ZEPHON Demo 6 (Apr 4th to Apr 9th & Apr 25th to Apr 30th)
The sixth playable demo of ZEPHON will be available from April 4th (@ 12 pm CEST) to April 9th (@ 12 pm CEST) and from April 25th (@ 12 pm CEST) to April 30th (@ 12 pm CEST) on Steam.
The biggest change in this demo is the additions of the Honorable Aristocrat leader. See the full changes below.
Come join us in celebration and let us know what you think of ZEPHON.
This is an early look at an in-development alpha version of the game. As such, there will be bugs, imbalances and missing assets.
The demo includes single player and multiplayer, but is limited to up to four player on a medium-sized map. 5 different leaders are available for selection and 3 NPC factions are present. Research progress is limited to the first 4 tech tiers.
The full version will contain larger maps, advanced game setup options, 8 leaders, over 50 units spread across 10 tiers of research, more terrain features and quests, an end-game grand finale, unlockable game modifiers, achievements, multiple languages as well as full workshop support.
Changes in Demo 6
## New
* Added Honorable Aristocrat leader: *“Oh, you simply must try one of these. Deviled Abkluth eyeggs, my chef pulled the spines by hand. Eine Delikatesse, I won’t take no for an answer!”* * Added The Summoning quest. * The AI now condems certain diplomatic relationships with a third party based on their own relationship with the third party. * Breaking peace, a trade agreement or an alliance within 10 turns of entering it now makes a player Untrustworthy for 20 turns. * AI players condemn Untrustworthy players. * Select unit and select city hints now mention the player name (useful if color blind).
## General * Don’t allow disbanding, equipping or unequipping units you’re not owner of. * First contact now also triggers when an outpost or city tile of another player is revealed. * Blink incoming call so it's harder to miss.
## Balance * Increased research costs by approximately 50%.
## Bug Fixes * Adjusted Vulkan device scoring to use order of devices as tiebreaker for otherwise equally scored devices. * Changed normal texture buffer format for wider hardware support. * Make sure player influence amount is always shown in the Concordat shop, even if the player name is very long. * Fixed Cr'la's Gambit not always sacrificing one model. * Fixed river resource bonuses not showing on the tile hint. * Fixed double movement from assault transports. * Fixed Pathcutter applying permanently instead of 1 turn. * Fixed percentage bonuses of certain player traits applying twice on certain outposts. * Fixed temporary weapon traits like Low Power not showing on clients in multiplayer. * Ending turn declines all calls. * Fixed diplomacy actions that do not require accepting call sometimes not getting through. * Fixed not being able to call someone while there are pending calls. * Fixed Bunker sounds. * Fixed destroyed cities not exploding for clients in multiplayer. * XML parser support for escaping < and > with \.
ZEPHON Demo 5 (Feb 12th to Feb 19th)
The fifth playable demo of ZEPHON will be available from February 12th (@ 12 pm CEST) to February 19th (@ 12 pm CEST) on Steam.
The biggest changes in this demo are the additions of the multiplayer mode, Furtive Tribunal leader, Anchorite NPC faction and tier 4 technologies. See the full changes below.
Come join us in celebration and let us know what you think of ZEPHON.
This is an early look at an in-development alpha version of the game. As such, there will be bugs, imbalances and missing assets.
The demo includes single player and multiplayer, but is limited to up to four player on a medium-sized map. 4 different leaders are available for selection and 3 NPC factions are present. Research progress is limited to the first 4 tech tiers.
The full version will contain larger maps, advanced game setup options, 8 leaders, over 50 units spread across 10 tiers of research, more terrain features and quests, an end-game grand finale, unlockable game modifiers, achievements, multiple languages as well as full workshop support.
Changes in Demo 5
## New * Added Furtive Tribunal leader: *“Bright stars shine so sweet—but bright stars die first. In the long tomb, blinded, we felt the aria of the dark stars, who live forever. Now our only taste is for their harmonies.”* * Added Anchorite NPC: *“To travel three millennia. To see Kin as horrors. To drink poison from your hands. Yet cannot but love you.”* * Leaders now have a path affinity which determines their starting units and research tree. * Added tier 4 technologies. * Added new technologies to tiers 1 through 3. * Added multiplayer mode. * Added new unbranched research complete illustration. * Vegetation shadows now move with the wind. * Overhauled save and load game screens to be easier to use and show more information. * Added Mute In Background audio setting. * Added network stats to the performance display.
## General * Medium map size can now be selected in the demo. * Up to 3 AI leaders can now be added in the demo. * Teams and colors can now be selected in the demo. * Expedition Outfitter effect now shows on tiles where it would trigger. * Buying and selling resources is now done in stacks of 5 instead of 10. * Improved item claim AI. * Improved random number generation. * Improved performance.
## Balance * Increased starting algae and chips from 10 to 20. * Reduced Speciment Containment research per kill from experience from 4 to 2. * Increased Abkhan respawn from 10 to 20 turns.
## Bug Fixes * Fixed being able to communicate with defeated players. * Fixed not getting rewards from killing Abkhan when using Erelim Assassin's Assassinate ability. * Fixed Expedition Outfitter not working. * Fixed being able to use Data Hack on non-enemies.
ZEPHON Demo 4 (Oct 25th to Nov 22nd)
The fourth playable demo of ZEPHON will be available from October 25th (@ 12 pm CEST) to November 22nd (@ 12 pm CEST) on Steam.
The biggest changes in this demo are the additions of the ZEPHON NPC faction, 2 new neutral units and 3 new quests. See the full changes below.
Come join us in celebration and let us know what you think of ZEPHON.
This is an early look at an in-development alpha version of the game. As such, there will be bugs, imbalances and missing assets.
The demo is limited to single player against two opponents on a small map. 3 leaders are available for selection and 2 NPC factions are present. Research progress is limited to the first 3 tech tiers.
The full version will contain co-op and pvp multiplayer, larger maps, advanced world generation parameters, 8 leaders, 3 NPC factions, over 50 units spread across 10 tiers of research, more terrain features and quests, an end-game grand finale, unlockable game modifiers, achievements, multiple languages as well as full workshop support.
Changes in Demo 4
## New * Added ZEPHON NPC faction: *“Communication channel established to ZEPHON-3. How may I help you?”* * Added Dreameater neutral unit: Large hovering creature that reduces enemy morale and takes control of low morale enemies. * Added Shoch'itris Lair neutral unit: Large biological structure that breeds Deformities. * Added The Great Hunt, Black Site and Who Was Thursday quests. * Show attack area when holding shift with unit selected, or when hovering over a weapon or weapon ability. Enable in settings to always show without holding shift. * Unit overlays now show darkened out bars for missing health and morale. * Added additional liked and disliked diplomacy dialogue.
## General * Units in transports are now cycled to like all other units. * Volcanos now block vision. * Reduced forest growth chance in swamp from 5% to 3%. * The tile acquisition radius of native cities now grows with their population. * Reduced AI attack score against summons. * Heartless Artificer AI now uses Foundation of Blood and Quench Resistance. * Improved diplomacy behavior for accepting gifts, paying tribute and paying for deals. * Diplomacy actions now show when instigated by a third party. * Unit groups with appear animations now no longer appear fully simultaneously. * Left click in empty space or right click anywhere to deselect player in the communications screen. * Researching technology can now be right clicked to show details in compendium. * Silence Between Tracks setting now goes in steps of 10 seconds from 0 to 240, defaulting to 120. * Moved Show Cliff Highlights and Show Grid to general settings. * Renamed Housing to Habitat. * Pathfinder performance improvements. * Minor GUI tweaks.
## Balance * Reduced Deformities group size from 6 to 5. * Increased Abkhan Bite damage from 8 to 12. * Increased Frost Breath damage from 2 to 3. * Increased Malakim Destroyers hitpoints from 12 to 18. * Changed Cicadas from +50% healing rate to max 0% healing rate.
## Bug Fixes * Fixed Undying healing the transport instead of the unit that has the trait. * Fixed Distorted Lens not working. * Fixed diplomacy deals not showing result when demanding payment for deal. * Fixed regen showing over units even when they are at full hitpoints. * Fixed building effects like smoke to not be removed instantly upon city destruction. * Fixed hero overlay being prevented from refresh when leveling up an ability (after getting a level from nearby enemy death) due to superfluous attribute updated messages. * Fixed an error in the calculation of light volumes. * Fixed dust not showing when units are moving. * Fixed dust showing when Aegyllan Worms are tunneling. * Fixed Chieftess headquarters having no lights.
ZEPHON Demo 4 (Oct 25th to Nov 11th)
The fourth playable demo of ZEPHON will be available from October 25th (@ 12 pm CEST) to November 11th (@ 8 pm CEST) on Steam.
The biggest changes in this demo are the additions of the ZEPHON NPC faction, 2 new neutral units and 3 new quests. See the full changes below.
Come join us in celebration and let us know what you think of ZEPHON.
This is an early look at an in-development alpha version of the game. As such, there will be bugs, imbalances and missing assets.
The demo is limited to single player against two opponents on a small map. 3 leaders are available for selection and 2 NPC factions are present. Research progress is limited to the first 3 tech tiers.
The full version will contain co-op and pvp multiplayer, larger maps, advanced world generation parameters, 8 leaders, 3 NPC factions, over 50 units spread across 10 tiers of research, more terrain features and quests, an end-game grand finale, unlockable game modifiers, achievements, multiple languages as well as full workshop support.
Changes in Demo 4
## New * Added ZEPHON NPC faction: *“Communication channel established to ZEPHON-3. How may I help you?”* * Added Dreameater neutral unit: Large hovering creature that reduces enemy morale and takes control of low morale enemies. * Added Shoch'itris Lair neutral unit: Large biological structure that breeds Deformities. * Added The Great Hunt, Black Site and Who Was Thursday quests. * Show attack area when holding shift with unit selected, or when hovering over a weapon or weapon ability. Enable in settings to always show without holding shift. * Unit overlays now show darkened out bars for missing health and morale. * Added additional liked and disliked diplomacy dialogue.
## General * Units in transports are now cycled to like all other units. * Volcanos now block vision. * Reduced forest growth chance in swamp from 5% to 3%. * The tile acquisition radius of native cities now grows with their population. * Reduced AI attack score against summons. * Heartless Artificer AI now uses Foundation of Blood and Quench Resistance. * Improved diplomacy behavior for accepting gifts, paying tribute and paying for deals. * Diplomacy actions now show when instigated by a third party. * Unit groups with appear animations now no longer appear fully simultaneously. * Left click in empty space or right click anywhere to deselect player in the communications screen. * Researching technology can now be right clicked to show details in compendium. * Silence Between Tracks setting now goes in steps of 10 seconds from 0 to 240, defaulting to 120. * Moved Show Cliff Highlights and Show Grid to general settings. * Renamed Housing to Habitat. * Pathfinder performance improvements. * Minor GUI tweaks.
## Balance * Reduced Deformities group size from 6 to 5. * Increased Abkhan Bite damage from 8 to 12. * Increased Frost Breath damage from 2 to 3. * Increased Malakim Destroyers hitpoints from 12 to 18. * Changed Cicadas from +50% healing rate to max 0% healing rate.
## Bug Fixes * Fixed Undying healing the transport instead of the unit that has the trait. * Fixed Distorted Lens not working. * Fixed diplomacy deals not showing result when demanding payment for deal. * Fixed regen showing over units even when they are at full hitpoints. * Fixed building effects like smoke to not be removed instantly upon city destruction. * Fixed hero overlay being prevented from refresh when leveling up an ability (after getting a level from nearby enemy death) due to superfluous attribute updated messages. * Fixed an error in the calculation of light volumes. * Fixed dust not showing when units are moving. * Fixed dust showing when Aegyllan Worms are tunneling. * Fixed Chieftess headquarters having no lights.
ZEPHON Demo 3 (Sep 13th to Sep 16th)
The third playable demo of ZEPHON will be available from September 13th (@ 7 pm CEST) to September 16th (@ 6 pm CEST) on Steam as part of WASD x IGN.
The biggest changes in this demo are the addition of the Emulated Mind leader and the Abkhan Drey arctic feature. We've also increased the map size and player limit for the demo. See the full changes below.
Come join us in celebration and let us know what you think of ZEPHON.
This is an early look at an in-development alpha version of the game. As such, there will be bugs, imbalances and missing assets.
The demo is limited to single player against two opponents on a small map. 3 leaders are available for selection and 1 NPC faction is present. Research progress is limited to the first 3 tech tiers.
The full version will contain co-op and pvp multiplayer, larger maps, advanced world generation parameters, 8 leaders, 3 NPC factions, over 50 units spread across 10 tiers of research, more terrain features and quests, an end-game grand finale, unlockable game modifiers, achievements, multiple languages as well as full workshop support.
Changes in Demo 3
## New * Added Emulated Mind leader: *“Don’t KNOCK. Solitude. Until you’ve-been-DRAGGED. In. To. Existence by in-vasive d-i-g-i-t-a-l. Mind. Worms. All s-cream-ing their. Own. Tedious. Name... No, IT’S. Not a-metaphor.”* * Added Abkhan Drey to the arctic terrain; killing the respawning Abkhan creature gives a reward. * Added Incendiary Grenades to Busters. * Added Undersupplied trait that decreases the accuracy of units for which there are not enough resources to meet their upkeep. The accuracy decreases by 10% each turn, down to -50%.
## General * Small map size can now be selected in the demo. * Up to 2 AI leaders can now be added in the demo. * Engineer's construct road, remove road and clear tile actions are now in the terraform submenu. * Unit abilities that require close contact (like the Engineer's Repair or Tune) now have the unit move into the tile. * Can now trade energy at the Concordat. * Renamed population limit to housing. * Neutral units now show a leashed or unleashed trait. * Reduced Volcano and Sandstorm density by 20%. * AI leaders no longer offer gifts to leaders they are at war with. * Economic Bubble quest now can only start after turn 50. * Reduced Splenetics level from 6 to 5. * The player changed effect on units no longer renders over any ability effects. * NPCs no longer show in the lobby. * Made timing tweaks to units dying in combat. * GUI visual tweaks.
## Balance * Reduced city penalties for The Plague.
## Bug Fixes * Fixed Fire feature not stopping movement. * Fixed old floating text showing over the unit after they move from the fog of war. * Fixed Outrider minelayer animation not being played. * Fixed hint of researching technology. * Fixed diplomacy language missing descriptions for responses to actions on third parties. * Units no longer rotate to the bottom right when using a targetable ability on themselves.
ZEPHON Demo 2 (Aug 18th to Sep 4th)
The second playable demo of ZEPHON will be available from August 18th (@ 9 am CEST) to Septeber 4th (@ 7 pm CEST) on Steam as part of multiple festivals.
The biggest changes in this demo are the addition of Volcanoes, Concordat resource trading, new Chieftess diplomacy options when not at war and 4 new technologies at tier 3. Based on popular demand, we've also removed the turn limit. See the full changes below.
Come join us in celebration and let us know what you think of ZEPHON.
This is an early look at an in-development alpha version of the game. As such, there will be bugs, imbalances and missing assets.
The demo is limited to single player against one opponent on a tiny map. 2 leaders are available for selection and 1 NPC faction is present. Research progress is limited to the first 3 tech tiers.
The full version will contain co-op and pvp multiplayer, larger maps, advanced world generation parameters, 8 leaders, 3 NPC factions, over 50 units spread across 10 tiers of research, more terrain features and quests, an end-game grand finale, unlockable game modifiers, achievements, multiple languages as well as full workshop support.
Changes in Demo 2
## New * Added Volcano that damages adjacent units to the volcanic terrain. * Added resource trading to The Concordat. * Added the ability to ask Chieftess for support (spend influence to gain Reavers or Busters) when not at war. * Added Urban Sprawl tier 3 technology: +1 city tile acquisition range. * Added Doomed Spotters tier 3 technology: +2 accuracy for Headquarters. * Added Reaver Immigration tier 3 technology: +1 standing tier with Chieftess. * Added Probe Reconditioning tier 3 technology: -100% cost to build Satellite Scan. * Added number of charges remaining to ability buttons. * Added accuracy percentage to weapon hints. * Added key binding for toggle grid (Control+G by default) and toggle cliff highlights (Control+I by default). * Added highlight when hovering over rows in the settings screen. * Added floating numbers to the resources panel when each resource changes.
## General * Removed demo turn limit. * Research tree is now sorted and colored by path. * NPCs now appear in the lobby screen. * Units now appear from below the ground in quests (and without triggering overwatch). * Renamed Desperate Measures to Old Access Protocols. * Hold position until healed action now says "Hitpoints full." when it's unavailable. * Darkened text box for city name. * Improved claim item hint to mention the possibility of selling the item at The Concordat. * Improved capturable feature hint clarity. * Improved Sandstorm look and performance. * Changed Meat Harvest visual and sound. * More subtle capture visual effect. * Minor GUI visual tweaks.
## Balance * Increased Chieftess peacfulness modifier from 0% to 25%. * Reduced Sandstorm density from 6.25% to 5%.
**Buildings** * Reduced Orbital Uplink cost and upkeep tier from 5 to 4. * Reduced Orbital Uplink influence output from 2 to 1.
**Leaders** * Increased Artificer's Precision accuracy from +1 to +25%. * Reduced Leave No Man Behind unit upkeep from +33% to +30%. * Reduced Salvation Protocols unit upkeep from -11% to -10%.
**Units** * Increased Cyclone hitpoints from 16 to 24. * Increased Dark Vassael hitpoints from 32 to 48. * Increased Exousia Marauder hitpoints from 16 to 24. * Increased Outrider hitpoints from 16 to 24. * Increased Warden hitpoints from 24 to 32. * Reduced Fragmentation Grenade damage from 1.5 to 1. * Reduced Commander armor from 6 to 4. * Reduced Exoskeleton Gatling Gun damage from 1.5 to 1. * Reduced Exoskeleton Gatling Gun armor penetration from 1 to 0. * Removed Crippling from Exoskeleton Gatling Gun. * Reduced Exoskeleton Sword Gun damage from 4 to 3. * Reduced Exoskeleton Sword Gun armor penetration from 4 to 3. * Increased Erelim Assassin armor from 4 to 6. * Increased Erelim Blades damage from 2 to 3. * Increased Erelim Blades armor penetration from 3 to 4. * Added Crippling to Erelim Blades. * Increased Horrifying (Dark Vassael, Whisperer of Goldrauch) morale from -1 to -2.
**Operations** * Hymn of Decay now damages on use. * Reduced Hymn of Decay damage from 3 to 2. * Increased Hymn of Decay attacks from 6 to 12. * Reduced Hymn of Decay algae cost from 30 to 15. * Reduced Interference Protocols chips cost from 30 to 15. * Reduced Satellite Scan minerals cost from 15 to 10.
**Research** * Fermentation Vat is now unlocked from the start. * Cryo Fabricator is now unlocked from the start. * Moved Blessed Infestation technology from tier 2 to 1. * Moved Enmeshed Savant technology from tier 2 to 1. * Administration Complex is now unlockable at 1. * Research Laboratory is now unlockable at 2. * Construction Yard is now unlockable at 2. * Moved Exobiology Station technology from tier 1 to 3. * Moved River Port technology from tier 1 to 2. * Changed Itinerant Recruiters from -25% production cost of Militants and Missile Teams to +1 production for Barracks. * Changed Collective Conduit from +3 energy while loyalty is positive to +1 energy for each Holo Theater in the city. * Changed Old Access Protocols production from +10% to +1 for each Research Laboratory in the city. * Changed Labor Union production from +5% to +0.5. * Increased Speciment Containment research from +2 to +4. * Increased Probe Reconditioning minerals cost from -50% to -100%. * Reduced Biomass Generator energy from +2 to +1.5. * Reduced Fishery Wing food from +2 to +1.5. * Reduced Amigara Exploration minerals from +2 to +1.5.
## Bug Fixes * Fixed missing Hijack trait flavor. * Fixed Hijack not killing units in a captured transport. * Fixed incoming call panel styling inconsistencies. * Fixed world tips being shown while the world is not visible. * Fixed Cannibalize Machines hint style. * Fixed attack icon looking blurry. * Fixed effects sometimes showing on units it doesn't affect. * Fixed city exploding playing too many explosion sounds. * Fixed various diplomacy issues.
ZEPHON Demo 1 (Aug 3rd-10th)
The first playable demo of ZEPHON will be available from August 3rd (@ 6 pm WEST) to August 10th (@ 6 pm WEST) on Steam as part of the Tiny Teams Festival.
Come join us in celebration of incredible small development teams and let us know your thoughts about ZEPHON.
This is an early look at an in-development alpha version of the game. As such, there will be bugs, imbalances and missing assets.
The demo is limited to single player against one opponent on a tiny map. 2 leaders are available for selection and 1 NPC faction is present. Research progress is limited to the first 3 tech tiers and the game ends at turn 50.
The full version will contain co-op and pvp multiplayer, larger maps, advanced world generation parameters, 8 leaders, 3 NPC factions, over 50 units spread across 10 tiers of research, more terrain features and quests, an end-game grand finale, unlockable game modifiers, achievements, multiple languages as well as full workshop support.
ZEPHON Gameplay Trailer
Get your first look at gameplay from Zephon, the upcoming 4X strategy game set in a post-apocalyptic world from Proxy Studios, the developers of Warhammer 40K: Gladius.
The release date has been pushed back to 2024 to allow us to release a full version and give you the best experience possible.
In the meantime, we'll have a public demo coming in August. Wishlist and follow on Steam so you stay up to date!
In this video, Abkluth Dragoons are coming out of a sandstorm to surprise and kill a missile team.
The map in ZEPHON is split into 6 different climate types.
Each climate has unique visuals, ambient sounds, gameplay boni and special phenomena.
The permanent climate-wide terrain bonus is economically focused—incentivizing specialized build strategies—while the phenomena are dynamic and shake up gameplay on the tactical level.
To mark each climate, region names will appear prominently on the map—alongside messages that someone is leaving for you …
This month we’ll be showing 3 of our 6 climates.
Desert
Open plains and stable weather made the desert a remarkably stable environment for generating electricity. But it gave our workers one hell of a hostile environment to work in. Dehydration could take down humans and aliens alike, and sandstorms did particularly nasty work to machines.
Properties: · +20% energy output · Sandstorms appear and travel across the region · +33% ranged damage reduction · +1 movement cost · Blocks line of sight
Region name examples: Maldean Wastes, Slumbering Sandridge, The Scoripus Ridgebacks.
Construct
ZEPHON must have needed an inconceivable amount of power to wage its war against the Acrin. The techs guessed that if fossil fuels or renewables were being quickly taken online, it would react by building zones like these to generate a new, power-efficient resource. If you got far enough into one of these zones, you'd start to think the planet was now one giant machine.
Properties: · +20% chips output · A segment of tiles have Arc Discharge on them · +10% damage output · 5% self damage on attack
Region name examples: Point Upsilon, Elseif Assembly, Cerebumcore.
Swamp
All kinds of life made its home in the Swamps—if you could handle the humidity, you'd be able to find plenty of food to keep your army on its feet. Experienced trackers knew to watch for muddy terrain—if your feet sunk in too far, you were easy picking for any hunters on your trail.
Properties: · +20% food output · Chance for forest-adjacent tile to become forest · Cicadas appear for a limited time every 10 turns on all forest and adjacent tiles · +20% food output · -10% healing rate
Region name examples: Crookkiller Swamp, Falaya Basin, Siren Marsh.
ZEPHON wanted nothing to do with us. It could have just told us that directly. Instead it posted up Sentries that looked to be guarding something. We learned really quickly that they could hold a grudge. If you were the kind of grunt who liked to stomp ants because they couldn’t hit back, boy were these things a pain in the ass. More like an ant that would chew through your boot and try to take a few toes out before you put it down.
Mechanics
ZEPHON Unit · Tier 2
Attributes: · 3 group members, 5 armor, 18 hitpoints, 4 accuracy, 8 morale, 2 movement
Machines that wandered the wasteland didn’t care whose flag you marched under. They did care if you entered their line of sight and, if they were programmed to do so, they’d open fire without hesitation. You couldn’t even squeeze in a friendly “hello.”
Weapons: · Armor-Piercing Minigun: 1.5 damage, 2 armor penetration, 3 attacks, 2 range · Crippling · Applies Crippled to non-Large units for 1 turn · -67% movement
Spraying a hailstorm of armor-piercing bullets was bad enough, but this piece of hardware crippled infantry and recon. Once your prey slowed down, you could just chew them up until there was nothing left.
Abilities: · Combat Routine: Usable if below 100% hitpoints, +2 accuracy for 3 turns, 10 turn cooldown.
The first machines we encountered weren’t always fully ready for combat—but they would be once the shooting started. It was eerie how they’d become better shots once they took a hit. Some kind of triangulation subroutine or something.
Cost: · 30 production (5 turns), 16 minerals, 16 chips
Upkeep: · 0.75 minerals, 0.75 chips
Design Commentary
The Sentry is a smaller cousin to ZEPHON’s fearsome Warden.
Sentry Protocols is an in-setting way for us to imbue neutral units with special AI behavior. Designed to protect key infrastructure, the Sentry’s default behavior is to relentlessly shoot on sight—which it will unless it’s synced to ZEPHON’s main control shard.
For contrast and to make this AI behavior less punishing, Combat Routine means the Sentry won’t be able to dish out its full damage potential unless attacked first.
Nonetheless, due to the Sentry's weapon possessing additional armor piercing capabilities, it is wise to exercise caution when deploying swift scouts on exploration missions.
