Suppression Mechanics

What is suppression?

Suppression is temporary combat disruption applied by certain attacks (commonly artillery-style attacks). It does not remove permanent HP by itself. Instead, it reduces a unit’s effective strength for the rest of the current player turn.

In practice, an attack can split into:

• Hard damage: permanent HP loss
• Suppression: temporary disruption that lowers effective combat power

Hard damage vs suppression

If an attack shows -3 damage and +3 SUP:

• Target HP goes from 10 -> 7 (hard damage)
• Target is suppressed for 3
• Effective combat strength becomes 7 - 3 = 4 for this turn window

The unit is still alive at 7 HP, but it fights like a weaker unit until suppression clears.

Effective strength and counter-attacks

Suppression affects combat, not movement:

• Suppressed units still exist on the map and keep their position
• Their outgoing damage is reduced because effective strength is lower
• Their counter-attacks are also reduced for the same reason

If effective strength is at or below the pinned threshold, the unit cannot counter-attack.

Current default:

• Pinned threshold = 1

That means a unit at effective strength 1 is considered pinned and cannot retaliate.

When does suppression clear?

Suppression lasts through the active player’s turn and is cleared on turn transition.

Typical flow:

1. Player A attacks and applies suppression to Player B’s unit
2. Player A follows up with additional attacks this turn
3. Player A ends turn
4. Suppression on Player B units is cleared

This keeps suppression focused on immediate tactical coordination, not long-term movement lock.

Stacking suppression

Multiple attacks in the same turn can stack suppression on a target. This makes coordinated fire powerful: one unit softens and disrupts, then other units exploit before the turn ends.

What you see in combat and replay

Suppression is shown in two places:

• Combat floaties: hard damage first (e.g. -3), then suppression (e.g. +3 SUP)
• Unit HP badge: split display so you can read available strength vs suppressed portion

Replay uses the same suppression events, so what you review matches what happened live.

Tactical advice

• Use suppression to set up safe attacks, not only to chase kills
• Focus-fire one target in the same turn to exploit suppression before it clears
• Keep fragile attackers behind a frontline; pinned defenders may fail to counter
• If a key unit is suppressed, avoid risky trades and wait for turn reset when possible

Next Steps

• Review Units Guide for artillery roles and team compositions
• See Match Replay to analyze suppression timing
• Read Getting Started for combat basics

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Suppression wins windows. Hard damage wins wars.