Cybertrons

Cybertrons are Galactic Empire’s automated combat opponents. Unlike the other non-player ships, their main purpose is to hunt and fight: a mobile Cybertron may claim a player as its target, cross many sectors to reach that player, and then maneuver and attack. The Cyber-Base is the stationary, heavily defended member of the group. Destroying a Cybertron earns its class's kill points and can leave salvage, but fighting one can also attract further attention.

A Cybertron is a ship in a live NPC slot, not an unlimited random encounter. Its class sets its speed, sensors, weapons, durability, value, and which player ship classes it may pursue. A player's ship class sets whether Cybertrons may attack it without provocation and how many may claim it at once. Those limits do not make a ship immune: getting too close or entering combat can provoke a Cybertron that would otherwise leave it alone. See Classic NPC ship classes and ge-next NPC ship classes for the stock class settings.

Classic Galactic Empire

The fleet and the hunt

Classic 3.2e has a Cybertron Scout, a stronger Cybertron Battle Cruiser called a Cyberquad, and a Cybertron Base Star. Its two Sarten classes also occupy Cybertron slots and run Cybertron behavior; they do not have the separate Sarten behavior introduced by ge-next. The Base Star is intended to remain in one place. Ordinary Cybertrons roam when idle and can be replaced after destruction, subject to the game's available NPC slots.

An idle Cybertron looks for an eligible player ship. Its own minimum-target-class setting can rule out smaller classes; the player's ship class controls the number of simultaneous pursuers. If several players qualify, the Cybertron chooses the nearest. A player whose class is marked as not attackable can still draw fire by approaching too closely or by hostilities. Classic's default TOOCLOSE is 2,500 distance units, with a randomized provocation threshold extending toward 5,000. These class and proximity rules were explained in the classic 3.2d release notes.

At long distances, pursuit is deliberately much faster than ordinary warp travel. By default, a Cybertron beyond 25 sectors uses hyper-warp; inside 10 sectors it brakes toward its normal speed. Those thresholds are configurable. The intervening approach gives a player time to see the contact closing, but not necessarily enough time to outrun it. Classic 3.2e displays an extreme pursuit speed as Hyper rather than a misleading warp number; see the 3.2e notes. ge-next changed how the pursuit speed is chosen and displayed, now showing "?.??" in scans, and added some narrative flavor about this Cybertron ability to the help text. A target that leaves the game or fully cloaks can cause the Cybertron to abandon its pursuit after a delay.

Classic has two important limits on how often this hunt happens in practice. A lone player is commonly on BBS channel 0, and a target-selection error prevents Cybertrons from claiming that channel; a chance local encounter can still turn hostile. See Classic bug: Channel-zero NPC targeting. Also, NPC classes share a slot pool in which random replacements can crowd out other classes, particularly the ordinary Droids. See Classic bug: NPC class slot crowding.

The encounter

When a Cybertron reaches sensor and weapons range, it can approach, brake, hail, and attack. Its decision depends on distance, the target class's attackability, and recent combat. At impulse it can use standard phasers and torpedoes, raise shields, and deploy decoys. Depending on its class and circumstances, it can also lay mines, create jamming, or use a zipper when mines are nearby. Cybertrons can use hyper-phasers against ships in hyperspace. The stock classic Cybertron classes have no missile capability. A classic Cybertron's torpedo stock is effectively refreshed during its attack routine, so exhausting the ammunition shown on a scan is not a reliable way to disarm it.

Cyberquads are more aggressive than ordinary Cybertrons. Classic also deliberately goes easier on less experienced players: the ordinary Cybertron's willingness to attack and its torpedo volleys depend partly on the player's accumulated kills. A separate random whoops check can make a Cybertron miss a standard phaser shot or decoy deployment. The malfunction hails still exist in the classic message file, but their only call is commented out in the published 3.2e source, so these failures are silent. A badly damaged pursuer may break away, sometimes laying mines or jamming as it flees. These behaviors make an encounter less deterministic than a simple chase, even though the underlying class lineup is small.

The Base Star is a different sort of fight: it has no normal movement, a long scanner range, strong phasers, and a very high damage factor. Its stock classic class does not launch torpedoes or missiles. It can nonetheless be made to move through a pursuit bug: after a player attacks it and retreats, the Base may receive speed despite having zero acceleration, fail to turn, and eventually destroy itself against the galactic perimeter. See Classic bug: Stationary Cyber-Base movement.

What runs behind the encounter

The principal behavior pass is cyb_lives(). A few supporting routines explain the visible sequence without requiring players to understand the implementation:

Routine	Visible role
`cyb_init()`	Creates or reloads a Cybertron, assigns its class equipment and position, and announces a new ship.
`cyb_check_lockon()`	Keeps or changes its chosen target and steers the long-range hunt, approach, and close maneuver.
`cyb_attack()`	Chooses weapons and defenses during an impulse-range encounter.
`cyb_check_damage()`	Can turn a badly damaged pursuer into a fleeing ship.
`cyb_won()` / `cyb_died()`	Handle the aftermath when the Cybertron wins or is destroyed.

Cybertron decisions are made on their own recurring schedule; movement and weapon flight continue through the game's other update paths. See Game timing.

ge-next 0.2: A broader NPC game

Version 0.2 rebuilt the Cybertron lineup around four mobile classes: Cyber-Interceptor (1x), Cyber-Destroyer (2x), Cyber-Cruiser (4x), and Cyber-Dreadnought (8x). The Cyber-Base (Bx) remains. The classic Sarten ships no longer consume Cybertron slots; new Sarten craft are handled as Droids with their own behavior. The mobile classes offer a wider progression of speed, pursuit eligibility, launchers, defensive systems, and point rewards. An individual Cybertron starts with variable shield and phaser Marks instead of always receiving its class's maximum equipment. Higher toughness levels change how frequently and aggressively a class fights. The old kill-count-based easing and random whoops behavior were removed.

The hunt became more responsive to where the player actually is. When a player enters the game or passes through a wormhole, old Cybertron claims are cleared and the nearest eligible Cybertrons are assigned. If a pursuer dies or gives up, another idle one may later take its place. The channel-0 targeting defect was fixed, so a solo player can now be hunted. NPC slots were divided by configured class rather than filled by a free-for-all random replacement; see Classic bug: NPC class slot crowding. Zero-acceleration Cyber-Bases were excluded from pursuit, fixing the self-destructive movement described above.

Cybertrons can now fight other non-player ships when configured to do so and when players are present to witness it. Faction codes distinguish Cybertrons from the other groups and keep members of one faction from shooting one another with phasers in the normal NPC firing path. An attack on a non-Cybertron ship may trigger its distress behavior, giving a player a reason to intervene. The new Cybertron classes can use their configured missiles and zippers, and larger classes tend to carry more gold. The 0.2.3 balance pass made the 4x and 8x ships tougher and more rewarding, while changing their close-combat and escape behavior. Version 0.2.6 stopped heavily damaged Cybertrons from choosing a new target only to flee immediately; see Classic bug: Damaged Cybertron target-flee ordering.

ge-next 0.3: More readable, less predictable combat

The 0.3 combat overhaul changed both the signals a player receives and the decisions a Cybertron can make. A successful LOCK on an idle Cybertron can draw its attention; an attempted projectile launch that never gets into range no longer does. Phaser contact is distinguished from a beam that never hits and from a hit that deals negligible or no damage. A Cybertron can react to a genuine no-damage contact, but not to a shot that never connects. This makes range and aim matter when trying to provoke one. See Phasers and Lock command.

Close pursuit is less of a straight-line chase. Cybertrons vary their attack vectors, may briefly break away before returning, and, if equipped, use missiles or zippers more deliberately. The 4x and 8x already gained faster shield-raising when dropping to impulse in 0.2.3. In current ge-next, tougher mobile classes also watch incoming projectiles and may try to evade them. A damaged Cybertron can flee without continuing to taunt the target. The changes to missile speed, phaser hit reporting, and jamming also affect these fights: a player may see less certainty on a jammed scan, while a Cybertron's own targeting can be disrupted by serious interference. Nebulas likewise limit visibility and can interrupt a pursuit; neither is a guarantee of safety at close range.

The transponder control upgrade lets an eligible player adjust how many Cybertrons may claim that ship, within limits. Saved Cybertron records are now checked against the class assigned to their slot, so changing NPC class counts no longer brings back an old class in the wrong place after restart; see Classic bug: Stale NPC database records. The Cyber-Base remains stationary and dangerous, but its stock durability and rewards have been tuned across the 0.2 and 0.3 releases. The class value defaults are shown in ge-next NPC ship classes, but not every server will necessarily use the same settings.