(TBD: refine and discuss the robot actions in detail)
Every player controls a swarm of robots to compete against other players. A robot is exactly what you’d expect — a mechanical unit with health points, energy for performing actions, having the ability to move, engage in combat, and upgrade itself through the purchase of upgrades.
Buying a Robot
Players can purchase new robots at any time during the game using their money. Newly bought robots spawn instantly at a space station dedicated to a player.
Action-Cooldown / -Queue [to be discussed]
After performing an action, a robot requires a short pause before executing the next one. This cooldown applies regardless of whether the action was successful or not. As a result, robots may not respond immediately to new commands.
Robots queue up actions and execute them in order. Players should carefully plan the number of commands they issue, as each action has a different cooldown duration. For instance, attacking another robot has a shorter cooldown than moving. Upgrades are available to reduce cooldown durations.
External actions do not trigger a cooldown, such as applying upgrades or collecting resources.
This mechanism is similar to the mining system, with one key difference: Robots execute actions immediately, followed by a cooldown. Mines require processing time before yielding resources.
Energy
Robots have both health points and energy. Some actions consume energy, and if a robot runs out of energy, it pauses and cannot perform further actions until it has recharged enough energy.
Energy automatically regenerates over time. This process is increased on space stations.
Repairing
Robots automatically restore health points over time on space stations. No action required.
Movement
Robots can move horizontally, vertically, and diagonally across the map. Each movement consumes energy and triggers a cooldown. To track enemy robot positions, players must listen to the movements of other robots.
Fighting [to be discussed]
Robots can attack other robots. Attacks consume energy and trigger a cooldown, regardless of whether the attack is successful or not. To attack, a robot must have enough energy and be in range of the target. Caution, friendly fire is possible!
When an enemy robot is destroyed, the attacker becomes stronger, receives a financial reward and collects the destroyed robot’s resources, regardless of its position.
Mining [to be discuessed]
To extract resources, a player starts the mining process at a specific mine. If the player’s robot is on the same planet, it will automatically collect the resources once the mining process finishes.
Starting the mining process consumes energy and triggers a cooldown - even if the mining fails or the robot is elsewhere. Collecting mined resources does not consume energy nor does it trigger a cooldown. But in order to work, the robot must be present on the planet when the mining completes.