
				Combat

Object

The object of Combat is to destroy your opponents before the do the
same to you.  Points are awarded for each kill, based on the cost of
your vehicle divided by the cost of the victim's vehicle.  Once a
player reaches Winning Score number of points, the game ends.

Maze

Pretty much any maze will do, but smaller mazes tend to be more fun,
since vehicles can find each other more easily.  Goals have no effect
in this game.  Scrolling squares can be used to keep the combat moving
in circles, or to make it difficult to reach Repair, Armor, and
Fuel squares.  Outposts which are have a team assigned to them will
only shoot at members of other teams, so they can be used to make team
stronghold areas.  Slippery squares and sloww squares make dodgin more
difficult, which can make the game more fun or less fun, depending on
your playing style.

Vehicle

It is a good idea to have all the vehicles in the game be of
comparable cost.  In team play, vehicles with different abilities can
often work better together than clones.  Often one vehicle will be
able to take advantage of an enemies weakness when a teammate cannot.

Program

The "drone" program is a pretty dumb player overall, but can be a
challenge for people who are learning the game.  The "warrior" program
is more intelligent about movement and firing and can be tough to beat
even for advanced players.

Settings

Ricochet can be interesting, especially in labyrinth style mazes full
of walls.  It isn't very fair to the robots, though, since none
currently know how to make use of it.  Relative shooting causes
bullets to have a velocity relative to the shooter's velocity.  This
makes shooting while moving at high speeds hard to get used to.  It is
also unfair to the robots, who don't correct for it.  Restart is
almost always set in multi-player games, to allow a vehicle to begin
again after getting killed.  In a single-player game against many
robots, you may want it off, so that when all enemies are killed, you
will be done.  Outposts in the maze can be turned off with an Outpost
strength of 0, or made pretty lethal with a value of 10.  Currently
the difficulty setting has no effect.  In the future, enemy robots
will increase in intelligence and strength based on this setting.


				War

Object

To gain control of territory by being the last vehicle to enter it.
The game should end once a given team controls a certain percentage of
enemy territory.  I'm not sure if this actually happens...
This game doesn't really work that well, since it hasn't been
playtested very much.  It is a lot like Combat as far as skills go.
Having never played it much, I don't know of any strategies or
vehicle/maze designs that work well for it.


				Ultimate

Object

The object of Ultimate is to score as many goals as possible by
maneuvering the disc into the opposing team's goal.  A goal is scored
when a vehicle OWNS a disc inside an enemy goal (if the disc is
sliding across or bouncing inside an enemy goal, nothing happens).

Maze

Ultimate is generally played with small team (1-3 players per team)
in a small maze which has 2 goals.  A good example of an Ultimate maze
is "moosemaze", which has two well protected goals, and 3 starting
locations for each team.

Vehicle

A small fast and maneuverable vehicle is best for this game, since the
objective is not to kill each other, but to maneuver the disc quickly
up the playfield.  Oil slicks are useful to build walls of oil in
strategic locations or simply to disorient a trailing vehicle.  A good
example of an Ultimate vehicle is "Ultimate" which is a hexo good
traction and a single oil slick in the back.

Program

Currently there is only one robot that plays Ultimate, called "buddy".
He doesn't do that good a job with strategy, but he is good at
catching and stealing the disc (he can even intercept a bounce pass,
which is something that humans have trouble with).  For games between
good players, though, a buddy is more of a hindrance than a help.

Settings

Usually the Commentator is activated, so that all players are informed
of the spectacular events on the playfield.  No wear is usually turned
on as well, so that collisions between vehicles are not deadly, and
thus no armor is required on vehicles.  This means that vehicles
cannot be killed, but that tends to make the game more playable and
thus more exciting.  Full map is also turned on, so that everyone can
see what the entire playfield looks like from the beginning.  Owner
slowdown is usually set at around 8, so that the owner of the disc
cannot simply run into the goal.  Disc friction is usually set pretty
low (around 2), making long passes feasible.  If Disc friction is set
to 0, it is difficult to catch up to the disc after an errant pass.

Disc

When play begins, a random player begins with a disc.  When a disc is
owned by a vehicle, it will orbit around that vehicle.  The owner of a
disc may not move as fast as a vehicle that doesn not own a disc,
depending on the setting of Owner slowdown.  The owner of a disc can
toggle the direction of orbit using the 'd' key, or set it to be
counterclockwise with 's', or clockwise with 'f'.  The disc can be
thrown off tangentially at three different speeds with 'w' (slow),
'e' (medium), or 'r' (fast).

When the CENTER of the disc makes contact with the BOUNDING BOX of
another vehicle, that vehicle gains control of the disc and the disc
immediately begins orbitting the new owner.  This can result in the
disc immediately returning to the old owner, depending on how the
direction of disc orbit and vehicle speed (the absolute speed of the
disc is constant, so a fast moving vehicle will have the disc trailing
behind him).  If the disc hits a wall while orbiting a vehicle, that
vehicle immediately loses ownership of the disc, and the disc will
bounce off the wall and resume newtonian motion.

Ocassionally, with small vehicles (lightcycles and hexos) and fast
moving discs, the disc will pass through a vehicle that should have
caught it.  This is due to the large jumps between the location of the
disc and the vehicle moving at high speeds.  Currently the collision
detection algorithm is not very good, so those collisions are not
detected.

Controlling the disc well requires practice.  An expert Ultimate player
can usually keep the disc away from two neophytes indefinitely.
Accurate passing is made easier by moving in the direction that you
want to pass towards.  You will then have better control over the
direction of release, since the disc is moving slower relative to you
when it is going in the direction you want to throw it.  Quick
reverses of disc orbit are crucial to faking out a defender.  Swooping
strafing runs are good for stealing a disc.  Knocking an opponent into
a wall with a good check will force the vehicle to lose control of the
disc, giving you a chance to retreive it.  There are many other tricks
to be learned in this game, but the best way to learn them is by
playing it yourself.


				Capture

Object

The object of Capture is to own all the discs in the game while being
in your own goal.  The game starts with one disc per team, so you must
capture each opponent's disc and bring it back to your own goal while
preventing others from doing the same.

Maze

Mazes for Capture are usually small, but larger than an equivalent
Ultimate maze.  They often contain outposts for each team, to protect
that team's goal area.  Destructible walls are also used for
protection.  Goal areas are difficult to get to, but not too far from
each other, since the game tends to take a while to end anyway.

Vehicle

On a given Capture team, there are usually three vehicles, the goalie,
the fighter, and the runner.  The goalie is usually extremely well
armored with several big guns to discourage other's from getting near
the goal (where the team's disc is usually kept).  The fighter usually
has long range weapons, and is moderately fast and armored.  The
runner is usually very fast and maneuverable, with little armor and
moderate weaponry.  For two player teams, the runner is eliminated.
For 4 player teams, there are more fighters.

Program

There is a team of Capture robots (a goalie, a fighter, and a robot)
in the works.  They don't play very well right now, and are not ready
to be released.  One of the big challenges here is communication
between the robots, since they each have different tasks in the game.

Settings

No wear is turned off, so that vehicles can be killed.  Owner slowdown
is usually 3-4, so that you can dodge around a bit with the disc.
Full map is on, just for convenience.

Play

Everyone on the team should be a reasonable Ultimate player.  Develop
your disc skills in Ultimate, where there are fewer discs and no
possibility of death.  The fighters should be good combat players who
can fire accurately from long range to kill a goalie (or anyone else
with the disc).  The runners should have good passing and disc
maneuvering skills.  The goalies should have good disc maneuvering
skills and dodging skills.  The goalie should obviously be pulled when
a team loses their disc.  Ocassionally it is good to pull your goalie,
leaving the disc there while ganging up on the enemies disc.


				Race

Object

To be the first player to reach a goal.

Maze

The locations of the start and goal squares in the maze are crucial.
The path between them should have choices in it, so that solving the
maze takes more thought and skill, instead of being a test of vehicle
speed.  Outposts are useful to make a shorter path more damaging,
giving the player a tradeoff between surviving and saving time.
Destructible walls can be used to force a vehicle to have powerful
weapons, which generally slow a vehicle down.  Slip and scroll squares
around corners test out cornering skill.

Vehicle

The type of vehicle you want is very dependent on the maze that you
are entering.  Use your best judgment.

Program

There are no programs that play Race currently.  Designing one would
be pretty difficult, since in a well designed maze many tough
decisions must be made.  Designing a robot which optimally travelled
through a maze of empty squares and walls would be a good college
Intro to AI project.

Settings

Full map is often used so that those who have been in the maze before
don't have as much of an advantage.  But for a newly designed maze,
the discovery process can make things interesting for all the players.
By varying the Outpost strength, Scroll speed, and box slowdown, you
can turn an innocent looking maze into a nightmare.  For mazes with
loads of outposts, turning on Point bullets can improve display time.
