Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector Units: Action Points, Command Points & More

Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector is a game of small-scale battles between the super soldier Space Marines of the Imperium of Man and the voracious swarming extragalactic Tyranids. Every unit has a unique battlefield identity guided by their stats and abilities. To find the optimal way of using units, it’s vital to first understand how they work.

Here are the main unit elements in Battlesector:

– Cost
– Momentum
– Evasion
– Armor
– Movement
– Action Points
– Hit Points
– Weapon
– Ability Action Bar
– Command Points

And here’s everything you need to know about units in Battlesector.

 

Cost

When going into a campaign mission or a skirmish, players will have a limited number of points with which to compose their troops. Every unit will have a cost associated with it, which generally corresponds to their overall combat value and tactical impact on the battlefield.

Generally, the heavily armored single-entity units will be more expensive due to survivability and flexibility of abilities, while multiple-entity units are considered to be workhorse line units, which will do most of the fighting and the dying. Unit costs can change quite drastically depending on the player’s weapon choice, turning a once dirt cheap throwaway unit into a costly but valuable part of the battle plan.

 

Momentum

Momentum is a unique mechanic introduced in Battlesector to give units the opportunity to perform heroic actions in the heat of battle. The Blood Angels and Tyranids gain Momentum in slightly different ways (typically killing and fighting) but both factions’ units will have a meter that will fill up to 100.

Once the bar fills up, players have the option to choose to empower an active ability or have the unit surge, giving them an extra action point to utilize in the turn. Take care, however, as momentum will degrade by a set amount every turn so a unit cannot hold momentum forever.

 

Evasion

Battlesector’s gameplay is all about movement and trying to limit enemy accuracy and damage against friendly units. Every unit will have a positive or negative evasion rating, which will affect the unit if it moves.

A negative evasion rating indicates that if the selected unit doesn’t move during the player’s turn, they will be easier to hit by the amount indicated, so it’s best to always move units even if they have a negative evasion rating. A positive evasion rating makes it harder to hit a unit if it moves during its turn. Changing facing doesn’t count as movement.

 

Armor

All units will have an armor rating, which decreases the damage received from enemy ranged fire or a melee attack. Generally, higher armor units will receive less damage (sometimes block it altogether), while low armor units will need to find alternative ways to defend themselves as they won’t be able to sufficiently mitigate damage.

However, all weapons and offensive abilities have an armor piercing rating, which reduces or ignores the target’s armor by the amount indicated. You’re going to need a weapon with extra punch to crack through the armor of the Space Marine mechanized units or the hulking bioforms of the Tyranids.

 

Movement

All units will have a distinct movement rating, which indicates how many tiles the unit can move within a turn. The cost of moving into a tile will usually be one Movement Point, but if a selected unit has no choice but to move through a friendly it will typically need to spend all of its Movement Points, as well as an Action Point to make the move.

Most types of hard terrain, like buildings, cliffs, crevasses, rocks, or wreckage will block movement altogether. There are a handful of units that either have jump packs or are flyers, which have the ability to move over blocking terrain.

 

Action Points

Action Points denote a unit’s ability to activate an ability in its Action Bar. These can range from using a weapon, triggering a buff or other effect, throwing a grenade, or even moving an extra tile.

All-non Hero units will have one Action Point to use per turn, unless the player triggers a Momentum Surge for the selected unit or there’s some other kind of ability that gives the unit an extra Action Point. Hero units have a standard of two Action Points, which makes them highly valuable and flexible units on the battlefield.

 

Hit Points

As long as units have hit points they will stay alive and can perform actions in combat. Single-entity units will have a single Hit Point bar, whereas multi-entity units will have a Hit Point bar for every member of the squad so that players can easily track the health status of their squad members.

The physical size of a unit is an effective at-a-glance indicator of the unit’s Hit Point pool, with the bulky Dreadnoughts and towering Tyrannofexes having a much higher amount of Hit Points compared to any individual Marine or Warrior. Hero units as single-entity units don’t always obey this principle as they will generally have a larger Hit Point pool to emphasize their value and resilience.

 

Weapon

All units will have a weapon of some sort, which denotes the corresponding active ability on the Action Bar. Hovering the mouse over the weapon name won’t bring up a tooltip, so it’s necessary to select a unit and check their action bar for the relevant weapon ability.

Most standard infantry units will have a single weapon associated with their unit, meaning they’re typically most effective against a single target type. Some single-entity, higher cost, or specialized units may have multiple weapons allowing them to flexibly tackle different threats and situations.

 

Ability Action Bar

The Ability Action Bar provides all the main commands a unit can perform, as well as what status effects are influencing the unit. Aside from the standard movement, overwatch, and change facing commands, units will have at least one ability associated with every named weapon it’s carrying.

Most abilities will have an Action Point cost associated with them, but once an ability is activated it normally doesn’t preclude the unit from moving (like in XCOM). Units will also gain contextual abilities in their action bar depending on the tactical situation they find themselves in, most prominently if a unit is engaged with an melee-equipped enemy unit the friendly can activate a fallback command, which gives the unit a chance to escape the enemy’s Zone of Control.

 

Command Points

There are only two units in the game that have access to Command Points: the Blood Angels Lieutenant and the Tyranid Hive Tyrant. Command Points, just like Momentum, build up based on the player’s actions, such as completing objectives and defeating enemy units.

Once the Hero unit earns some Command Points, this gives them the unique ability to call in a powerful action, usually a unit summon, an air strike, or an area-of-effect buff or debuff. These special Command abilities usually cost the Hero an Action Point as well as the indicated Command Points cost, essentially acting as an extra line of unit commands giving Heroes a greater degree of flexibility and power.

Now that you know the makeup of a unit the next phase can begin – studying all the available units for each faction and understanding their battlefield role. It’s then up to the player to find the right army composition to defeat their opponents and achieve victory.

READ NEXT: 15 Best Warhammer Strategy Games You Should Check Out