GamePlay

Farm structure close to a place tower - screenshot from game
Figure 1. Farm close to a placed tower

Sam is called to defend his farm from the alien invasion, industries are far gone so, to achieve his goal, Sam will use every still-functioning electronic piece to build defenses. Sam has built a very intelligent electric system that allows him to give energy to a high number of turrets, however, his generator requires Biomass to keep working. Each time an alien is killed and not consumed in any other way, its carcass is going to be used as fuel. The more biomass is capable of holding, the more turrets can be kept active at the same time.

Turrets

As said, Sam has an almost inexhaustible amount of resources to build as many defenses as wanted. To keep them active, however, a sufficient amount of biomass is required. Each turret requires a different amount of energy hence biomass. Also, each turret upgrade causes the turret to spend more energy.

Mini-Gun

The mini-gun has low damage but the highest fire rate among all turrets Sam has been capable of building. Requires a small amount of biomass to keep it active.

Tier 1
  • Increased damage;

  • Increased range;

Tier 2
  • Increased damage;

  • Increased range;

Double Cannon

This turret is unlocked in the early stage of the game and is mainly effective against armored units. Having medium damage and a low rate of fire, they are not very effective against small and rapid units such as grobs.

Double cannon turret
Figure 2. Double cannon turret, rotating
Tier 1
  • Increased damage;

  • Increased range;

Tier 2
  • Increased damage;

  • Increased range;

  • Increased damage against armor;

Fire Thrower

The fire thrower is a high-tech turret that is capable of setting on fire many enemies in a very short period. When attacking non-armored aliens, the fire will persist through time effectively damaging them. To keep the fire thrower functioning, a high amount of biomass is required but often the possibility to target many enemies at once is well worth the cost.

Tier 1
  • Increased damage;

Tier 2
  • Increased damage;

  • Flames get bigger and target even more enemies at once;

Economy

As the industrialized era is surpassed, a few generators are the only thing that keeps Sam alive and safe. The knowledge he has accumulated through the years combined with the vast amount of components he managed to collect, provides for his safety.

Laboratory

It allows Sam to research new upgrades for his turrets and other structures such as the Biomass depot. The laboratory offers a way to increase defense capability while decreasing the biomass required by each turret. Each upgrade is researchable whenever enough Tech components are collected.

Tech Tree
  • Increased fire propagation: Fire Thrower or similar can be upgraded to also hit organic residue, this can help to counter the speed advantage given by bricks;

  • Increase biomass depot capacity: this tech could be made mandatory to avoid complications in balancing;

  • Solar panel powered turrets: Double Cannon turret can be upgraded with a small solar panel that would drastically decrease its biomass cost. (Advanced tech, the only downside of these turrets would become space occupation, alternatively can be made cheaper instead);

  • Base self-defense mechanism: the main base can be upgraded with two small turrets that keep it protected from small and weak enemies;

Tech components

Tech components are mainly found in enemy armor but often only a few can be reclaimed in the aftermath. After each level completion, Sam will search for any unbroken components adding them to the collection.

Biomass

Each time an alien is eliminated and not eaten or consumed in any other way, the biomass is picked up and saved in the biomass depot. Each turret built in the field requires a specific amount of biomass, the total cost of the turrets summed up cannot surpass the current biomass held in the depot.