Sector Vanguard is a real-time, top-down strategic action shooter built on React, TypeScript, Vite, and Web Audio API synthesis. As a Tactical Commando Mech pilot, drop into contested biomes, capture key communications outposts to clear the Fog of War, construct automatic grid defense turrets, and coordinate support skills to eliminate the Sector Overseer Command Boss Mech.
- Securing Bases: Stand inside the red (enemy) or grey (neutral) outpost rings. A capture progression slider indicates faction control.
- Dynamic Presence: Capture speed scales based on player/allies inside the ring. Capturing freezes or rolls back if contested by hostile mechs.
- Outpost Benefits:
- Clears the Fog of War in a local radius.
- Spawns friendly defender AI mechs periodically to patrol the base.
- Grants a passive tick of +25 Tech Credits (CR) every 5 seconds.
- Real-Time Sight: The map is covered in a Fog of War. You, your bases, and friendly defenders cast dynamic vision lines.
- Occluded Combat: Enemies in unexplored or shadowed sectors are invisible. Fired bullets will cleanly pass through them in the dark without dealing damage; you must gain line-of-sight to engage.
- Forest Ruins: Swamp waters cover paths, slowing down all unit movement speeds by 55%.
- Wasteland Sludge: Green toxic mud pools cover the map. Standing in toxic pools inflicts 8 HP/sec damage over time. Asphalt roads boost mech speed by 35%.
- Frozen Tundra: random blizzard storms sweep the sector. During blizzards, commando vision radius decays by 50% (from 7 tiles down to 3.5 tiles), making close combat extremely hazardous.
- Cyber-Grid Road: Glowing circular nodes boost shield regeneration (3x regeneration rate, zero recharge delay). Active glowing laser gates block unit passage; players can shoot them down (50 HP) or stand near them to hack and disable them (+50 Credits).
- Victory Condition: Once all 4 outposts are player-controlled, the Sector Overseer command boss mech drops in the center of the map
(1280, 1280). - Boss Abilities:
- Octagonal heavy hull (800 HP).
- Rotational dual-barrel heavy plasma cannons firing spiral bullet rings.
- Kinetic front energy shield blocking 60% of all incoming damage when HP falls below 50%.
- Spawns support drone squads when crossing HP thresholds (600, 400, and 200 HP).
- Shield Mech: Frontal protection plate blocks 100% of damage incoming from its front arc, spawning deflection sparks and "BLOCKED" combat indicators. Flank them or deploy decoy units to expose their vulnerable rear chassis.
- Portal Rifts: Stationary portals spawning aggressive Drone and Suicide Drone patrol squads every 5 seconds.
- Guard Leash AI: Outpost defense mechs are tethered to their home coordinates within a 240px radius. They will drop target lock and return to defend their flag if you retreat beyond their leash limit, preventing them from leaving outposts vulnerable. Dynamic border infiltration squads are not leashed and roam the map to actively recapture outposts. Taking damage from the player immediately alerts them and nearby units (within 250px), enabling them to target and shoot back up to double their normal vision range.
Purchase upgrades from the terminal overlay in the left HUD panel:
- Max Health: Increases HP maximum (+25 HP per tier, capped at Tier 4).
- Shield Matrix: Increases max shield buffer capacity (+25 Shield per tier, capped at Tier 4).
- Dash CDR: Enhances thruster cooldown decay rates (capped at Tier 4).
- Ricochet Mod: Projectiles bounce off wall boundaries (Max level 2).
- Pierce Mod: Projectiles penetrate multiple target hostiles (Max level 2).
- Plasma Burn DoT: Projectiles inflict thermal damage over time ticks on hit (Max level 2).
Cycle through unlocked weapons using the [Q] key:
- Tactical Pistol: Infinite ammunition, moderate damage (Default).
- Scatter Shotgun: 150 CR. Fires a wide 5-pellet spread at close-range.
- Plasma Rifle: 250 CR. Rapid-fire repeating plasma projectiles.
- Buying a weapon you already own purchases a 50% Ammo Refill for only 15% of the base cost.
- Build an Auto-Defense Turret (200 CR) at the nearest captured player outpost.
- The turret scans for hostile units within a 280px range and automatically fires high-velocity friendly green laser bolts.
Activate powerful commander support abilities on the hotbar (bottom HUD):
[1]EMP Blast: Releases a circular electromagnetic wave, stunning all nearby hostiles for 4 seconds (Cost: 120 CR, Cooldown: 12s).[2]Carpet Airstrike: Calls in sequential artillery bombings at your mouse cursor coordinates (Cost: 240 CR, Cooldown: 20s).[3]Repair Drone: Deploys a nanite repair drone to heal the pilot's mech over time for 10 seconds (Cost: 180 CR, Cooldown: 15s).[4]Decoy Mech: Deploys a stationary hologram decoy (100 HP) drawing enemy aggro for 6 seconds, detonating upon death or expiry for 40 damage in an 80px radius (Cost: 150 CR, Cooldown: 18s).
| Input | Tactical Action |
|---|---|
W / A / S / D (or Arrows) |
Move Mech |
Mouse Cursor |
Aim Weapon Trajectory |
Left-Click |
Shoot Weapon (Pistol/Shotgun/Plasma) |
Shift / Spacebar |
Thruster Boost (Dash) |
Q |
Cycle Equipped Weapons |
1 |
Trigger EMP Blast |
2 |
Trigger Carpet Airstrike (at Aim Cursor) |
3 |
Trigger Repair Drone |
4 |
Deploy Holographic Decoy (at Aim Cursor) |
ESC / P |
Pause Operations |
Start the project locally using:
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Start local live development server
npm run dev
# Run full project linter
npm run lint
# Compile production-optimized static build bundle
npm run build
# Execute the Vitest unit/integration test suite
npm testThe test suite consists of 64 automated tests checking Player upgrades, Boss HP thresholds, project collision, bases capture rates, biome hazards, wall-bound ricochet bounces, pierce penetrations, Shield Mech frontal block angle sectors, spawning portals, plasma burn DoTs, Guard leash AI constraints, combat alerts, unit separation steering, and developer sandbox mode options.