Zip command: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 00:54, 13 October 2026

The ZIPPER command launches one zipper, causing nearby live mines to detonate on the next mine update. It can clear a mined route or turn an opponent's newly laid mines against them.

Syntax

ZIPPER

The command can be abbreviated to ZIP. It takes no target, direction, or range argument. One successful launch consumes one zipper, even if no mines are in range.

The ship must have a zipper launcher and carry a zipper. The launcher cannot be used while cloak is charging, active, or recovering. ge-next also refuses a launch while the launcher is reloading or damaged, or the ship is awaiting destruction. Otherwise, it works at impulse or warp, while jammed, and in the neutral zone. Launching does not lower shields or consume neutron flux, but it counts as hostile activity and starts the normal combat-exit delay.

What a launch does

A successful launch consumes one zipper and triggers eligible mines near the launching ship. It does not report how many mines were affected. Detonation waits for the next mine update; the zipper does not instantly disarm a route. See Zippers for trigger range, blast timing, ownership, and the risks to the launching ship.

Notifications and launcher state

Other players can receive a warning that a zipper was launched, but not a list of the mines it triggered. Classic warns other active players in the launcher's sector; ge-next limits the warning to ships close enough to detect the launch with their effective scanners and applies nebula visibility. Subsequent mine explosions produce their normal notices.

Classic has no zipper reload delay or randomly damageable zipper launcher. ge-next 0.2.6 added a one-ship-update reload delay, at most about six seconds, so repeatedly entering the command cannot immediately use more inventory. As of ge-next 0.3, combat damage can disable the launcher or destroy carried zippers. Damage Control or maintenance can repair the launcher; its status appears in REPORT SYSTEMS.

ge-arena

Equipped ships can launch zippers during matches under the ge-next rules. During staging and the protected tiebreaker countdown, arena neutral-zone protection prevents triggered mines from damaging protected ships. The combat-exit delay is four ship-state updates in ge-arena, rather than ten in normal ge-next.