Fig 1Torch: anatomy6,333 hp · 380 dmg/s · range 7.5
Move over the stand to move the target · F fires
The Spine: torso, tanks, hoses, arms (turns to aim)Hips and legs (walk the belt)The torso's ±75° aim limits on the railThe Torch is the cheap anti-swarm unit: 125 to deploy, a squad of 3 slow walkers (0.9 tiles a second), each with 6,333 hp and two flame projectors that deal 38 damage every 0.1 s (380 a second, 1,140 for the squad) with a 0.7-tile splash, out to 7.5 tiles (75 m), at ground targets only. Splash on every tick is what melts packs of small units: in the launch balance matrix it beats Skitter, Hexguard, Ridgeback, Courser and the Anvil (and the Heron in the bigger battles), and it loses to Rotor, Cutter, Mirage, Seraph, Aurochs, Weaver, Salvo, Breaker, the Landship and the Dreadnought: anything big, armoured or flying outlasts it. Put it where the chaff will arrive, on the front line beside a tank or on the flank a swarm likes to wrap, and leave the heavies, the air and the long guns to the rest of the army. Fire Carpet (200) leaves burning ground (270 damage a second for 4 s, 0.7-tile radius) that denies a lane to swarms; Long Barrels (100) stretch the stream to 11.5 tiles (115 m) so it lights them before they close; Heavy Plating (150) adds 40% hp and blocks 60 of every hit, worth most against a swarm's many small hits. On the stand the legs keep walking at the true pace while the Spine turns up to 75° either way at 135°/s to keep both projectors on the target, as the Torch does in the game today, firing on the march; the stream is drawn short.