Sensor

By itself a processor knows nothing but its own variables. Everything else it learns in exactly one way — by asking. sensor is what asks.

The block has three fields: where to put the answer, what to ask, and who to ask. You can ask a building, a unit, a block type and even an item — but not everything of everyone, and that is the group’s main subtlety.

The full text form and the list of 77 properties are in the reference and in the property table. Here is how to use it.

Lessons

1. Properties of buildingsAsk a linked block for a number — how much is inside, how much fits, whether it is intact
2. Items and an empty answerHow much copper is in a block — and how "there is none of it" differs from "the question does not apply"
3. Properties of unitsAfter ubind you can ask @unit the same things — where it is, whether it is intact, what it is busy with
4. Not everyone has every propertyWhy only a turret has @ammo and only a drill has @progress, and how a block's type differs from a building

What you need first

Only one thing: how a block comes to be linked to a processor. In the game you place links with the mouse; in our examples they are placed already and are called container1, vault1, duo1 — exactly what you will see on your own base.