Instructions for Wahoo Software's Assassin version 1.1.1
3/16/96 Steven H. Taylor
Terminology
Move -- one move or use of the gun or bomb placement, etc.
Turn -- a set of moves, up to the number allowed for a turn.
Round -- A series of turns, ended when all but one player are dead.
Game -- A number of rounds, as defined in the game setup.
Story
You work as a director at an elite espionage organization. You are in charge of an operative assigned to the International Assassin's Guild Convention who has just been given a target for elimination. You give directions to your operative over a satellite link which, unfortunately, is not fast enough to give you immediate feedback. You must give a series of commands and then wait for the results. The operative you're directing is carefully conditioned and follows your directions exactly, even when they're ... non-optimal.
How to Play
Setting up the game
When you run the program, you first choose a playing mode. Choose "Host" to host network games, "Join" to join a network game, and "Solo" to play alone.
Host/Join mode:
The first thing you see is a simple "lobby" window. Just create a new game and wait for people to join. When you've got people in the game, or if you just want to play against computers, click "Go".
Solo mode:
The game setup dialog will appear, skipping the lobby. Set the game up and click OK.
Making your moves
You are the blue assassin (in B&W, the one with the outlined hollow head). Your target is the red assassin (in B&W, the one with the floating slit of an eye). The other assassins on the screen are neutral, for now.
Set up your assassin's moves for this turn by clicking on the control-window buttons or using the keypad or clicking on the screen near the player. If you click on the map away from the assassin, the assassin will automatically go to that point, if there are enough moves left.
Note that turning takes a move.
What you are setting up is simply the plan for your assassin. The other players are shown at their last known locations, but you don't see what really happens until everyone has made their moves.
The eye-gun button means "shoot if I see anyone". The target-gun button means "shoot if I see my target". These are here because you get $200 (and 4 points) for killing your target and you get penalized 2 points (and earn no fee) for killing a non-target. (You also get a survival bonus of $30 for each turn you live through.)
Ending your turn
Once your moves are entered, hit return or click on the "cycle" arrow to go to the next phase, the view phase.
Viewing the results
The moves you entered are sent to the server, which calculates what happened to everyone and distributes that information. You view the results in the view phase.
When you're done, click on the cycle arrow to go back to the move phase.
When all but one player is dead, this is the end of a "round". All players are brought back to life for the next round. When as many rounds have been played as were requested in the game setup dialog, the game is over.
If you die but the other players are playing on, you can still exact revenge (and earn money). You never show up on the screen but you can place bombs (you get more to place every few turns this round continues) anywhere there's not a wall and set the bomb to go off any time after 5 seconds into the turn. (Set the time first and then place the bomb). You are awarded 1 point posthumously for each bomb kill.
Ammunition and Equipment
Your assassin is equipped with the XL-91 MaxoGun prototype, capable of firing several different kinds of ammunition.
At the start of each round, any player with money is given a chance to go to the Assassin Shop to buy new ammunition and equipment. If the game has a time limit, you are given an extra 20 seconds in the shop.
Ammunition:
When you enter any kind of shoot move, your currently selected ammunition will be used. To switch ammunition, click and hold on the ammunition icon and choose another type of ammunition from the popup menu. If you haven't started a round with money yet, you haven't had a chance to buy any ammunition and the only ammunition available will be bullets.
Notice that you can make as many various shoot moves as you like, even when you only have a few units of the selected ammunition left. This is because you may enter a "shoot if I see anyone" command but not see anyone for that move, so the ammunition won't get used. This isn't determined until the server actually calculates the turn results, so you need to estimate for yourself when you'll run out of the selected ammunition, and switch to another ammunition then. If you run out of ammunition during the actual calculation of the turn, your gun will not fire (it will make an empty-gun "click" sound). In the middle of a turn, you do not automatically revert to bullets when you run out of another ammunition, you must manually choose a new ammunition (where you think you'll run out) when you first set up the moves for that turn.
For convenience, at the start of each turn, if you are out of your currently selected ammunition, you will automatically be switched to bullets.
You have an inexhaustable supply of regular bullets.
Equipment:
In addition to ammunition, you may buy defensive items. For each ammunition type, there is a corresponding piece of equipment that reduces damage inflicted by that weapon. Some defensive items are more effective than others. You may only have one of each defensive item, but once you have one, you keep it for the whole game.
In addition to reducing damage from lasers, the reflection shield reflects the laser blast back the way it came.
Advanced Player Information:
Ammunition specifics:
Bullets:
Bullets do basic damage; an unprotected player will take 4 normal bullets before dying.
Exploding Bullets:
Exploding bullets do more damage when they hit another player.
Machine Gun Rounds:
Machine gun rounds consist of a set of regular bullets and have the same individual effect.
Grenades:
Grenades are used for general area attacks. A grenade explodes when it hits a wall or a person, damaging any nearby people, possibly including the owner of the grenade.
Missiles:
Missiles are a high-power single-square ammunition. A missile starts out slowly and gains speed, exploding when it hits a wall or a player. A missile has no effect outside the square on which it explodes, only effecting multiple targets when they are all in the same place.
Laser Bolts:
A Laser bolt moves quickly and passes through each target it hits, continuing until it hits a wall or a player equiped with a reflection shield.
Slime Balls:
When a slime ball hits a wall or a person, it squirts down nearby hallways and over nearby open areas, damaging anything it touches. Slime has a better effect on still targets. Targets that move through an approaching slime mass will take less damage.
Nukes:
A nuke will explode when it hits a player or a wall, causing severe damage to any player in a 3-square radius, possibly including the owner of the nuke. Walls can't shield a nuke explosion.
Ammunition/Equipment Statistics:
Ammo Type Damage done | Defense (% Reduction)
Bullets: 30 | Kevlar Vest (75%)
Exploding Bullets: 55 | Kevlar Vest (50%)
Machine Gun: 30/bullet | Kevlar Vest (75%/bullet)
Grenades: 55 - near | Flak Jacket (50%)
35 - far |
Bombs: 45 - near | Flak Jacket (50%)
25 - far |
Missiles: 100 | Holocaust Cloak (25%)
Laser: 85 | Reflection Shield (50%)
Slime: 20 twice | Boots (50%)
Nuke: 100 | Blast Suit (5%)
Key Equivalents:
Command-Enter and Command-Return always move to the next phase.
Normal Movement:
Arrow keys and 2, 4, 8, and 6 move in a direction (turning around if necessary).
7 fires a bullet.
9 enters a "shoot if you see anything" move.
1 enters a "shoot only if you see the target" move.
Backspace undoes the last move you made.
ijkl, u, n, o, and '.' also work for people without a number pad.
Dead Mode Movement:
+ and - change the fuse time.
Backspace removes the last bomb you placed.
Click on the map to place a bomb.
Review controls:
4 - rewind
5 - stop
6 - play
3 - fast forward
7 - step back one frame
8 - step forward one frame
The keys ;',./ and spacebar also work, for people without a number pad.
Misc:
Command-tab switches between the conversation window and the main window.
Tab in conversation window selects all the text and control-U deletes all the text.
Player Rating:
Player rating currently represents your average points per round. Your rating is basically total_points_earned/total_rounds_played. This is modified by the fact that we only use the last 20 games played in calculating this rating, so your rating can go up and down as your recent average improves or drops. Bonus points for winning a whole game are the only points that don't
get divided by rounds, this bonus is constant regardless of the length of the game.
Points (and cash payments, listed here for convenience) are awarded as follows:
Action Payment Points Awarded
Target Kill $200 4
Non-Target Kill -- -2
Kill by Bomb -- 1
Surviving a Turn $30 --
Winning a Round (surviving) $30 3
Winning a game (by points) -- --
Example:
Bob plays his first game, a 3-round game. He earns 25 points during the game and wins the
game. His rating is now 25/3 = 8.33.
Note that point awards and penalties can occur at the same time. For example, if you nuke your target and another player and yourself in one move, you get 4 points for the target kill, -2 for the non-target kill, -2 for killing yourself (another non-target kill) and 1 more point if there are no other players alive and you three were the last survivors for this round).
Ranking:
Players are ranked by rating and awarded a title according to rank.
Each title is has a limited number of players allowed to claim it.
There can be only one Great Dragon, only three Grand Master Assassins, etc.
The Great Dragon 1 (1st rank)
Grand Master Assassin 3 (2nd rank)
Master Assassin 3 (5th rank)
Expert Assassin 3 (8th rank)
Assassin 10 (11th rank)
Operative everyone else (20th rank and below)
Tenderfoot provisional title
All players who have not played a minimum of 5 games are given a provisional
title of "Tenderfoot". This title is never given to anyone who has played 5 or more games.
Tenderfoot players don't show up in the Hall of Assassins. You need to play your minimum
5 games before you get officially listed and ranked.
