qaccy
Well-Known Member
As you all know, military units have turn orders in battle that are determined by how 'fast' the unit is. What most of you probably don't know is that this turn order is decided not by a unit's movement stat, but by a hidden number referred to by the developers as 'initiative'. It wasn't until the release of Arctic Future that players like myself began to suspect its existence when the units, particularly the Surrogate Soldier with its movement of 18, were having their turns out of order with what their movement indicated. All units from prior ages have the same value for movement and initiative, so their turn orders can be easily determined. The initiative stat being hidden has nagged at me ever since I learned about it, so I finally sat down for about an hour and tried out dozens of different army configurations to make my best attempt at hammering down what each unit's initiative/turn order actually is. I don't have any pretty tables or other graphics to share in this regard so it's just going to be a listing, but hopefully people still find this helpful as some sort of reference.
Notes: As mentioned, units prior to Arctic Future (and Champions prior to Space Age Asteroid Belt) have matching movement and initiative. Knowing this, I verified values by using lower-age units and comparing the turn orders against them. In addition, all three No Age units have lower initiative than their movement indicates.
Format: Unit name: movement / initiative
No Age
Rogue: 14 / 1
Military Drummer: 14 / 10 (thanks @Ploton Plaximus for bringing this to my attention)
Color Guard: 12 / 10
Arctic Future
Recon Raider: 36 / 50
Battle Fortress: 20 / 21
Behemoth: 12 / 10
Dragon Drone: 32 / 30
Plasma Artillery: 14 / 16
Surrogate Soldier: 18 / 40
Oceanic Future
Hydroelectric Eel: 35 / 60
Gliders: 30 / 60
Octopod: 20/ 10
C.R.A.B. Mech: 20 / 12
Scimitar: 35 / 50
Manta: 24 / 45
Turturret: 10 / 22
Medusa: 0 / 100 (shares turn order with other Rapid Deployment units)
Sub Cruiser: 22 / 24
Nautilus: 22 / 24
Virtual Future
Warrior Monk: 40 / 50 (thanks @xivarmy)
Ronin Bot: 15 / 10
Augmented Samurai: 30 / 20
Rocket Troop: 12 / 25
Ninja: 20 / 100 (shares turn order with other Rapid Deployment units)
Space Age Mars
Sentinel: 30 / 50
Steel Warden: 18 / 10
Space Marine: 30 / 5
Sniperbot: 14 / 15
Tesla Walker: 16 / 25
Space Age Asteroid Belt
Hover Hammer: 28 / 55
Shredder: 18 / 15
Drill Ranger: 26 / 6
B.E.L.T.: 10 / 20
Nail Storm: 14 / 25
Champion: 20 / 22 (this is the first time the Champion's initiative differs from his movement)
Space Age Venus
Energy Cannon: 30 / 60
Steel Fist: 18 / 20
Observer Drone: 24 / 10
Power Dragon: 12 / 25
Ghost Blaster: 16 / 30
Champion: 20 / 22
Space Age Jupiter Moon
Abyssal Glider: 30 / 65
Glacier Hiker: 18 / 25
Division Drones: 25 / 10
Cavitation Tank: 12 / 30
Harpoon Grenadier: 16 / 35
Champion: 20 / 22
EDIT: By request, I'll also sort the units according to their initiative which is probably better for practical use as this is the order units will actually move in battle. To hopefully make it even more convenient, I'll also color the units based on age (matching above) so as to somewhat naturally filter the list if you're only interested in a particular age. Units that share a number/line will all have the same turn order in battle, usually alternating their turns (including with the enemy side) when paired together, and will move before all units on lines below them. I'll also repeat that for units from other ages, their initiative matches their movement so you can simply compare that number to the ones in this list to determine when they'll move in battles with these units.
Rapid Deployment: Ninja, Medusa
65: Glider
60: Cannon, Eel, Gliders
55: Hammer
50: Sentinel, Monk, Scimitar, Raider
45: Manta
40: Surrogate
35: Harpoon
30: Cavitation, Ghost, Drone
25: Hiker, Dragon, Nail, Tesla, Rocket
24: Sub, Nautilus
22: Champion, Turturret
21: Fortress
20: Fist, B.E.L.T., Samurai
16: Plasma
15: Shredder, Sniperbot
12: C.R.A.B.
10: Drones, Observer, Warden, Ronin, Octopod, Behemoth, Drummer, Color Guard
6: Drill
5: Marine
1: Rogue
Notes: As mentioned, units prior to Arctic Future (and Champions prior to Space Age Asteroid Belt) have matching movement and initiative. Knowing this, I verified values by using lower-age units and comparing the turn orders against them. In addition, all three No Age units have lower initiative than their movement indicates.
Format: Unit name: movement / initiative
No Age
Rogue: 14 / 1
Military Drummer: 14 / 10 (thanks @Ploton Plaximus for bringing this to my attention)
Color Guard: 12 / 10
Arctic Future
Recon Raider: 36 / 50
Battle Fortress: 20 / 21
Behemoth: 12 / 10
Dragon Drone: 32 / 30
Plasma Artillery: 14 / 16
Surrogate Soldier: 18 / 40
Oceanic Future
Hydroelectric Eel: 35 / 60
Gliders: 30 / 60
Octopod: 20/ 10
C.R.A.B. Mech: 20 / 12
Scimitar: 35 / 50
Manta: 24 / 45
Turturret: 10 / 22
Medusa: 0 / 100 (shares turn order with other Rapid Deployment units)
Sub Cruiser: 22 / 24
Nautilus: 22 / 24
Virtual Future
Warrior Monk: 40 / 50 (thanks @xivarmy)
Ronin Bot: 15 / 10
Augmented Samurai: 30 / 20
Rocket Troop: 12 / 25
Ninja: 20 / 100 (shares turn order with other Rapid Deployment units)
Space Age Mars
Sentinel: 30 / 50
Steel Warden: 18 / 10
Space Marine: 30 / 5
Sniperbot: 14 / 15
Tesla Walker: 16 / 25
Space Age Asteroid Belt
Hover Hammer: 28 / 55
Shredder: 18 / 15
Drill Ranger: 26 / 6
B.E.L.T.: 10 / 20
Nail Storm: 14 / 25
Champion: 20 / 22 (this is the first time the Champion's initiative differs from his movement)
Space Age Venus
Energy Cannon: 30 / 60
Steel Fist: 18 / 20
Observer Drone: 24 / 10
Power Dragon: 12 / 25
Ghost Blaster: 16 / 30
Champion: 20 / 22
Space Age Jupiter Moon
Abyssal Glider: 30 / 65
Glacier Hiker: 18 / 25
Division Drones: 25 / 10
Cavitation Tank: 12 / 30
Harpoon Grenadier: 16 / 35
Champion: 20 / 22
EDIT: By request, I'll also sort the units according to their initiative which is probably better for practical use as this is the order units will actually move in battle. To hopefully make it even more convenient, I'll also color the units based on age (matching above) so as to somewhat naturally filter the list if you're only interested in a particular age. Units that share a number/line will all have the same turn order in battle, usually alternating their turns (including with the enemy side) when paired together, and will move before all units on lines below them. I'll also repeat that for units from other ages, their initiative matches their movement so you can simply compare that number to the ones in this list to determine when they'll move in battles with these units.
Rapid Deployment: Ninja, Medusa
65: Glider
60: Cannon, Eel, Gliders
55: Hammer
50: Sentinel, Monk, Scimitar, Raider
45: Manta
40: Surrogate
35: Harpoon
30: Cavitation, Ghost, Drone
25: Hiker, Dragon, Nail, Tesla, Rocket
24: Sub, Nautilus
22: Champion, Turturret
21: Fortress
20: Fist, B.E.L.T., Samurai
16: Plasma
15: Shredder, Sniperbot
12: C.R.A.B.
10: Drones, Observer, Warden, Ronin, Octopod, Behemoth, Drummer, Color Guard
6: Drill
5: Marine
1: Rogue
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