Combat and Defense

The military grows alongside industry but never becomes a separate RTS. See noise-and-aliens.md for enemy behavior and units-and-missions.md for unit rules.

Philosophy Decided

Tower defense, not StarCraft. Make choices, prepare, then watch the conflict play out.
Combat is automatic once missions are assigned.
Turrets are fixed defense. They can’t chase or clear a hive. Mobile robots are flexible but more fragile and less efficient at holding one spot.
Defense is a parallel tech branch, not locked behind mining. A player who meets dangerous aliens early can prioritize it.
The peaceful path is viable. A player who turtles and optimizes can reach Tier 2 without attacking a hive.
Defense and offense should both be viable. Clearing hives must not be overpowered: tough hives resist early players, and cleared land doesn’t stay cleared without holding it.

Military progression

Tier 0: Basic security (unlocked by the first alien sighting) Decided

Barracks (100 Basalite) and Stone Walls (3 Basalite per tile, tentative tier).
Sword Bots: weak, melee, 1 slot. Patrol, defend, escort Harvesters, handle weak wanderers. Not suited to attacking real hives.
The first sighting should feel unsettling, not like an immediate battle. The General recommends perimeter security, which reveals the Barracks.

Tier 1: Organized defense and offense [Decided in outline]

Basic Gun Turret (needs iron, so it comes after refining).
Ammunition made at the Primitive Fabricator.
Reinforced Wall (Basalite + Iron).
Gun Bot (Evolite research, 2 slots, ranged).
Barracks gain attack and escort missions as research allows (no new building needed).
Keep it small for the prototype: one turret type, two robot types, one Barracks Decided.

How it tracks industry:

First alien seen → Barracks, patrols, a stone ring around a Depot.
Refining → first gun turrets and permanent defense.
Logistics → remote Depots need escorts and route protection.
Stationary mining → noisy drills attract more aliens; walls, turret placement and patrols become essential.
Optional hive clearing → a faster, riskier Evolite source than calcified deposits.

Later Tentative

Powered and advanced turrets (many types, to be named), heavy defenses for bosses, advanced barracks, rally points, wait-for-full-strength, squad leaders, coordinated assaults, auto-dispatch triggered by radar.

Ammunition Open

Turrets use ammo Decided (basic turrets need no electricity).
Gun Bots: physical ammo or infinite? Physical ammo makes Sword Bots (no supply chain) and Gun Bots (need a supply chain) genuinely different and ties military to logistics. Infinite ammo keeps the prototype simple.
Remote turret lines can be resupplied by truck routes from a base Depot Decided.

Walls Decided

Barriers the aliens can break. Basic aliens path around them for detours of about 20 tiles (80 m) and otherwise smash through.
Walls are a legitimate consumable: the turtle strategy spends Basalite on walls the way an aggressive strategy spends ammo.
Walls never connect networks.
Outer walls and outposts are how you hold cleared territory against hive recolonization.

Gates Tentative

A way through a wall for the player’s own units, which the game keeps shut when opening it would let aliens in. The designer’s idea (Nov 2026).

A 2 × 1 piece of wall, as strong as a wall. Placed in a wall’s line like any other piece of it.
Opens only for friendly units. Aliens treat it as wall.
Won’t open while enemies are on either side, even if a friendly unit is on that side too. Opening it could let them through, so the gate avoids it while they’re near.
Except for fighters on their way out: a friendly unit that does damage, such as a Sword Bot, needing to get through opens the gate even with enemies on the far side. The fight starts at the gate, which is what the player sent it out for.
Harvesters and trucks get stuck while enemies are near, on whichever side they are. They wait at the gate until it’s clear.
What’s still open, from its cost to what counts as near, is open question #54.

Attack, damage, and recovery Decided

Recovery is part of the core loop. Expect major failures. They teach base design (keep production off the outer walls, keep silos out of the path, add redundant connections).
After an attack, a large part of the base usually survives, because creatures only cared about the noise.
Destroyed buildings leave a ruin that keeps their footprint, rotation and type. Units can walk over ruins. You rebuild in place without redesigning. The UI calls it “Destroyed <Building>.”
Rebuilding costs 100% of the building cost. Attacks are a natural moment to raze and redesign.
Repairs and rebuilds are manual early (dispatch crews) and automatic later through tech Decided.
Vehicles and robots respawn for free after their delay, so losing them is a short throughput dip.
Rebuilding mostly uses basic materials (Basalite, iron), which you’re always able to produce.

Supply-line defense [Decided in concept]

Remote mines and truck routes are exposed. Defend them with patrols, escorts and remote turret clusters, or pull trucks back before risky activity.
Trucks are cheap to replace. Defending routes is about keeping throughput, not about saving money.

The core risk loop Decided

Phase	Player activity
Establish	Gather resources, build the base
Expand	Remote mines and truck routes, watching noise
Upgrade	Unlock tech, equipment, defenses
Consolidate	Recall exposed trucks, reinforce
Drill	Start the big drill; the seismic signature grows
Defend	Fight what arrives; decide when to stop
Recover	Repair, rebuild, restart supply lines
Advance	Attack hives, explore, expand