Orbit 2.0, part 2: scouts and alarms. In quiet areas, a scout now shows up every so often — every 70–110 s in the outer ring, every 45–75 s in the middle ring, every 35–55 s in the inner ring; never inside a station’s safety zone, never inside a hive’s territory. It’s fast, weak, and doesn’t shoot. It’s calling for backup: a ring around it fills up as long as you’re within 1,000 px — in 12 seconds in the outer ring, 8 seconds elsewhere.
- Intercepted: “SCOUT INTERCEPTED · IT STAYS QUIET,” with a little bonus experience.
- Not intercepted: “ALARM · SQUADRON FROM …” — the nearest hive launches a squadron toward you (4 / 6 / 8 enemies depending on the ring, more as time goes on), and the system stays on alert for 60 seconds: patrols come twice as often.
A turquoise arrow at the screen edge points to every scout, even without a detection module — otherwise intercepting one would come down to luck. It orbits just outside turret range (780 px, 850 in the outer ring) and backs away at no more than 170 px/s: you have to close in on it, but you can catch it.
Measured: standing still → alarm after 8.0 s, a squadron of 6 enemies, 60 s on alert; flying toward it → intercepted after 5.1 s, no alarm.