xscorch(6)                                                          xscorch(6)



NNAAMMEE
       xscorch - Annihilate enemy tanks using overpowered guns.

SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
       xxssccoorrcchh

       xxssccoorrcchh _[_o_p_t_i_o_n_s_]

       xxssccoorrcchh ----hheellpp

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
       Xscorch is a clone of the classic DOS game, "Scorched Earth". The basic
       goal is to annihilate enemy tanks using overpowered guns :). Basically,
       you  buy  weapons,  you target the enemy by adjusting the angle of your
       turret and firing power, and you hope to destroy their tank before they
       destroy yours.

GGAAMMEEPPLLAAYY
       First, fiddle with the options in the main menu.  There are a number of
       options which are described below, which may make the  game  easier  or
       harder.   The  default options make for a reasonable level of gameplay.
       Most of the game configuration is controlled from the  user  interface,
       although  there  are  a  few  command-line  options which are mentioned
       below.  Once you are ready to begin a new game, you might want to  _S_a_v_e
       _O_p_t_i_o_n_s  to  save your configuration, then select _B_e_g_i_n _G_a_m_e to start a
       new game.

       Gameplay is divided up into several rounds.  Each round consists of two
       parts:   the  _I_n_v_e_n_t_o_r_y  phase  and the _B_a_t_t_l_e phase.  In the Inventory
       phase, you can buy weapons to shoot at your opponents, and  accessories
       to help defend your tank.  See the Inventory section below for informa-
       tion on the weapons and accessories you may buy.  In the Battle  phase,
       you  setup  defenses,  choose a weapon, aim and fire at your opponents.
       See the section on Battle below, for more information.

IINNVVEENNTTOORRYY
       The player has the option to buy weapons and accessories  to  make  the
       game  more  interesting.   Weapons are just that: an assortment of mis-
       siles, including ICBM-like warheads, napalm, lasers, and  a  number  of
       custom  weapons to bring down specific defenses.  Accessories are meth-
       ods to make gameplay easier for the player and increase their chance of
       survival,  with  guidance  systems, shields, fuel, batteries, and other
       odds-and-ends.

       At the beginning of a round, each player is given an opportunity to buy
       or  sell weapons and accessories.  Each player may have up to 99 of any
       item in their inventory.  A few weapons have an  infinite  supply  (for
       example, Baby Missiles) - these weapons cannot be purchased.

       Weapons  and  accessories are sold in bundles; the price for the bundle
       is displayed in the inventory, and you must buy  items  as  a  complete
       bundle.  The exception to this is when a player attempts to buy more of
       an item than their inventory can hold; in this case, the bundle will be
       broken  and  the  weapons are sold on an individual basis, with a small
       markup applied.

       Weapons and accessories may also be sold  from  a  player's  inventory.
       Again, items are generally sold as a bundle.  The player will receive a
       reduced amount of money for the sale - hey, the middleman has  to  make
       money somewhere :)

       In  the Inventory screen, two panels are displayed, listing the weapons
       and accessories that are available.  The _T_a_b key  will  switch  between
       the  various  panes.   _U_p _A_r_r_o_w and _D_o_w_n _A_r_r_o_w will allow the player to
       scroll through the list of items, _R_i_g_h_t _A_r_r_o_w will buy  a  bundle,  and
       _L_e_f_t _A_r_r_o_w will sell a bundle of the currently highlighted item.

       For each item, the _n_a_m_e, _b_u_n_d_l_e _s_i_z_e/_t_o_t_a_l _p_r_i_c_e, and _c_u_r_r_e_n_t _i_n_v_e_n_t_o_r_y
       are displayed.

       Items which can neither be bought or sold will appear darkened.  If the
       player  has  maxed their inventory for that item, or they cannot afford
       to purchase the item, or the item has a  higher  _a_r_m_s  _l_e_v_e_l  than  the
       player  is allowed, then the item cannot be purchased.  Items which can
       be bought will appear with an arrow pointing to the  right,  and  items
       which can be sold will appear with an arrow pointing to the left.

       The items that are available are listed in the next two sections.

WWEEAAPPOONNSS LLIISSTT
       This list will be added once the weapons list is reasonably stable.

AACCCCEESSSSOORRIIEESS LLIISSTT
       This list will be added once the accessories list is reasonably stable.

BBAATTTTLLEE
       This overview is sadly, incomplete.

TTAANNKK CCOONNTTRROOLLSS
       _L_e_f_t, _R_i_g_h_t
              Change  the  turret angle.  This will adjust the turret angle in
              increments of 5 degrees.   For  finer  control,  hold  _S_h_i_f_t  to
              adjust the angle in increments of 1 degree.

       _U_p, _D_o_w_n
              Change  the  firing power, in the range of 0 to 1000.  This will
              adjust the firing power in increments of 20.  For finer control,
              hold _S_h_i_f_t to adjust the firing power in increments of 1.

       _T_a_b    Select the next weapon available in your inventory.

       _S_h_i_f_t_+_T_a_b
              Select the previous weapon available in your inventory.

       _B, _b   Activate  a  battery.  A single battery can restore 5% of damage
              done to your tank, and  therefore  restore  the  maximum  firing
              power  by  5%  when you are damaged.  You must have a battery to
              discharge in your inventory to excercise this option.

       _E, _e   Activate or energize the currently selected shields.

       _F, _f   Activate your fuel tanks.  A window will be displayed,  indicat-
              ing  the amount of fuel you have available.  As long as you have
              fuel, you may use the _L_e_f_t and _R_i_g_h_t arrows to move one unit  to
              the  left  or  right, respectively.  In general, you cannot move
              your tank up a steep hill.  Immobile tanks will not be  able  to
              excercise this option.

       _R, _r   Force a redraw of the screen.

       _S, _s   Toggle  the  currently selected shields.  The currently selected
              shields are the shields which will be used  when  you  Energize.
              Shields  are classified by a power number with a type suffix:  _M
              for magnetic shielding, _F for force shielding, and  _S  for  your
              standard, run-of-the-mill shields.  If no shields are available,
              _0_S is displayed.

       _T, _t   Toggle contact triggers on/off.  This is only meaningful if  you
              actually  _h_a_v_e some contact triggers of course, and when tunnel-
              ing is enabled.  Weapons that are fired after  this  point  will
              have contact triggers equipped (until you run out).

       _0 - _9  Display information about a particular player.  _1 gives informa-
              tion about Player 1, and _0 gives information about Player 10.

       _E_n_t_e_r  Accept your orders.

       _C_t_r_l_+_Y Bring up the System Menu (this can also  be  accessed  from  the
              menus).   You can control certain graphics options from the sys-
              tem menu, clear the screen of smoke trails, and end a round pre-
              maturely.

       _C_t_r_l_+_Z Pauses the game.

       _C_t_r_l_+_R Resign from the game.  This will end the game for everyone.  You
              will be asked to confirm the resignation.

SSYYSSTTEEMM MMEENNUU
       The system menu gives you some control over the game  while  it  is  in
       progress.   In  this menu, you will have options to change how the game
       is displayed (e.g.  the _G_r_a_p_h_i_c_s _F_a_s_t  option  described  below).   You
       also have access to a few useful commands, described below.

       MMaassss KKiillll
              Kills  everyone still alive in the round.  No player gets credit
              for the kills, and none are considered a suicide.   This  option
              is useful if all human players have already been eliminated from
              the game, but the AI players are making no  progress  whatsoever
              in  annihilating each other.  This option ends the current round
              only.

       EErraassee SSmmookkee
              If you have used smoke tracers or have _T_r_a_c_e _P_a_t_h_s enabled, then
              this option will clear all smoke trails from the sky.

       RReettrreeaatt
              N/A

       RReessiiggnn GGaammee
              Resigns  from  the current round and all remaining rounds.  This
              option ends the entire game, and will take you back to the intro
              screen.

       SSoouunndd SSeettuupp
              Takes you to the _S_o_u_n_d _O_p_t_i_o_n_s window.

AAII PPLLAAYYEERRSS
       HHuummaann  The  humans believe they are the superior mind.  The AI's rather
              disagree with that sentiment.  Keep this in mind  when  you  are
              wondering  why  9  AI's would want to simultaneously target your
              tank...

       MMoorroonn  This AI fires at random.  Of all the AI's, this one has  by  far
              the  highest  suicide  rate.  An alternate name is ``Cannon Fod-
              der''.

       SShhooootteerr
              This AI goes for targets it has a line-of-sight to.  It's not  a
              great player otherwise.  This AI buys weapons that have the best
              economical yield, but during the game  it  will  select  weapons
              which have the highest yield.

       SSpprreeaaddeerr
              This  AI  is  similar  to  the  Shooter,  except a Spreader buys
              weapons with the highest yield, without regard for the price.

       CChhoooosseerr
              This AI chooses a victim.  Once chosen, the victim  is  attacked
              until  they  are dead, or the Chooser loses the ability to reach
              the victim. This AI does not need line-of-sight, but fortunately
              it cannot compensate for wind.

       CCaallccuullaatteerr
              This  AI is like Chooser, except a Calculater can compensate for
              the wind.  These guys are fairly deadly in a  fight;  they  also
              tend to allocate large budgets to defense and offense.

       AAnnnniihhiillaatteerr
              This  AI goes for weapons that will cause as much damage as pos-
              sible, without much regard  for  individual  victims.   This  AI
              prefers  spread  weapons to the more focused, precision weapons.
              A few Annihilaters can clear the  terrain  easily.   These  AI's
              don't  worry  about  defenses  too much.  With their destructive
              tendency, they won't survive long anyway - but neither will any-
              one else.

       IInnssaanniittyy
              No one knows what this AI thinks...

       UUnnkknnoowwnn
              This  selects  one of the above AI's at random, but you will not
              be informed which AI was selected.

CCOONNFFIIGGUURRAATTIIOONN OOPPTTIIOONNSS
       _P_l_a_y_e_r_s_/_R_o_u_n_d_s:

       NNuummbbeerr ooff PPllaayyeerrss (integer, 2-10)
              Set the number of players participating in the game.

       NNuummbbeerr ooff RRoouunnddss (integer, >= 1)
              Set the number of rounds to play for this game.

       AAII TTyyppee (list)
              Select the AI type.  Human players are ``Human''; the  remaining
              AI's are documented above.

       PPllaayyeerr NNaammee (string)
              Give a unique name for each player.

       TTaannkk SSttyyllee (list)
              Select the type/shape of the tank, for each player.

       _E_c_o_n_o_m_i_c_s:

       IInntteerreesstt RRaattee (float, 0-0.30)
              Interest rate for savings, compounded once per round.

       DDyynnaammiicc IInntteerreesstt (toggle)
              If enabled, interest rates will change during the game.

       IInniittiiaall CCaasshh (integer, 0-1000000)
              Amount of money each player should start with.

       AAIIss CCaann BBuuyy (toggle)
              If  enabled, computers are permitted to buy items.  The AI's are
              very uninteresting if this option is turned off.

       AAIIss BBuuyy AAggggrreessssiivveellyy (toggle)
              If the previous option is enabled, the AI's will buy items  con-
              servatively.   With  this  option, the AI's will allocate larger
              budgets and buy bigger items early in the game.

       FFrreeee MMaarrkkeett (toggle)
              N/A

       SSccoorriinngg (list)
              Specify how  scoring  works,  selecting  from  Basic,  Standard,
              Greedy,  or  possibly other methods defined in the configuration
              file:
                   _B_a_s_i_c    Players only receive money for kills and survival.
                   _S_t_a_n_d_a_r_d Players receive less money for kills and survival,
                            but  they  will also receive money for damaging an
                            opponent.
                   _G_r_e_e_d_y   Players are paid as in Standard scoring, but  with
                            bonuses  for  unused  inventory  at the end of the
                            round.

       TThhee LLootttteerryy (toggle)
              If the lottery is enabled, there will be a random drawing at the
              start of each round.  A random player will receive a bundle of a
              random weapon for free as the lottery award.  This  is  a  great
              way  to inject a little extra life into AIs who are usually con-
              servative buyers.  Plus it's always great fun  when  you  get  a
              free Annihilator...

       _P_h_y_s_i_c_s:

       AAiirr VViissccoossiittyy (float)
              N/A

       GGrraavviittyy (float, 0-10)
              Specify  the  gravity, in pixels per cycle squared (one cycle is
              roughly 50 milliseconds).

       GGrroouunndd DDaammppiinngg (float, 0-10)
              Specify the ground damping, used in tunnelling calculations.

       MMaaxxiimmuumm WWiinndd SSppeeeedd (float, 0-10)
              Specify the maximum wind speed, in  pixels  per  cycle  squared.
              The  actual wind velocity is initialised once per round, to some
              value in (-_m_a_x, _m_a_x).

       WWiinndd iiss DDyynnaammiicc (toggle)
              Normally the wind remains constant through a round.  If this  is
              enabled, the wind will change once per turn.

       SSuussppeenndd DDiirrtt (percentage)
              N/A

       TTaannkkss FFaallll (percentage)
              N/A

       BBoorrddeerrss EExxtteenndd (integer, >= 0)
              This  specifies  how  far  off-screen weapons should be tracked,
              when you are playing with no walls.  When this  value  is  zero,
              weapons  will  disappear as soon as they leave the screen in the
              horizontal direction, even if wind would have brought them  back
              on-screen.

       WWaallllss AArree (list)
              Specify  how weapons behave when they hit a boundary.  Note, the
              ground is always ``concrete'' -- this specifies  how  the  sides
              and ceiling behave:
                   _N_o_n_e       The sides and ceiling are open.
                   _C_o_n_c_r_e_t_e   All sides are solid.  Weapons hitting any bound-
                              ary will explode.
                   _P_a_d_d_e_d     Weapons  hitting  the  sides  and  ceiling  will
                              bounce off, although at a reduced velocity.
                   _R_u_b_b_e_r     Weapons  hitting the boundary will bounce off at
                              exactly the same velocity.
                   _S_p_r_i_n_g_y    Weapons hitting the  boundary  will  bounce  off
                              with an additional ``kick'' to the velocity.
                   _W_r_a_p_a_r_o_u_n_d The ceiling is open.  Weapons going off one side
                              will reappear on the opposite side.   Explosions
                              will  also  wrap around the screen if they deto-
                              nate near an edge.
                   _R_a_n_d_o_m     One of the above types of walls are selected  at
                              random.

       _L_a_n_d_s_c_a_p_e:

       SSkkyy (list)
              Specify the background sky.

       HHoossttiillee EEnnvviirroonnmmeenntt (toggle)
              N/A

       LLaanndd GGeenneerraattoorr (list)
              Specify the generator to use to create the land.

       BBuummppiinneessss (percentage)
              Specify the noise on the generated landscape.

       _W_e_a_p_o_n_s:

       AArrmmss LLeevveell (integer, 0-4)
              Specify  the maximum arms level for the game.  Only weapons with
              this arms level or lower may be purchased by any  player,  under
              normal circumstances.

       BBoommbb IIccoonn SSiizzee (integer, 0-4)
              Specify  the  size  of the bomb icons, while they are traversing
              their path in the sky.  This does not affect the size of  explo-
              sions, or the size of the smoke paths (if _t_r_a_c_e _p_a_t_h_s is on).

       TTuunnnneelliinngg (toggle)
              If  set,  weapons  are  allowed  to tunnel through land.  If you
              enable this, you will want to buy contact triggers if you want a
              particular  weapon to always detonate on impact (instead of tun-
              neling through land).

       SSccaalliinngg (float)
              Scale the size of explosions by this value.   If  playing  on  a
              very large or very small playing field, you might want to adjust
              this value.

       TTrraaccee PPaatthhss (toggle)
              If enabled, all weapons leave a smoke trail to reveal their tra-
              jectory.  If this option is off, you can still use _S_m_o_k_e _T_r_a_c_e_r_s
              to determine the path a weapon will take.

       UUsseelleessss IItteemmss (toggle)
              Some weapons are not  useful  given  the  current  configuration
              (e.g.   contact  triggers  are  irrelevant  if tunneling is dis-
              abled).  If this option is enabled, then weapons which will have
              no effect are not listed in the inventory screens.

       _G_r_a_p_h_i_c_s:

       SSccrreeeenn WWiiddtthh (integer)
              Set the width of the playing field, in pixels.

       SSccrreeeenn HHeeiigghhtt (integer)
              Set the height of the playing field, in pixels.

       DDiitthheerriinngg (toggle)
              If  enabled,  the land and sky gradients will be dithered.  This
              option is particularly useful on 16-bit displays, where the gra-
              dient  is  very  noticeable otherwise.  This does slow down land
              generation somewhat.

       AAnniimmaattiioonn (toggle)
              If enabled, explosions and other effects will be animated.  This
              option can also be controlled from the _S_y_s_t_e_m _M_e_n_u.

       GGrraapphhiiccss AArree FFaasstt (toggle)
              If  enabled,  all graphics are always as fast as possible.  This
              option can also be controlled from the _S_y_s_t_e_m _M_e_n_u.

       CCoommppuutteerrss AArree FFaasstt (toggle)
              If enabled, graphics are fast when there only  computer  players
              are  alive.   This option can also be controlled from the _S_y_s_t_e_m
              _M_e_n_u.

       _G_a_m_e_p_l_a_y _O_p_t_i_o_n_s:

       MMooddee (list)
              Determines if all players will fire at  once  (_S_y_n_c_h_r_o_n_o_u_s),  or
              whether each player will fire independently (_S_e_q_u_e_n_t_i_a_l).

       TTeeaammss (list)
              N/A

       OOrrddeerr (list)
              Determines the player order.

       TTaallkk MMooddee (list)
              Determines who is allowed to talk.

       TTaallkk PPrroobbaabbiilliittyy (percentage)
              Determines the likelihood that a player will speak at the end of
              a turn.

       EExxtteennddeedd SSttaattuuss (toggle)
              If set, the  status  bar  will  contain  an  additional  row  of
              extended information during the game (things such as trigger and
              battery inventories, life, wind).

       TToooollttiippss (toggle)
              If set, tooltips will be displayed where available.   A  restart
              is required to change the value of this option.

       _A_I _C_o_n_t_r_o_l_l_e_r:

       HHuummaann TTaarrggeett PPrraaccttiiccee (toggle)
              AI's  will always prefer human targets to AI targets (except for
              AI's that fire at random).  When playing against 9  Calculators,
              this can make your day pretty lousy.

       AAllllooww OOffffsseett TTaarrggeettttiinngg (toggle)
              Generally,  when a weapon hits a shield it does less damage than
              an explosion detonating right outside the shield  (weapons  hit-
              ting the shield do not have a chance to detonate).  This changes
              the AI targetting behaviour so they will deliberately  aim  out-
              side the shield, if their intended victim has raised shields.

       AAllwwaayyss OOffffsseett (toggle)
              If  the  above  option  is set, this option will force the AI to
              always offset  its  targetting  as  if  the  player  had  raised
              shields.   This  allows the AI to compensate for cases where the
              player may simply not have had their turn yet to raise  shields.
              The  downside is the AI will never attempt to score a direct hit
              with this option enabled.

       EEnnaabbllee SSccaann RReeffiinneemmeenntt (toggle)
              If set, harder AIs are allowed to refine their  trajectories  by
              computing  trajectories  that take into account player shielding
              effect and various other factors they do not normally  consider.
              This  option  could  slow  down gameplay a bit but makes the AIs
              much more difficult.

       NNoo BBuuddggeett CCoonnssttrraaiinnttss (toggle)
              AI's will spend as much money as they  can,  disregarding  their
              budget preferences.

       _S_o_u_n_d _S_e_t_u_p:

       EEnnaabbllee SSoouunndd (toggle)
              When set, music and sound effects will be played.

       UUssee HHQQ MMiixxeerr (toggle)
              When set, mikmod's high-quality mixer will be used.

CCOOMMMMAANNDD--LLIINNEE OOPPTTIIOONNSS
       ----hheellpp Display a brief synopsis of the command-line options available.

       ----iinnssaanniittyy
              This is insanity, Max!  Or what if it's genius?

       ----yyiieellddss
              Display weapon yields, and economical yields.

       ----ggeeoommeettrryy==_wxx_h
              Specify  an  initial window geometry for xscorch, where _w is the
              width and _h is the height of the playing field.  Useful for dis-
              plays  less  than  around  800x600 resolution.  Note this option
              overrides the settings in the config file, but you can save  the
              new  options  to  your  config file so you don't have to specify
              this every time.  You may also use --gg.

       ----ccoonnffiigg==_f_i_l_e
              Load an alternate user config file, in _f_i_l_e.

       ----ssoouunndd
              Enable music and sound effects.  You may also use --SS.

       ----nnoossoouunndd
              Disable music and sound effects.  You may also use --ss.

       ----hhqqmmiixxeerr
              Enable use of the high-quality mixer, if sound is enabled.  This
              may use a lot of CPU power on older machines.

       ----nnoohhqqmmiixxeerr
              Disable use of the high-quality mixer, if sound is enabled.

       ----nnaammee Set  the  name  of  your player, if you are initiating a network
              game.  By default, your user name is used.

       ----ppoorrtt Set the port number to use in a network game.   This  option  is
              only  relevant  if  you  also specify ----cclliieenntt or ----sseerrvveerr.  The
              default is dependent on the protocol number, but is  some  large
              port number.

       ----cclliieenntt==_s_e_r_v_e_r
              Start  xscorch  in  client  mode,  and  connect to _s_e_r_v_e_r (which
              should already be running).  If ----nnaammee and ----ppoorrtt are not speci-
              fied, reasonable defaults are used.

       ----sseerrvveerr
              Start  xscorch in server mode, and wait for connections from the
              clients.  ----nnaammee may be used in conjunction to specify the  name
              of this player.

NNEETTWWOORRKK MMOODDEE
       This is very unstable right now, and therefore is not documented.

FFIILLEESS
       ~~//..xxssccoorrcchh//ccoonnffiigg
              User's default configuration for xscorch.

       ttaannkkpprrooffiilleess
              Profile bitmaps for the tanks, usually stored in the local share
              directory.

SSEEEE AALLSSOO
       The xscorch home page  at  <http://www.xscorch.org/>.   There  is  also
       additional documentation in the source distribution.

AAUUTTHHOORRSS
       xscorch  was  written by Justin David Smith <justins(at)chaos2.org> and
       Jacob Luna Lundberg <jacob(at)gnifty.net>.  (Please do not  list  these
       e-mail  addresses  on webpages, or list them in other packages, without
       contacting us first.)

       This manual page written by Justin David Smith <justins(at)chaos2.org>.
       Copyright(c) 2001,2000 Justin David Smith.



Justin David Smith                 May 2001                         xscorch(6)
