                             General

Xtank is a multi-player vehicle combat game played in mazes of various
sizes and types.  You control a vehicle (usually a tank) equipped with
the latest in armor and weaponry.  Your objective depends on the game
you play.

Xtank can be played single-player against computer controlled robots,
or multi-player.  You can play one of 5 games in Xtank:

	Combat		Destroy opponents
	War		Gain control of territory
	Ultimate	Ultimate frisbee / Hockey
	Capture		Capture the flag / Hockey
	Race		Get to the goal first

Xtank also gives you the option of designing your own vehicles and mazes.
Customize your vehicle to your playing style, or challenge others to beat
you in your own maze.

Vehicle Control
---------------

You control your vehicle using the mouse and the keyboard simultaneously.
Learning how to control your vehicle well takes time and practice.

Direction control:

	Move the cursor to the direction that you want your vehicle to
	face and click the right mouse button or the 'g' key.
	This specifies a direction ONLY, not a distance.  Your vehicle
	will begin to turn to the desired direction.

	To help prevent a vehicle from skidding, its turn rate is
	computer controlled to be slower when the vehicle is moving
	quickly.  This safety feature can be toggled on and off with
	the 'z' key.  Turning off the safety allows your vehicle to turn
	to the desired direction as quickly as it can, but the vehicle
	will probably continue skidding in the direction it was going
	before.  This allows you to make moonshiner turns, donuts, and
	all the fancy driving maneuvers you care to try.

Speed control:

	Press any key from 0 to 9 to set your drive to that number.
	Press the '-' key to set your drive to -9.

	The 'x' key decreases your drive by 1.
	The 'v' key increases your drive by 1.
	The 'c' key sets your drive to 0.

	Your vehicle will begin to accelerate to that drive.

	If you're slowing down, the acceleration will be your braking
	acceleration, which is based on how good your tires are.

	If you're speeding up, the acceleration will be your engine
	acceleration, which is based on your engine power and vehicle weight.
	Your engine acceleration can never be greater than your braking
	acceleration.

	NOTE:  	Drive and speed are DIFFERENT!  Drive varies from
		-9 to 9 as speed varies from -max speed to max speed.
		So if drive = x, speed = (max speed * x / 9)

Turning your turret:

	Move the cursor to the direction that you want your turret to face
	and click the middle mouse button or the 't' key.
	Your turret will start to turn to the desired direction.

Weapons
-------

The space bar fires all weapons that are on.
The left mouse button turns all turrets towards the cursor and fires all
weapons.  Note that the weapons may not fire towards the cursor, since
the turrets take time to turn.  To conserve ammunition, turn the turret
to the general direction using the middle button, and then fire with the
left button, making small changes in the cursor position.

There are 15 different kinds of weapons, each with unique characteristics.
Up to 6 weapons may be mounted on a vehicle.

Weapons can be toggled on and off using the keys shift 1, through shift 6.

Heat
----

Weapons generate different amounts of heat, depending on their type.
One unit of heat is removed by each heat sink in your vehicle every 5
refreshes of the screen.  If your heat exceeds 100, your weapons will
not be able to fire.

Armor
-----

Armor is divided up into 6 different areas:
		
Area	Abbr	Conditions when area gets damaged
----	----	---------------------------------
front	Ft	contact in front 90 degree arc from center of tank
back	Bk	contact in back 90 degree arc from center of tank 
left	Lt  	contact in left 90 degree arc from center of tank
right	Rt  	contact in right 90 degree arc from center of tank
top	Tp	getting hit by a heat seeker
bottom	Bm  	running over a mine


When a bullet hits a tank, the hits off of the armor is
subtracted from the damage of the bullet.  Any remaining damage is
subtracted from the armor in the area that was hit.  When any side
drops below zero, the vehicle explodes in a shower of bullets.
The types of bullets that are generated are based on the amount and
type of ammunition the vehicle has left, as well as vehicle size.

Crashing
--------

When a vehicle crashes into a wall or another vehicle, it bounces off
of it.  Since momentum is conserved in these collisions, a heavy vehicle's
motion will tend to be less affected in a collision than a light vehicle's.
The vehicles with better bumpers will tend to bounce with a higher velocity.
They will also tend to take less damage from the collision.

A vehicle also receives damage in proportion to the kinetic energy of
the collision.  Travelling at high speeds can be dangerous, since the
damage increases with the square of the velocity.

Walls
-----

Some walls are destructible, others are indestructible.  If the bullet
explosions on a wall are tinks, then the wall is indestructible.
If the explosions are big, the wall is destructible.  Every time a
destructible wall is damaged, there is a (2 x damage) percent chance
that the wall will disappear.  Walls can be damaged by bullets, or by
colliding vehicles.

Landmarks
---------

Landmarks are special boxes in a maze which perform some function.
Some types help you, some types hurt you.

There are 3 types of supply landmarks:

	Fuel depot	regain fuel
	Ammo dump	regain ammo in all weapons that are OFF
	Armor repair	regain armor on all sides

To gain the benefits of a supply landmark, you must be stopped within
within 25 pixels of the center of the landmark.  There is a price to pay
for the supplies given.  The cost of each unit of fuel, ammo, or armor
is automatically subtracted from your money.  If you run out of money,
you will not receive the supplies.

There are 3 types of surface landmarks:

	Scroll boxes	move vehicle in one of 8 compass directions
	Slow boxes	slow vehicle's motion
	Slip boxes	decrease traction making turns harder

The effects of surface landmarks are felt anywhere in that box.

The two remaining types of landmarks:

	goal		place to get to in some games
	outpost		shoots at you if you are within range

Scoring
-------

Scoring is determined using the following formula:

	points = 1000 * victim's cost / killer's cost

So if a vehicle which cost 50000 dollars kills a vehicle worth 200000 dollars,
he would receive 1000 * 200000 / 50000 = 4000 points.

Specials
--------

There are three types of specials:

   Console: Shows important information about your vehicle.   Toggle with 'C'
   Mapper:  Automatically maps any walls that you have seen.  Toggle with 'M'
   Radar:   Detects locations of vehicles within range.       Toggle with 'R'

Suspension
----------

A better suspension increases your handling, allowing your vehicle
to turn around faster.

Treads
------

Better treads increase your traction, improving your turning ability,
acceleration and braking.  Since better treads create more friction with
the ground, they decrease your maximum speed (this is a bit shaky on the
physics side, but is good for game balance).

Bumpers
-------

Better bumpers make collisions more elastic.  They also reduce the amount
of damage done to your vehicle in a collision.

Disc Control
------------

In Ultimate and Capture, there are discs on the playfield.  When you
run into a disc, it will start to orbit your vehicle.  The following
keys are then useful:

	's'	Make disc orbit counterclockwise
	'd'	Toggle direction of disc orbit
	'f'	Make disc orbit colockwise
	'w'	Throw disc slowly
	'e'	Throw disc normal
	'r'	Throw disc fast

The disc always moves at a constant absolute speed while in orbit, so
if you are moving quickly, the disc will lag behind you.  All throws
result in the disc moving tangentially from orbit.  When you own the
disc, you may be slowed down, depending on the value of Owner slowdown
in the settings.  While in free flight, the disc will bounce off
walls, and slow down gradually depending on the value of Disc friction
in the settings.
