Introduction
Clash of Species is a semi-real-time strategy battle game in which you assemble an army of plants and animals and pit them against another player's defense.
Defense Setup
When you join Clash of Species for the first time, you will see the Defense Setup screen. This is where you will choose the species that will fight as your defense team against other attacking players, whether you are online or offline. Your defense team consists of 25 animals and plants of five different species that you can select. You will also select a home terrain.
Choosing Your Species
Species in Clash of Species are divided into four categories: Carnivore, Omnivore, Herbivore, and Plant. Species in these categories differ in what other categories of species they will target in battle, according to the relationships in the following table.
| Category | Targets |
|---|---|
| Carnivore | Carnivore, Omnivore, Herbivore |
| Omnivore | Carnivore, Omnivore, Herbivore, Plant |
| Herbivore | Plant |
| Plant | None * |
To view the available species in each category, click on the colored tabs along the top of the screen. You can view a description of a species by clicking on the Preview button underneath its picture. You will then see a larger picture and a description of the species on the right side of the screen. Below the picture is a button labeled "Get Stat Info" - click on it to view the battle stats of the species. The statistics are:
- Health: hit points, or amount of damage the species can take before being defeated
- Attack: attack points, or amount of damage the species deals to its target each time it attacks
- Attack speed: how rapidly the species attacks its target. A value of 100 indicates that it attacks once per second.
- Movement speed: how quickly the species moves across the terrain
When you have decided to include a species on your team, click the Add button below its small picture, and it will appear at the bottom of the screen.
If you would like to remove a species from your team to make room for a different one, you can click the Remove button under its picture at the bottom of the screen.
Plant Buffs
* You might have noticed that plants do not target any other species. Why, then, should you include plants on your team? Plants provide bonuses, or buffs, to other units, for as long as the plants are alive.
| Plant Species | Buff | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Big Tree | Health Buff | Adds 100 hit points to all other units' health |
| Baobab | Damage Buff | Adds 8 hit points to all other units' attack stat |
| Trees and Shrubs | Speed Buff | Adds 5 points to all other units' movement speed |
The buffs provided by all plants add up, even if they are the same species. For example, if there are two Big Trees on your team, all other units on your team will receive a 200 hit-point bonus! But when one of your Big Trees is defeated, the buff it provides will go away, and the total bonus will be reduced to 100 hit points.
Choosing Your Terrain
Once you have chosen five species for your defense team, you must choose a terrain. The terrain is the habitat your species share, and it is where battles will take place when other players challenge you.
To choose your terrain, first click on the green Terrain tab on the left side of the screen. You will see small previews of the available terrains. You can click on the Preview buttons underneath them to view larger previews. To select a terrain, click the Add button underneath it.
Placing Your Defense
Now that you have chosen the species on your defending team and your home terrain, you must place your plants and animals in specific locations on the terrain. These locations are where they will appear when an opponent engages in battle with you. To begin, click the green Place Defense button.
For each species you selected on the previous screen, you have five individual units to fight on your defense team, for a total of 25 animals and plants. To begin placing your units, click on a species icon in the row of icons at the bottom of the screen, then click a point on the terrain. An animal or plant of that species will appear on the terrain, and the number available (shown below the icon) will be decremented by one. You can continue clicking on the terrain to place additional units of the selected species, or select a different species to place by clicking on its icon at the bottom of the screen.
Once you have placed all 25 of your units, click the Confirm Defense button at the bottom right of the screen. Your defense team is now ready to fight for you. Each time another player attacks you and your defense team wins, you will earn 25 credits! Your defense team does all the fighting for you, and you don't even have to be logged in.
If you change your mind about which species you would like to include on your defense team, you can click the Back to Shop button to change your defense setup.
Controlling the Camera
- To move horizontally: Press and hold the arrow keys, or the W, A, S, and D keys.
- To zoom: Press the Q key to zoom in, and the Z key to zoom out.
- To pivot: Hold down the right mouse button and move the mouse.
Main Screen
Now that you have set up your defense team, you can engage other players' defense teams in battle.
You will see the main screen after setting up your defense for the first time, and also the next time you enter Clash of Species. On the left is a list of other players who have set up defense teams. You can change your existing defense by clicking on the Edit Defense button, return to the lobby by clicking the Return to Lobby button, or attack another player by clicking on the player's name in the list on the left, then clicking the Attack button.
You must pay 10 credits to attack.
Attack Setup
Before engaging in battle, you must choose which species you want to include on your attack team. The attack setup screen works the same way as the defense setup screen, except that you do not need to choose a terrain: You will be doing battle on the defending player's terrain.
After you have selected your five attack species, click the Engage button to enter battle.
Battle
After clicking Engage, you will see a view of the defending player's terrain with the 25 defending units in position. Take a moment to assess the defense configuration, taking note of the positions of various species and considering where you should place your own units to best target them. You can use the camera to change your view of the terrain, just as in the defense placement screen.
When ready, you can begin placing your units by clicking on the species icons and then on the terrain, just as you did when placing your defense. Attacking and defending units will immediately find their targets according to the targeting rules described above. Units move toward their targets and attack automatically. You can sit back and watch the battle unfold! (You have no control over your units after placing them on the ground.)
You can view the remaining health of plants and animals by centering them in your view, using the camera controls. The health bars are also color-coded to indicate the species category: Red for carnivore, brown for omnivore, blue for herbivore, and green for plant.
If your attack team defeats all enemy units, you win the battle! Your reward is 50 credits. When you click the Confirm button, you will return to the main screen, and from there, you can engage in another battle, or regroup and adjust your defense team.
We hope you enjoy Clash of Species!
