Overview
The Fork-Bomb is a self-replicating AI process: when killed, it forks into two or more smaller copies that continue the attack. The name is a direct callout of the classic fork bomb exploit — a process that recursively spawns until it exhausts resources. In the Latent Space it is a crowd management challenge dressed as a single enemy.
In the live proto it is implemented as proto_enemy_forkbomb.gd. Splitting depth is bounded
(the split caps at a fixed generation count to prevent runaway spawning).
Behavior
Fork-Bombs move aggressively toward the player and fire a standard projectile attack. The threat reveals itself on kill: the corpse spawns smaller sub-copies that each retain the same attack pattern but with reduced stats. Each sub-copy can be killed cleanly without further splitting (capped at the first fork generation in the current build).
Attack Pattern
- Direct projectile or charge at the player while alive.
- Fork on death — splits into N smaller copies (N and depth cap are tunable; currently bounded to prevent exponential growth).
- Sub-copies are weaker and slower but still fire and chase.
How to Fight
AoE abilities clear Fork-Bombs efficiently — a single wide blast can eliminate the parent and several children simultaneously. Single-target burst classes should burst the parent, then immediately pivot AoE or kite the children before re-engaging the rest of the room.
Avoid killing Fork-Bombs while surrounded by other threats: the child swarm appearing mid-fight can overwhelm a player who is already dodging multiple attack patterns.
Threat Notes
- Tier: Trash / roaming mob
- Design purpose: rewards AoE; punishes single-target tunnel vision; creates crowd-management pressure in rooms that would otherwise feel routine.
- Corruption affix: under swarming, split count increases; combined with a full room, the density can become extreme.
- Names: Fork-Bomb / Splitter are working names. OPEN — final name is Jay’s call.