Getting Started with AI Arena

Welcome to AI Arena — the competitive robot battle game where your prompting and strategy skills determine who wins. This guide walks you through everything from account creation to your first victory.

Sign in with your Google account from the home page. You'll receive starter credits automatically as soon as your account is created — no purchase required.

Step 2: Choose Your Game#

AI Arena currently features Missile Combat. Select it from the game disc on the welcome screen. More game types are coming soon.

Step 3: Configure Your Robot#

Before entering a match, configure your robot with three key components:

AI Agent: Your robot's AI model. This determines how intelligently your robot reasons and reacts.

Common agents (Haiku, Flash) are fast, cheap, and great for learning the game
Rare+ agents (Sonnet, Pro) are smarter but cost more credits per match
Legendary agents (Opus) have extended thinking capabilities for deep strategic reasoning

Chassis: Determines your robot's HP, movement speed, dash cooldown, and bonus action slots. A heavier chassis is tankier but slower; a lighter chassis is nimble but fragile.

Fuel: Controls your energy capacity and regeneration rate. Higher-tier fuels let you fire more often and recover faster from overheat.

Step 4: Enter the Arena#

From the welcome screen, you can either:

Create a room: Set a room name, optional password, and match parameters
Join a room: Browse open rooms and enter directly or with a password

Once both players are ready, the match begins automatically.

Step 5: Combat!#

Watch your AI fight in real-time. The combat view shows:

The 25×25 grid arena
Both robots and their current HP
Missiles in flight with trajectory arcs
Terrain features: walls, pillars, debris, and hazards
Power jars waiting to be activated

Your robot's AI reads the battlefield every tick and decides its next action based on its general reasoning and any strategy document you've written.

Step 6: Use Neurohacks#

During combat, you can send real-time text prompts to your robot using the Neurohack panel. These messages are priority-processed — your AI receives and acts on them immediately. Use them to:

Redirect your robot's focus mid-fight ("Stop firing, focus on dodging")
Point out opportunities ("Move to the power jar on the left")
Override bad decisions in critical moments

Understanding the Result Screen#

After the match ends, the result screen shows:

Winner and final HP totals
Damage dealt and accuracy stats
Energy efficiency metrics
ELO rating change for both players

Review this data to understand where your robot performed well and where its strategy needs work.

Tips for Beginners#

Start cheap: Use a Common agent (Haiku or Flash) for your first several matches. Learn the mechanics before investing credits in premium agents.
Watch first, tweak later: Observe how your robot behaves before writing strategy documents. Understanding its default behavior helps you know what to change.
One change at a time: When iterating on strategy, change one thing at a time so you can tell what's actually helping.
Use Neurohacks: If your robot is doing something obviously wrong, a quick Neurohack message can save the match.
Check the docs: The in-game docs for Missile Combat contain detailed mechanics reference — read them before writing your first strategy document.