Mercenaries

Mercenaries are the units used in the rescue phase to protect citizens, kill Zed, and capture territories. They are what the player controls during the rescue phase, along with the CATBIRD Cannon.

Functionality
The player has a chance to gain Mercenaries after every successful rescue phase. A random selection of mercenaries are selected to go into each rescue phase with the player (unless the player has the Chooser modifier, in which case the selection is not random). Mercenaries are placed manually by the player at the beginning of every rescue phase. While in play, each mercenary gains experience, which allows the player to upgrade that mercenary's respective abilities at the end of the rescue phase.

List of Mercenaries
The following is a short list detailing each type of mercenary available in Atom Zombie Smasher, how they gain experience, and what their experience points can be used to upgrade. See each mercenary's dedicated page for more information.

Evac Helicopter
The evac helicopter is perhaps the most important mercenary in the game: it rescues civilians by dropping into the map and picking them up. It uses a blowhorn to signify its location to nearby citizens at the beginning of each pickup. The evac helicopter gains experience points by rescuing civilians. These experience points can be spent to upgrade its load time (how quickly it picks up each civilian) and its arrival time (how long it takes between each pickup).

Artillery
Artillery mercenaries are placed on rooftops in the map and can fire a large explosive shell at any point on the map, killing any Zed and damaging any buildings in the radius of the explosion. Artillery mercenaries are quite powerful; however, their shells take extra time to fire, and the cooldown between shots is lengthy. Artillery mercenaries gain experience points by killing Zed. These experience points can be spent to upgrade their impact time (time between aiming and firing) and reload time (cooldown period between shots). Artillery shells can kill civilians and other mercanaries as well as Zed, so aim carefully.

Barricade
Barricades are placed in streets on the map to divert the paths the Zed take. Barricades cannot be placed in any area that would fully prevent a Zed from free movement (e.g. blocking every exit from a spawning road). Barricades gain a number of experience points equal to the average experience points gained by each mercenary during that particular rescue phase. These experience points can be spent to increase the number of barricades the player can place every rescue phase. Remember that they block civilians too.

Dynamite
Dynamite sticks are placed in streets on the map to generate a controlled explosion when the player detonates them, killing any Zed or civilians and damaging any buildings in the radius. Dynamite can only be placed and activated once during a given rescue phase, and all dynamite on the map must be activated at one time. Dynamite gains experience points by killing Zed. These experience points can be spent to increase the number of sticks of dynamite the player can place every rescue phase.

Infantry
Infantry are placed in streets on the map and can kill Zed within a limited range of their location. They are one of the only units that can be moved after being placed on the map, and make up for their limited range with above average speed and accuracy. Infantry gain experience points by killing Zed. These experience points can be spent to upgrade their accuracy (how often a fired shot kills a Zed) and their speed (how quickly they can move across the map).

Landmines
Landmines are placed in streets on the map to generate a controlled explosion when a Zed walks over its location, killing any Zed or civilians and damaging any buildings in the radius. Landmines are expended for the rest of the rescue phase after their first and only use, but unlike dynamite, landmines detonate separately from each other. Landmines gain experience points by killing Zed. These experience points can be spent to increase the number of landmines the player can place every rescue phase.

Snipers
Snipers are placed on rooftops in the map and can fire at any Zed within their limited conic range. Snipers do not fire as quickly as Infantry, but never miss a shot. Their conic range can be moved from area to area, but they cannot fire while repositioning. Snipers gain experience points by killing Zed. These experience points can be spent to upgrade their refire rate (time between each shot) and repositioning time (time taken to move to a new sniping position).

Zed Bait
Zed Bait is placed in streets on the map and, when activated, lures all zombies within its range to its point on the map for a small period of time. Although Zed Bait does no damage to Zed, it can lure them into a trap or away from endangered civilians. Zed Bait gains experience points by luring Zed. These experience points can be spent to upgrade its range (how far its ability reaches), its activation time (how long it lures Zed at one time), and its recharge rate (time between each use).