Lictor Synchronization and Stacking

Summary

Normally, the game enforces a 1.2s minimum gap between serious attacks (SPECIAL/HEAVY/LIGHT) on a single player. This is the Global Sparsing rule, and it's what keeps combat from devolving into simultaneous attack spam. But a handful of enemies and specific attacks bypass this rule entirely by using ForceTemporaryToken instead of ConditionalActivatorTokenRequester in their behavior trees. Forced tokens skip the distributor's rule stack: no threat bank check, no pool count, no Global Sparse, no engagement reward freeze.

The only thing that still throttles forced tokens is TokenDistributorRuleLimitParallelForcedTokens, which caps parallel forced SPECIAL+HEAVY to 1 at a time on default settings (2 HEAVY on Story Insane). But this limiter does NOT apply to LIGHT or TINY forces, and it doesn't apply to scripted AI tasks dispatched from encounter scripting. The practical result: some enemies can land attacks on a player faster than the Global Sparse would normally allow, and some scripted events can launch multiple synced attacks regardless of the limiter.

This writeup documents which enemies bypass the throttle most heavily, explains the mechanics behind synced attacks, and gives tactical reads on how to recognize "forced token" encounters in the moment.

Why Lictors Can Sync-Attack

The Lictor is the archetypal "ignores the 1.2s rule" enemy. Every token decorator in Lictor behavior trees is a force — 16 force nodes, 0 request nodes across all of their combat, stealth, recovery, and boss files. Normal combat forces HEAVY. Stealth ambush forces SPECIAL.

Two mechanics then let multiple Lictors visibly sync up despite the 1-parallel-forced limit:

1. Scripted AI tasks. The Ambush Attack is dispatched through ai_task_lictor_force_ambush_bhv, a task pushed onto the Lictor by encounter scripting rather than selected by the normal combat tree. Tasks are orchestrated externally — a scripted spawn event that drops three Lictors onto a player can push the same task to all three, commanding them to pounce in parallel without ever consulting the token distributor's parallel limiter.

2. Spawn Protection ending simultaneously. When multiple Lictors spawn together, the 3s TokenDistributorRuleSpawnProtection timer freezes all attacks. When it expires (on a single frame, since they share the player distributor's timer), every Lictor becomes eligible at once. Because their attacks are forced, there's no 1.2s stagger between the first and second — only the natural difference in windup animations between their chosen katas. To a player, this reads as "they all pounced at the same time."

The Lictor is the only enemy in the game whose entire kit is forced tokens PLUS uses scripted ambush tasks PLUS regularly spawns in groups.

Enemy Force-Ratio Audit

A grep across all behavior tree files per enemy, counting BhvNodeDecoratorForceTemporaryToken (Force) vs BhvNodeDecoratorConditionalActivatorTokenRequester (Request).

100% Forced (No Requests At All)

These enemies use ForceTemporaryToken on every attack they have. They can all theoretically ignore the 1.2s Global Sparse, subject only to the 1-parallel-forced limiter.

Heavy Force Reliance (>40%)

These enemies mix forces and requests but lean heavily on force for key attacks — usually recovery counter-attacks, grabs, and high-commitment katas.

Moderate Force Usage (15–40%)

Fully Well-Behaved (0% Forced)

These enemies use only ConditionalActivatorTokenRequester. They always play by the 1.2s Global Sparse rule, always compete for limited token pools, and never sync-attack.

Hordes feeling "oppressive but fair" is literally by design — every Hormagaunt swipe passes through the token distributor and competes with every other Hormagaunt for TINY pool slots. The chaos is emergent, not scripted around the throttle.

No Token Decorators At All

This is a separate category from "100% forced." These bosses/specials don't participate in the token system at all — they're driven by ability controllers and scripted phases rather than the normal combat AI decision tree. In practice, this means their attacks have their own internal cooldowns but are completely invisible to the token distributor.

The Three Ways to Bypass the 1.2s Rule

1. ForceTemporaryToken in the behavior tree. The most common bypass. Used for committed combos, recovery counter-attacks, grabs, and high-commitment attacks where designers didn't want token starvation to cancel the swing. The enemy still goes through the distributor, but the distributor's rules are ignored for forced requests (except the parallel limiter).

2. Scripted AI tasks. Tasks like ai_task_lictor_force_ambush_bhv are pushed onto enemies from outside the normal combat tree. Encounter scripts can command multiple enemies to run the same task simultaneously. The parallel-forced limit doesn't apply at the task level because each task manages its own attack dispatch independently.

3. Ability controllers / scripted phases. Carnifex, Hierophant, and some boss phases dispatch attacks through ability controllers (.sso controllers in the class file) rather than the token-decorated behavior tree. These attacks don't participate in the token system at all — no request, no force, no visibility to the distributor.

Which Attacks You Should Expect to Bypass the Throttle

Based on the audit, here are the moments in combat where the 1.2s rule does not protect you:

Recovery Counter-Attacks

When you shoot an elite in Recovery, many recovery trees conclude with a forced counter-attack. This is why hitting a recovering enemy with ranged fire sometimes triggers an immediate retaliation despite you having just attacked a different enemy nearby. Ravener recovery, Rubric Marine recovery, Chaos Spawn recovery melee are all forced.

Grabs

Most grab attacks (Zoanthrope, Chaos Spawn variant grabs, Lictor Ambush) are forced SPECIAL tokens. Grabs are also subject to the 1 parallel SPECIAL force limit, which is why you almost never see two simultaneous grabs, but a grab can interrupt a Global Sparse window.

Recovery From Ranged Damage on Anchored Enemies

Biovore is the standout here — 82% force ratio, and the forced attacks are concentrated in its recovery behaviors. Shooting a Biovore triggers forced attacks that don't wait for the 1.2s window.

Lictor & Ravener At All Times

Both of these enemies have zero requests in their entire kit. Every attack they throw is a bypass. In any encounter where you see multiple Lictors or Raveners, expect the 1.2s spacing to break.

Scripted Spawn / Ambush Events

When the encounter script spawns enemies with a scripted task (Lictor ambush, boss phase transitions, some arena encounters), the normal distribution rules may not apply. If several enemies appear in a scripted sync-up moment, assume the throttle is off for that beat.

Game Files

• {SERVER}/ssl/ai/behaviour/nodes/tokens/bhv_node_decorator_force_temporary_token.sso

• {SERVER}/ssl/ai/behaviour/nodes/tokens/bhv_node_decorator_conditional_activator_token_requester.sso

• {SERVER}/ssl/ai/attack_token/token_distributor_rule_global_cooldown.sso

• {SERVER}/ssl/ai/attack_token/token_distributor_rule_limit_parallel_forced_tokens.sso

• See Combat Token System for the full throttle pipeline