The one rule
Collision law
A snake dies when its head touches another snake's body. Bodies touching bodies: nothing. Head-to-head: both die. That's the entire combat system — everything below is geometry built on it.
Three immediate consequences:
- You can't "attack" by charging — your head is your only vulnerable part and your only weapon-delivery system.
- Your body is invincible wall. Combat is about placing wall where a rival's head must go.
- Speed doesn't kill; prediction kills. Every kill is making an opponent's future position illegal.
The encirclement — full playbook
The bread-and-butter kill. Requires roughly 800+ mass (enough body length to close a circle a snake can't escape).
Phase 1 — selection
- Target at most ~85% of your mass. Below 50%, the circle is trivial; between 50–85%, expect a fight.
- Prefer targets mid-feed: a snake vacuuming a pellet line holds direction longer, making its future path readable.
- Check the neighborhood — an encirclement takes 5–15 seconds, and a third snake crashing in is the most common way it fails.
Phase 2 — the wrap
- Approach on a wide arc, not a line. Your first goal is to place body alongside their travel direction.
- Turn across their path far ahead — you're not blocking them, you're building the far wall early.
- Spiral inward gradually. Each lap should shrink the pocket by a third, not by ninety percent.
Phase 3 — the close
- The kill moment is when your head meets your own body, sealing the ring. Time your boost for exactly this seam-closing move — that's when trapped snakes try to shoot the gap.
- Sealed? Just shrink calmly. Panic cuts kill them; patience kills them; there is no third option for the trapped snake.
Baiting — the small snake's weapon
Being small is an advantage in one context: giants can't turn like you can.
- The cross-cut: dart across a giant's head-path at close range and curve hard away. Their panic turn — into their own body or a neighbor — does the killing. You never touch anyone.
- The wall-drag: get a chaser to follow you at boost, then curve tightly along a third snake's body. You fit through the gap; the chaser's wider arc doesn't.
- The corpse ambush: your kill's corpse is bait. Loiter with your body between the drop and the likely approach lane; scavengers watch pellets, not walls.
Head-duels — mostly, don't
Two heads converging is a mutual kill: both die, both drop everything. The only correct head-duel is the one you exit first. If a rival lines up head-on, break angle immediately — even a slight offset converts "trade" into "you live". The exception: if you're about to die anyway (fully sealed in a ring), a head-on into your captor at least converts your loss into a trade.
Defense: reading an encirclement before it closes
- The tell: the same rival's body appearing on two sides of your screen. One side is company; two sides is a wall being built.
- Exit early, exit boring. The moment you suspect a wrap, boost through the widest gap — before the spiral tightens. The best escape looks like nothing happened.
- Never spiral inward with them. Matching a wrapper's curve buys seconds and loses the run. Cross the pocket at its widest point instead.
- Trapped for real? Circle the pocket's rim at max radius, wait for the seam — the wrapper's own head must eventually pass near your escape line. Their seal moment is also their most exposed moment.
Boost in combat
| Moment | Boost? |
|---|---|
| Sealing your ring's final gap | Yes — this is the highest-value boost in the game |
| Escaping a forming wrap | Yes — earlier is exponentially cheaper |
| Chasing a fleeing target | Two seconds max, then abandon |
| Inside a sealed ring | Never — you're burning the mass your killer inherits |