Weapons/Items

FS: About how many different weapons/special items can you use to build your combots? What are some of your favorite weapons/special items? What are the advantages/disadvantages to using melee weapons as opposed to ranged weapons? In other words, why give your combots swords and axes when you can use guns from long range?

Underground fighting in tunnels

JH: I'll answer the last part first - Again it comes down to the way you want to play it. The melee weapons are typically cheaper, quicker to build, and deliver more damage than the ranged weapons. So if you want the luxury of sitting back and trying to pick things off from a distance, you'll have to pay a little extra for that. Another big plus for Melee weapons is that you can hack off the limbs of your opponent, pick them up, and use them. With ranged weapons, you'll only get an enemy part if the enemy robot dies and leaves something functional behind. The chances of this happening are much less than if the enemy was engaged in melee combat. Gaining enemy parts is a key strategy, as each side has it's own unique set of parts, so just about anything you get will be useful - especially weapons.

Your opponents weapons tend to work very well when used against them! Of course, the captured enemy parts can just be converted to cash if you want, as well, so they can be an extra source of income. As far as the number of parts is concerned, there's around 40 in all, which are divided among the three sides. There are literally thousands of different combinations you can make from these parts.

Some of my favorites - Hmmm... The ElectroGrip arm is cool. It's one of the low-end melee weapons carried by Neuropa. Some of the animations you see when it attacks another combot are priceless. The Howitzer torso, which is one of Mil-Agro's top end ranged weapons is fearsome - the barrel of the cannon almost as tall as the combot that carries it. Seeing a Combot equipped with it, slowly lumbering toward your base, is pretty intense (yes, heavy parts effect the speed and animation of the Combot). I don't think I can reveal too many more just yet.

Milagro tanks meet their Neuropan counterparts

FS: Can you expand more on the leg fittings? How do they differ from one another?

JH: Legs can supply a few different capabilities to your combot. Some are fitted with ranged weapons, area effect weapons, and that sort of thing. Some are used for recon purposes, for example the Sonar Legs can be used to detect things going on beneath the combot in the underground layer. Other legs can be used for shielding purposes, or to enhance the robot's melee capabilities by providing additional stability.