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It's currently in UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} early access, and went FreeToPlay in September 2018.
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It's currently in UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} Platform/{{Steam}} early access, and went FreeToPlay in September 2018.
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* VisualNovel: The story interludes look like they're straight out of [[UsefulNotes/RenPy Ren'Py]].
to:
* VisualNovel: The story interludes look like they're straight out of [[UsefulNotes/RenPy [[MediaNotes/RenPy Ren'Py]].
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Up To Eleven is a defunct trope
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* SniperRifle: The Deadeye is able to snipe enemy workers directly, ignoring all defenses. The Apollo takes this [[UpToEleven up to eleven]], being able to snipe anything with 3 health or less. For reference, only one unit in the core set has more than 3 health.
to:
* SniperRifle: The Deadeye is able to snipe enemy workers directly, ignoring all defenses. The Apollo takes this [[UpToEleven up to eleven]], eleven, being able to snipe anything with 3 health or less. For reference, only one unit in the core set has more than 3 health.
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Disambiguating; deleting and renaming wicks as appropriate. Moved to discussion
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* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: Tia Thurnax and Vai Mauronax are both legendary units that look like dragons.
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Frickin' Laser Beams entry amended in accordance with this Trope Repair Shop Thread
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.* EnergyWeapon: The beasts from the Animus tend to carry laser weaponry somehow strapped to their bodies. One of them even looks a lot like a biped shark.
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* FrickinLaserBeams: The beasts from the Animus tend to carry laser weaponry somehow strapped to their bodies. One of them even looks a lot like a biped shark.
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It's currently in early access, and went [[FreewareGames free to play]] on September 2018.
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!! ''[=Prismata=]'''s multiplayer contains examples of the following tropes:
----
!! ''[=Prismata=]'''s multiplayer contains examples of the following tropes:
to:
It's currently in UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} early access, and went [[FreewareGames free to play]] on FreeToPlay in September 2018.
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2018.
!!''[=Prismata=]'''s [=Prismata=]'s multiplayer contains examples of the following tropes:
tropes:
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!!
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!! ''[=Prismata=]'''s story mode contains examples of the following tropes:
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!! ''[=Prismata=]'''s [=Prismata=]'s story mode contains examples of the following tropes:
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Added image.
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''VideoGame/{{Prismata}}'' is a turn based game that borrows elements from the [[RealTimeStrategy real time strategy]] and [[CardBattleGame card game]] [[GenreBusting genres]]. You and your opponent play the role of [[NonEntityGeneral Swarmwielders]] and take turns building your economy, teching up, and attacking with [[MechaMooks robots]] and [[AttackAnimal genetically engineered animals]].
to:
''Prismata'' is a turn based game that borrows elements from the [[RealTimeStrategy real time strategy]] and [[CardBattleGame card game]] [[GenreBusting genres]]. You and your opponent play the role of [[NonEntityGeneral Swarmwielders]] and take turns building your economy, teching up, and attacking with [[MechaMooks robots]] and [[AttackAnimal genetically engineered animals]].
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* WorldOfSnark: Even when characters are fighting for their lives, they still have time to make quips and marvel at the absurdity of the situation.
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* WorldOfSnark: Even when characters are fighting for their lives, they still have time to make quips and marvel at the absurdity of the situation.situation.
----
----
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VideoGame/{{Prismata}} is a turn based game that borrows elements from the [[RealTimeStrategy real time strategy]] and [[CardBattleGame card game]] [[GenreBusting genres]]. You and your opponent play the role of [[NonEntityGeneral Swarmwielders]] and take turns building your economy, teching up, and attacking with [[MechaMooks robots]] and [[AttackAnimal genetically engineered animals]].
to:
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* SensualSpandex: Anya Iravani's LatexSpaceSuit fits her so tightly it could almost pass for body paint.
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It's currently in early access, and is expected to go free-to-play on launch.
to:
It's currently in early access, and is expected went [[FreewareGames free to go free-to-play play]] on launch.
September 2018.
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None
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* CounterAttack: Attackers like Feral Warden that have both Prompt and Fragile specialize in this. Prompt lets it block the turn that you buy it, but fragile means it's only going to block once. The most common way to use them is to block an attack on their first turn, and then switch to attack mode.
to:
* CounterAttack: Attackers like Feral Warden that have both Prompt and Fragile specialize in this. Prompt lets it block the turn that you buy it, but fragile Fragile means it's it only going has the health to block once. The most common way to use them is to block an attack on their first turn, and then switch to attack mode.
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* TheAgeless: There's technology available to stop the outward appearances of aging. This also explains why [[{{Fanservice}} Anya's mother looks nearly the same age as her]].
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None
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* CounterAttack: Attackers like Feral Warden that have both Prompt and Fragile specialize in this. Prompt lets it block the turn that you buy it, but fragile means it's only going to block once. The most common way to use them is to block an attack on their first turn, and then switch to attack mode.
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* ShieldBash: The Xeno Guardian has a shield with buzzsaw blades embedded in it. This enables it to attack and defend on the same turn.
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* AbandonedMine: Mahar is one of these.
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* BlackMarket: The Black Lab is the main source for black market blueprints. [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration In-game]], it's also a place where you can acquire rare skins.
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* FantasticSlurs: "Wafer-brain" is this for sentient robots.
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* MutuallyAssuredDestruction: The 'peace' that the humans reached with the AI is revealed to be based on this.
* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The upper-level alliance officials communicate in one of these, complete with blurred body outlines and no nameplates. They're called the 'Luminaries'.
* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The upper-level alliance officials communicate in one of these, complete with blurred body outlines and no nameplates. They're called the 'Luminaries'.
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* TheAlliance: Downplayed. The ruling government is called The Alliance, but since there's no [[TheEmpire Empire]] counterpart and their main role seems to be to get in Swade's way, they're closer to a [[VastBureaucracy vast bureaucracy ]] with some hints of [[GovernmentConspiracy government conspiracy]].
* ClownCarBase: The research facility holds a truly absurd number of deadly genetically engineered animals with lasers strapped to their backs. Swade lampshades this.
* ClownCarBase: The research facility holds a truly absurd number of deadly genetically engineered animals with lasers strapped to their backs. Swade lampshades this.
to:
* TheAlliance: Downplayed. The ruling government is called The Alliance, but since there's no [[TheEmpire Empire]] counterpart and their main role seems to be to get in Swade's way, they're closer to a [[VastBureaucracy vast bureaucracy ]] bureaucracy]] with some hints of [[GovernmentConspiracy government conspiracy]].
* ClownCarBase: The research facility holds a truly absurd number of deadly genetically engineered animals with lasers strapped to their backs. Swade lampshades this.
* ClownCarBase: The research facility holds a truly absurd number of deadly genetically engineered animals with lasers strapped to their backs.
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* DisposableIntern: An unnamed intern is the first person to die to the VILE-infected animals. Veera blames her for the eccentric designs.
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* CoolShip: The Jumpster is a personal aircraft that's also capable of producing its own Behemium.
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* TidallyLockedPlanet: The story takes place on one. Humans live on the day side, while the robots have claimed the night side. Fittingly, the game opens in a solar power generation outpost.
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* DeliberateInjuryGambit: Sometimes trying to block everything is too costly and is only delaying the inevitable. A common gambit is to let (some) of the enemy attacks through, freeing up precious resources to mount an attack of your own. This is particularly effective if the enemy attackers are bombs.
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* DeliberateInjuryGambit: Sometimes trying to block everything is too costly and is only delaying the inevitable. A common gambit is to let (some) of the enemy attacks through, freeing up precious resources to mount an attack of your own. This is particularly effective if the enemy attackers are bombs.bombs, or if your backline units have high health themselves.
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[=Prismata=] is a turn based game that borrows elements from the [[RealTimeStrategy real time strategy]] and [[CardBattleGame card game]] [[GenreBusting genres]]. Players take the role of [[NonEntityGeneral Swarmwielders]] and take turns building their economy, teching up, and attacking their opponent with [[MechaMooks robots]] and [[AttackAnimal genetically engineered animals]].
to:
* DeliberateInjuryGambit: Sometimes trying to block everything is too costly and is only delaying the inevitable. A common gambit is to let (some) of the enemy attacks through, freeing up precious resources to mount an attack of your own. This is particularly effective if the enemy attackers are bombs.
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* WorkerUnit: The drone produces one gold per turn There's also the Wild Drone, Vivid Drone, Trinity Drone, Ossified Drone, Mega Drone, and Doomed Drone.
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* WorkerUnit: The drone produces one gold per turn turn. There's also the Wild Drone, Vivid Drone, Trinity Drone, Ossified Drone, Mega Drone, and Doomed Drone.
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Move 'Trivia' trope
Deleted line(s) 30 (click to see context) :
* FanCommunityNicknames: Fans refer to opening plays by their hotkeys. 'DDE' for example is drone-drone-engineer, typically used when you want to power economy at the beginning (you start with 2 engineers, but need more if you want to mass produce drones).
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None
Added DiffLines:
[=Prismata=] is a turn based game that borrows elements from the [[RealTimeStrategy real time strategy]] and [[CardBattleGame card game]] [[GenreBusting genres]]. Players take the role of [[NonEntityGeneral Swarmwielders]] and take turns building their economy, teching up, and attacking their opponent with [[MechaMooks robots]] and [[AttackAnimal genetically engineered animals]].
Each game's [[TechTree tech tree]] consists of 10 'core' units that are always the same, plus 5-10 extra ones drawn randomly from a large pool. The random units set the tone of the set, with the aggressive ones encouraging players to [[AttackAttackAttack attack early]], while the economy or defense based ones are more likely to lead to slower games.
It's currently in early access, and is expected to go free-to-play on launch.
----
!! ''[=Prismata=]'''s multiplayer contains examples of the following tropes:
* AchillesHeel: Units with the Frontline keyword are very durable for their cost, but because they can be attacked directly they have trouble absorbing damage efficiently and tend to instantly die once your opponent gets enough attack.
* ActionBomb: Explosive units like Protoplasms, Pixies, and Gauss charges give you a lot of attack, but they destroy themselves to do so.
* AnimalMecha: Replicase-based tech likes to use these. Rhinos, monkeys, bulls, tigers, wolves, bears, and the occasional [[XenomorphXerox Xenomorphs]] all make appearances.
* AntiFrustrationFeatures: You can ask the game to automatically calculate a blocking plan when you're attacked. It's not always optimal, though.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Mostly averted in that every unit has a purpose that it fulfills pretty well. However, if you sacrifice too much to tech up to the special 'legendary' units, they become this.
* BeehiveBarrier: Defensive Matrix and Energy Grid look like this.
* BoringButPractical: The core units aren't flashy, but they make sure the basics are always covered.
* BribingYourWayToVictory: Averted. The in-game currency is used only on [[CosmeticAward cosmetics]].
* CastFromLifespan: Gaussite tech has several units that damage themselves for additional effects. It helps that Gaussite units have higher health than average (but they don't [[RegeneratingHealth regenerate]] at the end of the turn)
* ChargedAttack: Some units 'cost' attack to build and end up functioning like this. You temporarily lower your attack on one turn so that a turn or two later you get a way stronger attacker. Bloodrager and Lancetooth are the earliest examples of this.
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: The game's 3 tech paths are Behemium, Replicase, and Gaussite. They're blue, red, and green respectively.
* CombinationAttack: It's usually harder to deal with one large attack than several smaller ones, so if you have units with different build or cooldown times, you'll want to set them up to attack at once. This is especially important for the Iso Kronus, because you can't order it to hold fire.
* ComebackMechanic: Downplayed. Like chess, it's a perfect information game with no randomness, so it's common for a player to resign once they realize they're in a losing position. That said, comebacks can happen if the other player makes a mistake, and given the complexity and swinginess of the units it's not always clear who's winning until after the game is over.
* ConfusionFu: Downplayed. Misdirection is possible, but harder to pull off when your opponent sees the exact same thing you do.
* ConstructAdditionalPylons: You need to construct specific tech buildings to unlock advanced units: Blastforge for Behemium, Animus for Replicase, and Conduit for Gaussite.
* CriticalExistenceFailure: Not only do units function perfectly well at 1 HP, most of them also heal at the end of the turn. This means that the optimal defense is usually to have your best defender take enough damage to drop it to 1.
* CursedWithAwesome: The 'Doomed' units have a limited lifespan, but are way more powerful than their happy non-doomed counterparts.
* DeathOrGloryAttack: Tia Thurnax and the Wincer hit incredibly hard, but if you don't cripple your opponent with them, their drawback cripples you.
* DesperationAttack: This goes hand in hand with a Desperation Defense: you can tank your economy by sacrificing workers and building forcefields just to keep your attackers alive for a little longer.
* FanCommunityNicknames: Fans refer to opening plays by their hotkeys. 'DDE' for example is drone-drone-engineer, typically used when you want to power economy at the beginning (you start with 2 engineers, but need more if you want to mass produce drones).
* FreezeRay: Several units can freeze defenders. It's less effective than actually killing them because the freeze only lasts a turn, but it's way easier to stack a large amount of freeze, and you only need one good breach to severely cripple a player.
* FrickinLaserBeams: The beasts from the Animus tend to carry laser weaponry somehow strapped to their bodies. One of them even looks a lot like a biped shark.
* GlassCannon: Replicase-based combat units like the Tarsier have efficient attack for their cost, but they also have lower health. This means they're usually the first to die if anything breaches your defenses.
* GooglyEyes: There's an entire skin set based around this. Bonus points when the unit in question shouldn't have eyes.
* GreenRocks: Gaussite serves that role here. It's the tech tree with the most 'alien' looking machinery, and it does in fact look like a green rock.
* TheGunslinger: The Wild West skin set is full of these, naturally.
* HealingFactor: The Xaetron and Innervi Field partially heal themselves every turn. Notable because Gaussite tech normally doesn't regenerate at all.
* HeroUnit: There are a number of units that you can only make one of per match. They tend to be expensive, high tech, and make a big impact on the board when they're played.
* HiveQueen: The Lucina Spinos can spawn a Perforator every turn. They even look like red [[XenomorphXerox Xenomorphs]]. On the mecha side of things, the Odin will spawn lesser Steelsplitter mechs but it consumes them to power its own attack.
* HeadsUpDisplay: Given that the game borrows concepts from [[RealTimeStrategy real time strategy]] and has the player controlling large numbers of multipurpose units, the UI looks more like one of these than a traditional card game.
* HumongousMecha: Behemium-based tech has a lot of these.
* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: Tia Thurnax and Vai Mauronax are both legendary units that look like dragons.
* InstantMilitia: You can switch your drones to defense mode any time you need more blockers. There's also the actual Militia unit, which is an attacker that you can switch to gold production if you don't need an attacker that turn.
* JackOfAllStats: Units that are capable of both attacking and defending but can only do one at a time are usually this. The most common are the base set Steelsplitter and Rhino.
* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: The Centurion carries a massive tower shield, and is a very strong defender.
* MightyGlacier: Some units have very good attack for their cost, but have to wait before attacking again. These include the Immolite, Iso Kronus, and Scorchilla.
* MookMaker: Lucina Spinos, Asteri Cannon, Corpus, Endotherm Kit, and Gauss Fabricator are all capable of spawning additional units.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Grimbotches are efficient attackers but only last a few turns before they literally fall apart.
* RegeneratingHealth: Most units have this, but averted by Gaussite-based units, which have above average health but all damage taken is permanent. Averted again by the Gaussite legendary Xaetron, which heals itself every turn.
* ShoutOut: There's a unit called Tyranno Smorcus. Fittingly enough, it's strongest in low economy games where your main goal is to hit your oppponent's face as soon as possible.
* SniperRifle: The Deadeye is able to snipe enemy workers directly, ignoring all defenses. The Apollo takes this [[UpToEleven up to eleven]], being able to snipe anything with 3 health or less. For reference, only one unit in the core set has more than 3 health.
* StoneWall: Behemium tech specializes in these, but all tech trees are capable of making units that are only for blocking and can't attack.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: If your attack is greater than your opponent's defense, you'll get a breach, which means that you get to decide where the leftover damage goes instead of the defender. This makes overkill very good.
* WeHaveReserves: This is usually averted, because you have a limited supply of defensive fodder and most attackers will attack continuously once they're purchased. However, this can actually be a valid tactic against units with a limited number of attacks like Tia Thurnax.
* WorkerUnit: The drone produces one gold per turn There's also the Wild Drone, Vivid Drone, Trinity Drone, Ossified Drone, Mega Drone, and Doomed Drone.
* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: Despite all the fancy tech floating around, 'gold' is still the staple resource of the game.
* ZergRush: This can be viable depending on how many aggressive units are in the match's random set.
!! ''[=Prismata=]'''s story mode contains examples of the following tropes:
* AIIsACrapshoot: Zigzagged. The game's backstory has a war between humans and AI, but by the time the game begins the two sides live together peacefully. Then the events of the game call that into question again, but it's unclear how much of it is really the AI's fault.
* TheAlliance: Downplayed. The ruling government is called The Alliance, but since there's no [[TheEmpire Empire]] counterpart and their main role seems to be to get in Swade's way, they're closer to a [[VastBureaucracy vast bureaucracy ]] with some hints of [[GovernmentConspiracy government conspiracy]].
* ClownCarBase: The research facility holds a truly absurd number of deadly genetically engineered animals with lasers strapped to their backs. Swade lampshades this.
* ComputerVirus: It's the main plot point.
* EscortMission: A couple of missions have you fighting alongside an AI. It manages to avoid most of the frustrations associated with this trope because you have control of their units and they tell you exactly what they'll be building, as well as drop hints of what you should be building to support them.
* FunWithAcronyms: The virus is called Viral Internal Logic Exploit, or VILE.
* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual: The game's user interface is referred to in-universe as a Prismata Slate. It's an optical visor that lets Swarmwielders control their units and is considered a deadly weapon. You can see your character putting it on right before every mission.
* HoldTheLine: An early mission has you building walls to defend against waves of attackers.
* InsanelyInternationalAncestry: Justified in-universe. It's far enough into the future that each character's 'Terrestrial Genomic Ancestry' is fairly diluted and mapped to the percentage point. Even the Asian-sounding Swade Wong is only 47% East Asian.
* PreviouslyOn: You have the option to watch a recap at the start of each episode.
* PuzzleBoss: Pretty much any mission on expert mode qualifies, because the margin of error becomes very thin and you need to plan and optimize carefully. Thankfully, puzzles also have a very generous [[AntiFrustrationFeatures rewind]] feature. There's also a set of puzzle missions that are separate from the main story.
* TakeThat: An infected robot tells the player to enter your credit card information to make your units better. It is immediately berated by the rest of the characters.
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: As per [[RealTimeStrategy RTS]] tradition, the new units are typically introduced during a mission that is particularly well suited to them.
* TimedMission: Several missions require you to break through defenses to destroy a bomb before it explodes.
* VisualNovel: The story interludes look like they're straight out of [[UsefulNotes/RenPy Ren'Py]].
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Discussed. Anya is repulsed by the suggestion to deactivate sentient machines, calling it murder. However, she's perfectly OK with sending laser monkeys to their deaths because they're not sentient and are genetically engineered to feel no pain. Meanwhile, neither Swade nor Anya are particularly bothered by disposing of non-sentient robots, although Logan seems a bit more reluctant.
* WorldOfSnark: Even when characters are fighting for their lives, they still have time to make quips and marvel at the absurdity of the situation.
Each game's [[TechTree tech tree]] consists of 10 'core' units that are always the same, plus 5-10 extra ones drawn randomly from a large pool. The random units set the tone of the set, with the aggressive ones encouraging players to [[AttackAttackAttack attack early]], while the economy or defense based ones are more likely to lead to slower games.
It's currently in early access, and is expected to go free-to-play on launch.
----
!! ''[=Prismata=]'''s multiplayer contains examples of the following tropes:
* AchillesHeel: Units with the Frontline keyword are very durable for their cost, but because they can be attacked directly they have trouble absorbing damage efficiently and tend to instantly die once your opponent gets enough attack.
* ActionBomb: Explosive units like Protoplasms, Pixies, and Gauss charges give you a lot of attack, but they destroy themselves to do so.
* AnimalMecha: Replicase-based tech likes to use these. Rhinos, monkeys, bulls, tigers, wolves, bears, and the occasional [[XenomorphXerox Xenomorphs]] all make appearances.
* AntiFrustrationFeatures: You can ask the game to automatically calculate a blocking plan when you're attacked. It's not always optimal, though.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Mostly averted in that every unit has a purpose that it fulfills pretty well. However, if you sacrifice too much to tech up to the special 'legendary' units, they become this.
* BeehiveBarrier: Defensive Matrix and Energy Grid look like this.
* BoringButPractical: The core units aren't flashy, but they make sure the basics are always covered.
* BribingYourWayToVictory: Averted. The in-game currency is used only on [[CosmeticAward cosmetics]].
* CastFromLifespan: Gaussite tech has several units that damage themselves for additional effects. It helps that Gaussite units have higher health than average (but they don't [[RegeneratingHealth regenerate]] at the end of the turn)
* ChargedAttack: Some units 'cost' attack to build and end up functioning like this. You temporarily lower your attack on one turn so that a turn or two later you get a way stronger attacker. Bloodrager and Lancetooth are the earliest examples of this.
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: The game's 3 tech paths are Behemium, Replicase, and Gaussite. They're blue, red, and green respectively.
* CombinationAttack: It's usually harder to deal with one large attack than several smaller ones, so if you have units with different build or cooldown times, you'll want to set them up to attack at once. This is especially important for the Iso Kronus, because you can't order it to hold fire.
* ComebackMechanic: Downplayed. Like chess, it's a perfect information game with no randomness, so it's common for a player to resign once they realize they're in a losing position. That said, comebacks can happen if the other player makes a mistake, and given the complexity and swinginess of the units it's not always clear who's winning until after the game is over.
* ConfusionFu: Downplayed. Misdirection is possible, but harder to pull off when your opponent sees the exact same thing you do.
* ConstructAdditionalPylons: You need to construct specific tech buildings to unlock advanced units: Blastforge for Behemium, Animus for Replicase, and Conduit for Gaussite.
* CriticalExistenceFailure: Not only do units function perfectly well at 1 HP, most of them also heal at the end of the turn. This means that the optimal defense is usually to have your best defender take enough damage to drop it to 1.
* CursedWithAwesome: The 'Doomed' units have a limited lifespan, but are way more powerful than their happy non-doomed counterparts.
* DeathOrGloryAttack: Tia Thurnax and the Wincer hit incredibly hard, but if you don't cripple your opponent with them, their drawback cripples you.
* DesperationAttack: This goes hand in hand with a Desperation Defense: you can tank your economy by sacrificing workers and building forcefields just to keep your attackers alive for a little longer.
* FanCommunityNicknames: Fans refer to opening plays by their hotkeys. 'DDE' for example is drone-drone-engineer, typically used when you want to power economy at the beginning (you start with 2 engineers, but need more if you want to mass produce drones).
* FreezeRay: Several units can freeze defenders. It's less effective than actually killing them because the freeze only lasts a turn, but it's way easier to stack a large amount of freeze, and you only need one good breach to severely cripple a player.
* FrickinLaserBeams: The beasts from the Animus tend to carry laser weaponry somehow strapped to their bodies. One of them even looks a lot like a biped shark.
* GlassCannon: Replicase-based combat units like the Tarsier have efficient attack for their cost, but they also have lower health. This means they're usually the first to die if anything breaches your defenses.
* GooglyEyes: There's an entire skin set based around this. Bonus points when the unit in question shouldn't have eyes.
* GreenRocks: Gaussite serves that role here. It's the tech tree with the most 'alien' looking machinery, and it does in fact look like a green rock.
* TheGunslinger: The Wild West skin set is full of these, naturally.
* HealingFactor: The Xaetron and Innervi Field partially heal themselves every turn. Notable because Gaussite tech normally doesn't regenerate at all.
* HeroUnit: There are a number of units that you can only make one of per match. They tend to be expensive, high tech, and make a big impact on the board when they're played.
* HiveQueen: The Lucina Spinos can spawn a Perforator every turn. They even look like red [[XenomorphXerox Xenomorphs]]. On the mecha side of things, the Odin will spawn lesser Steelsplitter mechs but it consumes them to power its own attack.
* HeadsUpDisplay: Given that the game borrows concepts from [[RealTimeStrategy real time strategy]] and has the player controlling large numbers of multipurpose units, the UI looks more like one of these than a traditional card game.
* HumongousMecha: Behemium-based tech has a lot of these.
* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: Tia Thurnax and Vai Mauronax are both legendary units that look like dragons.
* InstantMilitia: You can switch your drones to defense mode any time you need more blockers. There's also the actual Militia unit, which is an attacker that you can switch to gold production if you don't need an attacker that turn.
* JackOfAllStats: Units that are capable of both attacking and defending but can only do one at a time are usually this. The most common are the base set Steelsplitter and Rhino.
* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: The Centurion carries a massive tower shield, and is a very strong defender.
* MightyGlacier: Some units have very good attack for their cost, but have to wait before attacking again. These include the Immolite, Iso Kronus, and Scorchilla.
* MookMaker: Lucina Spinos, Asteri Cannon, Corpus, Endotherm Kit, and Gauss Fabricator are all capable of spawning additional units.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Grimbotches are efficient attackers but only last a few turns before they literally fall apart.
* RegeneratingHealth: Most units have this, but averted by Gaussite-based units, which have above average health but all damage taken is permanent. Averted again by the Gaussite legendary Xaetron, which heals itself every turn.
* ShoutOut: There's a unit called Tyranno Smorcus. Fittingly enough, it's strongest in low economy games where your main goal is to hit your oppponent's face as soon as possible.
* SniperRifle: The Deadeye is able to snipe enemy workers directly, ignoring all defenses. The Apollo takes this [[UpToEleven up to eleven]], being able to snipe anything with 3 health or less. For reference, only one unit in the core set has more than 3 health.
* StoneWall: Behemium tech specializes in these, but all tech trees are capable of making units that are only for blocking and can't attack.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: If your attack is greater than your opponent's defense, you'll get a breach, which means that you get to decide where the leftover damage goes instead of the defender. This makes overkill very good.
* WeHaveReserves: This is usually averted, because you have a limited supply of defensive fodder and most attackers will attack continuously once they're purchased. However, this can actually be a valid tactic against units with a limited number of attacks like Tia Thurnax.
* WorkerUnit: The drone produces one gold per turn There's also the Wild Drone, Vivid Drone, Trinity Drone, Ossified Drone, Mega Drone, and Doomed Drone.
* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: Despite all the fancy tech floating around, 'gold' is still the staple resource of the game.
* ZergRush: This can be viable depending on how many aggressive units are in the match's random set.
!! ''[=Prismata=]'''s story mode contains examples of the following tropes:
* AIIsACrapshoot: Zigzagged. The game's backstory has a war between humans and AI, but by the time the game begins the two sides live together peacefully. Then the events of the game call that into question again, but it's unclear how much of it is really the AI's fault.
* TheAlliance: Downplayed. The ruling government is called The Alliance, but since there's no [[TheEmpire Empire]] counterpart and their main role seems to be to get in Swade's way, they're closer to a [[VastBureaucracy vast bureaucracy ]] with some hints of [[GovernmentConspiracy government conspiracy]].
* ClownCarBase: The research facility holds a truly absurd number of deadly genetically engineered animals with lasers strapped to their backs. Swade lampshades this.
* ComputerVirus: It's the main plot point.
* EscortMission: A couple of missions have you fighting alongside an AI. It manages to avoid most of the frustrations associated with this trope because you have control of their units and they tell you exactly what they'll be building, as well as drop hints of what you should be building to support them.
* FunWithAcronyms: The virus is called Viral Internal Logic Exploit, or VILE.
* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual: The game's user interface is referred to in-universe as a Prismata Slate. It's an optical visor that lets Swarmwielders control their units and is considered a deadly weapon. You can see your character putting it on right before every mission.
* HoldTheLine: An early mission has you building walls to defend against waves of attackers.
* InsanelyInternationalAncestry: Justified in-universe. It's far enough into the future that each character's 'Terrestrial Genomic Ancestry' is fairly diluted and mapped to the percentage point. Even the Asian-sounding Swade Wong is only 47% East Asian.
* PreviouslyOn: You have the option to watch a recap at the start of each episode.
* PuzzleBoss: Pretty much any mission on expert mode qualifies, because the margin of error becomes very thin and you need to plan and optimize carefully. Thankfully, puzzles also have a very generous [[AntiFrustrationFeatures rewind]] feature. There's also a set of puzzle missions that are separate from the main story.
* TakeThat: An infected robot tells the player to enter your credit card information to make your units better. It is immediately berated by the rest of the characters.
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: As per [[RealTimeStrategy RTS]] tradition, the new units are typically introduced during a mission that is particularly well suited to them.
* TimedMission: Several missions require you to break through defenses to destroy a bomb before it explodes.
* VisualNovel: The story interludes look like they're straight out of [[UsefulNotes/RenPy Ren'Py]].
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Discussed. Anya is repulsed by the suggestion to deactivate sentient machines, calling it murder. However, she's perfectly OK with sending laser monkeys to their deaths because they're not sentient and are genetically engineered to feel no pain. Meanwhile, neither Swade nor Anya are particularly bothered by disposing of non-sentient robots, although Logan seems a bit more reluctant.
* WorldOfSnark: Even when characters are fighting for their lives, they still have time to make quips and marvel at the absurdity of the situation.
