(This article is under construction!)
1 Information
Stoudson Bomb (also known as 'Superitem') is a unique game system mechanism that appears in Urban Assault.
2 Official Description
QuoteStoudson Bomb—Originally manufactured as a weapon against invading Mykonian and Sulgogar forces, whose substance and composition were unknown to us, the Stoudson Bomb produces a photon shockwave that breaks down all matter on the molecular level. Our enemies, however, have broken the trigger codes, and predeployed Stoudson Bombs can now be a threat to your Resistance efforts as well. Once all the Stoudson trigger sectors and the bomb itself have been acquired, the bomb will begin to count down. Countdowns range from 5 to 10 minutes. After the bomb explodes, the battlefield is completely cleared of all other faction vehicles and buildings. Only your Host Station and vehicles remain, provided you are the owner of all triggers.
Stoudson Trigger—This device, when conquered in conjunction with other triggers like it, activates the countdown for the Stoudson Bomb. Whoever owns all Stoudson Triggers on a level controls the ultimate weapon for total level annihilation, while at the same time sparing his own forces from the effects of the bomb shockwave.
3 Overview
The Stoudson Bomb is an ultimate weapon of mass destruction. Once detonated, the Stoudson bomb will generate a massive and devastating radial wall of photon shockwave that will propagate towards all directions from the ground zero, eliminating all enemy presence and structures from the level in the process. The units of the faction that detonated the bomb will remain unaffected by the shockwave. However, all structures and buildings, including the friendly buildings, will be completely destroyed in the process.
The Stoudson Bomb has two main components: The bomb sector, and the bomb's trigger points.
4 Gameplay
The Stoudson Bomb is found in many levels, and it can be a decisive factor that will determine the outcomes of the missions it appears in.
In the single-player missions where the enemies control the Stoudson Bomb, it is usually the player's top priority to stop the bomb's countdown by locating and capturing the bomb or its trigger points; or completely disable and take over the control of the bomb from the enemies by capturing the bomb and all its connected trigger sectors. In the missions where the player has successfully secured the bomb and activated it, the player can usually focus on defending the bomb and its trigger points until the bomb's countdown reaches zero. However, it is important to note that the enemy host stations destroyed via Stoudson Bomb's shockwave will not contribute to increasing the beam gate capacity.
In the multiplayer levels where the Stoudson Bomb makes an appearance, the players will usually focus their efforts on acquiring the bomb and its trigger points under their control, and as a result these areas will be heavily contested; similar to the technology upgrade sectors.
5 Mechanics
Each set of Stoudson Bomb is divided into two main parts: The bomb itself, and its trigger point(s).
5.1 Stoudson Bomb
The main part of the bomb that will detonate and clear the level once all its trigger points are under control of one faction and its timer countdown reaches zero. There can be maximum 8 separate sets of Stoudson Bombs that can be placed inside a level.
5.2 Stoudson Triggers
The Stoudson Bomb requires its owner to control all its connected trigger points to activate the bomb and initiate the countdown sequence.
5.3 Logics
- If any faction owns a Stoudson Bomb and all its trigger points, the bomb will be activated and the countdown timer will begin.
- If the faction controlling the bomb loses control of the bomb itself, or one of its trigger points, the bomb will freeze and its countdown timer will pause.
- If the faction controlling the bomb loses control of the bomb itself, as well as all of its trigger points, the bomb will be deactivated and its countdown timer will be completely reset.
6 Notes
There are maximum eight independent Stoudson Bombs that can be placed in a level. (Nine is technically possible, but this is a result of a buffer overflow and thus may destabilise the game; therefore not recommended.
In very rare cases on multiplayer, when the connection status between players are not optimal and there's significant synchronisation delays of packets exchanged between multiple PCs over the network (for example, on the internet), the current ownership of the bomb may take extra latency time to update accordingly for all players, and this mismatch could result in a paradoxical situation where one player has detonated the bomb on their PC client while the other players have stopped the bomb with a timer value still left on their screens. This is a result of the original peer-to-peer type connection used for the multiplayer layer (Microsoft DirectPlay).
7 Trivia
The name 'Stoudson' is derived from the combination of rare Scandinavian/Nordic surname 'Stoud', and the common Northern European suffix '-son'. It cognates with various Northern European names such as (Snorri) Sturluson.