Terminator — 5 of 33

Chapter 3 - Robots and Their Stuff

A robot is a kind of person. [A robot is usually privately-named.] [That would only work with the fancy parsing stuff that's been shelved.] A robot is usually neuter.

A scout is a kind of robot. Alpha is a scout. Beta is a scout. Gamma is a scout.

A hauler is a kind of robot. Delta is a hauler. Epsilon is a hauler. Zeta is a hauler.

Understand "robot" or "bot" as the plural of robot when the multicommand flag is false.

Understand "robot" or "bot" as a robot when the multicommand flag is true and the person asked surveys the item described. [This should mean that "robot, get robot" will be a command issued to every robot and understood about an individual robot. It would mess up for the player's own actions, I think, but those have all been blocked.

The second clause ensures that "Beta, move toward robot" will only accept the robots that Beta can see.]

Understand "robots" or "bots" as the plural of robot.

Understand "scout" as the plural of scout when the multicommand flag is false.

Understand "scout" as a scout when the multicommand flag is true and the person asked surveys the item described.

Understand "scouts" as the plural of scout.

A beacon is a kind of thing. Beacon One is a beacon. Beacon Two is a beacon. Beacon Three is a beacon. Understand "beacon 1" as Beacon One. Understand "beacon 2" as Beacon Two. Understand "beacon 3" as Beacon Three.

Ownership relates one scout (called the owner) to one beacon. The verb to own means the ownership relation. Alpha owns Beacon One. Beta owns Beacon Two. Gamma owns Beacon Three.

Understand "hauler" as the plural of hauler when the multicommand flag is false.

Understand "hauler" as a hauler when the multicommand flag is true and the person asked surveys the item described.

Understand "haulers" as the plural of hauler.

A robot has a number called slowness. [Number of turns it takes to move a square.] The slowness of a scout is usually 1. The slowness of a hauler is usually 2.

[Before reading a command: check the multicommand flag.

After reading a command: check the multicommand flag.

Before asking which do you mean: check the multicommand flag.

Every turn: check the multicommand flag.

To check the multicommand flag: debug say "Multicommand flag is [multicommand flag]."]

A thing can be responsive or unresponsive. A thing is usually responsive. [This applies to everything that has been caught by the terminator.]

Persuasion rule:

if the person asked is responsive:

persuasion succeeds;

otherwise:

say "[The person asked] has overheated in the brutal sunlight."