BALKSTONE

Role: Stealth Fighter/Gunship
Cost: 200 Belthium Crystals
Health Points: 160
Damage Per Second: 9 per second (3 per shot)
Weapon Range: 3
Speed: 30
Fuel Capacity: 3000
Sephrane Gas Capacity: 180
Rate of Overheat: 8 HP per second

Balkstones are the most important cloakable units in the game, and in fact were the ONLY cloakable units during the first initial planning stages of the game.

A Balkstone is able to attack both air and ground and has the highest gas-per-cost ratio out of all units. But on the other side of the coin, it has a low fire-rate and low HP.

Balkstones only require a Starbase for availablity and for researching Booster Engines, but a Quantum Facility is required for researching cloak.

Cloak: This is a Deterorating Upgrade, and will render a Balkstone invisible except when detectors are present.

Booster Engines: This is a deteriorating upgrade. Booster Engines will allow a Balkstone to go as fast as, but not faster than, a Reclauda.

RECLAUDA

Role: Interceptor, Air Scout, Detector
Cost: 300 Belthium Crystals
Health Points: 350
Damage Per Second: 16 for Air Units (2 per shot)
Weapon Range: 3
Speed: 60
Fuel Capacity: 1900
Sephrane Gas Capacity: 100
Rate of Overheat: 10 HP per second

While Argos are great counters for almost any unit in the game (if not every unit), Reclaudas are better counters in terms of anti-air if a player can afford to build one. Being the fastest unit in the game, as well as possesing high HP, a Reclauda proves to be a useful weapon when Balkstones, Camozas and Splitrons come into play. In addition, being a flying unit, it can reach areas an Argo cannot reach.

In addition to air-superiority, Reclaudas make great scouting units (because of a large line-of-sight) and detectors. A player requires a Starbase before Reclaudas can be selected and researched.


Detector: This is a Deteroriating Upgrade. A Reclauda can use detector to detect cloaked units, in addition to mines. The Reclauda must turn its detecting ability on and off, as detecting is not permament and therefore consumes sephrane gas.

Mine Detector: This is a seperate detection weapon that will locate mines left by Degrusers. Although the regular detector upgrade will find mines, this special detector does not require sephrane gas; it is a permanent upgrade.  This upgrade was added for the case when the other player decides to spam mines.

Seismic Charge: This will add a second weapon to the Reclauda, allowing it to attack Scouters and mines. It is a permanent upgrade, but does not have the required *umph* to attack anything besides Scouters and mines.

and how about the resource method that I suggested over at UTI? I talked about the limit to the upgrades, or diminishing effect of the resource per sec?

Opps, I forgot about that.  Yes, for right now (and the numbers are likely to change), your starting refinery brings in 60 crystals a minute.  15 crystals buys you an additional 12 crystals a minute for the first 5 upgrades, and an additional 6 crystals a minute for the next 10 upgrades.  However, the refinery recieves 20 HP no matter what, part of our attempt to create a reason to upgrade if expansion is too risky.  So for a total of 300 crystals (75 is the starting price), you get a 400 HP (100 HP starting) refinery mining 180 crystals a minute.  A Belthium Crystal deposit, for right now, contains 2700 crystals.

Btw, I assume on large/complex maps expanding will be the key to win, right? In SC, you eventually had to expand else you ran out of minerals/gas and you couldn't mine faster.

That's right.  I'll describe it in more detail when I put up the refinery, but you can upgrade a refinery so many times that eventually it will cost more to upgrade it than to build a new one. (Although, we are working to make sure that sometimes it's more strategic to keep upgrading your current one.)  This is an attempt to duplicate the idea in Starcraft that if you have too many workers mining minerals, they have to wait in line. In addition, a belthium crystal deposit will run out of crystals eventually.

Also, by expanding, you have access to more of the map via teleportation.  If an opponent can teleport from one end of the map to another (in 2.5 seconds of time) and you have to walk or fly (which could take a minute), your opponent has a HUGE advantage.

Now, what we need is a TI emulator (or patch) that adds online linking capabilities so we can play multiplayer calculator games over the net, such as S.A.D. ^^. I wonder how hard it would be, though. I do know over where I live no one cares about calcs enough to play IRL with me

If we were to do that, I would probably get SMOKED.  It usually happens...there are people so obsessed with a particular RTS game that they beat the programmers and game balancers at their own game.  Let's face it; Starcraft was made in America, and the Koreans (not the Americans) win the championship every year.

DEGRUSER

Role: Assault
Cost: 350 Belthium Crystals
Health Points: 275
Damage Per Second: 12 for both Air and Ground Units (12 per shot)
Weapon Range: 3
Speed: 15
Fuel Capacity: 1500
Sephrane Gas Capacity: N/A
Rate of Overheat: N/A

A Degruser is the second-most powerful unit in the game, and is meant for attacking bases directly.  It is also a good choice for taking on big and heavy units, such as Splitrons and Tanks.  However, it cannot attack Operation Centers.  It is also not the best counter for Universal Defense Systems, even though you do not waste your money by sending a Degruser against them.

A Degruser requires an Armory before it can be selected.  In addition, the Armory does all the research for it.

Mines: This is a Refillable Upgrade.  A Degruser can hold up to three mines, which can be dropped anywhere.  The mines will damage ground units, but not air units; but if a Scouter starts to construct a building on top of the mine, the mine will detonate the building, thereby canceling construction.  Mines can be detected by a Reclauda.  Mines can also be detected by Universal Defense or Detector Structures.

Photon Torpedoes: This is not to be confused with Plasma Torpedoes, which can only be used on Operation Centers.  Photon Torpedoes allow the Degruser to have extra damage potential against anything BUT Operation Centers and Universal Defense.  It is a Refillable Upgrade, a Degruser can hold up to 20 Photon Torpedoes.

ARGO


Role: Anti-Unit and Anti-Operation Center
Cost: 150 Belthium Crystals
Health Points: 120
Damage Per Second: 18 for both Air and Ground Units (3 per shot)
Weapon Range: 3
Speed: 30
Fuel Capacity: 2100
Sephrane Gas Capacity: N/A
Rate of Overheat: N/A

Like the role description implies, an Argo is meant for taking out enemy ships and Operation Centers.  An Argo is built specifically for this purpose, and thus CANNOT attack normal structures.  But this is made up for with the fact that an Argo is a perfect counter for almost every enemy unit.  It can even take on Splitrons and Degrusers if the player is willing to invest the money to make several attack attempts to wear the enemy unit down.  In other words, if your strategy at the moment is simply to destroy an enemy unit, you get what you pay for with an Argo.

An Argo requires an Argo Labratory before it can be selected.  In addition, the Argo Labratory does all the research for it.


Plasma Torpedoes: This is a Refillable Upgrade.  Plasma Torpedos are the only weapon capable of attacking Operation Centers, so refitting an Argo with this weapon allows it to attack what no other vessel, except Splitrons, can.  Unfortunately, since the Argo cannot attack other structures, the enemy Operation Center should be relatively underdefended if the Argo is to survive. An Argo can hold up to 10 Plasma Torpedoes, enough to destroy a single Operation Center.

SCOUTER

Role: Scout, Construction Worker
Cost: Free
Health Points: 30
Damage Per Second: 6 for both Air and Ground Units (1 per shot)
Weapon Range: 3
Speed: 15
Fuel Capacity: None (A Scouter is Solar-Powered, so it has a constant power supply)
Sephrane Gas Capacity: 120
Rate of Overheat: 6 HP per second

A Scouter is the backbone of the player's base, and is the most versatile unit in the game, maybe even the most important.  It is the only unit capable of constructing buildings, and has a large line-of-sight, making it a useful scout.  Later on in the game, a player can research abilities that further enhance the value a Scouter is to a player.  

All in all, a player who does not make good use of a Scouter is a player who is probably losing.


Cloak: This is a Deteroriating Upgrade.  A cloaked Scouter will be hidden from enemy sight unless near a detecting unit.  A Quantum Facality is required for this upgrade.

Jet Pack: This is a Permament Upgrade.  Jet Packs allow Scouters to fly.  Jet Packs can be turned on and off.  A Scouter cannot build when it is in the air, and it is also vulnerable to Anti-Air weapons such as Reclaudas.  A Starbase is required for the Jet Pack upgrade.

Here's some basic gameplay information.  If you read this, the unit and structure information I'll post in the future will make a lot more sense.

* The object of S.A.D. is to destroy all your opponent's Operation Centers.  Each player starts with one Operation Center, but more can be built for a large sum of money.
* Your source of income is Belthium Crystals.  You mine Belthium Crystals by placing refineries on top of them.  Throughout the game, you can upgrade your refineries to hold more "processing units", adding more HP and allowing faster crystal processing.  This is the same idea as adding "workers" in a typical RTS game
* The only unit (of the 9) worth mentioning right now is the Scouter.  This is your most basic and most versatile unit in the game.  Its main function is building construction, but it can also attack air and ground, has a large line-of-sight, has unlimited fuel, can travel in the air if it has to, and is one of the faster land units.  And, it's free.  You start off the game with a Scouter as your unit.
* As you go further in the game, no doubt your strategy is going to change...unless you are an expert against an absolute beginner, you are not going to win the game using only a Scouter.  So at an Operation Center or a Transformation Gateway (a much cheaper, but more vulnerable, Operation Center), you can exchange your unit for another one, at a price of course.
* There are two ways you can move a unit...you can either set a waypoint, or you can manually move the unit automatically using the arrow keys.  Attacking, however, must be done manually...in other words, there are some tactics in this game.
*You can research abilities for your units at an appropriate research facility.  There are three types of abilities, or upgrades:
    Permanent Upgrades remain with your unit all the time.  If you purchase a "Jet Pack" ability for your Scouter, you will have a Jet Pack
      every time you get a Scouter, and there is no limit as to how much you can use it.
    Refillable Upgrades are upgrades where your unit has a limited amount of uses your unit has, and then you must purchase additional amounts.
      Think of it as having to buy gas every time you use gas.
    Deteriorating Upgrades are upgrades which can potentially overheat and rip apart your ship when used, that's how powerful they are. 
       The only thing that pervents your ship from overheating is
      Sephane Gas, which you must purchase for your unit.  It's a gas that aids in your units cooling system.  Using the upgrade drains your
      sephrane gas until there is none left, then if you continue to use the upgrade, your ship will slowly lose HP and finally destroy itself
      altogether.  (Sometimes overheating is necessary to give you just that little bit more you need to win the game)  Cloak is a perfect example of
      a Deterorating upgrade.
* A unit requires fuel to operate.  At an Operation Center or Transformation Gateway, you can refuel, repair, purchase Sephrane Gas, and refill on your refillable upgrades.
* Operation Centers and Transformation Gateways allow you to teleport across the map, from one to another.  Therefore, the more you have built across the map, the more flexible you can be in terms of strategy and goals.
* Remember that the game ends when all your Operation Centers are destroyed.  Operation Centers can only be destroyed by Plasma Torpedoes, and only two units carry these weapons. By the way, Plasma Torpedoes is an example of a Refillable Upgrade. Your unit can only hold so many, after which you must purchase more.