Files
client/overview/racesclasses.md
T
anekdotin 7b44b2f2dc Add real server pool, race roster overhaul, and ship energy system
Server browsing & matchmaking:
- HL2-style main menu (QUICK PLAY/SERVER SELECT/OPTIONS/PROFILE/QUIT)
  replaces the old CASUAL/RANKED tiles; RANKED removed end-to-end
  (menu, matchmaking-api's Mode.ranked queue path, MMR matching) until
  ranked is real.
- New menu/server_select.gd lists real servers from the matchmaking
  API's GET /servers and connects directly, retiring the old
  unreachable menu/server_browser.gd.
- Real game-server pool: NetworkManager.host_server() self-registers on
  boot and heartbeats every 8s with live player counts; API computes
  available/full status from player_count, and a background sweep marks
  any server offline once its heartbeat goes stale (catches a crashed
  server that never deregistered).
- Server-select rows get a live UDP ping probe (query port = game port
  + 10000) instead of trusting stale DB numbers; post-connect HUD shows
  live RTT off ENet's own peer stats.

Race roster overhaul:
- Swapped Terran/Mechanos/Vorg for the pivoted roster — Apex Dynamics,
  Inner Sphere Navy, Outer Rim Collective — each with a 3-ship
  Fighter/Gunner/Tank lineup, art cropped from concept sheets with
  background removal + orientation fixes per sheet.
- Live headcount + roster + "TEAM FULL" lock on the race-select screen,
  shared between the initial pre-spawn pick and the pause menu's live
  SELECT TEAM swap.
- Bot personalities (bots/bot_personality.gd): aggression/caution/
  accuracy/reaction/awareness traits rolled per bot instead of one
  fixed AI profile.

HUD additions:
- Player list (roster, teammates white/enemies yellow, bots flagged),
  kill feed, minimap, and explosion VFX on death.
- Health and energy now render as bars (hud/stat_bar.gd) instead of
  text in the top-left HUD.

Ship energy system:
- Per-role max energy (Fighter 100 / Gunner 150 / Tank 250), 75 energy
  per shot, flat regen (100 per 2.5s), fully server-authoritative and
  piggybacked on the existing per-tick state broadcast alongside health.
- New blue "mirrored" bar top-middle of the screen (hud/energy_bar.gd)
  whose fill drains from both edges toward the center instead of
  left-to-right.

Ship handling tuning:
- Turn rate reduced (4.0 -> 1.0 rad/s) so a quick tap no longer
  over-rotates; holding past 0.15s ramps to double speed (2.0 rad/s) for
  fast full turns, gated the same way damage already is so replay during
  reconciliation can't double-count the hold timer.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-15 17:56:33 -04:00

5.8 KiB

Races & Ship Classes

Setting

Three factions fight inside the massive shielding, pipes, and superstructure of refineries, shipyards, and mining stations — not open void. Grounded, blue-collar sci-fi in the vein of The Expanse (corporate hegemony vs. disciplined inner-planet military vs. gritty outer-belt miners), but built as a fast, arcade 2D tactical arena shooter rather than a hard-sci-fi sim. Tight factory corridors and choke points are the map language — see multiplayer.md.

Status: This replaces the previous 10-alien-race concept pool and the Terran Republic / Mechanos Sovereignty / Vorg Swarm roster. Doc-only for now — game code (team_select.gd RACES data, GameConfig, existing assets/images/ships/<race>/ art) still reflects the old races until that work is scheduled.


The 3 Factions

Apex Dynamics — The Corporate Syndicate

Weapon type: High-tech energy (coherent light / plasma) Visual: Sleek, pearlescent-white hulls with razor-sharp geometric lines and glowing neon-blue engine trails — looks more like a high-end luxury smartphone than a military weapon. Feel: High-tech and precise. Wins by not being seen until it's too late. Tactical ability: Active Camouflage — see Faction Abilities

Inner Sphere Navy (ISN) — The Military

Weapon type: Standard-issue ballistics / ordnance Visual: Gunmetal-gray, wedge-shaped hulls with hard militaristic angles, dense protective plating, and prominent forward-facing gun turrets. Feel: Disciplined, heavy, frontal. Wins by tanking a choke point and forcing the fight. Tactical ability: Overcharged Aegis — see Faction Abilities

Outer Rim Collective (ORC) — The Belters

Weapon type: Kinetic / repurposed mining hardware Visual: Blocky, gritty patchwork of mismatched metal plating and exposed hydraulic wiring, dominated by external fuel tanks and heavy industrial hardware bolted onto the hull. Feel: Scrappy and improvised. Wins by controlling terrain and denying space. Tactical ability: Proximity Scrap-Mine — see Faction Abilities


Ship Classes

Every faction fields the same 3-ship structure, re-skinned to its own theme:

Class Role
Fighter Single, high-precision, high-damage shot
Gunner Rapid-fire spray/burst, more shots for less damage each
Tank Bigger and slower; fires both bullets and missiles

Apex Dynamics

Ship Class Weapon
Lancet Fighter A single, high-precision bolt of blue coherent light
Pulsar Gunner A wide, rapid-fire fan of low-damage green plasma pulses
Sovereign Tank Homing micro-missiles alongside dual heavy plasma batteries

Inner Sphere Navy (ISN)

Ship Class Weapon
Patriot Fighter A single, hard-hitting high-caliber explosive shell
Barrage Gunner A relentless quad-barrel spray of fast, low-damage light bullets
Behemoth Tank Heavy tracking torpedoes plus massive physical deck-guns

Outer Rim Collective (ORC)

Ship Class Weapon
Rail-Jack Fighter A single, heavy magnetic railgun slug
Scrap-Spitter Gunner A rotary scrap-cannon spraying rapid, low-damage metal shrapnel
Iron-Clad Tank Unguided explosive rockets plus continuous vulcan machine-gun fire

Faction Abilities (Universal System)

Each faction has exactly one tactical ability. Every ship in that faction gets it — what changes per class is scale, not kind, so the ability reads instantly off a ship's faction regardless of which of the 3 hulls it's flying. Same energy cost and cooldown across factions; duration/impact scales with the hull:

Class Scaling rule
Fighter Fast cooldown, short/light effect
Gunner Baseline cooldown and effect
Tank Long cooldown, largest/heaviest effect

Apex Dynamics — Active Camouflage

Ship turns 90% transparent and disappears from radar. Firing or taking damage breaks it instantly. Fighter gets a quick, short slip; Tank's lasts longest but is riskiest to commit a slow hull to. Use: Slip past a defender in a narrow pipe, flank, or break a missile lock.

Inner Sphere Navy — Overcharged Aegis

A frontal hard-light barrier absorbs 100% of incoming damage from the front for a few seconds. Sides and rear stay exposed, turn rate drops, and the ship can't fire while it's up. Tank's barrier is wide enough to shield teammates trailing behind it; Fighter's is a narrow, quick poke. Use: Push straight through a defended choke point, soaking fire so teammates can follow.

Outer Rim Collective — Proximity Scrap-Mine

Ejects a magnetized mine that arms after ~1 second and goes dark on radar. Detonates on enemy proximity for heavy damage in a small radius plus knockback; alert enemies can shoot it from a distance to trigger it safely. Only one mine per ship at a time — dropping a second detonates the first. Tank's mine has a larger blast radius; Fighter's arms faster but hits smaller. Use: Cover a retreat down a corridor, or seed a choke point/objective before a push.

The Rock-Paper-Scissors Loop

  • ORC mines counter Apex cloak — a cloaked ship blundering through a mined corridor eats the blast, which also breaks the cloak.
  • ISN shield counters ORC mines — the frontal barrier absorbs a mine detonation, clearing the path for the team behind it.
  • Apex cloak counters ISN shield — a slow, frontal-shielded push leaves the ISN ship's flank and engines open for a cloaked ship to slip around and punish.

No ability wins a fight by itself — it depends on the map and the moment it's used, same as a smoke/flash/molotov in CS:GO.