Automatons

> *The Automatons have rebelled! What were once humanity's greatest accomplishment, intelligent machines capable of establishing an entire industrial complex autonomously, have become the greatest threat our species has ever faced.* (First Encounter description with minor grammar edits)
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   The **Automatons** are the primary adversary which opposes the Pilots and the rest of the Earth Defence Force in *CounterAttack*.

## Automaton Enemies

These automatons are the most common enemies faced and often show up in large numbers. The larger the automaton, the higher the HP. On easy levels, automatons are usually smaller and they get bigger as levels get harder.

### Small Automatons

* Basic Drone - Most common automaton. Usually in traveling lines or groups. Don't shoot, but large numbers of them distract missiles and fill up the screen.
* Hard Drone - Armored version of above. More common in late-game and harder levels. Sometimes dive bomb solo and try to fly kamikaze into pilots. Easier to destroy with plasma than mesons.
* Super Drone - The toughest drone type which appears in large numbers.
* Bullet Enemy - Typically fired as missiles by larger Automatons, but sometimes spawn in standalone clusters as well.
* Rocket Enemy [tentative name] - fired as rockets by droneblaster\_pros.
* Shooter - periodically shoots mesons straight up or down or targets the player with predictive shots, depending on where they appear. Usually appear in small groups that make waves of mesons that can be difficult to dodge, but easily avoided if killed quickly.
* Beamer - They always begin connected to one or more other beamers or to some automatons, mini-bosses, and level bosses. When connected, they produce a continuous laser beam shield that blocks most attacks, including beams, missiles, plasma, and non-piercing mesons. Destroying key beamers in a web will also destroy the laser beams for all connected beamers. They drop the Melee Lasers attachment.
	+ Minibosses and bosses connected to Beamers are invulnerable to attacks until all linked Beamers are destroyed.
* Minelayer - Moves forward while placing Mines in its wake.
* Shield Drone [tentative name] - encases another Automaton unit with an invincibility shield until the drone is destroyed. Never spawns by itself.
* Flat Worm - Alternate drone variant which is usually deployed similarly to Basic Drones.

### Medium Automatons

* Blaster - typically moves forward while firing plasma shots, though exact behavior depends on the location in which it is found. In certain levels, will attempt to flank the player ship by appearing from non-leading edges of the battle area.
* Hunter - shoots bursts of ship-targeting dual lasers. Protected by 3 shielding automatons. Moves counter-clockwise around the screen. Most easily killed with ultimate abilities. Appears as a Quantium Hunter when pilots have high amounts of quantium in mid- to high-difficulty levels. Drops Quantium Scavenger.
* Nemesis - as seen in vertical survival. Dive bomb the pilots and shoots a few (lasers?) in a partial radial pattern. Hard to dodge and hard to kill. (The Intervention level boss is a swarm of these).
* Drone Host - Produces mini drones that target the player. Also works as a defensive measure against missiles due to the high number of drones produced.
* Slow Beamer - Targets the player ship with a slowing beam, but is unable to deal damage on its own. Spawns in with two shield drones as a Quantium Hunter on low-difficulty levels.
* Spreadshot - fires plasma shots along two diagonals.
* Fat Drone [tentative name] - often carries Quantium powerups. Has no weapons, so it is usually escorted by other Automatons.
* droneblaster\_pros - fires twin rockets forward
* Wave Shooter - fires twin wave shots forward. Always spawns with a shield drone supporting it from behind.
* Sniper - fires laser beams forward at high speed
* Boomer - fires a piercing laser star which reverses direction after a short time

### Large Automatons

* Cruiser - shoots bursts of 3-4 plasma shots forward and one ship-targeting plasma shot. Sometimes shoots bursts of 3-4 plasma shots to both sides as well. They drop Strange Module, Battle Pods and High Power Mesons attachments.
* Burster - shoots slow-moving mesons in uneven radial bursts. Drop Homing Meson attachment
* Mini Carrier - First appears in the Ascent level. Produce continuous lines of other automatons. On later levels they also shoot bursts of mesons forward. They drop the Super Sized attachment.
* Charger - unarmed unit which often rushes forward at high speed
* Auto Gunship - fires plasma shots forward and deploys two turrets which target the player. Turrets can be destroyed independently of the gunship.
* Auto Shield Frigate - provides cover for other Automatons by deploying a shield wall in front of itself.
* Double Blaster - shoots twin streams of plasma shots forward.
* Folding Frigate - advances to the left side of the battle area before folding open and attacking from behind with turrets. Turrets and turret wings can be destroyed independently of the frigate.
* Javelin - shoots 2 bursts of 2 meson shots forward.
* Bulk Cruiser - shoots twin bursts of aimed plasma shots toward the player ship.
* Direct Beamer - charges and fires a piercing beam forward.
* Linked Beam Frigate - charges and fires 2 linked beams forward.
* TriBeamer - charges and fires 3 beams, one forward and 2 along diagonals.

### Stationary and Land-Based Automatons

* Cargo - black box which breaks on collision instead of destroying the player ship. Depending on the location, can contain a variety of Quantium powerups.
* Cargo Mimic - lethal version of Cargo which detonates into a burst of plasma on destruction.
* Mine - detonates into a burst of bullets on collision or destruction. Cannot be used to increment or terminate a killstreak.
* Ultimate Jammer - disables manual activation of ultimate abilities while on screen. Destroying one always grants a unit of Q41.
* Weapon Jammer - disables manual use of weapons while on screen.
* lasergate - beam trap used in space station segments. Cannot be destroyed, but allowing it to leave the battle area does not reset a killstreak.
* Artillery - background turret on planetary levels which bombards the battle area with plasma munitions
* Artillery Frigate - background Automaton which bombards the battle area with plasma munitions
* Dud Tank - unarmed ground unit which usually travels in groups
* Tank - ground unit armed with a slow-firing plasma cannon. Targets the player with predictive shots.
* Slow Tank [tentative name] - ground unit armed with a slowing beam. Cannot deal damage on its own.
* Heavy Tank [tentative name] - ground unit armed with a double-barrel plasma cannon. Shoots 4-volley bursts of 2 plasma shots at the player.
* Turret - stationary unit that targets the player with plasma shots
* Factory - Automaton structure which, on most levels, produces Hard Drones until it is destroyed.
* Lancer [tentative name] - lies in wait on the ground, then rockets upward and patrols a vertical segment indefinitely.

### Unique Automatons

* Turbo Hard Drone [tentative name] - fast variant of Hard Drone which leaves a blue trail in its wake. Destroying this enemy on First Encounter or Quick Encounter unlocks the Turbo attachment.
* Pod Blaster Small [tentative name] - rotated Blaster with altered plasma shot count and fire rate. Appears primarily in Altercation, but may also show up in Preemptive Strike if the boss fight drags on for too long.
* Snake [tentative name] - a chain of Super Drones which moves as a single unit. Appears in Outpost Ginga and Intervention.
* Super Mine [tentative name] - unusually large and tough Mine which detonates into a dense burst of plasma shots on destruction. Appears in The Red Passage.
* Training Drone [tentative name] - large but unarmed drone which always drops Q40 on destruction. Appears in Pilot Training.
* Red Drone Host [tentative name] - large red Drone Host with unusually high health and Bullet Enemy spawns. Destroying this enemy in Asteroid Field unlocks the Drone Bays attachment.
* Quad Burster [tentative name] - tiny Burster which fires bursts of 4 plasma shots in a wide spread. Appears in Arch Evasion.
* Gold Charger [tentative name] - a yellow Charger which leaves a glitter trail in its wake. Destroying this enemy on Automaton Prime (hard) or Automaton Prime (very hard) unlocks the Midas Touch attachment.
* Wavecrasher Spreadshot [tentative name] - fires twin 4-shot plasma bursts from its sides which curve toward each other. Destroying the pack of this enemy on Surface Trouble unlocks the Wavecrasher attachment.
* Super Tank Prototype [tentative name] - weaker version of Auto City's boss which has no beam attack. Destroying this enemy before it leaves the battle area unlocks the Drone To Beam attachment.
* Shield Cargo [tentative name] - blue Cargo container holding a shield powerup. Appears in Bulwark.
* Large Cargo [tentative name] - two Cargo containers stuck together. Destroying this enemy in Bonus permanently increases the player's bonus unlock chance.
* Super Cargo [tentative name] - three Cargo containers stuck together. Destroying this enemy in Bonus randomly unlocks a non-seasonal, non-legendary attachment.

## Automaton Bosses

### Early Campaign Bosses

These bosses feature at the end of the first 3-4 stages of the Campaign (through Debris Field, Bulwark, Lone Ship or Battle For Earth). Some are reused as minibosses later in the Campaign.

* Direct Beamer Boss [tentative name] (First Encounter and Quick Encounter)
* Double Blaster (Pilot Training Boss)
* Double Blaster Boss [tentative name] (Ascent)
* Drone Host Boss [tentative name] (Prototype Cruiser)
* Pod Blaster Medium [tentative name] (Homefront Twin Boss)
* Pod Blaster Large [tentative name] (Preemptive Strike Boss and Lone Ship Pack Boss)
* Tiny Assault Cruiser [tentative name] (Outbreak)
* Bullet Boss [tentative name] (Cloud 666)
* Arachnoid Boss [tentative name] (Destroyers)
* Cruiser Boss [tentative name] (Debris Field)
* Bee Boss (Bulwark)
* Invader (Altercation)
* Razor (Battle For Earth)

### Late Campaign Bosses

These bosses feature at the end of almost all of the 4 stages of the Campaign preceding all Automaton Prime level variants (wormholes notwithstanding).

* Spreadshot Boss [tentative name] (Asteroid Field)
* Super Drone Boss [tentative name] (Outpost Ginga)
* Minelayer Boss [tentative name] (Minefield)
* Tank Boss [tentative name] (Auto City)
* Javelin Boss [tentative name] (Redemption)
* Shooter Boss [tentative name] (Sentry)
* Assault Cruiser (Arch Evasion)
* Pulser Boss (The Red Passage)
* Moore Boss (Armada and Incursion)
* Nemesis (Intervention Pack Boss)
* Conqueror (Mining Outpost)
* Automaton Battle Cruiser (Surface Trouble)

### Final Bosses

These bosses feature in the final Campaign levels Automaton Prime (easy), Automaton Prime (hard), and Automaton Prime (very hard).

* Automaton Prime (all final levels)
* Automaton Eye (hard and very hard variants only)
* Automaton Core [tentative name] (very hard variant only)

## Non-Automaton Enemies

Automatons are not the only obstacles that players will face. In certain levels, pilots must also take on the following enemies:

### Asteroids

Found in a number of space levels, asteroids are armored environmental enemies which, by default, can only be destroyed with Missile and Plasma attacks. Cracking these enemies open will often reveal Bonus Quantium powerups, with large variants also having a chance to drop Q40 or Q41.

* Asteroid Small
* Asteroid Medium
* Asteroid Large

### Trees

Found in Homefront and Altercation, trees are non-lethal environmental enemies which block non-piercing attacks and slow down player ships on contact. Felling trees will not drop any powerups or contribute to a running killstreak, but may nevertheless be necessary to reach Automatons hiding within them.

* Tree Small [tentative name]
* Tree Large [tentative name]

### Ice

Found in Auto City, ice formations are environmental enemies which obstruct movement or fall down from above in an attempt to impale the player ship. Melting ice will not drop any powerups or contribute to a running killstreak.

* Icicle [tentative name]
* Ice Formation [tentative name]

### Debris

Found in Debris Field, pieces of debris are environmental enemies with a relatively high chance of holding powerups.

* Debris Tiny [tentative name]
* Debris Small [tentative name]
* Debris Medium [tentative name]
* Debris Large [tentative name]
* Debris Small Ship [tentative name]
* Debris Medium Ship [tentative name]
* Debris Large Ship [tentative name]

### Other Environmental Enemies

* Meteor [tentative name] - armored enemy found in Mining Outpost.
* Rock Platform - non-lethal "enemy" found in Sentry. Indestructible, but resets the player tank's jump jets on contact.
* Asteroid Cluster [tentative name] - unique armored enemy found in Lone Ship.
* Dense Asteroid [tentative name] - unique armored enemy found in Asteroid Field. Gold-tinted and unusually tough for its size.

### Aquatic Enemies

Aquaria holds a number of armored enemies which take the form of aquatic life. Slaying these enemies will not drop powerups for the player submarine, but may be necessary to avoid a lethal collision.

* Small Fish [tentative name]
* Fish [tentative name]
* Anglerfish [tentative name]
* Squid [tentative name]
* Anglerfish Boss [tentative name]