|
 There
is no life in this reality. All
objects are fully automated by the sim, and any intelligent machines
receive their instructions from the master intelligence that guides it.
Therefore, the ships are unmanned drones.
Drones protect targets and form a symbiotic relationship with
them: targets enjoy protection from the drones, while the very existence
of the drones depends on the targets.
This is achieved in two ways.
Certain targets are life sources for a given drone.
For example, destroying life source targets will destroy their
corresponding drone. Other
targets, however, determine fighting power for the drones.
As more elements are eliminated from these targets, the
associated drone grows increasingly aggressive, becoming stronger and
more difficult to defeat.
 A
given drone may have one set of targets as its life source and a
different set of targets determining its fighting power.
In addition, a given set of targets may serve as life source for
one drone and determine fighting power for another. Drones and targets form clustered systems called Target-Drone
Systems (TDSs). The life
source and fighting power relationships between the targets and drones
vary with each TDS. You
must discover the nature of each TDS assignment so that you can choose
the best strategy for attack. To
complicate matters, some of these systems are timed.
 Two
types of drones exist: interceptors and retrievers.
Interceptors fire projectiles at the cue ball, attempting to
deflect it away from the targets they guard.
You cannot shoot the interceptors, nor can the interceptors shoot
you, just as in soccer, the goalie and the other players would never
shoot each other. This game
is about controlling the cue ball.
Retrievers, looking
like a cross between garbage trucks and hover crafts, attempt to use
their magnets to seize your cue ball and throw it into a dumpster.
If a retriever succeeds in capturing it, your impactor becomes
equipped with a set of bulldozer jaws, enabling you to regain it before
it reaches the dumpster. If
the retriever deposits your cue ball in the dumpster, however, it is
lost forever, and you must use another one from your reserves.
The sim begins with three cue balls and ends when none are left.
Spare cue balls appear at certain parts of each mission, when key
objectives are achieved.
|