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Text File | 1990-11-05 | 17KB | 335 lines

Tank Wars Release 1.1 Copyright (C) 1990 by Kenny Morse ----------------------------------------------- If you have not done so, read the information in BOMB.TXT. Some information in BOMB.TXT may not be repeated in this file. QUICK START: The problem with most program instructions is that you can't truly envision what they're talking about until you've played the game. I occasionally have to play the game once or twice before I can understand the documentation. So now I suggest that you play this game once or twice before reading the rest of this document. Simply type BOMB to load the game. After the title screen you are brought to the main menu. Press cursor-down until the asterisk is beside "Games per Set", press cursor left to decrement it to 1. Then go down and press return on "Start Set". Then press "K" for keyboard and type your name. Press "C" for computer and then "S" to play against the easiest opponent. During the game press cursor right/left to raise/lower the cannon. Press cursor up/down to increase/decrease power. Press space to fire. The object is to kill the computerized opponent. MAIN MENU: Now that you have some idea of the basics, lets get into more detail. The main menu has numerous options that determine the play of the game. You can use the mouse or keyboard to change the options. Pressing up or down moves the asterisk from option to option. Pressing cursor right or left changes the setting for that option. With the mouse just click with the right or left mouse button on the option you wish to change. Sound Effects: (Default Yes) Turns sound on or off. Sound adds to the overall effect of the game, but there may be a time when you don't want it. Fly Sound Effects: (Default No) In the very first version of this program, each weapon would make a screeching sound while flying through the air. After playing two or three times however this gets extremely annoying, thus the creation of this switch. Crumbling Hills: (Default 10%) The major flaw in most games like this is that you can blow the ground out from under somebody and he'll hover there like Road-Runner in a cartoon. This variable can be set between 0% and 100%. It controls how often loose ground will fall. At 100% all loose ground will crumble after every shot. At 0%, the ground never falls, as in cartoons. Rebounding Walls: (Default No) This allows you to change the effect the border around the screen has on the current shot. When set to No, the shot will fly off and on the screen as gravity dictates. When set to Yes, the ball will reflect off of all four walls. This allows for some very interesting trick shots. Halfway between the two is RND. On this setting whether or not the walls rebound is purely random, and redetermined before each round. You can tell whether Rebound is on at any given time by the presence of a purple R on the left side of the screen. Invisible Shot: (Default No) When turned on, your shot is invisible while in the air. This can speed up the game, but not by much. Its main purpose is confusion and it works quite well, especially with rebounding walls because you never know just how many times it bounced before it landed. Shot Trace: (Default No) When on, your shot will leave a trail while flying through the air. It can make it easier to determine what adjustments are needed to hit your enemy. It also helps you determine whether you are in danger of being hit by your enemy. Games Per Set: (Default 10) This determine how many rounds will be played before the game ends. In a short game your main objective is just to destroy as fast as possible. In a long game you want to rack up points so that you can buy weapons that help you destroy. Tanks Fall Down: (Default Yes) This determines whether tanks fall when the ground is blown out from under them. When set to No, tanks just hover there. When set to Yes, they fall and sustain damage. Number of Players: (Default 2) Here you select how many tanks will play. This includes computer intelligences. From two to ten tanks can participate, but remember, the more tanks present, the closer they are together, and the better the chances that you'll get blown away before getting a shot off. Explosions Kill: (Default Yes) This determines whether or not those little bits of tank that fly through the air when someone dies can directly hurt you. Regardless of this setting they can blow the ground out from under you and send you careening down a cliff wall. Start Set: () This starts the game, and brings you to the player selection screen. PLAYER SELECTION: Here is where you select who plays. For each player playing you will be asked what will be controlling him. Press 'K' for Keyboard, 'M' for Mouse or 'C' for computer. If you selected 'M' or 'K' you will then be asked to enter your name. If you selected 'C' you will then be asked which of the 5 computers available you wish to play against. Press the letter corresponding to the name of the computer you wish to play. They are described in detail later. S: Mr. Stupid (No Threat) L: Lobber (A threat if rebound is off) R: Rifleman (A threat if below you) W: Windless Wit (A threat if there is little wind) B: Lob & Shoot (Almost always a threat) PLAYING THE GAME: Now the game begins. First the terrain is drawn. Then each of your tanks will fall from the sky and land somewhere on the ground. The tanks are placed in random order, so that no person gets the same position every game. A random player is then selected to go first. Each player takes his turn in order from left to right, until only one player, the winner, remains. Then the status screen is displayed, showing who is currently winning, the rankings, and other important information. After that, those who have enough points stored up will be given the option of buying extra weapons to supplement their arsenal. CONTROLS: At the top of the screen is information critical in planning your attack. Next to POWER, ANGLE, and DIRECTION are the current values of how hard you will shoot, at what elevation, and in what direction. Next to MEN is the number of men you currently have in your tank. Your power is limited to 100*MEN. Wind shows the current direction and strength of the wind. A number between 0 and 100 is typical, occasionally however there will be gusts up to 800 mph, which can have a enormous impact on your shot. Between this panel and the playing field is your equipment list. It consists of 20 boxes. If a box is black, fuzzy, and hard to see, you don't have that item. If a box is white you have that item but it is not loaded. If a box is red it is loaded and armed. Mouse and Keyboard commands are listed below. Raising/Lowering Elevation: Pressing cursor left or right tilts the gun left or right respectively. Clicking the left/right mouse buttons on the yellow number next to ANGLE has the same effect. The gun has a full 180 degree range, and if lowered below 0 will wrap around and begin climbing the other side. Remember to look at your cannon direction itself, just the ANGLE number can be deceptive. Raising/Lowering Power: Pressing cursor up or down raises or lowers the power respectively, by increments of 1. Pressing PgUp and PgDn change power by increments of 100. Clicking the right or left mouse buttons on the number next to POWER has the same effect as cursor up or down. Clicking on POWER has the same effect as PgUp and PgDn. Changing Direction: If you simply wish to reverse direction without changing ANGLE you can simply press 'I', or click on the yellow arrow next to DIRECTION with the mouse. Firing: Pressing SPACE or RETURN will fire the gun. It can be fired with the mouse by pressing both buttons at the same time. Status Information: To obtain information on any player press the number key corresponding to their number. Press '1' for player 1, '0' for player 10, etc.. With the mouse simply click the left button on whomever you wish to obtain information about. Press any key or button to put away the information screen. Changing Weapon: To change the active weapon, press TAB or SHIFT-TAB. These keys will cycle through all the weapons you currently have. Clicking right and left mouse buttons on the strip of weapons above the playing field has the same effect. What each weapon does is listed later. Guidance Systems: Later in the game you may acquire guidance systems. To toggle a system on or off simply press 'H' or 'V', or click on the white 'H' or 'V', depending on which system you bought. When it asks you what target to aim for press cursor right/left to rotate through the possible targets, or simply click on the target with the mouse. BUYING EQUIPMENT: After each round you may be brought to the equipment screen. Here you are presented with a list of what items you can buy with your current money supply (Money is directly related to score). To purchase a item simply click on it with the mouse, or press cursor up/down to select it and press Return to buy it. COMPUTERS: There are currently 5 computers to challenge you. I hope to add more, and if you have any ideas for other algorithms please send them to me. Mr. Stupid: A complete idiot. He just picks a random power and angle, and shoots. There's no guarantee that he'll even shoot in the right direction. A good opponent for your first game. Lobber: This computer uses fairly decent logic. He shoots 2 random powered shots at 75 degrees. The closest person to his second shot is then dubbed his target. He calculates how much his power needs to be altered to hit his target. His third shot usually misses, but his fourth is usually pretty accurate. Strong wind (150+) can throw his shots off, lessening him as a threat. Rebound completely confuses him. He just can't comprehend why his shots aren't following nice parabolic paths. Rifleman: This computer uses one of the simplest, and possibly most effective strategies. If he's below you he simply points his turret at you, sets it at full power and fires. Sometime he fires so hard that the bomb doesn't detonate correctly, but more often than not, he'll kill you. If there are no targets above him, he'll just shoot randomly. Windless Wit: This computer uses physics to hit his target. However, he has not yet figured out how to compensate for wind. In low wind (0-20), you could be in trouble. The higher the wind, the longer you'll live. Lob & Shoot: If there is no rebound, he fights as lobber. If there is rebound he fight as rifleman. This can be very effective when rebound is set to RND. WEAPONS: There are currently 18 weapons, and 2 guidance systems available for purchase. Many of them are similar, and will only be described in general. Remember that no weapons are perfect. They sometimes fail to detonate correctly, and bore a hole through an opponents tan'k and fly through without detonating. This happens rarely, but occasionally. Lead Ball: Useless, completely useless. It does no damage. It just flies. The only time it's ever useful is when you want to test if you can get a decent weapon far enough away from you so that you won't be caught in the blast. You start with 9999 of them. Hand Grenade: This is a wimpy little bomb. It has a very small blast range. It can only kill a tank if it hits it directly. You start with 9999 of them. Standard Incinerator: These are your normal weapons. They have a reasonable blast radius, and can kill fairly easily. You start with 5 for every round you will play. Mark II Incinerator: Twice the size of Standard Incinerators. Nukes: 20K and 5M Nukes explode the same as Incinerators, but with MUCH bigger blast radii. 5 Meg's have been known to take out up to 7 tanks in one explosion. Chain Reaction Inducers (CRI's): These start a chain reaction in the ground. Depending on the strength of the CRI it can do little damage, or can destroy almost all the ground on the screen. CRI's are identified with a number followed by a 'D' or 'ND'. The number determines how radioactive the reaction is. 'D's are much more 'fluent' than 'ND's. It's quite hard to explain, but you should be able to figure it out after using a few. Sonic Blaster: These are only helpful in games when Crumble is set to a low percentage. When these hit the ground they emit a high pitched sonic whine, causing all loose ground to collapse. These are especially helpful after a CRI has been released and there are tanks hanging in mid air on only a few pixels of ground. This will take those precious pixels out from under them and send them careening to their death. Balls 'o' Dirt: These are fairly self explanatory. When they explode, instead of a big ball of fire, a big ball of dirt is created. I'll leave it up to you to determine what you'll want to use this for. Explosive Dirt: When this hits, it spews dirt up into the air. It may just stay there, or it may fall back down depending on what you set crumble to. Guidance Systems: I'll leave it up to you to figure out how to use these. They're very powerful, effective, and easy to misuse. INTENDED ADDITIONS: I've been building this program for the last 6 months, and I finally got around to releasing it. It is by no means complete. I intend to add more weapons, shields, and parachutes. I also intend to develop more computer intelligences. I also want to change my menu, status, player select, and purchasing screens to full graphics. I want to add some sort of a backdrop, maybe a starry landscape, or something like that. Also, I hope to find even more ways to speed up the program without sacrificing any graphical effects. REGISTRATION: This program is distributed as Shareware. You are free to try the game and make copies for others. If you continue to use the game, however, you are required to pay the author a registration fee of $10. In return you will be notified of all major releases, and will be using the program legally. Send Registrations to: KENNY MORSE 11800 SILENT VALLEY LANE GAITHERSBURG, MD 20878 Please include your registration fee of $10, and if you have one, a Compuserve or Prodigy ID at which I can contact you. I will currently answer questions from all users via CIS or Prodigy. I can be reached at TGTM35B on Prodigy, or 76427,3305 on Compuserve. I will answer mailed questions to the above address only if the asker is a registered user, and includes a method of reply, such as a self addressed stamped envelope, or Prodigy or Compuserve ID.