Tech

Techs are a major part of TerraTech gameplay, as they is the basic representations of the player and NPCs in-game.

Basic Properties
Regardless of everything else, a tech MUST contain a control block, or be anchored. Those blocks can be a tech of their own. A tech will turn into loose blocks if they are detached from them or in case of an anchored block, attached blocks will fall off when uprooted.

In singleplayer campaign, if the player's tech is destroyed, they will be offered two options: Use a weak tech provided by GSO, or pay a fee and get the original tech back. A snapshot is automatically taken, so it can be rebuilt if needed.

In multiplayer, the player is simply re-spawned without given any options. The chat box will alert all players about whose tech was destroyed, if possible.

In RND labs, the player will take control of a nearby tech. If none are close enough, they will respawn in a recently used tech.

Snapshots of a tech can be taken. By using the tech management menu, all techs save for the one the player is controlling can be snapshotted, while the currently controlled tech can be snapshotted via the radial menu. This allows designs to be saved for, say, a rainy day. They can be loaded at anytime. Swapping it means that the current tech will be replaced with the set of blocks present on the new tech, sending the unused one back to the inventory and healing them to full, as well as emptying all the batteries, if they are also unused. All power-consuming blocks will be restarted. Deploying a tech simply puts it somewhere close enough to the player with enough space, consuming the required blocks. Either way, those actions are only avaliable if enough blocks are present, and the area must be clear in certain cases. For balancing reasons, techs cannot be send back to the inventory when an enemy is too close to that tech, nor can they be swapped/deployed near one.

AI-Controlled techs will not switch between anchor states, if they have one, with few exceptions.

The Build Beam is only avaliable for a tech with at least one player cab but regardless the inventory can still be used to place the blocks on all allied techs. Having a player cab, will, however, allow techs to be moved more liberally.

If control blocks were separated from a Tech for whatever reason (most likely due to damage from terrain and enemy gunfire, as well as triggering explosive bolts), it will automatically transform into a new Tech with the name "[Tech name] #2" and so on with an increasing value in the number.

Ally techs
An ally tech is a tech that the player has created, or was given by a mission. It is possible to take blocks off it or even sent it back to the inventory along with any other blocks on it, unless an enemy is too close. The passive techs/hostile bases in a protection mission will turn into an allied tech if the mission objectives are completed. All cabs/AI Cabs/anchored blocks placed by the player are considered as such.

All of these have a Blue Tag.

Passive techs
A passive tech is a tech that has been spawned in a mission that essentially does nothing and is ignored by enemies. Such examples are Crafty Mike and his bases, bases in the "Enemy Base" missions (Sometimes the base is a hostile target and can be attacked, regardless of weapons), and other mission-spawned bases, as well as the Corporation-Specific NPCs. Trading stations and non-hostile techs in defense missions are also classified as passive techs. You cannot pull blocks off of passive techs.

Passive techs will have a yellow tag.

Enemy Techs
An enemy tech is a tech spawned in by missions or randomly that will attack you. If you get into a certain radius of them, they will try to come towards you and will follow you until you can outrun them. Once you are in their attack radius, they will activate their weapons. You cannot pull blocks off them unless you break a block off them. However, you can fire at them and damage them. These techs are usually submitted by the community through Community Core, or created by Payload Studios. Invaders also are classified as enemy techs. Destroying enemy techs will give you EXP depending on which corp does the cab belong to, with more powerful techs giving more EXP when destroyed.

Enemy techs have a red tag, and for those who appear in missions, they may have a yellow outline.

Enemies are indicated by a red bomb icon at their drop location and will take a second to start up their shields/repair bubbles/Anti-Gravity devices, if possible. Also, enemies randomly spawned by the game will fight each other, while groups of enemies encountered on missions will not attack each other and will only focus on the player, though they will exchange fire with other enemy techs as well, if they are within range. If they happen to have batteries, all are 100% charged and will deplete as usual when fighting it.

Going out of range will cause all enemies to cease their actions, even if they are hostile to each other. This sometimes leads to blocks floating without any explanation. Additionally, it is possible to exploit this by getting far enough for one enemy to stop moving but not enough for another to be frozen. The immobilized foe will not do anything and eventually will be destroyed by the other. Note that an enemy killed by another enemy will not add any EXP to the winning enemy, and so they will give the same EXP when killed.

Using the Middle-Mouse click, it is possible to focus on an enemy, which directs fire from all applicable weapons to that enemy. Clicking again may disengage the lock-on or target a different enemy.

It is impossible to salvage control blocks from enemy techs as they simply do not detach as normal blocks. In earlier versions singleplayer campaign enemy techs with too few attached blocks will slowly take damage and explode. Otherwise, the player must destroy them manually.

Invaders
Invaders are essentially enemy Techs except that they are generally more powerful and spawn less frequently. They will spawn with a large red circle and yellow text saying "Invasion in 30 seconds" (It does count down over time) and and when it lands, the game says "Leave the area, you have 10 seconds to comply." Either run away from it if you can't beat it, or do a manual save and then try to beat it. To create a suitable invader tech, take a snapshot of it in campaign and click send as appear. If the player successfully defeated the invader, they will be awarded 1000BB and GSO will send a message (same every time).

Invaders are usually scaled with the value of the player's tech (Can be checked via the Load Tech menu. Scales on the combined buy value of all blocks on the tech), and are unable to spawn entirely in the Grasslands. However, they can still move there without consequences. They will also attack all other enemies within range, if possible. Additionally, the map can accommodate only one invader at any given moment, they will not despawn if the player gets too far, and will remain if they are left alone. Otherwise, they behave like any normal enemy.

Trivia

 * Passive Techs will never come under enemy fire under normal circumstances. However, it is implied by Crafty Mike himself that this is possible, as he claims, in Craftier Business IV, that he asked for the player's help to make another booster for him because he was attacked by an unseen assailant.
 * All passive Techs, save for most permanent-neutral NPCs, can be damaged by explosive bolts. However, the damage is minimal, so in order to destroy them, Hawkeye Z4 Explosive Bolts are required, as they do a lot more damage. If a passive tech that is supposed to be protected is destroyed this way, the protection mission will be failed.


 * The GSO Trading Station, being a passive Tech, is also made from some unobtainable blocks, which includes a payload terminal-like block for the shop with a limited inventory, a delivery cannon, some GSO Large Resource Receivers, and a Singularity that will store the absorbed blocks to the player's inventory. Being unable to take damage, it will not restart when attacked.
 * Repulsor, a neutral tech, can be locked on and targeted by weapons from your own and other allied techs. Focus fire is also avaliable. It additionally can deal damage to the player (unlike any other neutral tech). Thus, it is implied that Repulsor is an enemy tech with modified properties.
 * Gruntle, an enemy tech that appears in a mission, cannot be targeted or damaged and behaves like a neutral tech until he turns hostile after the mission progresses, despite having a red tag with a yellow outline at all times. This does not occur with Wing-Nut and Spider King.
 * There are rarely even any airborne enemy Techs as of V 1.3.3, as AI-controlled Techs can't fly aircraft/Anti-gravity vehicles properly, preferring to control it like a car instead. Same goes for a hovercraft.
 * When an enemy tech splits into multiple ones, each will be counted as one enemy, but defeating them will offer reduced EXP and sometimes none at all. This can be used to fill in the kill quota of Sergeant Smash's missions.
 * In older versions of the game, defeating an invader displayed the name of the creator. For example, if Payload Studios made it, the game will say "You defeated the invader from Payload Studios".