Your first machine
A new pilot starts with one basic component for every machine position. Components are not level-gated: if you own a part, you may equip it.
Install the power cell
The Battery supplies current. It belongs in Slot 1.
Install the switch
The Switch limits current and sets fire rate. It belongs in Slot 2.
Install the spring
The Spring multiplies transferred current by elasticity. It belongs in Slot 3.
Install the projectile
The Projectile adds weight and accuracy. It belongs in Slot 4.
Add armor
The Armor plate is optional for activation but protects the robot in Slot 5.
Pressing Install on a component sends it directly to its correct slot. If that slot is occupied, the old component returns to Inventory. The weapon only operates when Slots 1–4 contain Battery → Switch → Spring → Projectile in that order.
min(Battery Amps, Switch Limit) × Spring Elasticity × Projectile Weight × 10
Starter example: min(1A, 2A) × 1 × 1kg × 10 = 10 Force.
Levels and progression
Experience and levels
Level 1 requires 100 XP to advance. The requirement grows by 20%
each level and is rounded to the nearest whole XP:
round(100 × 1.2^(level − 1)).
XP comes from claimed quests, Arena battles, and successful Hunt victories. Neural Compound increases XP rewards while active.
Points earned
Every level after Level 1 supplies one independent Skill Point and one Blueprint Point. Unspent points remain available permanently.
Skill Points add +1% per rank to HP, attack, armor, or fire rate. Blueprint Points may unlock one formula/component level or add one +0.1% mastery rank. Component and fluid branches share the same Blueprint Point balance.
| Current level | XP to next level | Total Skill Points earned | Total Blueprint Points earned |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loading progression table… | |||
Stats and combat
HP
100 + Pilot Level × 5, then component HP bonuses, Skill bonus, Guild bonus, runes, and an active Aegis Oil are applied.
Armor
Base Armor is Pilot Level × 2, followed by component bonuses, Skills, Guild bonuses, runes, and Titanium Suspension.
Force
Calculated from the four weapon components. Attack bonuses then multiply the result.
Fire rate
Shots per second, supplied by the Switch and multiplied by speed bonuses. A value of 1 means one shot each second.
Accuracy
Chance for each shot to hit. It comes from the Projectile and may be improved by precision runes, up to 100%.
Rating
Arena score. It starts at 0, never falls below 0, and does not affect PvE damage.
max(1, round(Attack² ÷ (Attack + Armor)))
Armor has diminishing returns. It is powerful when close to the incoming attack value, but every additional point prevents a smaller amount than the previous point. Arena attacks also roll from 80% to 120% of displayed Force before armor is applied.
HP + Force × 10 + Armor × 5 + Fire Rate × 20 + Accuracy
POWER is a comparison score, not direct damage and not a separate combat stat.
Every fighter has its own shot clock: interval = 1 ÷ Fire Rate. Every shot makes an independent Accuracy roll. A miss deals zero damage. Battles start at full HP and end when one machine reaches zero.
Research and crafting
Resource Research
Choose Metal or Plastic. The machine fires according to its Fire Rate. Each hit produces a random amount from 1 to current Force; misses produce nothing. Guild Salvage Logistics increases the yield.
Research continues for up to 4 offline hours. Simply returning to the game refreshes the activity window; opening Research is not required. The lifetime collected total never resets.
Component production
A formula must be unlocked first. Battery and Switch recipes are
Plastic-heavy; Spring, Projectile, and Armor recipes are Metal-heavy.
Costs grow by 1.35^(level − 1).
Craft time starts at one minute and grows by 50% per component level. “Until success” jobs repeat after failures until success, cancellation, insufficient resources, or the 4-hour offline limit.
min(100%, 10 ÷ Part Level + diminishing attempt bonus + Mastery × 0.1%)
The very first Level 1 attempt for each component family is guaranteed. Attempts are tracked separately for Battery, Switch, Spring, Projectile, and Armor. Guild Fabrication Data also contributes. Attempt gains begin at +0.100 percentage points, then +0.099, +0.098, and so on until the permanent minimum gain of +0.010 per further attempt.
| Part level | Battery/Switch cost | Spring/Projectile/Armor cost | Time | First attempt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loading crafting table… | ||||
Every component
Each family has 21 levels: one starter definition plus 20 advanced definitions. Crafted copies receive permanent individual rolls from −20% to +20% on applicable base stats.
Upgrades and runes
Component upgrades
A successful upgrade adds +1 and increases all applicable component stats by 5% per upgrade level. Before confirmation, the game shows Gold, Metal, Plastic, and success chance.
Gold cost is target upgrade × 100 × component level.
Resource cost accelerates with the target upgrade. On failure, a
non-starter component is destroyed. A starter component survives
but returns to +0.
Rune sockets
Every individual component can unlock two sockets in order. Socket 1 costs 10 Crystals; Socket 2 costs 50 Crystals. Runes can be installed and removed without being destroyed.
A crafted non-Armor component has a 1% chance to gain a special +1%–10% Armor roll. Crafted Armor has a 1% chance to gain a special +1%–10% HP roll.
clamp(5%, 95%, (100 + accumulated family chance bonus) ÷ (current upgrade + 1))
The family chance bonus comes from previous crafting attempts, component mastery, and Guild Fabrication Data. The 95% ceiling means upgrades are never guaranteed; the 5% floor prevents very high upgrade levels from becoming mathematically impossible.
Fluids and Hunt loot
Four stackable Hunt materials feed six fluid families. Materials scrap for 1 Gold each; finished fluids scrap for 10 Gold each. Both may be traded as quantity-based Market lots.
min(100%, (10 ÷ Fluid Level + diminishing attempts + Mastery × 0.1%) × 2)
The displayed chance and server roll are identical. Ingredient cost
per material is round(10 × 2.2^(level − 1)). A failed
mixture consumes both ingredients and increases future chance for
that fluid family. Attempt gains start near +0.100 percentage points,
diminish toward +0.010, and are doubled together with the rest of
the formula.
A fluid lasts 2 hours. Drinking the same family adds another 2 hours, up to 24 hours. Mixing different levels of the same family replaces the strength with the rounded average of the existing effect and the new fluid. Drinking a different family removes the old effect and starts the new one at 2 hours.
Monster Hunt
Only the first monster starts unlocked. Defeating your highest unlocked monster reveals the next one. A loss consumes the attempt and starts cooldown, but gives no Gold, XP, component, rune, or material.
A victory always grants the displayed random Gold and XP range. It then makes independent rolls for the shown component, rune, and Hunt material pool. Rune of Fortune and Prospector Solvent increase Hunt Gold; Neural Compound increases XP. Hunter and Ward runes work only against monsters.
Arena and rankings
Opponent selection
The server first builds a pool at Rating ±1. If none are available, it expands to ±2, then outward until candidates exist. Recently shown opponents are excluded for one selection cycle. Three candidates are randomized from the closest pool; the middle card starts selected.
Refreshing costs 3 Crystals and has a 10-minute cooldown. After every battle, three new opponents are generated.
Rewards and Rating
Arena allows 20 battles per UTC day with a 5-minute cooldown. Win or loss grants twice a random 1%–1.5% of the XP needed for the current level, modified by Neural Compound.
A loss removes 1 Rating, minimum 0. A win adds 1 only when the opponent began fewer than 3 Rating below you. The opponent's Rating never changes from your battle.
Rating ranks by Arena Rating. Level ranks by Level and then current XP within that level. POWER ranks by the displayed comparison formula. Hunt ranks by highest monster reached, then kill count and POWER.
Market
The Market unlocks at Pilot Level 5 and trades only in Gold.
Listings
Listing price must be at least 1 Gold. The seller pays a non-refundable 5% listing fee immediately.
Duration
Listings remain active for 5 days. Unsold components return to Inventory; unsold stack quantities return to their stack.
Capacity
Every pilot starts with 4 active listing slots. Purchased slots are permanent, shared by parts and liquids/materials, and cap at 20.
Offers
Buyers may offer another price. A seller can accept or decline. Accepted stack offers apply per unit while quantity remains.
Sorting
Parts may be sorted by newest, lowest price, or quality. Quality prioritizes tier, upgrade level, and then effective stats.
Views
Your active component listing shows unique viewers. Your own visits do not count, and the count belongs only to that listing.
| Unlocked slot | Crystal cost |
|---|---|
| Loading slot prices… | |
Quests
Rewards are never granted merely because a progress bar fills. Press Claim to receive the reward and, for sequential story quests, reveal the next objective.
Daily contracts
- Defeat 5 monsters — 20 XP and 5 Crystals.
- Win 1 Arena battle — 20 XP and 5 Crystals.
- Collect 25K combined Metal/Plastic — 20 XP and 5 Crystals.
Daily progress and claims reset at 00:00 UTC.
Endless contracts
Metal and Plastic contracts begin at 10K collected. After each claim, the target grows by 1.1×. Skill and Blueprint contracts repeat after every upgrade. Their XP grows gradually, and action contracts award at least 5 Crystals.
Guilds
Roles and management
The Founder controls disbanding, may transfer leadership, and can manage all members. Assistants may manage regular members, publish Guild News, change the emblem/name, and start upgrades. Regular members see only Leave Guild in Manage.
Renaming or changing the emblem costs 100 Crystals. A removed member cannot rejoin the same Guild for 7 days. Officers may invite up to two eligible players per rolling hour through private messages.
Vault and contributions
Any member may deposit a component. Withdrawal unlocks after seven days in the Guild. Guild upgrades share one personal pool of 20 contribution charges across all branches; one charge returns each hour.
Each contribution consumes exactly 1,000 of the required resource. If less than 1,000 remains to finish funding, the extra is consumed and only the remaining amount is applied.
Resources = round(600,000 × 1.5^(current level))
Time = round(1 hour × 1.5^(current level))
After funding completes, only the Founder or an Assistant can begin the timer.
Bases and rewards
There are ten named bases. A Guild may hold only one. Base level ranges from 1 to 10 and controls upgrade costs, defense bonus, daily gift scale, and the complete Wednesday Cache.
Daily Base Gift
The Guild must have held the base before the current UTC day began. Each member may claim one pending gift. Missed days do not stack; an unclaimed gift remains until claimed.
The roll is 1% random rune, 1% random component matching base level,
or 98% one random resource: Gold, Metal, or Plastic. Resource amount
is random from 800 × level to 1,400 × level.
Wednesday Base Cache
Generated Wednesday at 00:00 UTC for members who joined by the reset and for a base already occupied at the reset. It contains all of: one component, one random rune, one base-specific fluid, one base-specific material stack, Gold, and Crystals.
Component level is random from Base Level through Base Level +9, capped at 21. Fluid level equals Base Level. Loot quantity is Level ×10, Gold is Level ×1,000, and Crystals are Level ×20.
| Base level | Daily resource roll | Weekly Gold / Crystals | Weekly component level | Weekly Hunt material | Next-level funding | Upgrade time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loading base progression… | ||||||
Clan War
Registration opens
Each participating member pays 10 Crystals. Officers arrange separate attack and defense queues.
War begins
Queues lock. Registered members omitted by officers are appended automatically in random order.
Conquest window
Empty bases can be occupied. Every registered Guild has three total attacks and unlimited defenses.
War ends
Ownership remains until changed by a later war or voluntarily abandoned.
Gauntlet battle
First attacker fights first defender. The survivor keeps remaining HP and faces the next opposing pilot. This continues until one queue is empty. There are no personal XP, Gold, Rating, or loot rewards.
A defending base gives both attack and armor a bonus equal to its Base Level percentage. Queue composition remains hidden from the attacker until combat begins.
Victory and ownership
When attackers win, defenders are evicted and the base loses one level, minimum Level 1. It is locked for one hour and reserved for the victorious Guild. That Guild must still press Occupy and cannot do so while holding another base.
Voluntarily abandoning a base also lowers it by one level. Every attack is written to the server war log, and both involved Guilds can replay the full battle.
Try a component name, monster number, rune, fluid, or system such as “Market”.
Social, identity, and settings
Browser pilot
The web alpha creates a persistent browser device identity. Clearing browser storage can remove local access unless the pilot is bound to Google.
Google binding
Google Sign-In can bind or recover a pilot. If the Google account already owns another pilot, the game shows that pilot before asking whether to switch.
Pilot name
Names allow English letters and spaces, up to 12 characters, and must be unique.
Robot appearance
Head, Chassis, and Legs each have 50 permanent unlocks. Model 1 is free; Model N costs (N−1) ×10 Crystals.
Chat
Global shows the latest 100 messages and allows one message per minute. Guild Chat requires membership. Private conversations mark read only when opened.
Settings
Language, theme, sound volume, and music volume are saved per pilot. Audio pauses while the browser is hidden.
Rivet Nova is in active web alpha. Values in this guide reflect the live version shown above and may change as balance is tested. The dynamic catalogs update from game data; major rule changes are published in the Version History.