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| The intergalactic war rages on, and supplies are limited. A new fuel source is needed to power the Fleet. Deep space Reconnaissance StarShips have been deployed to explore the nebulas and mine them of their precious Power Crystals. To that end, these Reconnaissance StarShips have been specially equipped with crystal grapplers and two squads of Recon class robots. The StarShips use their grapplers to collect crystals from within the nebulas, while the Recon Bots use their force projectors to get the crystals to the airlocks. Two squads are used to insure that at least one group will get the job done in a reasonable amount of time. Robo Control continues their reward practices, by giving preferential
treatment to the squad that finishes the job first. The squad who
controls the crystal controls their fate. It’s not surprising that the Recon
bots tend to use their onboard equipment and maneuvers to slow down, and if
necessary destroy, the opposition.
The primary objective of Robo Recon is to coordinate with your
squad to get the Power Crystal to your squad’s airlock before
the opposing squad gets the crystal to theirs.
Game play is confrontational, however, and depending on how aggressive
your opponents are, lives may be lost. In which case, a squad may win by
eliminating the competition completely.
After the two squads have emerged from their respective airlocks, a Power
Crystal will be targeted and retrieved by a crystal grappler.
If the StarShip is equipped with only one crystal grappler,
then the power crystal will appear on top of that grappler.
Otherwise, with multiple grapplers, the initial location of the power crystal
will be atop any one of the grapplers,
determined randomly.
Crystal grapplers have no other function.
They will not act as repair depots, nor will they hinder or damage robots that pass over or stop on them.
Power crystals do not move under their own power.
However, they are affected by the hull elements and
may be moved by tractor beams and docking arms, or relocated by transporters.
A non-virtual robot and a power crystal may not
occupy the same space. If this happens, either by transporter use or by
being on a crystal grappler when a power crystal is retrieved by that
grappler, then both the robot and the crystal are destroyed in what is
called a quantum implosion.
If a power crystal is either destroyed by a quantum implosion or lost to space,
then a crystal grappler will retrieve a new power crystal.
If a robot pushes the power crystal off the ship, it loses a turn.
Robo Control assumes that the robot has malfunctioned, and automatically schedules a reboot for the following turn.
The base model has a CPU housing (or “head”), a motor housing
(or “body”) and a rear compartment for its fuel cells,
the status of which is indicated by a power light.
Mounted on the front of the chassis is a force projector, specially
calibrated for pushing power crystals. Recon Bots are not capable of pulling
or carrying power crystals.
Atop its CPU housing are its visual sensors (or “eyes”).
The four wheels allow it to move forward at various speeds, as well
as rotate and reverse.
Recon Robots are available in three different models:
For more information on the function and operation of the optional
equipment, see the
Optional Equipment Guide.
The robots are members of squads, designated primarily by the color red or blue.
These squad colors appear on their torsos, around their eyes, and as rings around the power lights on their rear compartments.
The robots have a secondary team visual cue:
the red squad has yellow/brown metallic plating, while the blue squad has silver/gray metallic plating.
There are a total of six individual Recon Robots, each with both their own
unique plating and nicknames derived from their plating and function:
In addition to being able to use the public broadcast message channel, Recon Bots are equipped with an encrypted channel which allows them to transmit/receive secure messages to/from their Squad. To broadcast a chat message to all players, include the [ALL] directive anywhere in your chat message. (The [ALL] directive is not case sensitive, so “[all]” is equally acceptable.) Any chat message that doesn’t include the [ALL] directive will be transmitted on the secure Squad channel, so only Squad members will see it. The message will be automatically prefixed with the text “[SQUAD]”. In one-on-one Robo Recon games, there are no other Squad members, so
the [ALL] directive is implied.
The members of a squad can view each other’s program chips by clicking on the robot of interest.
If the target robot is thinking, then you will see all of the chips that were allocated to it.
If the target robot is ready, then you will see the program scheduled to
run.
Each squad gets one vote. Any player from the squad can cast a vote, or cancel an outstanding vote on behalf of their squad. When both squads cast a vote for the same player, that player is ejected from the game. The game then returns to the Game Room, to wait for a substitute player to join the game. The substitute player will enter the game with no damage and maximum lives. The substitute inherits the stats from the bot which was replaced. If a player quits before they are dead and the game is not over, the game will be returned to the Game Room to wait for a substitute player. Once a player has quit or has been ejected, they cannot rejoin the same game. If a player logs out the game after they are dead or the game is over,
then a substitute player will not be recruited.
When using the Robo Runner Xpak Version 3, you will not only
get Xcelerated gameplay, but you'll be able to
play Robo Recon with high resolution 3D images.
To download and install the Xpak, visit the Xpak Page.
Robo Recon was produced as a joint venture of EyePlay Games and the Versifex Engineering Corporation.
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