Day 3

Today was more productive! Although it will still sound boring! What I did today mostly involved spreadsheets. Here's a couple of things:

For now, I'm going to start with a relatively simple 3 resource system, although I'll probably revise the system later. For now you've got:

• Iron - Roughly corresponds to the size and 'strength' of the robot.
• Silicon - Roughly corresponds to the computing power or 'brains' of the robot.
• Energy - Used for building and for carrying out tasks.

Iron and silicon can be mined or extracted. Energy can be harvested from various sources (I spent a good deal of time today looking into the pros and cons of different kinds of primary energy). Robots also require energy to stay operational, and have to recharge when they get low.

The types of energy sources you use are important. Some might result in pollution (which might actually work to your advantage). Wind is clean and cheap, but unreliable. Hydro power is very efficient, but first requires you to fill mars with water. Fission is a good source, but also results in dangerous, long lasting waste, not to mention the possibility of catastrophic failure.

I also started working on the numbers behind several robot types. I'll introduce a couple for an example. Basic Bots (featured in yesterday's sketch) can perform any mundane task, but not very well. Other bots specialize at a single task. Mover Bots, for instance, cost more to produce than Basic Bots, but they can carry a lot more.

It's kinda like comparing a Swiss army knife and a screw driver. The knife can do more things, but the screw driver's better if all you need to do is turn screws. Now, lets say Movers can carry twice as much as Basic Bots. This means they have to cost less than twice the price of a Basic Bot, otherwise you could just build two Basic Bots.

In actuality, there are more variables involved, and the numbers aren't quite as nice, but you get the idea. I filled in some rough numbers today, but I still have to work on balancing them.