The game — MACHBREAK

Movement

Movement is the first weapon system, and it was the first milestone: if crossing an empty greybox map is not fun, nothing else gets built. Grounded velocity is projected onto the surface, so a downhill slope is an accelerator and the momentum you collect going down is kept going up the next ridge.

GlideHold it and the ground stops braking you. Low-friction traversal; momentum preserved along the surface. Release for Traction: normal control, quick stops, footwork.
BurnJet thrust. Lifts you off the ground, then blends into forward acceleration so you can correct your vector mid-air, clear a crest, or hang for a shot. Costs energy.
BreakA velocity threshold event. Cross it and the game tells you — telemetry, sound, a scoring hook. MachBreak is the exceptional high-speed state above that.
BreaklineThe optimal route through terrain to an objective. Every objective has at least three: safe and slow, fast and exposed, extreme and technical.
Burn ArcGlide into a slope, Burn at the lip, coast the arc, land on the next downhill already moving. Chain them and the speedometer climbs into the hundreds.
CutA turn taken on the Breakline without giving the speed back: bank the slope, let the terrain do the steering.
DiveDropping onto a descent to convert altitude into velocity. The way a runner gets from a ridge to 250 km/h.
RiseClimbing off a slope with the speed you brought: the Burn that turns a valley floor into an approach over the enemy wall.
Vector / VectoringYour velocity, and the act of shaping it. Everything above is Vectoring.

Target speed bands

Skill band	Velocity	Means
New player	30–70 km/h	Move, fight, understand objectives.
Intermediate	80–150 km/h	Chain slopes, spend jets wisely.
Advanced	150–250 km/h	Run routes, intercept, survive at speed.
Elite	250–400+ km/h	Invent routes, time attacks, create spectacle.

Design targets. Speeds are measured in-engine and regression-tested; the numbers move as tuning does.

HUD concept: velocity 247 km/h and altitude on the right, objective status and team score on the left, weapon and ammo bottom right — ConceptHUD direction: the velocity readout is the identity

Energy

One pool, many customers. Burn drains it, shields drain it, the precision energy weapons drain it, and it recharges only while you are not spending. Arriving at the enemy base at 200 km/h on an empty tank is a choice you made three ridges ago.

That is the whole economy of a run: every jet is a spending decision, and the terrain is the only free acceleration on the map.

What the numbers say

Slope momentum preservation is an acceptance test with a regression suite behind it: at least 85% of speed kept over 50 m on a 30° slope. The dev log records the measurements.

Experiments →

Frames

Three frames at launch. Nobody is locked into a role; the frame sets your mass, energy and carry limits, the loadout does the rest. Loadout slots: primary, secondary, sidearm, utility, pack, grenade, armour module, movement module.

Concept

Strider

Light. Runner and scout. Fastest on the Breakline, first to the Core, first to know where the enemy is. Needs escort, sensor cover and route timing to survive the trip home.

Speed · capture · recon

Concept

Ranger

Medium. The generalist. Duels, escorts, holds the mid-field, bridges offence and defence. If you do not know what the team needs yet, take a Ranger.

Duel · escort · control

Concept

Bulwark

Heavy. Siege and base pressure. Carries the Gravity Mortar, anchors a push, holds a base. Slow on the flat, dangerous on a downhill, dependent on targeting data and protection.

Siege · anchor · pressure

Specter

Electronic warfare and infiltration: cloak, beacons, jammers, false signals. Needs sensor windows and an extraction plan.

Later

Engineer

Repair, turrets, deployables, vehicle sustain. Needs security and resource timing.

Later

Specter and Engineer arrive after the core game; their tools show up first as packs and deployables the three launch frames can carry.

Weapons

Projectile-first. Every shot has a travel time, so leading the target at speed is the whole art. Nothing is hitscan.

Impulse Launcher

Explosive energy projectile with splash. The aerial duelling weapon, and the way to launch yourself.

Vector Cannon

Fast kinetic rounds, low splash. Interception at speed.

Arc Thrower

Sustained energy bolts that build damage over time. Accuracy held, not snapped.

Shard Cannon

Short-range spread. Base defence and tunnel fights.

Lance

Precision energy weapon. Draws from the same pool as your jets: the shot costs mobility.

Burst Rifle

Reliable controlled bursts. The all-round mid-field weapon.

Gravity Mortar

Arcing siege weapon. Needs targeting, trajectory skill and someone to feed it.

Seeker

Lock-on anti-vehicle missile. Countered by flares, terrain and jamming.

Equipment sits beside the weapons: Target Beacon (indirect targeting), Jammer Pack (information denial), grenades, packs, deployables. Vehicles are a later warfare layer: Razor, Hammer, Titan, Strikewing, Skylance, Carrier.

Mid-air hits

Hitting a target that is airborne, moving fast, or both, is the skill the whole game rewards. The server scores every mid-air hit on a published formula that weighs the target's speed, altitude and the shot's travel time, and announces the tier.

The tiers exist; the thresholds are being tuned in the combat lab and are not published yet.

Vector Hit tiers

Tier	When
Vector Hit	A clean hit on an airborne or fast-moving target.
High Vector	Same, at speed or altitude that makes the lead hard.
Extreme Vector	Both shooter and target moving fast; the shot led across a long arc.
Mach Hit	The target was in the MachBreak state. The clip everyone shares.

Tactical depth

The rule: no important battlefield capability comes from one player pressing one button. Powerful outcomes emerge from chains that the enemy can disrupt at several points. The reference pattern is targeted indirect fire, the beacon-artillery chain:

Six-panel concept strip of the beacon-artillery chain: sensor suppression, infiltration, radar returns, fire mission, impact, exploit — ConceptThe six stages, as a storyboard

Stage	Attacking team	Defending team's counter
1Blind the grid	Disrupt, destroy or jam enemy sensor coverage.	Protect sensors, run patrols, keep redundant sensor nodes.
2Insert marker	A Strider (later a Specter) infiltrates and places a covert Target Beacon.	Sweeps, motion sensors, engineers, anti-cloak pulses.
3Maintain own network	Keep your command radar or relay online.	Raid the enemy's sensor and command infrastructure.
4Generate aim solution	Bulwarks see the sky and trajectory marker for indirect fire.	Jam the beacon, repair sensors, deploy a shield canopy, move assets.
5Execute fire mission	Heavies lob arcing mortars onto the marked area.	Counter-battery fire, intercept rounds, kill the mortars, rotate base defence.
6Exploit damage	Runners or vehicles attack during the damage and repair chaos.	Emergency repair, reserve defenders, relocate the Core, fall-back positions.

Reconnaissance enables targeting; targeting enables heavy fire; heavy fire enables objective movement; objective movement forces a response; the response creates the next opportunity. Every step is readable after the fact, so a team understands why it lost.

Concept of the Gravity Mortar aim view with a locked Target Beacon — ConceptStage 4 from the Bulwark's seat

What the chain depends on

Sensors, beacons, jamming, communications, the power grid, the repair economy and supply. Each is a place the enemy can cut the chain, and each needs a different role to hold it. Base modules: Core Station, Sensor Array, Radar Dome, Shield Generator, Vehicle Fabricator, Power Node.

How this plays out in BreakFlag →