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10. Building Rovers

Build a Rover Yard and store your Rover Jitters (these are tanks or vehicles). Now build a Rover the same way you would weapons and armor. The Rover will appear in the paddock. Click on the Rover. This will select it and bring up a command list in the top right of your screen. Without selecting a command, click on the ground to give that Rover basic movement commands. Now try experimenting with other commands. Some commands (such as Patrol) can be used in conjunction with the CTRL Key for added features. See the description of the command list at the bottom of this page for more details.
Rovers are defenseless until you equip them. You will need to put a weapon on your Rovers, but you can also equip them with armor and modifiers. To equip a Rover, simply build a weapon or armor and then direct the Rover to that building's paddock by selecting the Rover and then clicking on the building. The Rover will move into the paddock and automatically equip the item there. If you are holding a gun or piece of equipment you wish to deploy on a rover, simply approach the rover and drag-and-drop the item onto the rover.
You can also equip Rovers by double clicking on the desired built item. You will then be told that the object is 'Ready to Deploy'. Your cursor will change, then click on a Rover to equip that weapon. Please note that you must be close to the target you are trying to equip if you are in 1st person mode. However, you can equip any rover if you are in overhead Nerve Center Mode with items you are carrying.
Remember that you must remove old weapons, armor, and modifiers before placing new ones. This can be done by Jettisoning (dropping), Dismantling (turns object back into a Jitter), or dragging the object off the rover onto yourself or the playfield.

Note that weapons and Rovers have "Attack Classes" and weapons mounted on a rover must be consistent with these classes. The weapon class of a rover is indicated by an icon to the left of the rover portrait. The three primary Attack Classes are Beam, Ballistic, and Flame, but there is also Lightning, Sonic and Melee. A few Rovers can use multiple weapon types.

Rover Commands

• To move your Rovers, simply select a rover, and point on the ground where you want it to go. You can also hold down the CTRL key to assign up to 5 move waypoints.
• To order your rover to attack a certain target, select the rover, and then point at a hostile target. The rover will attack that target until it is destroyed. If you do not give a rover an attack command, it will automatically attack the nearest enemy.
• PATROL - By default, will allow you to set 2 waypoints for the rover to patrol between. You can also hold down the CTRL key to assign up to 5 patrol waypoints. Your rover will automatically attack and pursue any enemies it detects. It will return when the target is destroyed or out or range.
• DEFEND - Select the Defend command and then click on a Building to defend it; click on the ground to order it to Hold Position; click on another rover to order it to flank and defend it; or click on your Avatar Portrait to have the rover follow you. A rover on Defend will not leave its assigned target.
• HOLD FIRE - Orders your rover to Cease Fire. The icon above a rover on Cease Fire will change to a gun with a red X. When a rover is on Hold Fire, the command will then change to "FIRE". Click FIRE to tell your rover to resume firing at any enemies.
• RETREAT - Sends a rover back to your home base camp, or if you are already at your home base camp, to your Nerve Center.
• DISMANTLE - You will have to click this command twice to verify the command. This will dismantle the rover back into a jitter.

Rover commands all have assignable HotKeys. Learning these HotKeys will greatly improve your ability to control your rovers in combat.

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