Earlier in the week, we teased you with the below image. Today we’re going to reveal what the mystical crystal in the middle of Birmingham Power Station is all about.
The ‘Protonite Core’ is a new game mechanic designed to shake things up and shift the focus of the battle at key points in the middle of a Normal Mode match. It is also designed to give the team that is behind a chance to ‘catch up’ and get back into the battle ensuring that there is always a reason to fight to the end. Internally the ‘Protonite Core’ is affectionately known as ‘The Equaliser’ and when you understand the game mechanics you’ll understand why.

THE LORE:

“E14 and CF are mining two different isotopes (blue and red) of raw Protonium from the ground which is gathered via Mining Stations (Capture Points) and refined at a Protonium Reactor (Base). When enough Protonium has been refined the energy can be sent to the orbital mothership and the Annihilator weapon can be fired (thus obliterating the enemy faction and gaining victory). When one isotope has been mined significantly more than the other (i.e. when the red team is winning) an imbalance is caused in the mantle of the planet surface and a Protonite eruption can occur.”

HOW IT WORKS:

At 5 and 10 minutes into a battle, a large ‘Protonite eruption’ will occur at a strategic, central position on the map. This eruption will cause a large crystal, the Protonite Core, to appear; the colour of which is the same as the team currently in the lead. The amount of energy stored in the Protonite Core is equal to the difference between the winning and the losing Protonium stored by each team’s Reactor, thus releasing this Protonium will ‘equalise’ the Protonium harvested by the two teams at that point in the match. In order for the losing team to harvest the Protonium stored in the Protonite Core, they must destroy it within 90 seconds of it appearing. As with all Protonium crystals, you can only destroy those owned by the opposing team color, thus only the team that is behind has the chance to ‘destroy the core’. If the Protonite Core is destroyed, its Protonium is released and the losing team ‘equalizes’, gaining equal Protonium on its reactor to the enemy team and ‘balance is restored’. If the Protonite Core is not destroyed within the time limit, it retracts back into the mantle. This means that the Protonium is lost, and the core has been successfully ‘defended’.
[artist’s impression of an actual battle] It is therefore imperative that the team which is ahead must ‘defend the core’ in order to maintain an advantage. This is certainly possible with reasonable coordination and by paying attention to the eruptions, but it also provides a distraction which can be used as a diversion for the losing team to capture a point. There are various interesting strategies which can be deployed by both teams during an eruption. So that’s the Protonite Core! For tomorrow’s countdown post, we’ll release the full patch notes curated by our Community Manager LeftofNever before the BETA update is released this Thursday. I cannot wait to see what you all make of it! Catch you on the battlefield! Mark, Freejam CEO and Robocraft Game Director