A.I.M. 2: Clan Wars/Gameplay

A.I.M. 2: Clan Wars, like its predecessor, takes place on the planet Polygon, homeworld of the sentient mechminds, in a series of interconnected territories known as the Range. The mechmind's main form of transportation is an all-terrain hovercraft known as a glider.

Travelling Between Territories
Travelling between territories in the Range is controlled by the Reckoners clan using special keys. You can purchase keys anywhere which has in-game network access. Each key only allows travel to a specific territory, and they come in two types: The Reckoners give you a multi-use key for the Desert territory, their home base, when you first access the in-game network, so you always have a territory which is free-to-access.
 * Single-use keys, which are cheap, but can only be used once.
 * Multi-use keys, which are extremely-expensive, but can be used unlimited times.

Clan Warfare
In order to advance in the game, you must establish and lead your own clan. Your clan, once founded, provides you with an automated means by which you can expand and fight other clans.

NOTE: With few exceptions, all clans play using the same mechanics. It is entirely possible to have your clan eliminated and recreated within the first hour of gameplay.

Creating Your Clan
Creating your clan is simple: you must capture any neutral building in the Range by filling its cluster with convinced mechminds. Preferably, you want to capture a neutral base, whose cluster takes 9 convinced mechminds and is capable of producing gliders for your mechminds, provided it has sufficient resources. Once you have claimed a building, you can begin managing your clan and start claiming more buildings.

Capturing Claimed Clan Buildings
Not all buildings in the Range are neutral; some are claimed by existing clans. To claim a non-neutral base, you must force it to deplete its resources. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as ensuring no glider reaches the base with resources, destroying as many gliders belonging to the target clan as possible, or by buying up all resources stored within the base. Once the base can no longer obtain resources, it becomes neutral, ejecting the mechminds in its cluster.

Fifth Generation Mechminds
There are only 13 Fifth Generation mechminds, and can usually only be captured through quests. Once you posses one, placing them in a base's cluster makes that base uncapturable - even if the base runs out of resources - as well as causes the base to regularly broadcast information specific to that mechmind. However, having multiple Fifth Generation mechminds in a single base is redundant (except in one special case).

Convincing
"Convincing" is the method by which you convince opponents to join your clan. Pay a one-time fee of energy crystals (always listed), and the target mechmind joins your clan. Convincing can only be done in one of two ways: Convincing a captured mechmind is significantly cheaper than convincing a glider, but only convinced mechminds can be used to claim neutral bases; conversely, convincing gliders instantly converts them to your clan. If you capture an enemy mechmind, but do not store it in a friendly base, it will automatically respawn, and you will have to recapture it and pay the fee again.
 * 1) Take the mechmind from a destroyed glider to a friendly or neutral base.
 * 2) Target a glider, bring up chat commands, press 3 to bring up specific commands, and select Convince.

Dying
Death in the Range works differently for you and for NPCs. When NPCs die, they will automatically respawn in their home base - even if you've convinced them and they are currently in your ship's inventory. If you die, however, it's "game over" and you'll have to reload from a previous save or start a new game.