Icon Structure

Learn how the strategic icons are structured

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There well over 400 units in BAR, and they all have a unique strategic icon.
Thats a lot!

But there is a well structured system behind it. We'll explain the key elements in all strategic icons that will help you find you units quicker.

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Unit Types / Shapes

Each unittype has it's own silhouete or shape. You can quickly see this. Below are all the unit-types in BAR:

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Bots

Everything that is walking and has legs and/or arms is defined by a Circle.

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Vehicles

Everything with wheels or tracks and can only move on land is defined by a Diamond.

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Aircraft

Every plane that needs to move in order to fly, which can of course traverse all the map, but can only land on land is defined by a Triangle.

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VTOL

Every hovering aircraft that can also take-off/land vertically and some can also land on sea or even underwater are defined by a inverse Triangle.

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Amphibious

Every unit that can traverse on land & under water is defined by an elongated Hexagon. Amphibious bots have a flattened bottom.

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Hovercraft

All units that hover on land & over water ar defined by a Trapezoid.

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Ships

All water based units that need (deep) water to move are defined by a square with a rounded side.

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Subs

All underwater based units that need deep water to move are defined by a Sub shape.

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Structures

All buildings and structures in the game are (generally) defined by a Square.

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Defenses

All defensive buildings are (generally) defined by a Shield.

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Tech Levels

These are the little dots (usually) on the bottom of the icon.

‍No dots is Tech Level 1

2 dots is Tech Level 2

3 dots is (Experimental) Tech Level 3

There is a special case with 1 dot, which are for the Seaplanes - which are substantially stronger than T1 aircraft.

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Weapons / Roles

The most important part of the strategic icon is the weapontype or role.

The weapon symbol determines exactly what unit this is. There are many weapon types in the game, but all have their unique icon, which also be a unique combination of unit-type, techlevel, shape and weapon.

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Light Weapons / Scout

The arrow to the right indicates this is fast unit, usually with light lasers or light machine-gun weapons.

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Mortar / Artillery

Long range, High damage but slow reload.

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Plasma Shells

Default Cannons for a lot of bots, vehicles and ships.

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Rockets

Both guided and unguided rockets.

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Lasers

Direct fire, usually in short bursts, perfect aim and often with an energy-cost.

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Anti-Air (AA)

These can be rockets or Flak cannons.

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Radar

Units with radar and longer line of sight.

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Jammers

Block radar coverage.

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Fire / Flamethrower

Shortrange, but massive damage and area of effect.

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Lightning Cannons

Short direct bursts of electricity, also arcing to adjacent units.

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Bombs

Dropped from aircraft only. 2 Bombs are regular bombs, 3 bombs are extra volatile.

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EMP

Can be in the form of lasers, rockets or bombs.

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Torpedos

Unguided, but do maximum damage to ships.

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Support Units

Then there are special icons for all support and construction units.

Construction

These can be of all unit types and have the ability to construct, repair and reclaim.

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Resurrect

Resurrect-bots are very important. They can repair and reclaim, but they can also resurrect fallen units.

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Fast Assist & Repair

Fast Assist & Repair Bots . They are fast and can repair and reclaim, and can also build some units or defenses on the front.

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Spy / Cloak

Specialist in cloaking and spying on enemy activity and/or beyond their lines.

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Minelayers

The name says it all.

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Unique Silhouettes

There are more icons that have a unique shape, usually recognizable as the same shape of the unit.

But every unique unit icon is a variant or combination of the above. There is a handful of exceptions to these rules, but you'll find that these icons belong to higher tech-levels or even experimental ones.

You will learn them fast enough once you build or better yet, encounter them :)

Good Luck!

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