Team Droid: Dealing with the Guards

Wednesday, 3rd January 2024

Some levels have guards. These are the dark, spherical robots that move around on their own each turn. Sometimes they shoot, and sometimes they don't. But contact with them is always fatal to your robot. And if they do shoot, putting an item in their path can be an invitation to them to destroy it.

The most tempting way to deal with the guards is to shoot them. With the guards out of the way, any challenge that they pose is gone. Sometimes this is necessary, especially if they are in your path and refuse to move. But shooting the guards is easy only for Soldier, and slightly less easy for Multibot, because these robots both have the phaser built in. Other robots would have to pick up the phaser, and then put it down again to pick up other objects.

It's much better to avoid the Guard Robots in many cases. And this is made easier by the fact that the Guard Robots are repetitive. They always follow the same set of actions turn after turn. So after a single turn it's possible for you to predict where they'll be, and keep out of their path. Remember if they shoot to also keep your valuable items away from their firing line.

It's possible that future DLC might include levels where it's possible to divert the Guard Robots to useful or amusing effect. You can't push a Guard Robot directly, as you'll die on contact. But by placing objects in their path, you could potentially block their movement. And if they should turn left or right while not in the place they expect to be, their path will take them on new, exciting, and hopefully destructive adventures. It's technically possible to do this on one of the Jam Levels, but it would take much longer than just avoiding or shooting the robots to complete the level.

Next time I'll look at levels that include more than one robot.