Veterancy
A unit that destroys enemies gets better at fighting. The game counts each unit's kills, and every 5 kills raise its veteran level by one. The label "Veteran" appears when you hold the cursor over a unit with 5 kills or more.
What Counts as a Kill
A unit is credited with a kill when it dealt the last damage to an enemy unit that was finished. Kills by weapons and by reclaiming both count. Destroying your own units does not, nor does an enemy that self-destructs. A captured unit starts again with no kills.
The Bonuses
The level is the number of kills divided by 5, rounded down. The first three bonuses stop growing at level 5, which is 25 kills. The others follow their own rules, and three of them have no limit.
| Bonus | Per level | At 25 kills |
|---|---|---|
| Damage dealt | +6% | +30% |
| Damage taken | −4% | −20% |
| Time between shots | −6% | −30% |
| Bonus | Rule |
|---|---|
| Accuracy | From 24 kills, turret weapons scatter less: the scatter is divided by the kills ÷ 12, rounded down. |
| Leading targets | From 6 kills, the unit aims ahead of a moving target, at 80% of where the target will be when the shot arrives. Below 6 kills, it aims where the target is. |
| Resisting capture | Each level adds 10% to the time it takes to capture the unit, with no limit. |
| Reclaiming | A builder with kills reclaims units faster: × 2 at 5 kills, × 3 at 10. |
The damage and armour bonuses round down to whole hit points. They do not apply to repair, which always restores the full amount. Veterancy gives no bonus to sight, radar, speed or hit points.
Worked Example
A Peewee fires bursts of 3 pellets, 8 damage each, every 0.4 seconds.
| No kills | 25 kills | |
|---|---|---|
| Damage per pellet | 8 | 10 |
| Time between bursts | 0.4 seconds | 0.27 seconds |
| Damage per second | 60 | 112.5 |
| Damage taken from a 60-damage laser | 60 | 48 |
The veteran Peewee does nearly twice the damage and takes a fifth less. Because pellets do whole numbers of damage, 8 × 1.3 = 10.4 becomes 10.
A unit that lacks 6 kills does not lead its target. Against a Flash racing across its field of fire, a slow shell from a new Hammer lands where the Flash was. The same Hammer with 6 kills aims ahead.