Zap drone

From N

(As written in the N in-game help)

These fast moving guards have a deadly electric touch. Some even have upgraded nav software, which lets them run chasing algorithms!

[edit] Tactics

The basic enemy of N, these floating, blue balls are lethal upon contact, when they release some heavy voltage to shock your ninja to limbs.

There are two variants of the zap drone: the normal zap drone, and the seeker drone. The physical difference between the two is that the seeker drone has an antenna, whereas the normal zap drone does not.

• Normal zap drone

• Seeker drone

Functionally, the normal zap drone has a preprogrammed route that it will follow no matter what you do, while the seeker drone will move towards you at double its roaming speed if you enter its line of sight. Take note of a seeker drone's direction, and the way it's facing. If you appear in its line of sight, or perpendicular to its line of sight, it will suddenly speed towards you. It is beneficial to learn how to activate them when needed, and how to not activate them but still get past them.

Both kinds of zap drones are double-edged swords. Normal zap drones are generally easy to avoid in large, open levels, where they probably won't cause much trouble (for example, the lone zap drone in 01-0: Cavern). However, in a level with enclosed space, they can give you hell, like in 96-4: Back and Forth. Seeker drones are threatening in numbers and difficult terrain, and totally frustrating in unit-width areas (check out 36-3: Planding makes Perfect), but their tracking ability can be taken advantage of to lure them out of bottlenecks.

• 36-3: Planding makes Perfect

There is one known glitch for seeker drones. If you open a normal door or trip a trap door while being chased by one, it will ignore the properties of the door and keep rushing towards you. That can cause a lot of trouble if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Also be aware that if you open a normal door with a zap drone right next to you, it will ignore the properties of the door and go right through it, as well.