YOU BUILD THE MAZE
There is no fixed path. Programs walk the shortest open route from an entry node to your core, and every tower you place is a wall. Build a wall and they walk around it — the live route is drawn on the grid so you can see exactly what your last placement did.
You can never seal the grid completely. A placement that would trap them is refused.
THE CORE
Every program that reaches the core costs you integrity. Bosses cost five. At zero, the sector falls.
SIX TOWERS
NODE cheap single beam — your bricks as well as your guns. ARC forks between clustered programs. PULSE detonates its whole radius. RAIL long piercing line down a corridor you built. DAMPER deals no damage, just slows. TAP pays out every wave.
WRAITHS DO NOT WALK
Flying programs ignore your maze entirely and fly straight at the core. A perfect maze with no cover near the core will still lose to them.