Game systems in Nanolathe

Skirmish, Survival and campaigns

• Skirmish lets you choose a map, sides and computer players for a battle.
• In Survival, you and up to two computer allies hold out against waves arriving from the map edges. The waves get stronger over time. There’s no victory condition; the result is a score.
• Campaigns load the original missions, including their starting units, objectives and triggers.

You can save and load single-player games. Support for the original game’s save format is still being worked on, so compatibility varies. New skirmish and Survival battles are also recorded as replays. Open REPLAYS on the main menu to watch through a player’s eyes or across the whole map.

The game uses the original sound effects and your installed soundtrack. For example, the GOG MP3 music folder works on Windows, Mac and Linux.

Online play

Choose MULTI on the main menu, create a game and send the six-character room code to your friends. The native beta and desktop Chrome or Edge can play together. Everyone needs their own game files; the three-mission demo can’t join online games.

Skirmish supports 2 to 10 players, depending on the map. Each player chooses a team, side and color. Teammates win together and share sight and radar. The host can also add Classic or Modern computer players and set their difficulty. In Survival, 2 or 3 players fight on the same side and share income as well as sight and radar.

You can chat in the lobby and during a battle, give other players metal, energy, units or explored maps, and make or break alliances with players outside your lobby team. Every computer runs the whole battle locally, so the network only needs to send orders. A check before the game starts confirms that each computer gets the same result.

The host chooses Modern, Community 3.9 or Strict 3.1 rules. Online games run at normal speed without pausing, and every player keeps a replay. Saving and reconnecting aren’t available online yet.

Orders and control groups

Select units, assign control groups and queue move, attack, patrol, guard or work orders. You can manage factory queues and stockpiled ammunition, and change movement and fire stances on units that support them.

The interface shows health, resources, unit information and build choices. The modern camera also lets you zoom out to tactical icons or zoom in for a closer look, with range guides to help place orders.

Movement

Vehicles and Kbots use their movement class to determine where they can go. Their size, slope limits and allowed water depth all matter when finding a route. Hovercraft cross land and water; amphibious units can go underwater, while ships and submarines stay at their specified depths.

Aircraft take off, turn, fly and land. Fighters, bombers and construction aircraft use the same movement system with different orders and unit settings. Seaplanes can land on water, and aircraft can use compatible landing and repair pads.

Weapons and targeting

Lasers, plasma, ballistic artillery, rockets, guided missiles, bombs and torpedoes are supported, along with flamethrowers, lightning, paralyzing weapons and the Commander’s D-gun. The original weapon data controls their range, damage, reload time and targeting.

Unit scripts aim the turrets. Weapons check their line of fire, track targets where appropriate, and apply impact or area damage when they hit. Nuclear missiles and anti-nuclear interceptors use stockpiled ammunition, so you need to build their rounds ahead of time.

Construction and factories

Use constructors to place buildings and factories to queue units. Build menus come from the installed game data, including advanced factories and constructors. Placement checks the building’s footprint, terrain and occupied space, along with any special requirements (such as a geothermal vent).

Construction starts with a visible nanoframe that fills in as builders work. Other builders can help, including assisting factory production. The original COB scripts handle factory doors, moving parts, build effects and unit animations.

Metal and energy

Metal extractors use the map’s deposits. Solar, wind, tidal and geothermal generators produce energy, with wind and tidal output depending on the map. Storage holds spare resources, and metal makers convert energy into metal.

Resources are spent as work happens, including construction and stockpiled ammunition. Shortages limit how much work can proceed. You also need enough energy to cover upkeep from cloaking and other active systems.

Repairing and reclaiming units

Constructors can repair damaged units and buildings. Guard and assist orders keep them helping other units. Reclaiming trees, rocks and wreckage returns resources; the same order can dismantle a unit.

Some units can resurrect wrecks or capture enemies. These abilities depend on the unit and game data you have installed, including whether a particular wreck supports resurrection.

Transports

Transports can load and unload units that fit their capacity and size limits. Air transports approach the cargo, attach it using the original unit script, then carry it to the drop-off point. The engine also supports ground transports when the installed unit data provides them.

Sight, sensors and cloaking

Line of sight reveals the battlefield, and fog of war hides activity outside your current view. Radar and sonar show contacts beyond direct sight; jammers interfere with the corresponding sensors.

Cloaking, stealth and proximity detection follow each unit’s settings. What you see on the main view and minimap depends on the information available to your player.

Terrain and wreckage

Terrain height, water, trees and wreckage affect where units can move, build and fight. Destroyed units can leave wrecks to reclaim. Trees and other map features can take damage, catch fire and change into another form, such as a burnt stump, according to the original feature data.

Smoke, weapon trails, explosions, debris and positional sound are implemented too. The engine reads the original archives, maps, unit definitions and COB animation scripts directly from your game folder.