Attackers
The "attackers" in this game are just numbers. The higher the number, the stronger the attacker. But beware: Any attacker that reaches the CPU does take one of the lives, regardless of its number. Even a value of 0 will cost a life.
You can "kill" the attacker by reducing their number below 0, using a SUB chip. Other possibilities to weaken or take out attackers are SHR chips (dividing the number by 2), MEM chips (removing the attacker completely), or ACC chips (swallowing one out of two).
You may also tap on an attacker, trying to reduce its strength.
The occasional crypto-coin behaves just like normal attackers. It has an internal value that can be reduced by SHR and SUB chips. As for normal attackers, it is destroyed when its number becomes less then 0.
However, there are a few important differences:
- Coins are not affected by ACC and MEM chips.
- Coins are not affected by tapping on them.
- The value of the coin is not visible, and it is slightly stronger than the strongest normal attackers in the wave.
The attackers' strength is shown as number in the binary system. In binary, the only digits are 0 and 1. Their position determines the value of the digit: Just as in our decimal system the digits count 1, 10, 100, and so on, in binary, they count 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc. Instead of powers of 10, powers of 2 are used as base.
A binary digit is called a bit. It is at the same time a unit of information.
Bigger numbers can get very long in binary representation. To increase readability, the convention is to write them in groups of 4 bits and use only one symbol for these 4 bits. As 4 bits can have values from 0 to 15, one needs 16 different digits. This means that the base of the numbering system is 16, and in a mixture of Latin and Greek it is called the "hexadecimal system" (from Greek "hexa" (ἑξα) = six and Latin "deci" = ten). Usually the numbers 0 to 9 plus the letters A to F are used for the 16 different values of a digit.
In this game, hexadecimal values are denoted by the prefix "x" and a yellowish color. Binary numbers are white and have no prefix.
The table below shows the first numbers in decimal, binary, and hexadecimal representation.
| decimal | binary | hexadecimal |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | x00 |
| 1 | 1 | x01 |
| 2 | 10 | x02 |
| 3 | 11 | x03 |
| 4 | 0100 | x04 |
| 5 | 0101 | x05 |
| 6 | 0110 | x06 |
| 7 | 0111 | x07 |
| 8 | 1000 | x08 |
| 9 | 1001 | x09 |
| 10 | 1010 | x0A |
| 11 | 1011 | x0B |
| 12 | 1100 | x0C |
| 13 | 1101 | x0D |
| 14 | 1110 | x0E |
| 15 | 1111 | x0F |
| 16 | 0001 0000 | x10 |
| 17 | 0001 0001 | x11 |
| 18 | 0001 0010 | x12 |
| 19 | 0001 0011 | x13 |
| 20 | 0001 0100 | x14 |
