Tanks

Aim of the game
Tanks is a classic "shooter" for up to six partners. One moves a tank around a terrain and tries with various weapons to destroy the adversarys' tanks.
Furthermore you have to mind the wind when adjusting angle and range.

Rules of the game
Every tank has an energy value (small bar display) that decreases with every strike. This also happens when a tank falls down from a superior height or stops beside a magnesium flare. As soon as a tank has no more energy it is destroyed and the player has lost.
The exact energy value as a digit ist only visible at one's own tank.
Tanks is played in turns; per turn each player can drive around a limited distance and then do one shot or get transported (light tank only).

Course of the game
After clicking on "join" one can choose from two kinds of tanks: LEIGHT (agile, air transportation possible) or HEAVY (more ammunition, heavy armour). Just click on one of the tanks and then on "ready".
The light tank can climb steep ascending slopes (100% resp. 45deg), has a light armour and fewer weaponry on board. Up to storm force 1 this tank can be air transported with a helicopter.
The heavy tank can climb steep ascending slopes to a lesser extent (50% resp. 27deg), has a heavy armour and more weaponry on board. Per turn with a heavy tank one can drive three times as far as a light tank.

To drive around one just needs to keep one of the two big arrows in the middle of the menu bar clicked and the tank will move towards the corresponding direction. As an alternative one can also use the arrow keys for left and right.
But one has to be careful as the tank may slip or even fall down an abyss.

In case one has a light tank, one can use air transportation to get oneself to an arbitrary location. After clicking on the helicopter icon left in the menu bar under "ACTION" one chooses an arrival point on the landscape. As the transport ends the turn one can abort the choice of an arrival point by clicking anywhere outside the landscape or by hitting the "ESC" key on the keyboard.

Concerning shooting one should think about this:
One adjusts the angle of the cannon by dragging the gridlock near the tank with the mouse into the desired direction. This will work only as long as the mouse cursor is near enough to the gridlock. As an alternative one can also use the arrow keys for up (turn counterclockwise) and down (turn clockwise).
Right in the menu bar under "AMMUNITION" one can choose from an armoury of five different weapons of which one only has a limited amount at one's disposal. The weapons can be chosen anytime either with a click on the button or a hit on a digit key (1 to 5).
The amount is displayed under the corresponding button. In case one has no more ammunition, one has to suspend until the end of the game.
In case a white arrow appears in the middle of the sky, it shows the wind direction as well as via the amount of strokes the wind force (1 to 4).
A shot is fired by keeping the red firing button left in the menu bar under "ACTION" clicked as long as the bar display above shows the desired range (more exactly: the kinetic energy) of the shot. Here one needs a little practice, so: try!

The arrow resp. digit keys do only work, in case the landscape has been once clicked and shows a thin white frame. In case it is not visible, just click once on the landscape and it is there again.

Armoury

Weapon

Explanation

Effect

Explosive
(simple charge)

Basic hardware:

light tank:		30
heavy tank:		40

The simplest of all weapons, of which one also has the most of

Normal explosion, max. 30 damage after a direct strike

Hollow Charge
(armour piercing)

Basic hardware:

light tank:		15
heavy tank:		20

With that one one should strike directly, then it is even more effective

Targeted explosion, max. 45 damage after a direct strike

Heat Guided Missile
(heads to next heat source)

Basic hardware:

light tank:		3
heavy tank:		9

The missile first flies ballistically until it "sights" a target ahead. While approaching it gears up heavily. But strong wind and too much speed can cause it to miss the target

Normal explosion, max. 30 damage after a direct strike

Magnesium Flare
(fake target for heat guided missile)

Basic hardware:

light tank:		5
heavy tank:		15

The flare is a target dummy for the heat guided missile. It should be fired best behind one's own tank.

Fakes a target, no explosion, max. 5 damage when residing near to it

Fuel Bomb
(mother of all weapons)

Basic hardware:

light tank:		1
heavy tank:		1

After reaching a minimum height (150 pixels) while falling down it sprays a thick cloud of fuel that in the end is ignited. This causes a large implosion that snatches most of the oxygene from the surrounding

Normal explosion, max. 60 damage after a direct strike.
Extensive implosion and much damage when ignited in a superior height

The damage values apply to the light tank; the heavy tank only receives 75% of them.

Winning, surrendering, draw
The player being the last one with a non-destroyed tank and some ammunition left is the winner.
Who wants to surrender can do so by clicking on the white flag left in the menu bar under "ACTION".
In case all tanks left get destroyed with the last move, or in case nobody has any ammunition left, the game is a draw.
The ranking order goes by the destruction of the tanks. Who's tank gets destroyed first finishes last.