Zero-K lore rewritten pages

Cloakbots

Glaives were designed to do everything a human soldier can do, but better. Instead of getting a cybernetically-enhanced cyborg, they got the full cybernetically-enhanced cybernetics. Glaive's intelligence was highly honed to be autonomous. The cybernetics were honed to ensure that glaives could be coordinated easily. Even better: When humans are effective 25% of the time, glaives are effective 100% of the time, and soon enough glaives overtook every area of warfare. As humanity collapsed, the gears of these drones rusted over time, only rarely getting improvements.

To deal with static defense, many propositions were made. Some engineers proposed rock-hurling weaponry, others suggested missile barrage. But the cloakbot engineers decided to borrow an ancient design and slap a rocket launcher on a glaive. Thus, the ronin was built. Unlike multiple similar designs, ronins are effective at retreating, giving them an advantage in design above any other skirmisher.

When the conquest is over, and contest begins, heavy weaponry is in demand. Reavers borrowed an old design of light machine gun. Thanks to being more sturdy than a human, this beast does not bear one, but two LMGs. The amount of weight and ammunition makes the unit quite expensive, but well-worth the cost. It is cheap enough to be mass-produced, giving it an advantage over other "riot" unit designs. Many reavers are used to patrol the land and ward off any hostile drones, seeking to pillage a crumbling factory intelligence.

To further inflate the cost of defenses, the "rock-hurling weaponry" has been implemented. Slings' ammunition is cheap. The reason why it causes so much damage is because of the velocity. And with advanced AI, the sling is mostly accurate; though... corruption in code has been reported.

To breach lines of defenses, a glaive design was given lots of armor. But just to make the design even better, they gave it a tesla gun that fries robotic circuitry. Lightning is fairly unpredictable, but it hits large targets consistently. Its slow movement means that the Knight can only be used at the frontlines.



When the contest is complete, advanced strategies open up. Cloakbot's conjurer has been given a cloaking field to allow slow units to sneak up at any position, avoiding line of sight. Additionally, cloakbots are installed with spies like gremlins, scythes, phantoms. They can provide intel before incursions.

[b]Scythes[b] are additionally equipped with an attack, letting it destroy defenseless targets. Phantom, however, is more suited for the backlines, due to its slow speed. Phantom has been designed to assassinate high-value targets, and, unfortunately, it lacks a minigun. Feel free to use cloaked reavers to compensate this fatal flaw. (Note: Scythes and Phantoms are not limited to cloakbot factory. Athenas from the Strider Hub can build Scythes and Phantoms too.)

To prevent crusades of the opponents, cloakbots are equipped with imps, which startle the enemy for long enough to be taken out by faster cloakbot forces.

Although the Iris is not limited to the cloakbot factory, a single iris will conceal sight of nearby units. The presence of an iris will put an opponent into an alert mindset, forced to expect everything everywhere. (Note: An Iris can be built from Cornea, and Cornea can be built by any builder. Additionally, Iris can be built anywhere on the field by Athenas from the Strider Hub.)

The cloakbot factory can only field out androids. Thus, their options are severely limited. To wheel out wheels, or to install a shield drive, an entirely different factory is required.

Rovers

The Scorcher proved to be both cheap and effective in small quantities, with its carcass being reused in future designs. It is the first designed vehicle for the wasteland environment. Earlier designs incorporated machine guns, before switching to heatrays. The weapon change made rovers more effective at taking out lone buildings. The heatray intimidates enemy drones from getting up close, due to the risk of getting melted. The heatray, perhaps, is what makes the scorcher so cheap to field out, as even with little armor, it packs strong firepower. Seeing as different battlefields require different roles, different variations of chasis were built. Many units, such as Fencers, Ravagers, Crashers, were optimized so that they can catch up to scorchers, as to abuse the scorcher's firepower.

Rovers needed a unit that can deal with static units fast and affordably. Multiple designs were proposed, but they all proved way too expensive for their cost. After some thinking, they swapped Mason's nanolite with homing missiles. The resulting creation, Fencer, is a force to be reckoned with, stripping both turrets and entire armies alike. To deal with the fencer menace, many had to incorporate designs that made fencer's weaponary far less effective. Some improved armor, others used agility to reduce impact. But even now, fencers cause a lot of trouble if an opposing unit cannot get close to it. And scorchers can ensure that the enemy will never wish to get too close.
Fencers raise their turret for better sight and range. Raising the turret takes little time, but the raised turret makes the fencer unbalanced. The improper weight distribution was deemed too hard to deal with by the rover engineers, meaning fencers will always need to deploy to fire.

To further rebuild the land, during contest, rovers field out badgers Impalers to further humiliate opponent's any attempt at building any sort of solid defense at the frontlines. An impaler is a classical missile-powered artillery that is quick to deploy and fast to take out cheap defenses. If one isn't enough, add more. Since impaler was designed specifically for foes who build too many static defenses, impalers don't prove effective outside of its original goal; but more is unnecessary.

When the time of conquest is over, and the hour of contest is at hand, rovers can quickly field rippers, known to be both cheap and effective. Rippers are a modified scorcher with a cannon so big and powerful that it can mow down entire walls. However, the ripper is far less effective at taking down individual targets.
The ripper is best used as escort for Badgers, Impalers, Dominatrixes, in order to not lose the speed advantage, nor to slow down faster designs.

If rovers need to ensure that the enemy does not pass a specific point, or if they need to slow down the opponent, they can field out Badgers. Badgers were designed so that just a single vehicle can make terrain unpassable, if not deadly. In larger quantities, they can protect larger quantities of land. They are also quick to retreat.

If rovers need to quickly spot an enemy target, Darts do the job. The darts are bikes with ridiculous speed and impressive sight range, meaning that they will spot any target before the target spots it. Don't use it for combat: A single shot makes the bike explode.

To deal with heavy defenses, the scorcher design was given more armor. To further boost its mobility and strength in large quantities, it was given a heavy plasma projectile. This means the new weapon doesn't have to attack in a line. The ravager is effective at quickly breaching defenses, or taking out lone riot defenses, to let scorchers get behind enemy lines and cause even more havoc than before, stunning opponent's growth in the wasteland. (Note: The ravagers were reported to be most intimidating in clusters of 10 and 15.)

When the land has been contested, rovers become obsolete. They don't have a strong upfront power, for the factory wasn't designed to make heavy armor. Even the ravager is a stretch, with its armor being just metal bars slapped on top of each other. But even then, Dominatrixes and Badgers can buy sufficient amount of time to field out heavy weaponry.

Gunships

Some units are very slow. This makes it hard to flank and ambush enemy units. While there are other fast units, and other planes, gunships are one of the most basic factories that give mobility.

All their units are designed to either ignore rough terrain, or to speed up unit travel. Hercules can give a quick retreat to heavy units, Charons can make repaired units quickly get back to the battlefield, Harpies can serve as envoy.

The units of the gunship factory were designed with experimentation in mind. Revenaunts can drop enough missiles to destroy a heavy tank in one volley, Krows are made to handle absurd beating, Nimbuses exploit high altitudes to make bullet streams gain good range.

The Trident is an anti-air station that can protect your allied land from air invasions, for cheap.

Gnat is effective at immobilizing out-of-position units.

Blastwing is a cheap scout that dies to long...range... anti-air....

The gunship units are more fragile than regular units, so the commanders have to make sure that the improved mobility is worth it.

[Spoiler]

Energy

Robots require energy for supplies, rather than raw meat or plant matter. But much like plant matter generates energy from the sun, and raw meat stores energy within, batteries help store the energy that solar panels get from sunlight. The energy is then used for construction and deconstruction.

But energy is gained from any form of radiation, any form of matter. When sun's powerhouse of energy strikes the earth, it causes wind to "radiate" movement, and this "radiation" can be used to create energy.

Furthermore, it is possible to make heavy metals radiate to create energy.

Even better if the metal is made from matter itself.

These ideas inspired engineers to create the most efficient of the world's energy production.



Solar panels have been designed to store a lot of energy. Because the solar panels are light, they can be easily covered with mass to add sandbag-like protection, while remaining cheap. The industry of the scarred world has even learned to use solar panels to create forest-like hinderance for the enemy, and cheap sensors allow to detect unwanted guests passing by the forests. Whenever solar panels are fielded amass, it's like a jungle that hears and sees everything, until burned to the ground.

But just like weed, there are far cheaper ways to generate energy. In the mountains, where trees fail, in the seas where the tides are always turbulent, Wind turbines clot the ground to use the movement to grind gears, producing sparks, for cheap. And just like weed, it is easy to get rid of, hard to stop from growing.

When the robotic husks gather enough metals, they can force those metals inside tiny boxes, causing the metal to radiate lots of energy. As the energy gets "squeezed" out of the metals, energy is released, using any heavy-enough metal. These Fusion Reactors make a far more efficient energy output, serving as the muscle of the army, and the trees of the forest.

If the land is safe, it is qualified for making the unsafe tool of compressing matter so hard that it starts corrupting everything around it.... But it also generates energy, enough to power cities. Singularity reactor is the heart of an army, the hive of the swarm. It's safe, so long as its bubble does not burst.

There are other ways to generate energy, but they are irrelevant. Geothermal generators are a straight upgrade to common energy production, and Advanced Geothermals are a straight upgrade to Singularity reactors.

Intel

Furthermore, every unit emits radio waves to communicate. However, these radio waves can be detected through radio towers, even if they can't be intercepted. A specialized radiotower can even pinpoint a target's location.

Radars are the ears of the mechanized machines. The bigger the radar, the more expensive the radar, the greater the sight of the radar. Although the radio waves can be hidden through radar planes and spec ops units, radars remain effective.

Missiles

To cause further havoc, there is the old invention called "Trinity." It is a ball of destruction: The land it hits is considered dead. Antinukes were devised to stop it. But all antinukes do is serve as another heart for a nation, this time it's a heart that defends the body from getting totally annihilated. You could consider Antinukes to be like leaders, keeping a nation from collapse.

Additionally, there are far smaller versions of missiles, known as Tactical missiles. Those can be thought of as spells that cost preparation.

Big Bertha

Big Bertha is a weapon that causes as much damage as the amount of land that is in its line of fire. However, it costs so much that the opposing factories will plan their attacks on the Bertha, guaranteed. Even if Bertha's damage is easy to block, it is not cheap to defend against.

Storage

Almost always, it is faster to store metal in expensive units than in storage. Even if a person stores 10k metal in storages alone, it still takes a long time to unload this storage into a desired blueprint. And there aren't many expensive units or army compositions to choose from, so the potential of storage is limited between a flying fortress rush and a flying fortress rush. Scouting is difficult enough that it is always best to build a rushed unit and hide it, than to keep resources stored up. However, storage is still useful for reclaim, even if barely. Reclaim gives far more metal than one can spend, and small storage lets the commander manage metal with far less trouble.

Think of storages like a lair for the pack's meat: Store too much meat, and the meat becomes obsolete.



(Note: There are far more details to the game than I have mentioned. Those details are pretty straight-forward. Caretakers are versatile, capable of speeding up construction of multiple factories or to quickly repair retreated units. Plates allow an ally to borrow a factory for cheap. And there are far better overdrive guides than mine.)

Spiders

Most factories disregard terrain. Their abilities either let them dodge obstacles, or to treat them as walls.

Spider factory is an exception.

When facing a map, the battlefield does not look like this:


It looks like this:


Even a small difference in height changes how the spiders work. A small hole lets a spider bot hide, a small hill gives a spider absurd range. A wall that a spider can pass cannot be passed by any other drone. In other words, spider commanders are druids.

Fleas serve as the eyes of the spider factory. They are as cheap as glitter, as nimble as mosquitos, as fast as dragon flies. They are as hard to detect as an ant in the grass. They allow spiders to prepare to face for anything, and they are the only fast drone the spiders have.

Venoms can easily defeat a group of drones. They can make ambushes by hiding behind cliffs, out of sight. They are one of the fastest riot units. They keep the spider land safe from invasions.

Recluses are the stars of the spider factory. They can dodge enemy fire if they're out of sight, while providing support fire of their own. In large enough quantities, they mow everything that approaches them, so long as they live.

Once the land is secured, spiders have more tricks up their sleeves.

Redbacks dominate everything that faces them. Just like Venoms, they can hide out of sight to ambush their prey.

Hermits are cheap enough to distract enemy fire, and force the enemy to move. With a great enough height difference, they get significant range.

Crabs are a walking fort. They are hard to reach, they are hard to break, their range increases with height. Their weapon deals massive damage to small and large targets alike. They rival Desolator turrets in their strength, and they're easy to deploy.

Furthermore, spiders never lose sight of their enemy, even in the later stages of a battlefield. Their Widows are the best spy one can produce.

Both Fleas and Widows can be produced by Athenas, fortunately: The spider factory's main purpose is to secure the land quickly, in a short amount of time. For that, they have drones made specifically for taking advantage of the land, with Venoms, Recluses, and Fleas being especially useful early on, and crabs to secure the land in the later stages of the battle.

Now, some might wonder, "how does a big chunk of metal climb up cliffs?"
They're goats.

Defense turrets

It was difficult for every commander to defend every point at once, with just light bots. So, they sought for better and better autonomous defenses. Gatling guns proved effective, but they all had one minor problem: They are expensive, and they often miss. Laser turrets do not miss. After lasers were honed further and further over time, a cheap Lotus turret turned out to be the result. While useless on its own, in pairs it can force raider units more than enough trouble.

When a commander needs a static riot unit, during contest, they can field out a Stardust instead of, say, a Reaver. Stardust has higher range, and is more deadly against raiders, but its main objective is to be a sentry, or a guardian against masses of raiders, to block off key positions. As of late, stardusts are fielded less and less, as assault units gained better and better armor.

Pickets are there to ward off scouts from large areas of land. Don't underestimate the power of the Fog of War.

Sometimes, an area needs to be heavily reinforced. Stingers, Aegis, Cornea, Newtons were all designed for this reason. Stingers are designed to shred heavy armor using a concentrated laser, Aegis absorbs bullets in an area (serving as a bunker), Cornea blocks enemy's line of sight, Newtons stun enemy units which try to approach. They are too expensive to be fielded everywhere, but crucial for constructing strong, long-term fortifications.

Additionally, Newtons can be used to catch bombers, slam tiny units with high velocity, slow down enemy advancement, protect cheap areas, etc. Newton is one of the tankiest static defenses.



If the enemy sends out heavy resistance: Assault units, heavy units, artillery barrage, a couple of stingers won't be able to stop them. For that, there are advanced buildings.

Faradays and Gauss turrets are designed to endure artillery barrage. Especially when placed on high terrain, they become hard targets to hit and destroy. Gauss turrets are especially effective on spires, as they gain bonus range the higher they are. (Note: It takes 10 seconds for an armored turret to be safe to repair. Under combat, any builder will struggle to deploy field repairs. Fending off artillery is crucial for prolonged turret repairs.)

Desolator is effective at slowing down assault pushes. It takes a lot more than a squad to destroy it. Just like with the Gauss turret or with a Crab unit, it benefits from height.

Lucifer shreds heavy targets, so long as the Lucifer can see the target. Its range means that Lucifer will always get the first shot.

Cerberus is effective at securing large areas of land, and it is effective as counter-artillery. A Cerberus, however, is a big and a valuable target for the enemy to destroy. A Cerberus quickly becomes a focus point of battle, because of its large and powerful influence.

Hovercrafts

Hovercrafts are a weird factory. It's not easy to turn a highly-mobile but fragile technology of hovering into a battle unit. Even when the technology to repel matter from earth was made, allowing for minimum friction and maximum speed, not many dared to utilize the technology. Except the hovercrafts engineers.

Hovercrafts use their speed to their advantage. They rely less on destroying the enemy, and more on destroying the enemy before getting destroyed. So, they use only the most deadly of technology for one-hit one-kill. In other words, hovercraft engineers focused less on balance and more on glass cannon shenanigans.

Dagger is simple: High-burst high-speed raider. If it deals enough damage to the enemy? Dagger wins. Thus, commanders try to bunch Daggers in big groups to ensure they always deal enough damage to destroy the target with a single volley, to not give enemy enough time to fight back. However, there are times when a single Dagger was capable of destroying undefended targets: Its damage is not to be underestimated.

Scallop is a menace. No other skirmisher is as annoying to engage with scorchers as- Scallop fires a volley of homing, high-explosive missiles. They were designed to be effective against every army, to be fast enough to disengage, with range high enough that their rockets can destroy the enemy before the scallop has the chance to get away. That being said, its low range and low speed means it's not good against artillery. Scallop was designed to fight anything but artillery.

Claymore is effective at stopping big groups of cheap targets. There was not much thinking involved in its design. The engineers thought that it's neat to have a unit that doesn't trigger its own mines by stepping on them, and called it a day. (Note: The engineer made the mines roll was promoted. So... now, mines roll.)

There is not much to say about Mace, other than that it's effective at holding concentrated positions. It still suffers scallop's problem: Low health, low speed, vulnerable to artillery.

Bolas are an alternative to Daggers. Although Bolas are incapable of targeting underwater units, Bolas have a ridiculous damage output on anything it targets. If they outnumber the enemy, and if they get close, the target can't get out nor pose significant resistance, thanks to its paralyzing weapon. The weapon does not stun, but it was designed to jam the weapon and equipment of its target.



When the conquest is over, and contest begins, hovercrafts don't pose much threat alone.

Their Lance is, by far, the best artillery piece made by any engineer, because it is an artillery that focuses on destroying the enemy before it gets destroyed.

The second best unit, Halberd, is the best because it chooses when it gets to get destroyed, and when it does not get destroyed. And it chooses to get destroyed when it targets a vulnerable target. Which can be never. That's by design, the hover engineers do let commanders control an indestructible brick army. Just like a wall, although the bricks are low, Halberds can be effectively used to distract enemy fire. (Note: Halberds are not limited to the hovercrafts factory. Athenas from the Strider Hub can build halberds too.)

Hovers hit hard and run fast. And when they run, they better have a better factory to rely on.

Hovers don't function too differently on the sea. Mind the submarines.