Storm of Stars

How a match is played

1. The storm. Your ship flies in the lowest five rows of a field 13 squares across and 18 down. Every turn your spell's move(view) moves it a square ("L", "R", "U", "D") or keeps it still (""); then every star moves, and strikes your ship if it touches your square on the way. Thirty turns are played every fifteen seconds.
2. The same sky. You and your rival each fly a field of your own, but the same stars and stardust enter both skies at the same turns. The storm thickens as the match goes on, and new kinds of star join it.
3. Lives. Your ship has three. A strike takes one, and shields you for four turns after. With none left you are out: your score stands.
4. Score. A point for every turn you live through, and 5 for each stardust you catch. Every eighth stardust hexes your rival: swift stars fall straight at their ship.
5. Win. The higher score when time runs out, or when you are both out.

The kinds of star, in the order they arrive

• 0:00star falls one square a turn.
• 0:30swift falls two squares a turn.
• 1:00drifter falls one square and slides one square sideways a turn (dx is -1 or 1).
• 1:30comet flies in from the side along one of your rows, two squares a turn, and never falls.
• 2:15splitter falls one square a turn; on reaching row 10 it bursts into two drifters, one going each way.
• 3:00seeker falls one square a turn, and steps one square toward the column you stood in when the turn began.

Each new kind is listed on the match page fifteen seconds before it arrives.