Orb
What it is
A small, fast-tracking melee-AoE enemy. The most common basic on every “bugs”-family planet — appears as the staple unit in Landing Site, Voidstar, Solaris, Speedway, Eden-5, Old Earth, Network Station, Delphi, Obelisk, and Desolation. Tagged mechanical.
The orb does not carry a weapon. Its damage source is a melee shock detonation: it tracks the player, then performs a windup → short dash → land-and-detonate sequence inside the player’s space. A circle forecast appears at the landing spot during the dash, giving the player a brief window to dodge.
Behavior
State machine: idle → windup → dash → sploot → idle.
| Phase | What happens |
|---|---|
| Idle | Chases the player at full speed (with shared push-apart vs other orbs). Attack cooldown ticks down. |
| Windup | Brakes, retreats slightly away from the player, aims, and squashes vertically. Cannot be skipped. |
| Dash | Lunges a fixed distance toward the player’s anticipated position. A red circle forecast is drawn at the landing spot. |
| Sploot | Snaps to landing spot, freezes, and detonates an AoE the instant it lands. Player inside the radius takes damage + electric knockback. |
Attack-trigger rules
| Condition | Effect |
|---|---|
| Distance to player > 120 px | Cooldown ticks at half rate; orb keeps tracking but cannot start an attack. |
| Mission time < 60 s | Cooldown ticks at 20% rate (rare early attacks, never fully blocked). |
| Mission time ≥ 60 s, within 120 px | Cooldown ticks at full rate; attack triggers when cooldown reaches 0. |
Timing (base, before player attack-speed modifiers)
| Phase | Duration |
|---|---|
| Windup | 1.12 s |
| Dash | 0.25 s |
| Sploot landing freeze | 0.15 s |
| AoE cooldown after sploot | 0.8 s |
Movement details
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Windup retreat | 15 px backward from player |
| Dash distance | 50 px toward player |
| Idle seek strength | 0.7× toward player position |
| Smart-range (FSM enable distance) | 200 px |
| Attack range (start sequence) | 120 px |
Detonation
The AoE damages the player directly the instant the dash ends — there is no detonation delay after landing. The hit radius for damage is the configured AoE radius × 1.25 (matching the rendered circle). On hit:
- Player momentum is cancelled.
- Player is knocked back at 180 units/s in the direction away from the orb.
- Player takes the AoE damage value (scaled by enemy damage multiplier and player invulnerability).
- An
_electricHitflash is applied for 0.4 s.
If the orb is killed during windup or dash, its forecast circle is removed instantly.
Base stats
These are the raw archetype values before rarity multipliers and per-mission damage scaling.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| HP | 19 |
| Speed | 29 |
| Collision radius | 3.75 px |
| XP on death | 15 |
| AoE radius | 32 px |
| AoE cooldown | 0.8 s |
| AoE damage | 10 |
| Weapon | none (melee shock only) |
Stats by rarity tier
Rarity multipliers apply to HP, XP, speed, radius, and damage. The orb appears at all five tiers; tint changes per tier.
| Tier | Tint | HP | Speed | Radius | XP | AoE damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common | grey | 51.3 | 40.6 | 3.75 px | 45 | 30 |
| Uncommon | green | 94.05 | 42.6 | 4.31 px | 90 | 45 |
| Rare | blue | 131.67 | 45.5 | 4.88 px | 180 | 66 |
| Epic | purple | 188.1 | 48.7 | 5.25 px | 270 | 84 |
| Legendary | orange | 225.72 | 52.8 | 5.63 px | 360 | 105 |
AoE radius (32 px) and AoE cooldown (0.8 s) do not scale with rarity in the archetype config — only the multiplied stats above.
EXTRACT-CANDIDATE: The rarity multiplier table (HP / XP / speed / radius / damage per tier) is shared across every enemy archetype. Belongs on the central enemies concept page, not duplicated on each per-entity page beyond the final computed values.
EXTRACT-CANDIDATE: The “smart-range” and shared push-apart separation behavior applies to all archetypes via the behavior registry. Belongs on enemies or a combat-internals page.
EXTRACT-CANDIDATE: The forecast-circle system (red dodge telegraph, lifecycle, owner cleanup on death) is shared by orb + mortar + field. Belongs on combat or a forecast/telegraph page.
EXTRACT-CANDIDATE: Player damage application (invulnerability check, damageMult, electric-hit flash, knockback at 180 units/s) is a shared player-damage pipeline used by orb, charger, gunner, etc. Belongs on combat.
Summary
The orb is the workhorse melee unit of bugs-family planets. It does not orbit and does not fire projectiles — it tracks the player, telegraphs a dash with a 1.12 s windup, lunges 50 px toward the player’s predicted position, and detonates a 32 px-radius shock the instant it lands. A red forecast circle marks the landing spot during the dash, making the attack dodgeable by a sidestep. It is rare in the first 60 seconds (attack cooldown ticks at 20% rate), then ramps to full pressure. Across rarities it scales from 51 HP / 30 damage at common to 226 HP / 105 damage at legendary while keeping the same radius and cadence.
Source-vs-prompt note: the prompt described the orb as “orbits at distance, fires AoE” — that does not match the source. The orb has orbitRadius: 0, no weaponId, and a dash-and-detonate melee FSM. Orbit-and-shoot is the shooter/gunner archetype, not the orb.