Backstory:
During a war between interstellar empires waged entirely by self-replicating robots lead by semi-autonomous robotic commanders, the player was sent to the edge of the galaxy to hunt down an enemy commander. Blown into space in the conflict, he has been floating in orbit for millenia.
Mission 1:
The Commander collides with an asteroid. On it, he finds remnants of his own army, and that of his enemy. They have been lying dormant all this time.
Map: Apophis, Astroturf or TMA-0.
Units: Shperebots as allies, spherebots as enemies? Or shieldbots as enemies? Do we want the player to get a feel for a small set of units (thus, both should be the same) or do we want to go for thematic difference (both are different?). Its probably best to let the player fight a unit before giving it to him.
Run-and-gun style, reactivating units as you go. Perhaps with special abilities on the commander, to make it more interesting.
Introduces spherebots one at a time, describing their uses including glaive, rocko, warrior, con (for repair).
Mission 2:
The player jets down to the planet below using a reactivated transport. There he finds the forces of his enemy. Over the course of the mission, the enemy explains via remote communication (he is not in the mission) that the war has been over for eons, that humanity has long since gone extinct, and that the last few surviving commanders are all that are left of intelligent life in the universe. At the end of the mission, the enemy explains that since the humans are dead, there is no reason for them to fight. The player can accept or reject an alliance. The player also discovers some interstellar transport method (builds himself a little spaceship, salvages one, finds a teleport beacon, etc fluff depending).
Map: ?
Units: Basic structures. Mex, cloak bot fac, solar panel, llt. Enemy uses ticks? Zeus? (mostly as demonstration) which the player then gets.
Base construction and defense followed by expansion and destroying the enemy factory.
From here, the missions are non-linear. There are a range of commanders the player can interact with, each with their own personality and idealogy, and degrees of antagonism towards the player and eachother. The player can forge alliances or attack enemies, and can get their techs through either method. After a few missions, the player learns that there is one last human, deep within the territory of an antagonistic enemy. In the end-game, the player musters his allies and attacks that territory, eventually securing the human and, depending on which commanders he allowed to live, has the option to persue each of their unique endings pertaining to their idealogy and the fate of both robot and humankind.
