There are three causes of energy damage in Robot Battle; energy drain, collisions, and jar. All forms of damage are removed from a robot's energy store. Below is a table of information about all possible causes of damage followed by a description of each damage type.
| Cause | Energy Drain | Collision | Jar | Total Damage |
| missile collision | 4-28 | 1 | 0 | 5-29 |
| robot collision | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| mine collision | 19 | 1 | 0 | 20 |
| wall collision | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| firing missile | 1-7 | 0 | 0 | 1-7 |
| slide jar | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Energy Drain Damage
Missiles and mines both carry their own energy. When a robot collides with one of these objects, the energy in the missile or mine is drained from the robot's energy reserves.
A robot must also use energy to fire a missile. Conceptually, firing a missile seems different than damage, but it has the same effect of draining a robot's energy reserves.
Collision Damage
When a robot runs into any object or wall, the collision causes 1 energy damage. The speed of the robot does not affect the amount of collision damage. When two objects collide they both take 1 damage. Collision damage is applied first to the object that caused the collision. This means there is a small disadvantage to ramming. If two robots start with equal amounts of energy and one robot rams the other until they both die, the ramming robot will die first. This gives the other robot 1 point since it lived longer.
Jar Damage
Jar damage is caused by instantaneous changes to a robot's speed resulting from sliding. Jar damage only applies if a robot's speed changes instantly by 5 or more units/turn (this is also the maximum amount a robot can decelerate in a single turn).
When a robot changes its heading by sliding and then begins a new movement before stopping, Robot Battle determines the amount of the robot's existing velocity that applies in the new direction. This is determined by comparing the direction of a robot's velocity to the direction it is facing for the new movement. When little or none of a robot's existing velocity applies in its new direction, the robot's speed can change drastically. Normally robots must decelerate to reduce speed. When sliding is used to avoid normal deceleration it causes jar damage of 1 energy.
See _dmgfromjar for an example of jar damage.
See Also
fire, _dmgfromrobots, _dmgfrommines, _dmgfromwalls, _dmgfromjar, _dmgtorobots, bonus summary, mine attributes, arena attributes, robot attributes