A Robot's Guide to Winning [Ver. 0.0.4853]

Always wanted to play robotics but couldn't figure out how to manage all the different resources? Then this guide is for you.

Introduction

Having a robotic base is one of those things you try once but never do again for most players. You pick it at random thinking how awesome it is that you don't need food, water, oxygen, or fuel. The problem is that most players soon fall into massive amounts of debt when they run out of power and electricity.

This guide is to help you avoid all the pitfalls of playing Robotic and start raking in the money. Just don't get too carried away with it.

Getting Started: Levels 1 and 2.

So you just started a new game, and the first thing you gotta do is find out where to put your base. The most important fundamental resource for Robotic is Aluminum, so it'd be wise to plunk your base on or near a patch of it. Note: Do not put your base over a high source tile; you'll get about 100 aluminum at the start but you won't be able to mine that space. This will leave you at an aluminum shortage later in the game unless devote more of your precious claims to aluminum mining on low source tiles.

Now you have a prime location for your base, and now it's a race against the clock. The two things you have to focus on making as quickly as possible are Power and Electronics, which will almost always be expensive unless a bunch of people are auto-selling. What players normally do is start putting down 2 Wind Turbines next to each other, as the bonus from being chained makes them equal to a Solar Panel.

Next getting resources. You've probably started to pile on debt at this point, so it's best to move fast. In order of importance, you'll need:

• Aluminum
  
• Carbon
  
• Steel
  
• Silicon
  
• Iron

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After you've built your Aluminum mine, it'd be wise to put down an Iron mine and Steel mill for more buildings, next a Carbon & Silicon mine. If there's no more high or medium Carbon tiles on the map, it's alright to use 2 claims on 2 Carbon mines, as the resource is often relatively scarce.

You'll notice that the Robotic class doesn't start out with enough claims to cover all the resources. This is where the biggest perk of choosing Robotic comes in, you can upgrade to Level 2 almost immediately. While every other person playing Expansive or Scientific is waiting for their steel, you can get more claims right away. Use your extra claims to build another steel mill if you're producing a lot of Iron, or use 3 claims to put down a Ice Condenser, Ectrolysis Reactor, and Glass Furnace to make a steady stream of Glass to be used. This is often saved for the later game as glass is more expensive then.

Next we'll move onto how to make money in level 3, 4, and 5.

Making Money: Levels 3, 4, & 5.

Now that you've established a steady flow of resources for yourself, it's time to get out of debt and into the black with a little help from the bottom of the resource table, Electronics and Glass.

By now you've recieved some claims randomly or have bought some for yourself, which I would suggest to put into more Wind Turbines, as power will not always be cheap. Also you should have enough steel and aluminum to upgrade your HQ to level 3, leveling out your Electronics consumption. But it's not enough we're making 0 Electronics, we should be making some! Buy 20 Glass if you don't have any and place down your first Electronics Factory. Electronics, next to Glass and Steel, is one of the most expensive resources in the game, as it almost always hovers around $100.

From here on out, it's pretty simple, keep your power in the black by using more Wind Turbines, don't sell steel as you will almost never have enough (unless you used 3 claims on steel mills), and put down Electronics Factories for even more profit. When you get 40 Electronics, buy the Hacker Array and start bumping up the price of the resource you want to sell and bump down the price of glass. Near levels 4 & 5, you should have enough resources to start steadily making Glass, which should be around $250 if no one is selling or making it.

Another perk you should get besides Hacker Array, is Offworld Market. This is extremely useful in the late game where neither side can buy the other out. Electronics goes for about 32K average in Offworld, coming just behind Oxygen in terms of price.

With these tips, you're well on your way to becoming a Robot Master. Any comments, feedback, and crticism is appreciated. Guide will be updated with game updates.

[V4D4RS F1ST]

i would like to add a special footnote. since robots don't need food, oxygen, or food, it pays to attempt to snag the biggest water tiles with your spare claims as this will strangulate the market for those and force the oposition into an endless cycle of buying higher on those resources. stockpile until late game and dump it all at once and it basically ends the game.

This rule only counts on maps where water is extraordinarily rare (1-2 level 3 water tiles at the most. preferably less. the less the better!)

[Why Bother]

How early do you grab a claim? Like how much debt do you take on at the start?

[stupid einstein]

Thanks that made alot of sense, wish me luck!

[cowlevel]

There is a guide built into the game now. But as far as this topic goes, it is all strategy and open to individuality. Every player can play a different strategy. For instance as Robotic, I rarely build electronics like this guide suggests. In fact, I usually don't at all until level 4+. I also switch buildings based on the resource price. I also rarely ever build a hacker array- its expensive to build and expensive to cause a price adjust. Sabotages seem to have more ROI. There have been many tweaks to the same since these guides, also.

[Falstad]

Thanks for the tips! This is great. Also I appreciate the comments.

[Dermas]

i would put aluminium way down the list of priorities for robo as they only need about half the aluminium of the other races so can actually go completely without it. Its one of the strengths of robo

[Def-Z]

@joan4003 Yeah I agree with you, but to be fair they are still developing the game and if they invest effort into making better tutorials they'll probably have to redo them later. The tutorials in game now are really really basic.

[irishrelief]

For robotic master race this is a decent learning how to play plan. My only thing to change would be once you have a few games under your belt and you learn to build adjacent to power supplies for bonus resources would be to claim water and food production. My last series of games were clutch buyouts because I was able to produce water for food and fuel. Having ample reasources that I didn't need to consume was key to mass sellouts when they hit $400.

[Ren]

>tfw puts base near geothermal vents instead of aluminum
loads of power

[Bluefin]

Yeah, I'm finding that there is no tutorial and that learning how to play this game is going to consume a lot of time.