2019 BY KIXEYE_Chris

Greetings Commanders, CenturyHawk here with another design dev diary installment. This time we’re breaking down an awesome new combat mechanic first available with the Trident Mega Unit in June. Let’s dive in!


Stun is a new status effect being introduced to Rogue Assault in June as part of the Trident Mega Unit. We think this mechanic will add a great new tool to a Commander’s arsenal and I wanted to explain how it will work and how we envision expanding it in the future.

Imagine this scenario:

You’re trying to rush into a difficult cluster of turrets using your fastest units, mainly Light Vehicles, but the base defenses are generating too much firepower for you to handle. Without finding a way to destroy these obstacles outright, what if there was a way to get them to stop momentarily, giving your units a window of opportunity to turn the tide?

This is exactly the tactical advantage that the Trident will provide. The Trident comes equipped with a huge secondary weapon called the Trident EMP Missile (EMP is short for Electromagnetic Pulse). What it lacks in overall damage output it makes up in its EMP Stun capability.

So how does Stun work in WC:RA? Stun is a status effect that is applied as soon as a projectile with Stun hits any target that it affects. In the case of the Trident, Stun affects Turrets and Heavy Turrets. Once hit, the targets are immobilized for a brief period of time, indicated in the Trident EMP Missile’s stat block.

Example Weapon Stat UI with Stun (stats not final)

When the Stun duration time runs out on the affected targets, the Turret/Heavy Turret resumes its fire cycle exactly where it left off (assuming its previous target is still within range). Additionally, after recovering from Stun, the target will be invulnerable to Stun damage for a small amount of time, in order to give the turret an opportunity to fight back.

How can vulnerable targets defend themselves? With upgrades that reduce the duration of Stun, possibly even reducing some weapons’ duration completely.

Example Defensive Stat UI (stats not final)

EMP will be the first type of Stun added to the game, but we may choose to create additional Stun types in the future that affect individual Units, Unit Classes, or other buildings. All of that will be determined after gathering feedback from players on how EMP and the Trident perform on the field. We’re really excited about this new system for applying effects since we’re architecting it to be extensible, paving the way for future status effects such as weapons that apply damage-over-time, as well as situational buffs/debuffs to units, turrets, or defensive buildings.

Stun Visuals on Affected Turrets

news

All news