Physics is weird. In the world of TABS Seek and Destroy, it’s a chaotic masterpiece of flailing limbs and unexpected explosions. If you’ve spent any time in Totally Accurate Battle Simulator (TABS), you know that Landfall Games doesn’t exactly do things by the book. They embrace the jank. They love the wobble.
Most people think of TABS as a sandbox where you just watch wobblers hit each other with sticks. But the Seek and Destroy mechanics—and the community-driven mods that expanded them—changed the DNA of the game. It turned a spectator sport into something much more aggressive.
The Chaos of Target Acquisition
The "Seek and Destroy" logic in TABS isn't some high-level military AI. It’s basically a bunch of units with googly eyes asking, "Is that guy closer than that guy?" and then sprinting headfirst into a pike. It’s beautiful.
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Early on, the community noticed that certain units, like the Dark Peasant or the Reaper, had "search" ranges that felt almost predatory. They didn't just walk; they hunted. This led to a massive surge in "Unit Possession" gameplay. Honestly, the game feels totally different when you aren't just the commander. When you take over a unit, you become the seek and destroy engine. You see the pathfinding flaws. You see how a single rock can ruin a unit's entire day.
Landfall’s development philosophy has always been about "intended accidents." When they were building the pathfinding for the game's various factions—from the wobbling Vikings to the literal gods of the Ancient faction—they realized that making units too smart actually made the game less fun. If a unit perfectly maneuvers around an obstacle, it’s boring. If it tries to seek an enemy by walking off a cliff? That’s TABS.
Why the Modding Scene Obsessed Over TABS Seek and Destroy
Mods changed everything. For a long time, the "Seek and Destroy" tag was synonymous with specific script modifications found on platforms like Thunderstore or the Steam Workshop. Modders wanted to push the AI's aggression. They wanted units that wouldn't just wait for the enemy to close the gap, but units that would hunt across the entire map with zero regard for self-preservation.
The "TABS Seek and Destroy" concept often refers to the UCM (Unit Creator Mod) or the Hidden Units mods. These allowed players to crank up the "Aggro" stats. You’d have a halfling with the speed of a racecar and the killing intent of a Terminator. It’s hilarious. It’s also surprisingly complex to balance.
I remember watching a streamer try to set up a Seek and Destroy challenge where one "Alpha" unit had to hunt down 100 peasants in the spooky forest map. The AI kept getting stuck on trees. That’s the nuance of TABS. You can give a unit all the "seek" logic in the world, but the "destroy" part is always at the mercy of the physics engine.
The Technical Side of the Wobble
Technically speaking, TABS uses a navigation mesh (NavMesh), but it’s heavily modified to interact with active ragdolls. This is why units look so drunk. Their legs are trying to follow a path, but their upper bodies are reacting to gravity, wind, and the giant boulder that just flew past their head.
When we talk about TABS Seek and Destroy, we're talking about the interplay between:
- Detection Radius: How far a unit can "see" an enemy.
- Target Weighting: Does the unit go for the closest enemy or the one with the highest health?
- Movement Force: How much "oomph" is behind those wobbly legs.
Most players don't realize that Landfall actually tweaked these values significantly during the 1.0 release. They had to. Certain units were so "good" at seeking and destroying that they broke the balance of the campaign. If you’ve ever wondered why the Ballista feels so sluggish to turn, it’s because if it had a higher seek speed, it would be an unbeatable sniper.
How to Master the Hunt
If you’re trying to optimize your Seek and Destroy tactics in the unit creator, you’ve gotta stop thinking like a programmer and start thinking like a toddler with a slingshot.
- Don't Max Out Speed: A unit that moves too fast will often "overshoot" its target. In TABS, momentum is a killer. If your unit is seeking an enemy near a ledge and it’s moving at 10x speed, it’s going to fly right off the map. Keep the speed around 2.5x for the most "aggressive but controlled" feel.
- Use the "Hover" Ability Wisely: If you want a true seek and destroy unit, give them a bit of levitation. It bypasses the NavMesh issues. A floating unit doesn't care about a pebble on the ground.
- Projectiles vs. Melee: Melee units have better "seek" logic because they are constantly recalculating the shortest path. Projectile units tend to "stick" to a target even if a better one presents itself.
The Misconception of "Smart" AI
There is a common myth in the TABS community that the AI "learns." It doesn't. There is no machine learning happening under the hood of those googly eyes. Every battle is a fresh start. The reason it feels like the AI is getting smarter is usually just down to RNG—Random Number Generation.
Sometimes, the physics just align. A knight might perfectly parry three attacks in a row, making you think he's a god. In reality, the collision boxes just hit at the perfect angle. That’s the magic of TABS Seek and Destroy. It’s the illusion of competence.
Landfall’s CEO, Wilnyl (Wilhelm Nylund), has often talked about how the game's charm comes from this struggle. If the units were actually good at their jobs, the game would lose its soul. We don't play TABS to see a perfect military simulation. We play it to see a giant mammoth get tripped by a single apple.
Moving Forward with Your Creations
If you want to dive deeper into the Seek and Destroy mechanics, start by messing with the Unit Creator's specialized behaviors. Look for the "Targeting" tab. Most people just leave it on "Default," but if you switch it to "Protect" or "Hunt," you’ll see a massive shift in how the battle plays out.
Try creating a "Seeker" unit with high health and no weapons, and a "Destroyer" unit that is fast but fragile. See how they interact. The game’s logic allows for some surprisingly complex "pack" behaviors if you set the weights correctly.
Stop looking for the "best" unit. Start looking for the funniest way to win. That’s always been the secret to TABS. Whether you’re using the official Seek and Destroy logic or modding the game until it crashes, the goal is the same: beautiful, wobbly carnage.
Go into the Unit Creator tonight. Set a unit's movement speed to something ridiculous. Give them the "Blink" ability. Set their target priority to "Highest Cost." Watch what happens. You'll quickly realize that the "Seek" part is easy—it's the "Destroy" part that usually ends in a hilarious, physics-defying failure.
Actionable Insights for TABS Players:
- Use the Possession Feature (hit 'F' on PC) to manually override the Seek and Destroy AI if your unit is being stupid.
- In the Unit Creator, Attack Gravity is a hidden gem; lowering it helps units "seek" targets in the air much better.
- If a unit won't stop spinning, check the Torque settings in your mods; too much "seek" force often results in a "death spin" where the physics engine gives up.
- For the most aggressive AI, combine the Berserker leap with a short-range melee weapon; it forces the "seek" logic to reset every time the unit jumps.