1 Overview
The most essential energy system mechanics are already well-documented in the official Urban Assault Help files. Therefore, please refer to the game's Help or readme files first. This article aims to explore more in-depth mechanics and systems.
2 Official Summary
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4. Energy System
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4.1 Power Management Tips
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Power is everything in this game. Here are some helpful points about how
to get as much of it as possible;
** For the fastest energy reload, beam your Host Station directly on top of
your strongest power station. Beaming to a power station you own does not
require any beam energy.
** If your energy absorption is less than 100%, conquer more sectors first
to reach 100% efficiency and then build more power stations.
** Owning more power stations does NOT guarantee that you absorb more energy
(see Section 9.4 for details). In some situations -- for example, when you
do not own a lot of sectors -- the amount of power you absorb can decrease
if you own too many power stations.
** Once your energy absorption reaches 100%, build a power station right
next to the one you are already on. This way you absorb energy from both
of them.
** You can stop the flow to and from each energy reservoir (the Host Station
life energy, the creation energy, and the beam energy reservoirs) by
clicking their respective icons on the Energy Manager. Click the icon again
to allow a free flow of energy.
** Don't forget that power stations can also be used as "free beam points."
It often makes sense to build a small network of weaker power stations
(which will not affect your energy efficiency too much), and then use this
network to beam your Host Station quickly over large distances. Although
those weak stations are not very useful for energy reload, they serve well
as outposts from which you can quickly deploy your squads to distant areas
of the map.
4.2 Energy Absorption
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Your energy absorption rate, at the far left on the Energy Manager,
shows the total amount of energy points you are receiving every 10
seconds. This rate is based on the following:
1. Your proximity to a power station.
2. The strength of that power station.
3. The efficiency of all your power stations, as indicated by the
percentage at the far left of your Energy Manager.
4. The strength of your Host Station, which becomes stronger and absorbs
more energy as you progress through the mission levels.
4.3 Efficiency and Sector Ownership
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Each power station requires a certain number of sectors to support it
before it can work at 100% efficiency. Owning a strong power station
but few sectors to support it is not very useful.
Some power stations can emit more energy than others, and this is
indicated by the number of white boxes in the upper left of each power
station map sector. To reach 100% efficiency, you must own 16 sectors
per each white box.
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Total No. of White Sectors Required to Reach
Boxes You Own 100% Efficiency
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1 16
2 32
3 48
4 64
5 80
6 96
7 112
8 128
Etc. Etc.
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For example, if you own two power stations, each with 2 white boxes,
or one power station with 4 white boxes, you must own 64 sectors to
reach 100% efficiency.
4.4 Emissions, Proximity, and Drainage
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Your power stations emit energy to the nearby sectors you own. The
closer you are to a power station, the more energy you absorb from it.
This also means that if you are out of your power station's emission
area, or if you are within range but are not within one of your own
sectors, you will not absorb any energy from that station. This applies
to recharging your units as well as to your Host Station. Power stations
with more white boxes emit more energy and have a larger emission area.
The energy absorbed from power stations can be cumulative -- for
instance, if you are on top of a power station and you are within the
emission area of another power station, you will receive energy from
both of them.
NOTE: Enemy-owned power stations will drain energy away from your units
and Host Station if you are within these power stations' emission areas
and are positioned in an enemy sector. The same rules that apply to
energy absorption also apply to energy drainage: The closer you are to
the enemy power station, the more energy you lose. Your power stations
have the same effect on enemy units and host stations.NOTE: This is the official summary of power management and energy system from the official readme file of the game. It is highly recommended to read it.
3 Energy Math
The information on this section will explain internal mechanics and algorithms of the energy systems, for both the user and the AI algorithms.
3.1 Script integer values to energy conversion
The energy values defined in scripts are converted into the game through modifiers. For example, '1000000' energy value for the host stations in the level scripts will translate to 7500 (2500 x 3 Batteries) total energy reservoir for the player, and 10000 (10000 x 1 Battery) total energy reservoir for the AI.
The missing 1/4 portion of energy for the user is caused by the removed 4th battery that was exclusively used for a building construction. In the final version of the game, this 4th battery does not exist and its functionality has been combined with the unit creation battery.
AI uses only 1 battery (System Battery) for all tasks. This sole battery functions as its life energy reservoir as well as unit and building creation battery. The AI cannot teleport their host stations, but instead they can move their host station manually. This does not cost energy, but it is much more inefficient compared to the user's teleportation ability, and renders AI host stations very vulnerable while they are displacing into different positions (see: Teleportation).
3.2 Drak/Reload Constants and the conversion factors
The Drak constant (or Reload constant) values that are defined in the level scripts determine the packet amount of energy absorption of the user and AI host stations from the power sources. The higher the value, the more energy can be gathered from the power source from each energy packet status.
Just like the energy values, different levels (both single-player and multiplayer) are assigned with different Drak constant values for each user and AI host stations. The exact math for the actual amount of energy that can be gathered from each power in relative to Drak constant values will be covered below.
3.3 Power Rating and Power Status
More coming soon...
3.4 Conversion Factor Denominator for Drak/Reload Constant to Power Rating/Status conversion
More coming soon...
3.5 AI Unit Maintenance/Upkeep Mechanics
Urban Assault is a quite generous game in regards to unit limits during the gameplay. In single-player mode, the players can create as much units as they wish without restrictions. This is not the case in multiplayer, where both the soft limit and hard limit mechanisms exist to encourage efficiency and decision-making based gameplay.
However, unlike the human players, the AI players in single-player mode of UA are subject to various hardcoded handicaps and limitations that do not apply to the human players. One noticeable example is the unit maintenance/upkeep mechanics for AI host stations. Basically, unlike the players whose unit creation costs are static regardless of circumstances, the unit creation costs for AI host stations are fully dynamic. For the AI host stations, the energy required to create additional units will change depends on the number of total units (vehicles and turrets) that are currently under the command & control system of each AI host station.
The math algorithm formula for calculating the AI host station maintenance/upkeep mechanics for the units is as follows:
K = (k/2)+(kn/40)Or more simply,
K = k*(20+n)/40Where 'k' is the cost of a unit, and 'n' is the current number for all units and turrets that an AI host station has control over (this includes the host station component itself).
The result is an arithmetic progression that can be expressed in a linear function with no defined limit, so the unit creation cost for AI host stations will continuously increase without any restrictions as they field more units and flak/radar stations on the battlefield. For example, an AI host station can create its 20th unit (including all individual units and turrets currently present under their control) at a same price as the original unit cost. But the creation cost of its 100th unit will be 300% (+200% higher) of the normal cost. Likewise, its 200th unit creation cost will require 550% (+450% higher) of creation energy than the standard energy value. Which is prohibitively high.
On the contrary, the construction costs for buildings remain identical for AI in all situations, same as the players. This is why many AI host stations prefer to construct numerous flak stations around their bases in later missions, where their manufacture costs of normal units become excessively high to be practical. Still, the individual flak turrets (and the radar antennae) will contribute to the total number of units under the AI control, which will resultantly affect their attack capabilities in favour of defensive advantages the emplacements offer.
It is also worth noting that individual AI host stations possess independent command & control system. So when there are multiple AI host stations present for a faction in a level, only one of these AI host stations will be responsible for controlling all pre-deployed squadrons and automated structure components in the level. Which means the energy penalty for this 'master' AI host station will be usually greater than the other AI host stations in the same faction that only manage their own units, unless the pre-deployed assets are exhausted.
3.6 Multiplayer Unit Limits
More coming soon...
This article is currently under construction. I will finish it later, sorry about the inconvenience!
-- Charlotte
