Tanks
Aim of the game
Tanks is a classic shooter for up to six players. You drive over a terrain with a tank and try to destroy your opponent's tanks with various weapons. When setting the firing angle and range, you also have to take the wind into consideration.
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Rules of the game
Every tank as an energy value (small bar-graph) which shrinks with every hit. This also happens when the tank falls from a great height or stops next to a magnesium flare. If the tank has no more energy, it is destroyed and the player has lost.
You can see the exact energy value as a number only on your own tank.
Tanks is played in rounds; during each round, each player can drive around only to a limited extent and then shoot or have himself transported (only light tanks).
Game progression
After clicking on "Join in game", you can choose from two types of tanks: LIGHT (agile, transportable by air) or HEAVY (more ammunition, more heavily armored). Simply click on one of the two tanks and then on "Ready".
The light tank can overcome steep gradients (100% or 45°), is less heavily armored and is armored with less weapons. This tank can be transported via helicopter in conditions up to wind force 1.
The heavy tank cannot overcome such steep gradients (50% or 27°), is more heavily armored and has more weapons to choose from. With the heavy tank, you can travel up to three times as far as with the light one.
In order to move around, simply click and hold down one of the two big arrows in the menu list under "DRIVE" in the middle of the menu list, and the tank will move in the corresponding direction. Alternatively, you may also use the arrow buttons for left and right. But if you are not careful, you may skid or fall into an abyss.
If you have a light tank, you can use the air transport to take you anywhere you want. After clicking on the helicopter symbol on the left in the menu list under "COMMAND", you can choose a destination point on the landscape. Since the transport ends the round, you can interrupt the game by clicking on a point somewhere outside of the landscape as a destination point, or by pressing on "ESC" on the keyboard.
When closing, please pay attention to the following points:
You can set the angle of the gun by moving the cross-hair of the tank using the clicked mouse button and turning it in the desired direction. However, this will only work if the mouse stays close enough to the crosshair. Alternatively, you can also use the button with the arrow pointing upwards (turn anti-clockwise) or the button with the arrow pointing downwards (turn clockwise).
You can choose from an arsenal of five different weapons in the menu list on the right under "AMMUNITION"; however, you may only use a limited number of these weapons at any one time. You can choose the weapons at any time either by clicking on the button or pressing one of the number buttons (1 to 5). The number will be shown on the right of the selected weapon. If you don't have any more ammunition, you have to wait till the end of the game.
If a white arrow appears in the middle of the sky, this indicates the wind direction, and the number of lines the wind force (1 to 4).
You can fire a shot by pressing on the red fire-button on the left in the menu list under "COMMANDS" until the bar-graph above shows the desired range (to be exact: the kinetic energy) of the shot. You need a bit of dexterity and practice for this, so: Just try it out!
The arrow or number buttons work only if the landscape has been clicked on once and has a thin white frame. If there is no white frame, simply click on the landscape once and it will re-appear.
Weapon arsenal
| Weapon | Explanation | Effect | ||||||
Explosive Basic equipment:
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The simplest of all weapons, of which one also has the most of | Normal explosion, max. of 30 damage after a direct strike | ||||||
Hollow Charge Basic equipment:
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You should aim well with this, but then its effects are all the more explosive | Aimed explosion, max. of 45 damage after a direct strike | ||||||
Heat-Guided Missile Basic equipment:
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The rocket first flies ballistically until it "sees" a target in the direction of flight;. It accelerates very strongly when approaching. However, it may miss its target due to wind and speeds that are too high | Normal explosion, max. of 30 damage after a direct strike | ||||||
Magnesium Flare Basic equipment:
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The flare is a booby trap for the heat-seeking missiles. You are best off shooting them behind your own tank | Fakes a target, no explosion, max. of 5 damage when residing near to it | ||||||
Fuel Bomb Basic equipment:
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When it reaches its maximum altitude (150 pixels), it sprays a mist of gasoline when falling, which finally ignites and removes oxygen from the surrounding area in a magnificent explosion | Normal explosion, max. of 60 damage after a direct strike. Extensive implosion and much damage when ignited in a superior height |
The damage points apply to the light tank; the heavy tank suffers only 75% of that.
Winning, surrendering, drawing
The only player in the end to have a non-destroyed tank with ammunition remaining is the winner.
Whoevery wants to surrender before the end of the same, may do so by clicking on the white flag under "ACTION" on the left in the menu list.
If all the remaining tanks are destroyed at the same time during the last move, or if no one has any more ammunition, the game will end in a draw.
The ranking will take place according to the destruction of the tanks. Whoever is destroyed first will be ranked last.
Tank variations for downloading
Similar PC games on which these tanks are modeled are e.g. Scorched Earth (a classic from the times of DOS), Worms and Worms Armageddon.