Overheat, Suppression, and Overwatch

A long firefight isn’t just about "who shoots more." In Last Frontier, sustained fire gradually overheats your weapon, accurate hits pin the target down, and one ability lets you keep a whole sector covered while you deal with something else. Let’s break down the three systems that turn combat from an exchange of shots into a contest of managing pressure.

Overheat: the price of sustained fire

Every ranged shot builds up "heat" on the shooter. The longer you fire without a pause, the wider your spread (accuracy drops) and the more often the weapon jams. This isn’t a property of the barrel but a state of the fighter himself: heat is stored on the character, not on the item, so swapping weapons mid-fight doesn’t reset accumulated heat. Melee neither builds heat nor suffers from it.

• Heat per shot. One fired round adds 1 heat. A three-round burst adds 3, a five-round burst 4, and a ten-round burst 8 before ability bonuses. Short and long bursts heat differently: watch burst length and the weapon indicator.
• Accuracy penalty. For each unit of effective heat, accuracy drops by 1, but no more than 25 — that’s the cap on the spread penalty.
• Jamming. Heat raises the chance of jamming the barrel: the more heat, the higher the chance. When heat reaches the overheat threshold — 30 units — the weapon jams for certain, and heat resets to zero at the same time, so you can clear the jam and keep going.

Cooling down. After three seconds without a shot, heat starts falling by one unit every quarter second. A two-second pause has not started cooling yet. For example, 20 heat clears completely 8 seconds after the last shot without cooling bonuses. There is no universal number of bursts before a jam: burst length, pauses, and abilities all matter.

What the player sees. The active weapon’s icon reddens as heat rises, and at the threshold itself it starts flashing red — that’s the "about to jam" signal. Overheat then shows a jam message. There are heat-management abilities (the heavy weapons branch): they raise the overheat threshold, speed up cooling, or reduce the heat gained per shot.

Suppression: pin the enemy with fire

Every ranged hit applies suppression stacks to the target. Melee and area damage from explosions/fire don’t suppress. Stacks decay linearly over time, so you can only keep an enemy "pinned" with continuous fire — give him a breather and the effect fades.

• How much is applied. A single shot gives 1 stack, a burst gives 3 (by default). The cap is 10 stacks.
• Target’s accuracy. Each stack lowers its hit chance by 3 (down to −30 at the max). A pinned shooter misses.
• Run speed. Each stack takes away 5% of run speed, down to −30%. A pinned target finds it harder to reposition or escape.
• Attack pace. Above 6 stacks, the delay between attacks grows — by 10% for each stack over the threshold.
• AI reaction. The AI treats a suppressed target as less dangerous with each stack, so enemies are more willing to close in on a pinned shooter or, conversely, break off to a distance. And under especially heavy suppression — like the kind the top ability of the heavy weapons branch delivers — a non-player enemy may break into panic and run.

For reference, an ordinary burst that hits adds 3 stacks: −9 accuracy and −15% run speed. Maximum penalties are capped at −30 accuracy and −30% run speed. Players and NPCs can suppress each other, but players at level 3 or below receive half the added suppression, with a minimum of 1 stack. A blue bar grows above a suppressed creature; abilities can change the gain per hit.

Under heavy suppression, shooters look for a better position and favor low cover. Do not assume a pinned enemy will stay put: watch for retreats and repositioning. Pin down (F7) adds one extra suppression stack to your next hit; first select the action on the panel. See the abilities guide for its cost and conditions.

Overwatch: keep a sector covered

Overwatch is a combat action for light small arms. Unlock the ability, choose Overwatch on the combat move strip or press V, then click the map to choose one of the six hex directions. Your character turns and holds the sector; enemy movement into it triggers an automatic shot attempt. Hitting still depends on accuracy and the target’s dodge.

• Entry conditions. You must be alive, on the map, not moving and not attached, holding a ready ranged weapon of the light class that fires at a target rather than an area, with ammo and enough stamina.
• Cost and duration. Setting up the sector costs 15 stamina and holds it for up to 10 seconds. The action’s 12-second cooldown starts when the sector is set. The shot itself spends stamina at the weapon’s normal rate.
• Sector. The watched arc is ±60° around the chosen direction.
• Triggering. The shot fires when an enemy enters the arc from outside, is visible, is within the weapon’s range, and isn’t considered friendly. Allied movement is ignored and doesn’t spend the sector. The shot goes through the normal weapon path — meaning cooldown, ammo, reliability, heat, suppression, hit, and damage are all accounted for the same way.

Pressing the button or V again cancels direction selection or clears an established sector. Canceling before setup is free; stamina spent on setup is not refunded, and the cooldown remains.

An amber timer and direction markers appear above your character; the bar flashes red as time runs out. Overwatch is useful by a passage or on a known enemy route. Choose a position with a clear firing line and keep enough stamina for the shot and retreat.

Perception and combat shape

Combat awareness rests on the character’s perception: it affects accuracy, field of view, and the chance of a critical result — an attentive fighter values position, a clear line of fire, and the ability to spot a threat sooner. And remember: a character’s conditions hit not only health but combat shape too. Hypothermia, frostbite, poison, radiation, fatigue, and wounds worsen field of view and lower pace and accuracy. A fighter who comes into a firefight worn out watches and shoots worse — before overheat and suppression even enter the picture.

Repeating and queuing moves

The main button selects one accepted attack; pressing it again cancels selection, and another move replaces it. On the right, ∞ repeats one move in subsequent attacks; press ∞ again to stop. + appends one attack in click order, up to 99: head, head, slow down, head executes in that order. +N shows how many attacks with that move remain, and the tooltip shows the order. The main button and ∞ clear the queue. Repeating uses your existing attack cycle against the chosen target; selection itself does not attack.

An accepted attack consumes one entry even if it misses; rejection consumes none. Attacks become ordinary when the queue ends. A special move waits for its cooldown, stamina, and a working loaded weapon. A basic move works without its enhancement and, in repeat or queue mode, uses it again when ready. A single basic selection does not upgrade itself after a cooldown. Every attack pays its own full stamina and cooldowns; building the program is free. Pausing and changing targets preserve it; changing weapons, hands, attack mode, map, dying, ending the session, or switching characters clears it.

Overwatch uses one sector for the entire program. Each new setup pays entry stamina and starts its cooldown again; the automatic shot separately pays the weapon cost and consumes one entry. Expiry without a shot does not reduce the queue: the sector is set again when ready. Movement with Overwatch in the program cancels it, even when the move is later in the queue. The main button on active Overwatch keeps the paid sector for one shot.