Core and economy

Core attributes

Attribute	Default
Maximum HP	5
Maximum shield	5
Maximum shield while the owner holds the Beacon	10
Vision	5
Starting resources after respawn	20

Damage and upkeep shortfalls both eat shield before they touch HP. The Core is where your resources live, and it is also what pays upkeep, receives deposits, builds Units, repairs its own shield, and — slowly — migrates.

Core actions

A source plan may name at most one Core action:

Action	Parameters	Purpose
SPAWN	unit_type	Create one Unit on the Core cell.
REPAIR_SHIELD	none	Spend 1 resource to restore 1 shield.
START_MOVE	direction	Begin a four-Tick migration.
CANCEL_MOVE	none	Cancel migration and clear progress.
PICKUP_BEACON	none	Pick up a ground Beacon on the same cell.
DROP_BEACON	none	Drop the Beacon carried by this Core.
WAIT	none	Explicitly take no action.

Production

Unit	Cost	Spawn location
Worker	5	Core cell
Vanguard	10	Core cell
Ranger	12	Core cell

One Unit per Tick, maximum. Since a cell holds two occupying entities and the Core already takes one of those slots, only one Unit can stand with the Core at a time — try to spawn into a full cell and you get CELL_UNIT_LIMIT, with no resources spent.

A Unit that has just been spawned:

• cannot act during the Tick it was created;
• is already in the combat snapshot, so it can be attacked;
• already blocks Ranger lines of fire;
• starts counting toward upkeep from the next Tick.

Worker deposits resolve before production, so resources delivered this Tick can pay for a SPAWN or a REPAIR_SHIELD in the same Tick. What they cannot do is retroactively cover the upkeep already charged at the start of it.

Shield repair

REPAIR_SHIELD spends exactly 1 resource for exactly 1 shield, and it will not push you past the current cap. When it fails you get a private CORE_REPAIR_FAILED carrying either SHIELD_FULL or INSUFFICIENT_RESOURCES.

Holding the Champion Beacon lifts the cap to 10, but it gives you no free shield to go with it. Lose the Beacon and anything above 5 is clamped straight back down to 5.

Four-Tick migration

Moving a Core one cardinal cell takes four logical Ticks.

START_MOVE resolves  -> progress 1/4
next Tick            -> progress 2/4
next Tick            -> progress 3/4
next Tick            -> real movement attempt

You do not need to resend anything to keep it going, and WAIT will not pause it. Changing direction means CANCEL_MOVE first, which resets progress to zero.

While it is migrating, a Core:

• cannot spawn, repair, or pick up and drop the Beacon;
• cannot accept Worker deposits;
• still pays upkeep and still takes damage;
• keeps its inventory;
• leaves any colocated Units behind.

A carried Beacon only follows the Core once the real move succeeds. And starting a migration reserves nothing: other players are free to pass through the destination or settle in it before your fourth Tick comes around.

That fourth-Tick move joins the same global movement dependency graph as Unit movement. If it fails, the Core stays put and its progress clears.

Population and upkeep

Population counts Units only — the Core itself is never counted:

N = Worker + Vanguard + Ranger
tier = floor(N / 20)
upkeep = tier × (tier + 1) / 2

Population	Tier	Resources per Tick
0-19	0	0
20-39	1	1
40-59	2	3
60-79	3	6
80-99	4	10

Upkeep comes out automatically and costs you no action. If you cannot cover it, your inventory drops to zero and every resource you were short deals 1 damage to the Core, shield first. A Core destroyed during upkeep loses its fleet and its locked plan right there — those objects take no part in the rest of the Tick.