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Energy-and-Movement

2 min read

Energy & Movement Physics

Movement in CrawlCipher is governed by a strict energy economy. Every turn consumes a portion of your energy pool, making navigation a tactical puzzle.

1. The Energy Pool

Your energy status is split into two pools:

  • Base Energy (Energy): Your active energy capacity. Max capacity defaults to 7 (configurable in sandbox).
  • Overflow Energy (BonusEnergy): Energy accumulated beyond your maximum capacity (e.g., by consuming snails or foods while at max base energy). Bonus energy is spent first when performing high-cost actions.

2. Energy Costs of Movement

The energy cost for movement depends entirely on the angle of your turn relative to your current direction:

Heading ChangeDegreeEnergy CostPractical Implication
Straight0°0Free movement.
Slight Turn45°2Moderately cheap maneuver.
Right Angle90°5Expensive; consumes most of base energy.
Sharp Turn135° / 180°12Impossible with default max energy (7) unless you have accumulated Bonus Energy overflow.
        North (0)
     7      ^      1
      \     |     /
   6 <------+------> 2 East
      /     |     \
     5      v      3
        South (4)

Because a 180-degree turn (backtracking) or a sharp 135-degree diagonal turn costs 12 energy, you cannot execute these maneuvers on a whim. You must plan your trajectory ahead of time, collect food to bank bonus energy, or loop around in a wider radius.

3. Energy Recovery

Energy can be restored through several actions:

  • Step Recovery: Moving straight generates a baseline amount of energy (default: +1 per step).
  • Idle Recovery (Manual Mode Only): If you remain stationary, you gain energy at the idle rate (default: +2 per tick) up to your max energy capacity.
  • Consumption:
    • Food: Eating a food pellet restores +2 base energy and adds score.
    • Snails: Eliminating and consuming a Snail segment yields a massive reward (default: +5 energy). If your base energy is full, this overflows into BonusEnergy.

4. Control Modes

A. Manual Mode (Tactical)

In Manual mode, the game does not advance automatically. Ticks only pass when you press a key.

  • Behavior: The game plays like a turn-based board game.
  • Advantage: Gives you infinite time to calculate your path, count cell distances, and inspect hitboxes.
  • Idle Gain: Remaining idle in manual mode dynamically charges your energy.

B. Autopilot Mode (Traditional)

In Autopilot mode, the game advances automatically at a fixed tick rate (e.g. 150ms per step).

  • Behavior: The snake slithers continuously, matching traditional snake gameplay.
  • Advantage: Faster gameplay, higher score multipliers, but leaves less time to plan complex circuit alignments.

Graph View