Scorched Earth 1.

- The Mother of All Games -

Copyright (c) 1991 Wendell Hic en

Scorched Earth Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Scorch Quic Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Choosing Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Human-Controlled Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Computer-Controlled Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Playing the Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Controls available: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Tan Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Moving your Tan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Inventory Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Buying Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Selling Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Equipment List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Available Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Standard Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Earth Destroying Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Earth Producing Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Energy Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Available Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Guidance Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Defense Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Miscellaneous Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 System Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Reassigning Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Customizing Scorch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Brief Summary of on-screen controls . . . . . . . . 41 Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Sound Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Hardware Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Economics Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Physics Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Landscape Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Weather Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Play Options Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Weapons Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Archaic Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Simultaneous Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Registering Scorch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

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Scorched Earth Introduction

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Scorched Earth is a simple, yet exciting artillery combat game, based on an auspicous history of artillery games. Most of the options are very intuitive, and you can begin playing with only a little bit of information. Then, when you are interested, you can po e in the dimmer recesses of the manual for more information and options (or just ignore it altogether!) Note that Scorched Earth uses the full 256 colors available on a VGA monitor, and will not run on anything less (i.e. Hercules, MDA, CGA, EGA, PGA, etc.) If you don't have a VGA, you'll have to find a friend who does. If you want to get started right away (and don't we all?), s ip to the next section for a Quic Start. The following is a list of files that are distributed/created by Scorch, along with a description of what they are. If you are missing any of these files (except SCORCH.MKT), then you have an incomplete copy of Scorch! Further descriptions of these files can be found in the manual. Filename -------FIX.BAT ORDER.FRM README SCORCH.CFG SCORCH.DOC SCORCH.EXE SCORCH.ICO SCORCH.MKT TALK1.CFG TALK2.CFG Purpose/Description ------------------Utility to remove bad .cfg files Order form for registering Scorched Earth Last minutes changes and updates Scorched Earth Configuration File Scorched Earth Documentation (ASCII version) Scorched Earth, The Game Scorched Earth Icon for Windows 3.0 Scorched Earth Mar et Price Database (This file is automatically created) Comment File used for Tal ing Tan s Another Comment File used for Tal ing Tan s

Scorched Earth

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So, you want to play Scorched Earth...OK, here's whatcha gotta do: Start Scorched Earth by copying everything into a subdirectory of your harddis , li e c:\games\scorch, or by putting it all on a floppy dis . Now type SCORCH (and then hit <Enter> for all you novices. :-) ) You are now loo ing at a Shareware message. Ta e the time to read it and let it bother your conscience just a little bit. Don't worry, there's nothing subliminal in the message. (Trust me!) Now just hit any ey, and you will be loo ing at the opening screen. For the first game, We'd li e to ma e a couple of changes to Scorched Earth's normal default settings. Here's how ya do it: With the mouse, clic on Sound, or press "O". Then press "F" for Flight Sound 2 times. (or clic twice) so that it says POS. If you go past it, just clic a couple extra times, till it comes bac . Now press ESC, or clic anywhere outside the dialog box. Now clic on Landscape, or press "L". Then press "R" for Random Land. (Or clic on it). Now press ESC, or clic anywhere outside the dialog box. Now clic on Physics, or press "Y". Then press "W" 2 or 3 times till it says Random. (or clic on Walls Exist) Now press ESC, or clic anywhere outside the dialog box. Now clic on Play Options, or press "T". Then press "T" again (or clic on Tal ing Tan s) until there is a chec mar in the box. This means ON. Now clic on Economics, or press "E". Then press "C" (or clic on Computers Buy) to turn this option off. This will give you a little advantage while you're learning. Now press ESC, or clic anywhere outside the dialog box. If you have a slow system, you might want to go to the hardware menu and set the firing delay to a smaller number. The best thing is to play it once, and see how fast it is, then adjust it to suit your system. If the system seems to be going too slow, just DECREASE this number. If you want, save these defaults by selecting "Save Changes". You can always retype them later, or get rid or them later, at your discretion.

The screen will turn red (every player has his or her own color). The computer will display a window which says "Player 1". Type your name and press ENTER. For now, ignore the tan icons across the bottom. Clic on the Done button or press 'D'. (A second ENTER will also wor here). Next the screen will turn green, and display a new window. If you have a

Now, clic

on Start, or press "S", and start the game.

Scorch Quic

Start

Scorched Earth

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friend, type in his or her name li e you did for yourself. Otherwise, you'll want to select a computer foe. To do this, clic on the picture of a computer in the lower left, or press TAB (you might need to press ESCAPE first, to let the computer now you won't be typing in a name). The screen will change to list the different types of Computers available. The opponent types are all explained later in this manual. For now, choose Moron by pressing 'M' or clic ing on the word "Moron.' That should give you a chance to learn the ropes. Then press the Done button, or ENTER. (The computer will choose its own name.) Now the computer will generate a random Scorched Earth bac ground. A player will be chosen at random to go first, and then play will proceed from left to right. If the computer went first, you have already been fired upon. Get revenge! To fire, select fire-power, by using the up and down arrows, or putting the mouse over it (at the top left of screen) and pressing the left or right button to increase or decrease power. Do the same with angle, using the left and right arrows, or putting the cursor on it and using the mouse buttons. Now press space bar, or both mouse buttons at once! Boom! That's basically how it goes. You can eep shooting till you get the other tan (s). If you're having trouble, start over, and set the Trace option to ON, so that all your missiles leave a colored trac . The screen will get messy, but it's much easier to figure out where you shot. After you ill a tan , you have the option to buy weapons, based on how much money you made. Money you don't spend will be saved till later. Try buying a Baby Nu e. Then, before you fire the next time, press TAB, or select your weapon by clic ing the left or right mouse button on the top right corner of the screen. Sit bac and watch the fun. The tan control panel is activated by pressing "T" or left-clic ing on a player's name. Here you can wor the guidance and defense systems.

HAVE FUN!

At any time, hit "Alt-S" game, switch players, or have fun. Answers to any don't hesitate to e-mail this document.

for the system menu, which will let you exit the ill everyone. Most of all, just experiment, and questions at all should be in the manual, but and as . Appropriate addresses are at the end of

Scorch Quic

Start cont...

Scorched Earth Choosing Players

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Once you have chosen START from the main menu, you will be allowed to choose settings unique to each player. All of these choices can be changed while playing the game by using the system menu (See Using the System Menu). The following procedure will repeat for each player in the game: 1)The bac ground will change to several shades of a particular color. This color will represent the player being configured, and may not be changed. 2)The Tan Initialization Panel will appear. This identifies the current tan by number, and gives access to all the settings you can control. The contents of the Tan Initialization Panel vary depending on what ind of player you are choosing: Computer-controlled, or human-controlled. To switch between the types of players, press the TAB ey or select the appropriate icon. The various choices are described below. When you are satisfied with your choices, press "Done" or ENTER. That's all there is to it. If you are starting with initial cash, then each player will have a chance to buy things (see Buying Equipment). Otherwise, you will proceed directly to the game (see Playing the Game).

Scorched Earth Human-Controlled Players

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For human controlled players, you must at least enter your name. You do this by typing into the box labelled "Name" at the top of the initialization panel. If there is not a blin ing vertical line (a "caret"), you will need to press 'N' first to select this field. After you have entered your name, press ENTER. If you have selected simultaneous mode you must decide which eys the players will use to control their tan , as every player will use the eyboard simultaneously (Computer players don't need eys, so this selection applies only to non-computer players). You must choose six eys, for six different actions, as shown on the initialization panel by icons. The icons, in order, stand for: cloc wise rotation of the turret counter-cloc wise rotation of the turret increasing firing power decreasing firing power the fire button a button to change weapons Simply press the ey you want, one for each box. Be careful to ma e sure that no ey is used for more than one thing (if you don't, you will hear a beep, and must enter a new ey). For more information, see Simultaneous Mode.

Scorched Earth Computer-Controlled Players

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If you chose to play the Computer, you will be prompted for information on how the computer should play the tan . Choices and their meanings are listed below. In any case, the computer will choose a name for its player which will not conflict with any name used by a human (or otherwise) player. Available Computer Opponents Category -------Moron Methods of Operation -------------------Well, you can't get much stupider than this. Morons just pic an angle and power, and shoot. Definitely for beginners only. Shooters can be significantly deadlier than Morons, but only if they have a straight line of fire. Poolshar s act li e Shooters unless you are using rebounding walls. Then they try to rebound shots off of the walls and ceilings to shoot you. Tossers start out li e Morons, but they'll refine their aim to get closer and closer, until they hit. If their initial shot isn't too close, you have some time to ill them. Choosers have all the above methods available to them, and decide which one will be most effective. Spoilers are decidedly dangerous. Ta ing into account the wind factor and gravity, they will get a perfect shot almost every time, assuming nothing is in the way. Luc ily, they aren't able to compensate for viscous air. Cyborgs use methods similar to the Spoilers, but are much nastier about choosing targets. They will tend to attac tan s who are wea ened, winning, or have attac ed them in the past. If you choose this option, one of the above will be chosen randomly to control the tan , but you will not be notified of what the selection was!

Shooter

Chooser

Spoiler

Cyborg

Un nown

Tosser

Poolshar

Scorched Earth Tan Icon Selection

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Whether you are choosing a human or a computer player, you will need to select an icon, or graphical image, that will represent the tan . For the most part, this is just a matter of taste. If you choose an icon that doesn't have wheels or treads, you are selecting a fixed emplacement rather than a tan , and that player will not be able to buy (or use) fuel. Thus, they will be immobile for the duration of each round (except for falling, of course!). One of the icons may only be selected for Computer players. This icon is the largest one to the right, and will appear grayed while you are choosing human players. The icon represents the deadly "Triple-turreted tan ", which allows the tan to fire three shots at a time if it is using Missiles or Baby Missiles. This gives particularly good players a run for their money!

Scorched Earth Playing the Game

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When the game starts, you will see a bac ground drawn, with tan s scattered more or less evenly across the landscape. Most of the action is controlled from the thin horizontal control bar across the top, but there are a few extra options which use other parts of the screen. The top bar might be arranged li e this: [Power: 345 Angle: 35 Sprig o 3 Dirt Clod]

Power is the amount of power you wish to fire your weapon with. It may be anywhere between zero and the maximum available power for your tan (1000 if you're at full strength) Your current maximum may be found on the Tan Control Panel, which you access by pressing 't' (explained in just a moment), or will be listed on the next line if you have enable the Status Bar. Angle is the angle at which you will be firing. It will always be between 0 and 90. You must loo at you tan to now which direction you will be firing. 0 is horizontally level, and 90 degrees is straight up. Sprig would be the name of the player whose turn it is, and will be written in the same color as the tan representing that player. Dirt Clod is the currently selected weapon. On the far right, there will always be an icon, a number, and the name of the currently selected weapon. The number indicates how many of that weapon you have left. This number will always be greater than zero, as you can't select a weapon if you don't have it. In the upper right corner of the s y, there will be the word Wind written in a light blue, with either an arrow pointing left or right, and a number. This represents the speed and direction of the wind, which will affect your shot. You can control the wind somewhat before you start the game by changing options on the Weather menu (see Main Menu). If there is no wind, the words No Wind will be written there. If you have enabled the Status Bar (which can be found on the Play Options menu), there will be a second line of information (Beginners should probably s ip this section on first reading. Go to section title "Controls Available." If, on the other hand, you are a compulsive reader, feel free to continue... no secrets here!): [Max: 1000

0 [batt]

0 [para] [trig]

0 [shields] 0% 0 [fuel] ]

0 [guidance]

The status bar ta es some getting used to, but is a fast way to control your tan . The leftmost entry shows your current maximum firing power. This will be 10 times your tan 's remaining power. If this number reaches zero, you are dead. The rest of the status bar contains a number of icons. Typically, if an item is available, the number to the left of its icon will be dar (otherwise, it is gray). If an icon is dar , that means it is "active,"

Scorched Earth Playing the Game cont...

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i.e. either that action is selected, or available. Each icon is explained in brief detail below. For more detail on these features, consult the section on the Tan Control Panel. The first icon is a battery, and the number to the left is how many batteries you have in stoc (the number to the left of an icon indicates how many of that icon you have available). If your energy is not at full, the icon of the battery will be blac , indicating you can use batteries to recharge your power. If you have no batteries, or no need to use them, this icon will be grayed. The second icon is a parachute. This lets you toggle the current state of your parachutes, if you own any. For example, if you have 5 parachutes which are in the "passive" state, the 5 will be dar and the parachute icon will be gray. If the parachutes are "deployed," then the parachute will also be dar . If you have no parachutes, both the number and the icon will be gray. (Parachutes will be explained in greater detail further on!) Next is the shield control. If the shield icon is dar , that mean the icon showing represents whatever shields are currently active. The percentage indicates how much of the active shield remains, while the number to the left of the shield indicates how many of that type of shield you have in inventory. When you energize your shields, the shield represented by the icon will be activated, decrementing the count on the left by one, and increasing the percentage to one-hundred. The icon of a small person to indicate "no shields." When shields are enabled, the "no shields" icon will be a downward-pointing arrow. You can use this icon can be used to de-activate (ta e down) your shields entirely. Next are guidance systems. If there is a guidance system icon displayed, that guidance system will be used when you fire (unless it does not apply, explained later). The small icon of a person means "No guidance, I can hit that tan by myself!" The number to the left indicates how many of the selected guidance system you currently own. Continuing across the status bar, you will find a contact trigger icon, The trigger icon will be gray if triggers are not active, and dar otherwise. The number indicates how many triggers you currently own. Finally, there is a fuel icon (but not in 320x200 mode... no space!). The fuel icon will be dar if you have any fuel at all, in which case clic ing on this icon will send you directly to the Tan Movement Panel, so you can move your tan from side to side.

Scorched Earth Controls available:

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Alt-S (which pops-up the System Menu) is available at any time. In addition, there are several controls you can use at this point in the game (facing the playing field with no other controls). UP ARROW: Increase the power with which you want to fire. This can be done with the mouse by clic ing on the word Power with the right mouse button. As long as you hold the ey or button, the number will continue to increase (up to its maximum). Rapidly increase the power with which you want to fire. This is similar to using the UP ARROW, except the numbers will change much faster.

PAGE UP:

DOWN ARROW: Decrease the power with which you want to fire. This can be done with the mouse by clic ing on the word Power with the left mouse button. PAGE DOWN: Rapidly decrease the power with which you want to fire. This is similar to using the DOWN ARROW, except the numbers will change much faster.

LEFT ARROW: Rotate your turret counter-cloc wise. This can be done with the mouse by clic ing on the word Angle with the left mouse button. RIGHT ARROW: Rotate your turret cloc wise. This can be done with the mouse by clic ing on the word Angle with the right mouse button.

SHIFT:

If you hold down the SHIFT ey while using any of the arrow eys, the power/angle will increase/decrease more slowly. This is useful for ma ing small adjustments to your current power and angle.

Scorched Earth Controls available: cont...

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TAB:

Change weapons. This can be done with the mouse by clic ing on the weapon name with the right mouse button. When you change weapons, each weapon you own appears in turn. To change weapons in the other direction of the weapons list, use SHIFT-TAB, or clic on the weapon name with the left mouse button.

SPACEBAR or ENTER:Fire your currently selected weapon. This can be done with the mouse by clic ing both buttons simultaneously while positioned over the playing area. You will then see your shot on screen, along with any effects, and the next player will have a turn. If you are using guidance systems, you may need to provide additional information after firing your missile, so it nows what destination it is headed for. See Guidance Systems.

i:

This brings up an icon inventory of all the items you have in stoc . You can do this with the mouse by clic ing on your name with the right button. If you have a mouse, you can clic on any weapon icon, and that will become the currently selected weapon. There is no eyboard equivalent to this shortcut. To exit from this panel, clic anywhere outside the inventory box, or press the ESCAPE ey. Display a box which reads "No ibitzing, please." This is a not so subtle clue to tell people to shut up when you are trying to aim! Press any button or ey to remove the box. Retreat from the playing field. There is no way to do this with the mouse. You will gain no points for this action, but may prevent an enemy from getting points for

r:

t:

This selects the Tan Control Panel. This may be done with the mouse by clic ing on the player name with the left mouse button. For more information about this panel, see the Tan Control Panel below.

ALT:

If you hold down the ALT ey while using any of the arrow eys, the power/angle will increase/decrease by only one for each press of the arrow ey. This is useful for ma ing very fine adjustments to your current power and angle.

Scorched Earth Controls available: cont...

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illing you. This is sometimes a wise action if you now you are going to die. If you ill yourself, you will actually lose cash! After you press 'r', you will be as ed if you really want to retreat before this action ta es effect. You will escape in an emergency helicopter (model G.N.A.T.), and you tan will blow up behind you. u: Display an update of the game status, i.e. what state are the walls in, and how many rounds are left. Clic anywhere outside the box, or press any ey to get out.

0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9: Display information about the tan which corresponds to the number. The leftmost tan will be numbered one, the next numbered two, and so on. If there are ten tan s, the last one will be numbered 10, represented here by a 0. Note that when tan s die, their representative order will change. This information can be gotten more easily by clic ing on the tan you are interested in with the left button. To get rid of the information box, clic anywhere outside it or press ESCAPE. If you have the Status Bar enabled, another set of eys will be active which allow you to control the options listed there. The options correspond to those found on the Tan Control Panel, and are explained in more detail there. There is currently no way to set the parachute safety threshold from the Status Bar. b: Activate one battery. This increases your power by 10 units. You can do this with the mouse by clic ing on the battery icon on the status bar. Toggle the state of your parachutes. Deployed parachutes will become passive, and passive parachutes will deploy. You can do this with the mouse by clic ing on the parachute icon on the status bar. Select shield type. This selects the current shield type. This is useful for changing your shields or recharging them. You must select a shield type before energizing a shield. Note that the small stic figure indicates no shields, and can be used to deactivate shields. You control this option with the mouse by clic ing on the shield icon on the status bar. Engage current shield type. This engages the current shield type, or deactivates the current shield if you have selected "nothing" as your current shield. This option will not wor if you try to charge a fully charged shield of the same type, but will wor to switch shield types. You can do this with the mouse by clic ing on the % energized number to

p:

s:

e:

Scorched Earth Controls available: cont... the right of the shield icon on the status bar. g:

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Select guidance system. This selects your current guidance system. The stic figure indicates no guidance system. You can do this with the mouse by clic ing on the guidance icon on the status bar. Use fuel. This enables you to move your tan bac and forth, as described in the section Moving Your Tan . You can enable this with the mouse by clic ing on the fuel canister icon on the status bar. Enable/disable contact triggers. This option is not available in 320x200 mode. This controls whether your shot will tunnel or not. You can do this with the mouse by clic ing on the contact trigger icon to the far right of the status bar. Note that the equivalent ey from the Tan Control Panel is 't'.

.:

f:

Scorched Earth Tan Control Panel

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When the Tan Control Panel is displayed, the above commands are disabled and replaced by a new set of commands. For more information on some of the items described here, see the extensive descriptions in the Equipment List. Most of the hot eys will be highlighted. If any entry is gray, that means that the option is not currently available (for example, you may not control parachutes unless you have at least 1 parachute in your inventory). If you have the status bar enabled, you will be able to access most of these options without using the Tan Control Panel. Some people find the Tan Control Panel easier, while others prefer the status bar. In either case, the actions performed are identical. Controls available: b: Discharge one battery in order to increase your remaining power. If your remaining power is 100 (the maximum), or you have no batteries, then you cannot use this option. Each battery will increase your power by ten, unless doing so would give you more than 100 power. In this case your power will simply be put to 100. This can be done with the mouse by clic ing on the word Batteries. Change the active state of parachutes. Parachutes may either be passive, or deployed. Each time you press p, the state will change bac and forth. This may be done with the mouse by clic ing on the word Parachute. Note that if you have no parachutes, you may not change the state of them. For more information on what the state of a parachute means, consult the Equipment List. Change the safety threshold of the parachute. This may be done with the mouse by clic ing on the tiny dial to the right of the word Parachutes. When you select this, the number to the right of the dial will disappear, and a large box will appear. You may type any number between 1 and 100, then press enter to register your change. If you decide not to change the value, you can press ESCAPE. This number can only be entered from the eyboard. For more information on what the safety threshold is, see the Equipment List under parach This option will engage the currently selected shield. This can be done with the mouse by clic ing on the words Energy Left, or by clic ing on the power bar to the right. The currently selected shield is the one pointed to by the slide bar directly underneath the words Energy Left. If any shields are engaged, the percentage of protection remaining will be indicated by how much of the power bar is lit. Engage shields will remove whatever shields were present, if

p:

v:

utes. e:

Scorched Earth

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any, and put the currently selected shields to full. If the currently selected shields are None, then energizing them will put your shields down all the way. If you put down your shields, or energize a shield when a shield was already present, there is no way to regain that shield. For more on shields, see the Equipment List under Shields and Auto Defense . s: This option lets you change the currently selected shield. This has no effect on the game unless you energize the shield, as described on the command above. You may do this with the mouse by clic ing on the slide bar. Note that each type of shield will say how many of that type you have left. If you have a shield currently in place, the name of the shield will be highlighted here. The currently selected shield need not be the same as the currently energized shield. For more on shields, see the Equipment List under Shields, and the paragraph above on Energizing Shields. This lets you use triggers. You may do this with the mouse by clic ing on the box next to the word Triggers. You may only do this if you have more than zero triggers. If you select triggers, your weapon will be equipped with a trigger when you fire. No triggers will actually be used until you fire, so until that point you may reselect Triggers to turn them off. For more information on triggers, consult the Equipment List. This lets you choose a weapons guidance system. You do this with the mouse by clic ing on the slide bar beneath the word Guidance. When you fire a weapon, the guidance system which you have chosen, if any, will ta e charge and do whatever it is that it does. No guidance system will actually be used until you fire. After firing, the guidance system will be set bac to None, so you don't accidentally waste some expensive electronics. For more info on Guidance Systems, consult the Equipment List. This lets you move your tan , assuming that you have some amount of fuel which is not zero. You can do this with the mouse by clic ing on the words Fuel Remaining. For information on how to move your tan , see Moving your Tan .

t:

g:

f:

Tan

Control Panel cont...

Scorched Earth

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If a hill is too steep, you will be unable to climb it. If you really want to go that direction, you'll have to blow the hill up! If a hill which you are descending becomes too steep, your tan will slip and fall, possibly ta ing severe damage. If this happens, control will return to the main area of the game. If you want to move further, you'll have to reselect f from the Tan Control Panel. When you have no fuel left, you can move no farther. In any case, when you decide you have finished moving, you may press ESCAPE, or clic on the button which indicates how much fuel you have left. This will return you to the main part of the game, not the Tan Control Panel. Controls available: LEFT ARROW: Move your tan left one pixel. Naturally, you can only do this if you have fuel. This is done with the mouse by clic ing on the left arrow of the Moving Control Panel. RIGHT ARROW: Move your tan right one pixel. Naturally, you can only do this if you have fuel. This is done with the mouse by clic ing on the right arrow of the Moving Control Panel.

ESCAPE:

Finish moving your tan . This is done with the mouse by clic ing on the "Fuel Left" indicator.

When you choose f from the Tan Control Panel, that panel will disappear, to be replaced by the Moving Control Panel. The Moving Control Panel has two arrows, one pointing left, and one pointing right, and a button between them which says how much fuel you have left. To move in a direction, clic on the arrow in that direction, or press the LEFT ARROW or RIGHT ARROW eys. Moving one pixel requires one unit of fuel, unless you are going uphill, in which case it depends on how steep the hill is.

Moving your Tan

Scorched Earth Inventory Panel

page 19

When you press 'i' during your turn, or right-clic on your name, the Inventory Panel will pop-up. This panel displays an icon for each type of item you currently own. This panel gives you short-cut access to many of the features of Scorch. When you are done loo ing at/using the Inventory Panel, press ESCAPE or clic outside the panel. There is not way to use the Inventory Panel for short-cuts without a mouse. Beginners should probably s ip the rest of this section on their first reading. When you select an icon, you will either hear a beep, or the icon will "flash." If the icon flashes, that means it has ta en the "obvious" action. The "obvious" actions are described briefly below: Weapons will be selected, so that you don't have to TAB through a list to get to them. This is often a convenient way of choosing a weapon. Shields will be energized. Unli e other methods of energizing a shield, this method both chooses and energizes the shield, so one clic gets you the whole shooting match. Parachutes and triggers will be toggled from an "active" state to a "passive" one.

Batteries will be discharged to recharge your energy. Clic ing on the fuel icon will send you directly to the Moving Control Panel. Generally spea ing, the Inventory Panel shortcuts become easier and more convenient the more you use them, but if you don't li e them, feel free to ignore them. As an aside, remember that the Inventory Panel serves a completely different purpose when selected from the Buying Menu... at that point, you clic on an item to see how much the computer will buy it bac for. This is described further in another section.

Guidance systems will be selected. Note that there is no way to de-select a guidance system from the Inventory Panel... you will need to use the Tan Control Panel or the status bar.

Scorched Earth Buying Equipment

page 20

Between rounds, players who have extra cash will be given the opportunity to buy more equipment. For a list of available equipment, see the Equipment List. This section explains the commands available for selecting and purchasing equipment. Along the left hand side of the buying screen, there is a large column of rectangles, each of which displays an icon, a name of an item that can be bought, and the cost per bundle of that item. Some items can be bought singly, while others may only be bought in groups of three, five, or another number. To buy an item, clic on the name representing that item. You will see the count increase, and your money decrease. When you have no money left, you must select Done, or press ESCAPE, so that the game may continue . Note that you can never have more than ninety nine of any item. If you try to buy more than ninety nine of a particular item, you will only pay for the fraction that you can buy, but they will be mar ed up. That sentence is confusing enough to warrant an example: Suppose you have 94 Death Widgets that cost $10,000/10. Because of the ninety nine limit, you can only have five more (until you use some, of course.) The computer will only sell you 5 Death Widgets, but instead of $5,000/5, you must pay $6,000/5, because the bundle size changed. The mar up is about 20%. Note also that each player has an unlimited supply of Baby Missiles. They're listed on the menu so that you don't forget them, but you will always have 99. Controls Available: PAGE DOWN: Go to the next screen, if any, of the current group of items. This is equivalent to clic ing on the down arrow. If the down arrow is grayed, this will do nothing. Note that the list wraps around, i.e., if you are on page 2 of 2, then pressing page down will put you bac on page 1. Go to the previous screen, if any, of the current group of items. This is equivalent to clic ing on the up arrow. If the up arrow is grayed, this will do nothing. Note that the list wraps around, i.e., if you are on page 1 of 2, then pressing page up will put you on page 2. This will display an icon inventory of what items you currently have it stoc . You can do this with the mouse by clic ing on the "Inventory" button. This inventory will tell you how many you have of each item that you own. To get rid of the inventory and return to buying things, clic anywhere outside the box, or press ESCAPE. If you clic on any item of your inventory except Baby Missiles, you will have a chance to sell that item, as explained below.

PAGE UP:

i:

Scorched Earth Buying Equipment cont... u:

page 21

This will display an update of the game status. You can get this with the mouse by pressing the "Update" button. A small, pop-up window will describe how many rounds are left, and how much interest you have earned since the start of the game. To get rid of the update panel, clic anywhere outside the panel, or press ESCAPE. This will move the triangular mar er for the currently selected item up one. This wraps around, i.e., if you are at the top of the list, it will put you at the bottom. It will not, however, change between pages of a list. You cannot move the mar er in this fashion with the mouse.

DOWN ARROW: This will move the triangular mar er for the currently selected item down one. This wraps around, i.e., if you are at the bottom of the list, it will put you at the top. It will not, however, change between pages of a list. You cannot move the mar er in this fashion with the mouse.

TAB:

This can be used to select different groups of items to loo at. This is equivalent to clic ing on the slide bar in the upper left corner. The gun icon represents the Weapons group, and the box icon represents the Miscellaneous group. Note that the name of the current group is displayed at the top of the item list. This will purchase one bundle of the item pointed to by the triangular mar er. This can be done with the mouse just by clic ing on the item you want to buy (the mar er will jump there). Note that you can buy anything you can see, because items that are too expensive never appear until you can afford them. If ma ing this purchase decreases your free cash to the point where you can't afford something, that item will disappear from the list of items. (It will return when you can afford it again). This finishes the buying menu. Do this when you have finished buying items. This will let the next player buy items, or if everyone is finished, it will begin the next round. You can do this with the mouse by clic ing on the DONE button.

SPACE BAR:

ESCAPE:

END:

This will move the triangular mar er to the bottom of the list. It will not change pages.

HOME:

This will move the triangular mar er to the top of the list. It will not change pages.

UP ARROW:

Scorched Earth Selling Items

page 22

When you select an icon from your inventory while on the buying screen, you will be given a chance to sell that item bac . Another panel will appear that names the item and how many you have in stoc . There will be a counter (as used in the configuration menus) that lets you choose how many you want to sell by pressing 'Q' (for "Quantity" to sell), or left and right clic ing to decrease and increase the amount. At each amount the computer will ma e you an offer. The price per item may vary depending on how many you are willing to sell. After you have reached a decision, press 'A' to accept the computer's offer, or 'R' to reject it (or simply press the appropriate button). If you accept the offer, your account will be credited, and the number in your inventory will be decremented. You may spend the money immediately, if you wish, or eep it in the ban to earn interest. You may go bac and forth to the Selling Panel as often as you wish, but the computer will not change its offer until the next round (and possibly not even then). Although you must usually accept a loss when you sell something bac , if you are playing with the Free Mar et switch on, it is possible to accumulate money if you buy low and sell high... this sort of creative financing is ris y, but potentially lucrative! Be aware that the Scorched Earth free mar et simulates a supply and demand economy. In general, this means that the more something is bought, the greater the demand for that item, and thus the price increases. However, you will notice the mar et prices "bouncing" up and down a little bit. This is a natural consequence of the free mar et, and isn't a bug. I mention it here as a warning: just because you buy something, it doesn't mean the price will immediately jump... it may ta e some time for the mar et to reach a new equilibrium. The best way to understand the free mar et is to use it, and get a feel for how it wor s. Controls Available: Q: This changes the quantity that you want to sell. For each quantity, the computer will ma e a different offer. Pressing Q will increase the amount to sell by one, and ALT-Q will decrease that amount by one. You can do this with the mouse by right and left-clic ing the word "Quantity." This increases the quantity you one (or sets it bac to zero if already). You do this with the the word "Quantity." This is a want to sell by it was at the maximum mouse by left-clic ing on short-cut for pressing Q.

UP ARROW:

DOWN ARROW: This decreases the quantity you want to sell by one (or sets it to the maximum if it was at one). You do this with the mouse by right-clic ing on the word "Quantity." This is a short-cut for pressing Alt-Q. A: Accept the computer's offer. This sells the quantity of the item selected and credits your account immediately. You

Scorched Earth Selling Items cont...

page 23

can do this with the mouse by clic ing on the "Accept" button. R: Reject the computer's offer. This quits the Selling Panel and puts you bac at your inventory. Nothing is sold, and your account remains unchanged. You can do this with the mouse by clic ing on the "Reject" button. This is equivalent, in every way, to pressing the "Reject" button.

ESCAPE:

Scorched Earth Equipment List

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The current equipment list is grouped into two categories: weapons and accessories. These are the same categories which appear on the buying screen, except that the accessories category is labelled "Miscellaneous." The name of the item is the name which you will see on the screen. The cost is given in dollars per bundle, e.g. $400 for a bundle size of 10 means that you get 10 items for $400 ($40 each, but you have to buy in multiples of 10). For weapons, a blast radius is given, which is an estimate of how large the area of damage for that particular weapon is (this can be effect by the current scale being used). The arms level shows where the cut-offs are between different categories (see Configuring Scorch, Weapons Menu, for a description of how to use arms levels). Each category has a table describing the available items, and then lists descriptions of the items and how to use them, along with pictures of the icons which help you recognize the items. To further help you group similar items, there are some subcategories within the weapons and accessories. Some of the equipment is rendered useless when certain options (for example Smo e Tracers are redundant if Traces are enabled default, such weapons will not appear on the buying menu. You them appear anyway if you set the Useless Weapons option to ON configuring Scorch. are enabled anyway). By can ma e when

Scorched Earth Available Weapons

page 25

Name Cost Bundle Size Blast Radius Arms Level --------------------------------------------------------------------Baby Missile $400 10 10 0 Missile $1,875 5 20 0 Baby Nu e $10,000 3 40 0 Nu e $12,000 1 75 1 Leap Frog $10,000 2 20,25,30 3 Fun y Bomb $7,000 2 80 4 MIRV $10,000 3 20 2 Death's Head $20,000 1 35 4 Napalm $10,000 10 N/A 2 Hot Napalm $20,000 2 N/A 4 Tracer $10 20 0 0 Smo e Tracer $500 10 0 1 Baby Roller $5,000 10 10 2 Roller $6,000 5 20 2 Heavy Roller $6,750 2 45 3 Riot Charge $2,000 10 36 2 Riot Blast $5,000 5 60 3 Riot Bomb $5,000 5 30 3 Heavy Riot Bomb $4,750 2 45 3 Baby Digger $3,000 10 N/A 0 Digger $2,500 5 N/A 0 Heavy Digger $6,750 2 N/A 1 Baby Sandhog $10,000 10 N/A 0 Sandhog $16,750 5 N/A 0 Heavy Sandhog $25,000 2 N/A 1 Dirt Clod $5,000 10 20 0 Dirt Ball $5,000 5 35 0 Ton of Dirt $6,750 2 70 1 Liquid Dirt $5,000 10 N/A 2 Dirt Charge $5,000 5 N/A 1 Earth Disrupter $5,000 10 N/A 0 Plasma Blast $9,000 5 10-75 3

Scorched Earth Standard Weapons

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The standard weapons are straightforward destructive devices. You launch them and they cause damage. How much simpler can it get? Baby Missile The Baby Missile is the earliest developed weapon, and performs as such. Every player has an UNLIMITED supply of them. The Missile is an enhancement of the baby missile, increasing both the blast radius and the damage delivered. The Baby Nu e is a nuclear explosive capable of destroying a large region. The Nu e is a large-scale nuclear weapons capable of mass destruction. The Leapfrog has three warheads which launch one after another. This is often very effective for penetrating shields. The Fun y Bomb explodes in a multi-colored toxic chain reaction. Sometimes they don't explode exactly where you want them to, but they are generally confined to the area where they hit. The MIRV contains five Missile warheads, which split apart when the original missile reaches apogee. If the warhead hits something before reaching apogee, it will not explode. The Death's Head is the most destructive weapon created to date. Functionally equivalent to MIRVs, it contains nine large scale explosive warheads. Napalm splashes around wherever it hits and then bursts into hot flame. It creates more heat (and is thus more destructive!) if it forms deep pools. If Napalm tunnels into the dirt, it may not get a chance to spread out. Try contact triggers if you are having problems with fizzling Napalm. Hot Napalm is a deadly form of Napalm... much hotter and more powerful. Otherwise, it functions pretty much li e Napalm. Tracers have no destructive capability, but are useful for targeting someone without causing unwanted damage. Smo e Tracers function as Tracers, except they leave a brilliantly colored smo e trail behind

Missile Baby Nu e Nu e Leapfrog

MIRV

Death's Head

Napalm

Hot Napalm

Tracers

Smo e Tracers

Fun y Bomb

Scorched Earth Standard Weapons cont...

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them. This ma es targeting even easier. The trails created may be erased using the System Menu. Baby Rollers Baby Rollers are the smallest of the roller family. When they hit ground, they roll downhill until reaching a valley or a tan . They then explode with the force of a baby missile. If a roller hits a shield, it will just roll off! Rollers are functionally the same as baby rollers, but contain a warhead equivalent to a standard missile. Heavy Rollers are non-nuclear, but deliver a payload more explosive than a baby nu e.

Rollers Heavy Rollers

Scorched Earth Earth Destroying Weapons

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Earth destroying weapons are weapons which cause large (or small) amounts of dirt to be destroyed. Most of these weapons cannot directly harm a tan , though they can cause them to fall and ta e damage that way. Earth destroying weapons are also good for removing mountains that are in your way, or even removing dirt beneath yourself so that your tan is repositioned (perhaps away from an enemy tan !) Riot Charges Riot Charges destroy a wedge-shaped section of dirt from around your turret. This weapon's primary use is to unbury yourself when you get covered with dirt. Riot Blasts are a larger version of the Riot Charge. The destroy a wider angle of dirt, and the thic ness of the wedge destroyed is also greater. Riot Bombs destroy a spherical section of dirt wherever the detonate. They do no damage to tan s. Unli e Riot Charges and Riot Blasts, the Riot Bomb is a projectile weapon. Heavy Riot Bombs are scaled up versions of Riot Bombs. Baby Diggers are useful for removing small amounts of dirt. They tunnel when they hit ground. If they hit a tan , they fizzle. Diggers are more powerful versions of Baby Diggers. Heavy Diggers are the largest Digger-weapon available, but often fail to reach their full potential. Baby Sandhogs employ an alternate technology to achieve an effect similar to the Diggers. In addition, each tunneling warhead contains a small but powerful charge, which can destroy an enemy tan from beneath. Sandhogs are often useful for burrowing beneath enemy shields, and attac ing an enemy tan directly. Sandhogs contain more warheads than the Baby Sandhogs. Heavy Sandhogs can potentially destroy the world, and should be used with caution...

Riot Blasts

Riot Bombs

Heavy Riot Bombs Baby Diggers

Diggers Heavy Diggers Baby Sandhogs

Sandhogs Heavy Sandhogs

Scorched Earth Earth Producing Weapons

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The category of Earth Producing Weapons includes weapons which ta e some form of compacted earth that explodes into a much larger amount of dirt. These weapons can be used to build fortifications, or bury enemy tan s. There are other clever uses which can also be discovered... be creative! The Earth Disrupter is not technically an Earth Producing weapon, but is grouped with this category because it often has a similar tactical effect. Dirt Clods Dirt Balls Ton Liquid Dirt Dirt Clods are small warheads which explode into a sphere of dirt when hitting something. Dirt Balls are a larger form of Dirt Clods. A Ton of Dirt is a very large Dirt Ball, easily capable of burying someone alive. Liquid Dirt oozes out wherever it lands, filling holes and smoothing the terrain. It is often useful to clear the way for a Roller. A Dirt Charge expels a cloud of dirt into the air in a wedge shape. Earth Disrupters force all dirt to settle to the ground if dirt is being suspended in the air. This weapon is only useful if you are playing with the Suspend Dirt probability set to something greater that 0%.

Dirt Charge Earth Disrupters

Scorched Earth Energy Weapons

page 30

Energy weapons launch attac s using power stored in batteries... without batteries, they are not very effective. With many batteries, they can be very effective indeed. After you fire such a weapon, you will be as ed how many batteries you want to use in the attac . Naturally, you cannot use more batteries than you have. Select the number of batteries you want to use by clic ing on the appropriate box (the number of highlighted boxes indicates how many batteries will be expended). You can do this with the eyboard by pressing a number from 0 thru 9. Engage your batteries, and watch the energy go! Plasma Blast The Plasma Blast allows you to expel radioactive energy from your tan to ill neighboring enemies. Your turret direction has no effect on the Plasma Blast.

Scorched Earth Available Accessories Name Cost Bundle Size Arms Level ------------------------------------------------------Heat Guidance $10,000 6 2 Ballistic Guidance $10,000 2 2 Horz Guidance $15,000 5 1 Vert Guidance $20,000 5 1 Lazy Boy $20,000 2 3 Parachute $10,000 8 2 Battery $5,000 10 2 Mag Deflector $10,000 2 2 Shield $20,000 3 3 Force Shield $25,000 3 3 Heavy Shield $30,000 2 4 Auto Defense $1,500 1 3 Fuel Tan $10,000 10 3 Contact Trigger $1,000 25 3

page 31

Scorched Earth Guidance Systems

page 32

The Guidance Systems category contains items which help you use your weapons more effectively. After you buy guidance systems, they are used by accessing the Tan Control Panel from the main playing screen. To use a guidance system, you select it from the Tan Control Panel using the slide bar. Move the arrow by clic ing on the letter representing the guidance system you want to use. The letters in parentheses following the guidance system's name are the letters used in the Tan Control Panel to represent that system, e.g. Ht will represent the Heat Guidance System. The number on the tan menu next to the guidance system indicates how many of them you own - if you own zero, then the letter will not appear. When you fire your weapon on that turn, the guidance system will ta e effect. After you have fired using a guidance system, the slide bar will reset to None (N), meaning no guidance system is in effect. This way, you don't accidentally waste expensive technology. This means that if you want to eep using the guidance system, you need to re-select it at the beginning of each turn. Some guidance systems (indicated below) require you to specify a target. The manner in which that is done is as follows: After you press SPACE or double-clic the mouse to fire, a small box will appear on screen reading "Choose Target". At this point, you select your target using the eyboard or the mouse. With the eyboard, you press a number between 1 and 9, or 0 (0 represents 10). This is the number of the tan you wish to aim at. Tan 1 is the leftmost tan , tan 2 is just to the right of tan 1, and so on. Note that if tan 1 is illed, tan 2 becomes the leftmost tan , and will thus be referred to as tan 1 in future turns. To choose your target with the mouse, just clic the left button anywhere on the screen. The guidance system will do its best to ma e your weapon explode there. Choosing a tan by number is the same as clic ing on the center of the base of the tan . If you right-clic on your target with the mouse, it will select the center of the base of the nearest tan . Note also that some weapons simply won't wor with any guidance system. If you fire such a weapon with a guidance system enabled, the guidance system will not activate (i.e., it won't wor , but it won't be used up either). Weapons which fall under this category are: MIRVs, Death's Heads, Riot Charges, Riot Blasts, and Plasma Blasts. Heat Guidance Heat Guidance (Ht) equips your weapon with a heat detector which, when in range of any enemy tan , will guide it in a straight line to that tan . You must be able to fire your weapon well enough to get it close to the target you want to hit.

Ballistic Guidance Ballistic Guidance (B) will attempt to hit a target of your choice by determining the amount of power needed to hit the target based on your current firing angle. You must select a target for this guidance system. If your firing angle or current maximum power ma es the shot impossible,

Scorched Earth Guidance Systems cont...

page 33

this system will become confused and fire at whatever power it feels li e. The Ballistic Guidance System can correct for any type of wind, but cannot correct for air viscosity. Horizontal Guidance Horizontal Guidance (H) sends your weapons in a horizontal straight line as soon as they are even with your target. You must select a target for this guidance system. Vertical Guidance Vertical Guidance (V) performs as Horizontal Guidance, except it operates vertically. You must select a target for this guidance system. If you can get your weapon to go over a target, this guidance system will insure that the target is hit. In other words, once your warhead is above a target, it will head straight down to that target. The Lazy Boy (L) is the ultimate guidance system. Choose your target and watch it die. If the weapon happens to hit a tan different from your target, then it will explode prematurely. (C'est La Vie!) Note: If you do not clic directly on the tan , the missile may explode next to the tan instead of on it, as the missile explodes exactly where you clic . While this will no doubt damage the tan , it probably won't have the intended effect of illing it.

Lazy Boy

Scorched Earth Defense Systems

page 34

The Defense Systems are ways to eep your tan alive longer. They include mechanisms both to prevent and to repair damage to your tan . The wise users of defense system will find their tan s lasting much longer than unprotected tan s. Your own shields will never protect you from your own shots, though they will protect you from secondary damage caused by your own shots (e.g. heat damage from Napalm). This means if your shields are enabled and you shoot straight up (with no wind), then your missile will fall straight down, and hit and destroy your tan . Not only does this mean you're out for the round, but you will also lose points for this! And points mean money... Parachutes Parachutes are useful as a means of preventing damage when falling. Parachutes wor as follows: If you are going to fall, an onboard system computer loo s down and estimates how much damage you tan will ta e from the fall. If your parachutes are deployed, and the safety threshold is less than the amount of damage you will ta e, the parachutes activate, and your tan ta es no damage from the fall (unless it lands on an enemy tan .) If your parachutes are passive, or the precomputed damage is less than the safety threshold, then you will fall without parachutes, and ta e damage. You can choose whether the parachute is passive or deployed, and you can set the safety threshold, by using the Tan Control Panel, described elsewhere. By default, parachutes are deployed, and the safety threshold is 5. Batteries can be used as an energy source for recharging your tan and for firing Plasma Blasts. When using a battery to recharge your tan , each battery is equivalent to %10 of your energy, or 10 points. You use batteries to recharge your tan by using the Tan Control Menu, described elsewhere. Mag Deflectors are simple shields which exert an upward force on projectiles that are near and over your tan . If a missile falls down fast enough, the deflectors will be unable to deflect it. Mag Deflectors cannot absorb very many shots before being destroyed. Shields protect your tan by absorbing damage from explosions. In addition, a weapon which hits a shield directly will not explode, though it will damage the shield slightly. Force Shields deflect projectiles away from you, and are generally capable of sustaining more damage than normal shields.

Batteries

Mag Deflectors

Force Shields

Shields

Scorched Earth Defense Systems cont... Heavy Shields

page 35

Heavy Shields are immune to the shield failures which often plague lesser shields. They are also capable of sustaining tremendous amounts of damage. Auto Defense allows you to enable any defense system of your tan each round before combat begins. Specifically, this means you can access the Tan Control Panel and any of the defensive functions on it. The cost of Automatic Defense is based on the number of rounds left, as buying them once gives you this capability for the rest of the game.

Auto Defense

Scorched Earth Miscellaneous Extras

page 36

The miscellaneous extras are things that just didn't fit into the other categories. They are described individually below.

Contact Triggers

Contact Triggers cause projectiles to explode the moment they touch something. This is equivalent to turning off the Tunneling option. To use triggers, you must go to the Tan Control Panel. Each trigger will cause one projectile to explode on contact. (Note that when using multiple warhead weapons li e the MIRV, you need only use one trigger for all warheads involved in a single shot!)

Fuel Tan s

Fuel Tan s allow you to move your tan , if it is equipped with treads. Each fuel tan will give you 10 units of fuel. Each unit of fuel will let you move 1 pixel, less if you are going uphill. To use fuel, choose f from the Tan Control Panel.

Scorched Earth System Menu

page 37

Once the game has started (after setting up all the players), you may use the Alt-S ey combination at any time to bring up the System Menu. The System Menu has several options which aren't directly related to playing the game but which control certain parameters. The choices from the System Menu are: Clear Screen

Reassign Players This option lets you change some of the information you specified when configuring the players. You can change who is controlling each tan , and what their name is. (See Reassigning Players, below). Sound This option lets you turn the sound effects on and off. It does not give you control over the flight sound effects individually. (Useful for when you put the ids to bed at night, and want them to go to sleep.) This option lets you save the game in progress to a file, so that you can continue play later. You can only use this option from the buying menu. This lets you continue a game you have previously saved to dis . This stops the game you are currently playing and starts all over at the main menu. This is just a fast way or restarting the game. It is more or less equivalent to choosing "Quit Game" and restarting Scorch, except a couple of the options on the main menu cannot be modified after selecting this (they will be grayed).

Save Game

Restore Game New Game

Mass Kill

This option ills everyone on the screen, giving them all an equal portion of whatever points remained to be won in the round, but giving no single tan credit for surviving the round. This option can be used when a couple of stupid computers seem unable to ill each other within your lifetime.

This option is only significant if you are playing with traces enabled or are using Smo e Tracers. If so, then this will erase whatever traces are currently on the screen.

Scorched Earth System Menu cont... Quit Game This option does just what it says, quits the game. You will be prompted with a "Do you really want to quit?" message, and when you select yes, you will be promptly returned to DOS (or wherever you came from...)

page 38

When you are finished with the System Menu, press ESCAPE to return to your previous activity, or clic anywhere outside the menu.

Scorched Earth Reassigning Players

page 39

When you choose Reassign Players, you will be given a list of player names, and who controls them. You may change any of the settings you selected when choosing the players initially. To change something about a player, clic on the name of the tan you want to change, or press the number highlighted on the button next to the name. This will put you onto the Player Initialization Panel, which wor s just li e it did when you choose the players initially. You may change anything you want, then select "Done" when you are finished ma ing changes. Saved Games There are a couple of important points to note about saved games. The most important is that, with this version of Scorch, not all information is saved. In particular, the only information which is saved from the main configuration menus is the number of players and number of rounds. This means that you can save a game, restart Scorch, change some of those options, and restore the game with the new options. If you want to save the options, you must do so by selecting "Save Changes" from the initial menu. Remember that you may use multiple configuration files by specifying a filename when starting Scorch, e.g. "scorch myconfig.cfg". It is also important to remember that although you can restore a game at almost any point once play has started, you can only save the game while on the Buying Menus. This is so that the playing field doesn't need to be saved (this would ta e up a considerable amount of dis space, in addition to being slow.) An important side effect is that if you have no money, you will be unable to save the game, as you will never get to the buying menu. In this case, you must win a round before you can save the game! Scorch will let you overwrite an existing file to save a game, but it will always prompt you first if it is about to do so. Finally, note that when you restore a game, it may ta e a moment for the computer to catch on to the fact. If there is a missile in the air, the game will not restart until it lands.

Scorched Earth Customizing Scorch

page 40

Scorched Earth has quite an extensive set of options for configuring how the game is played. The defaults for most of these are pretty good, but as many people have different preferences, an easy system has been designed to customize Scorch to each player's taste. Each of the menus is documented below, along with a brief description of what the menu covers, and then an item by item explanation of all the options. Letters which are bold and underlined (li e the 't' in this), are hot- eys - if you press that ey on the eyboard it is the same as clic ing on that button with the mouse. Left-clic ing and right-clic ing with the mouse on a button will cause the amount to decrease and increase, respectively. Some entries require a filename. If this is the case, a blin ing "caret" will appear when you select the appropriate choice. You may then type in a name, and press ENTER. The "caret" will disappear, and you can continue setting options. When you clic on Save Changes, your current configuration, or set of choices, will be written to the file scorch.cfg. The next time you start Scorch, it will use the same set of options. YOUR OPTIONS WILL ONLY BE SAVED IF YOU SELECT THE "SAVE CHANGES" BUTTON. Otherwise, any options you change will only last for the current game. It is possible to use multiple configuration files. To do this, when you run Scorch, type "scorch myconfig.cfg". That will tell Scorch to use the file myconfig.cfg instead of scorch.cfg. Change the options to how you li e them and clic on "Save Changes". The file myconfig.cfg will be created if it didn't already exist, or updated otherwise. You can then use this configuration file whenever you want. There is no limit to how many configuration files you can have, but you must select which one you want to use each time you start Scorch. If you don't choose one, Scorch will always load the file scorch.cfg. Feel free to experiment... you can always reset the defaults by deleting scorch.cfg, or by running fix.bat. Scorch will automatically recreate the configuration file with the built-in defaults. Scorch.cfg can also be edited directly using any word processor or editor that will edit pure ASCII files. (i.e. Side ic 's Notepad, PC Tools Des top, etc.) (See also "Changing the Tal ing Tan s")

Scorched Earth Brief Summary of on-screen controls Counter/Cycle: These controls are used to enter numbers or to select one item from a list. Pressing the hot ey or clic ing on the associated text with the left-mouse button causes numbers to increment, or selects the next item on the list. Pressing ALT and the hot ey, or right-clic ing on the text, causes numbers to decrease, or choices to go to the previous item on the list. Toggle: This is used to represent a on/off choice. If the box is chec ed, the option is enabled, or "on." Otherwise, the option is "off." Text entry: This is used to enter text. When there is a blin ing vertical line showing (called a "caret"), then anything you type will go into the text box. Press ESCAPE to cancel, or ENTER to accept what you typed. Clic ing anywhere with the mouse is equivalent to pressing ENTER. Button: This is used to initiate some action or activity. The most common use in the configuration menus is to pop up a sub-menu or to start the game.

page 41

Scorched Earth Main Menu

page 42

The main menu gives you direct access to the most common options, and lets you choose between several sub-menus for more options. Any entry followed by three dots (...) causes a menu to pop up when you select it. After you have chosen any options, you can decide whether or not to save them (as explained above), and then press the S ey to start the game, or clic on the Start button. Label ----Start Players Rounds Sound... Hardware... Economics... Physics... Landscape... Weather... Play Options... Weapons... Save Changes 2-10 1-1000 2 10 Range ----Default Description ------- ----------Start playing the game. Select the number of people who will be playing, including computer players. Select how many rounds will be played. Go to the Sound Menu (See below). Go to the Hardware Menu (See below). Go to the Economics Menu (See below). Go to the Physics Menu (See below). Go to the Landscape Menu (See below). Go to the Weather Menu (See below). Go to the Play Options Menu (See below). Go to the Weapons Menu (See below). Save any changes which you have made to the current configuration file (probably scorch.cfg).

Scorched Earth Sound Menu

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The sound menu lets you decide what ind of noises Scorch will ma e. With this, you can use anything from no sound, to lots of sound. Future versions of Scorch will ma e use of add-on sound cards li e the Sound Blaster. Label ----Sound Range Default Description ----- ------- -----------

Flight Sounds POS VEL OFF

OFF

This option determines what sounds, if any, your weapons ma e while strea ing through the air towards their target. POS ma es sounds based on the height of the projectile. VEL ma es sounds based on the current projectile velocity. POS seems to be preferred to VEL by most people. OFF is, of course, no sound.

ON OFF

ON

If the sound is ON, then Scorch will generate sound effects using the PC's spea er. If OFF, it will shut up, ma ing no sound at all.

Scorched Earth Hardware Menu

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The hardware options have to do with ma ing Scorch wor as best as possible on your computer. In general, the defaults for these options will be the right thing. If you find you are having a problem with your monitor, mouse, or eyboard, one of these options might be just what you are loo ing for! Be careful though, as improperly setting these options can also ma e Scorch run very poorly, or not at all. (If you're in over your head, just run the program fix.bat, and it will wipe out your configuration file. Then when you run Scorch, it will reset the defaults automatically.) Note that Scorch will, by default, use a numeric coprocessor if present. This ma es everything in the game go faster. In particular, you will want a much larger firing delay. To slow everything down, you can set the environment variable 87 to 'N'. (To do this, type "set 87=N" at the DOS prompt before starting Scorch. For more info on environment variables, consult your DOS manual). You can remove this setting from the environment by typing "set 87=" at the DOS prompt. Label ----Graphics Mode Range ----Default Description ------- -----------

320x200 360x480 This option lets you choose which 360x480 graphics mode Scorched Earth will run 640x480xP in. Any changes you ma e here must be saved from the Main Menu, and will not ta e effect until you exit Scorch and restart it. Some of the options here may not be available on all systems, and should be avoided. Note that some of the graphics modes will probably be incompatible with your monitor! In particular, the 640x480xP mode requires a Western Digital Paradise VGA with at least 512K. The 320x200 and 360x480 modes should run on all VGAs. If you accidentally corrupt your copy of scorch.cfg, use fix.bat.

Bios Keyboard

Small Memory

ON OFF

OFF

This option is for players who have too little memory for all of Scorch's options. By selecting this, Scorch will disable some of the extended features, and use less memory. In

ON OFF

OFF

This option can be safely ignored, unless your system loc s up in strange ways while playing Scorch. It forces Scorch to use the BIOS to access the eyboard, rather than accessing the eyboard directly. This slows down the response of the game while playing, and should be avoided.

Scorched Earth Hardware Menu cont...

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particular, the awesome nuclear explosions will be much more bland. Pointer

Mouse Rate

.5-5.

.5

This option lets you control how fast the cursor on screen moves compared to how fast you move the mouse. High numbers mean fast movement! This option controls how fast the cursor on screen moves compared to how far you move the joystic . High numbers mean fast movement! This lets you select how far you must move your joystic from the center before it registers motion. If this number is too small (li e 0), the cursor will probably wiggle and dance. This option determines how long it ta es the computer to draw projectiles when they are fired. If you li e suspense, ma e it slow (high numbers). If you want to get on with the game, ma e it fast (low numbers). This lets you determine how fast the tan s fall on screen. If you don't li e to wait, set this to zero. Selecting this option causes a window to pop-up which lets you calibrate your joystic . Use this if the cursor drifts even when your joystic is centered. To calibrate, set your joystic in the center position and press the fire button.

Joystic Rate

.1-10

Joystic Threshold 0-50

Firing Delay

0-500

20

Falling Delay

0-1000

10

Calibrate Joystic

None Mouse Mouse Joystic

This option tells Scorch whether you want to use a mouse, joystic , or just your eyboard (the eyboard wor s whether or not use are using a pointing device). If you don't have a mouse or joystic , Scorch will not try to use one. (But wouldn't this be a good time to buy one?) To use a mouse, Scorch requires a Microsoft compatible mouse driver. To use a joystic , Scorch requires a BIOS which supports interrupt 15h (most new machines do).

Scorched Earth Hardware Menu cont...

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Note that if you do not select "Save Changes" after calibrating the joystic , you will probably need to re-calibrate it each time you play.

Scorched Earth Economics Menu

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The economics menu has options that control how money will affect the game and what methods of scoring will be used. Label ----Range ----Default Description ------- ----------.05 If you start a round with unspent money "in the ban ", then you will earn interest on that money. The interest rate determines what percent you earn. This rate also affects the cost of repeated-use items such as the Auto-Defense System. This determines how much money each player starts with. If it is non-zero, players will have a chance to buy items before the first round starts. This determines whether or not computer-controlled tan s can buy items with their money. If you are having a hard time beating them, cheat a little and try turning this option off. This option will simulate a free mar et economy while you play Scorch. This means that as the games progresses, weapons that people buy frequently will become more expensive, while weapons which no one is buying will become cheaper. If you are using this option, Scorch will create a file scorch.m t, to trac the mar et from game to game. Delete this file to reset the defaults. This option is often useful for stimulating new strategies (Necessity is the mother of invention.)

Interest Rate 0-.30

Cash at Start $0-$1,000,000 $0

Free Mar et

Scoring Mode BASIC . STANDARD GREEDY

STANDARD This determines how the game will be scored BASIC scoring gives you points only for illing tan s and surviving a round. STANDARD scoring gives you less points for actually illing a tan , but gives you points every time you damage a tan or shield. GREEDY scoring wor s li e STANDARD scoring, but the final ran ings at the end of each round are based on the Net

ON OFF

OFF

Computers Buy ON OFF

ON

Scorched Earth Economics Menu cont...

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Worth of your tan , e.g. how much cash you have in the ban plus the depreciated value of all weapons, etc. in stoc ("He who dies with the most toys wins").

Scorched Earth Physics Menu

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The Physics Menu lets you control different aspects of reality, such as the atmosphere and gravity of the planet you are fighting on, and whether the edges you see on screen have any meaning to the game, or are just windows onto a larger playing field. Label ----Air Viscosity Range ----0-20 Default Description ------- ----------0 This determines whether or not the air is viscous, i.e. does it slow down projectiles moving through it? If you are using viscous air, ballistic guidance will not wor properly, nor will some of the computer players. This determines the force of gravity in pixels This number allows dirt to remain suspended in the air some of the time. It is a percentage chance, per shot, that all the dirt on screen will fall. It can be used on slow computers to speed up the game, or to introduce more variety. Earth Disrupters are only interesting with this option enabled. If this is turned off, tan s will not fall when the ground is shot out from beneath them. Not very realistic, but an option nonetheless. This option specifies how far off-screen projectiles should be trac ed before being counted as a "miss." If this is zero, no missile will ever return to the screen or explode off the edge, even if the wind would have brought it bac on-screen. A high enough value here will have the computer trac any projectile until it hits somewhere, but might add unnecessarily long pauses as it trac s these projectiles. This determines whether the edges you see on screen exist or not. OFF means they never do, ON means they always do, RANDOM means that at the beginning of each round the computer decides whether or not they do, and ERRATIC means that before each shot, the computer decides whether or not they do. To determine what the walls do

Gravity /sec Suspend Dirt

.05-10 0-100

.2 0

Borders Extend 0-10000 75

Walls Exist

OFF OFF ON RANDOM ERRATIC

Tan s Fall

ON OFF

ON

Scorched Earth Physics Menu cont...

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when they exist, see the option below, Effect of Walls. Effect of Walls CONCRETE RUBBER RUBBER SPRING WRAP RANDOM ERRATIC This option is only meaningful when the walls exist. CONCRETE walls will bloc shots from going off screen in any direction. RUBBER walls will cause projectiles to bounce off them (Poolshar s ta e advantage of this). SPRING walls are similar to RUBBER walls, but they give the projectile a " ic " when they reflect them, much as pinball machines do. WRAPAROUND edges cause the left and right edge to wrap around, i.e. a missile going off screen to the right will come on screen to the left. RANDOM tells the computer to pic one of the four methods at the beginning of each ro ERRATIC tells the computer to choose a method before each shot. You can tell what the current state of the walls is by their color: Gray: no effect White: CONCRETE Red: RUBBER Green: SPRING Yellow: WRAPAROUND

und.

Scorched Earth Landscape Menu

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The Landscape Menu lets you set options that determine how the land on which you fight will appear. Using these options, you can choose low, rolling hills, steep, craggy mountains, and anything in between. Label ----Bumpiness Slope Range ----0-100 0-100 Default Description ------- ----------20 20 OFF This determines how smooth or bumpy the landscape will be. This determines how steep hills and valleys will be. This forces the hills the flatten out at a certain steepness if it is on. It eeps the hills from being too steep. If this is on, the above options are set randomly by the computer at the beginning of each round. This allows for a wide variety of terrains. (i.e. if you choose this option, none of the above options have any meaning.)

Random Land

ON OFF

OFF

Flatten Pea s ON OFF

Scorched Earth Weather Menu

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The weather menu lets you set various characteristics determining how the weather will behave and what the s y will loo li e. Label ----S y Range ----PLAIN STORMY STARS SHADED SUNSET RANDOM 0-500 Default Description ------- -----------

Max. Wind

200 OFF

This determines the maximum wind velocity. If 0, there will be no wind. If this is enabled, the wind will change slightly between each shot. This can be a real pain when targeting someone, especially if you aren't paying attention. If this is turned OFF, then the "Hostile" actions of some of the bac grounds will become non-hostile. This means that they will act the same, but will cause no damage to tan s.

Changing Wind OFF ON

Hostile OFF Environment ON

ON

RANDOM

This determines how the bac ground s y will loo . RANDOM tells the computer to decide at the beginning of each round what ind of bac ground it should use. Note that some s ies are hostile, and will launch their own attac s, such as lightning.

Scorched Earth Play Options Menu

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This menu controls different aspects of the game, and what controls will be available. Label ----Fast Computers Range ----ON OFF Defaults -------OFF Description ----------If this option is on, then whenever there are only computers attac ing one another, the pace of the game will speed up until humans are playing again. This can speed up the end of a round significantly. If this option is set to COMPUTERS, computer-controlled tan s will "tal " to you by flashing messages on screen, li e comic characters. If it is set to ALL, then all tan s will print messages, regardless of who controls them. OFF means nobody tal s. This determines how often tan s say something before they fire. 100 means they tal 100% of the time.

Tal ing Tan s

Simultaneous Mode ON OFF

OFF

This option will cause Scorch to run in simultaneous mode, where all players and computers can aim and fire at once. For more information, see "Simultaneous Mode". This enables the status bar, which is a second bar beneath the normal one you see when playing Scorch. This bar lets you access most of the things the Tan Control Panel does. This controls the order of play. RANDOM means each turn the order in chosen randomly. LOSERS-FIRST means that whoever is in last place always goes first, and the winner goes last. WINNERS-FIRST is the opposite of LOSERS-FIRST.

Status Bar

ON OFF

OFF

Play Order

RANDOM RANDOM LOSERS-FIRST WINNERS-FIRST ROUND-ROBIN

Die file

Any File tal 2.cfg This should be the name of a file which contains messages tan s will say when they die.

Attac file

Any File tal 1.cfg This should be the name of a file which contains messages tan s will say when attac ing.

Tal Probability 0..100

100

OFF OFF COMPUTERS ALL

Scorched Earth Play Options Menu cont...

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ROUND-ROBIN means the play order is random, but the first shot each round goes from one player to the next, in order (i.e. if Player 1 went first in Round 1, Player 2 goes first in Round 2, and so on). Changing the Tal ing Tan s If you want to change the message files, use any editor that will edit straight ASCII files, or use your favorite word processor, and when saving the file, use the ASCII option. (Sometimes this is called print to dis , or printed text.) The attac file is called tal 1.cfg, the die file is tal 2.cfg. Each comment should ta e up one line in the file, just add new comments to the end. If a comment appears twice, it will be used twice as often (and so on). Blan lines provide for the tan s to say nothing sometimes. If you're feeling really creative, you can just ma e up your own file from scratch, and type its name into the Attac file and Die file options. (NOTE: scorch.cfg can be edited in a similar option). If you have any favorite phrases or comments, feel free to send them to the author for possible inclusion in a future release!

Scorched Earth Weapons Menu

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These options let you customize which weapons you want to play with and how they wor . By default all weapons are allowed, but some people prefer to have a more restricted set of choices. Scorch caters to all people. Label ----Arms Level

ries. Bomb icon

Tunneling

ON OFF

ON

If tunneling is OFF, weapons explode the instant they hit dirt (or anything else). If it is ON, they will tunnel when they hit dirt, burrowing into the ground before exploding. They might even come out the other side of a small enough pile of dirt, though at reduced velocity. If you play with tunneling ON, you can always buy Contact Triggers which force any projectile to explode on cont For the blood-thirsty players, Scorch can be "scaled up", so that the weapons are more destructive than usual. MEDIUM is somewhat larger than NORMAL, and LARGE is yet another step larger. Note that some of the graphics are not as nice when the game is "scaled up," due to memory constraints. If this is on, each projectile will leave a trail on the screen of it's path, in the color of the firing tan . This can be useful in targeting, as you don't have to remember where your last shot hit. When using this option, you can use the Clear Traces option from the

act. Scale NORMAL MEDIUM LARGE NORMAL

Trace Paths

ON OFF

OFF

INVISIBLE BIG SMALL BIG

This lets you choose what the projectile will loo li e when you fire it: either a small dot, a slightly larger dot, or no dot at all. This is just a matter of preference, though invisible missiles are mighty hard to aim!

Range ----0-4

Default Description ------- ----------4 This lets you disallow the use of certain items from the game. Using an Arms Level of 0 is often useful for beginners, so there aren't so many options to deal with. Some people just don't li e using the large weapons at all. To see what items belong to what Arms Level, consult the Equipment List. The Arms Level also affects available accesso

Scorched Earth Weapons Menu cont...

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System Menu whenever the screen gets too cluttered. Smo e Tracers have a similar effe ct. Extra Dirt ON OFF OFF This controls how much dirt the Dirt Charges let out. If you li e lots of dirt, you can use this. It's fun but can really slow the game down. (It also mean you should pay extra attention to buying earth handling weapons!) If this is OFF, then items which have no effect on the game will not appear on the buying menu. (For example Smo e Tracers have no purpose if you are playing with Trace Paths set to ON.)

Useless Items

ON OFF

OFF

Scorched Earth Archaic Options

page 57

These options cannot be selected from any of the normal menus, but are still supported for bac wards compatibility. You can only change them by editing the file scorch.cfg. These options may not be supported in future versions of Scorch. If you li e them, and thin they should stay, write the author and let him now. Label ----Impact Damage Range Default Description ----- ------- -----------

ON OFF

ON

If this is on, tan s ta e damage from a fall when they hit the ground. If it is off, tan s ta e damage as they are falling. This isn't an important distinction, just a matter of preference. Total damage done is the same in either case.

Scorched Earth Simultaneous Mode

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This is a brief summary of the differences between Simultaneous mode and normal play. The main difference is that many people (and computers!) will be moving at once. Because there is only one eyboard, and everybody is using it simultaneously, it is important that each player have a unique ey for everything he or she wants to do. For this reason, you probably wouldn't play Simultaneous mode with more than three players. When you assign eystro es at the beginning of the game, try to eep each player to their own section of the eyboard, so that their fingers don't get crossed. In simultaneous mode, whoever hits the eyboard fastest moves most often (the computers move at a medium sort of speed regardless). When someone fires, the action is suspended until the missile hits somewhere (this will probably change in a future version of Scorch). The status bar on top of the screen gives much less information in Simultaneous Mode, because all players are sharing the screen also. Each tan 's current firing power and weapon are displayed across the top bar... the colors will match your tan s' colors. Also, when you increase power, your tan will flash brightly. When you decrease power, your tan will flash dar . Changing weapons causes your tan to flash red. These are additional clues you have about what your tan is doing, but be careful not to waste good weapons! If you have the status bar enabled, you will also be able to see each player's remaining power and shield strength, if any. There are no shortcuts on the status bar in simultaneous mode. When all players but one are dead, the end of round status will come up as usual, and the players with cash will have an opportunity to buy things just li e normal Scorch. When the round begins again, though, watch out! The special eys i, t, and r are not supported in Simultaneous Mode, and neither is the mouse. Thus, it is impossible to use the Tan Control Panel. You can only use Shields if you have an Automatic Defense System. Fuel, Contact Triggers, and Guidance Systems are not useful at all. Also, unless you purchase an Automatic Defense System, parachutes will always be deployed, and you will be unable to change the threshold. This is so that each player needs only six eys. Since you cannot access the Tan Control Panel, batteries also wor somewhat differently than normal: anytime your tan 's power falls below 91 but the tan is still intact, as many batteries will trigger as necessary to bring your power above 90, up to however many you have (your tan will flash green when this happens). The System Menu functions as it does during normal play.

Scorched Earth Registering Scorch

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It is my hope that Scorched Earth will provide a great source of enjoyment to all age groups. This version of Scorch is more robust than the initial release, but there is much that I would still li e to add. I am releasing this game as shareware in order to gain as large an audience as possible. Scorch is not crippleware. Each and every copy is a fully functioning game. If you would li e to register Scorch send 10 dollars to the author, at the address listed below. By so doing, you are supporting the further development of Scorch. Users who register will receive a password that bypasses the start-up message and tells the tan s not to harass you verbally about registering. Anyone interested in Scorch, or with ideas for improvement, or questions for support, is encouraged to contact me as described below. The author ma es no warranty about the fitness of Scorch for any purpose, nor does he guarantee that it will not crash your system. Nevertheless, every attempt has been made to insure that Scorch is a robust, user-friendly game. The most recent version of Scorched Earth will be ept on CompuServe, under Library 3 of the GAMERS forum, the games library of the IBMNEW forum, and GEnie. You may get it directly from one of these sources, or through someone else who has CompuServe, GEnie, or Scorch. Minor bug fixes and other goodies may appear from time to time on one of the following BBSes: (619) 747-3041 (708) 355-6942 Escondido, CA Micro Overflow, Naperville, IL

Or, you can chec your favorite local BBS. And why not upload it there, if they don't have it. Share it with your friends. Scorch was written using Borland C++ and Turbo Assembler. The illustrated version of this manual was prepared using Microsoft Word for Windows and Microsoft Paint, and the ASCII version was automatically generated using a custom RTF-to-Scorch-Manual filter.

Scorched Earth About the Author

page 60

Wendell Hic en, a. .a Sprig, was born March 14, 1967. He graduated from Caltech with a B.S. in Computer Science in 1991, and is currently wor ing for ParaSoft Corporation, a Pasadena-based firm specializing in tools for Parallel Programming. Scorched Earth is in no way affiliated with Caltech or ParaSoft Corporation. I may be contacted at any of the following places: Wendell Hic en 59 Esperanza Apt. M Sierra Madre, CA 91024-2437 HCBN64A on Prodigy 70671,606 on CompuServe W.Hic en on GEnie whic [email protected] on internet

Scorched Earth Index

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Air Viscosity, 49 Archaic Options, 57 Arms Level, 55 ASCII, 40 Accessories List, 31 Angle, 10 Attac File, 53 Author, 60 Auto Defense, 35 Baby Digger, 28 Baby Missile, 26 Baby Nu e, 26 Baby Rollers, 27 Baby Sandhog, 28 Bac grounds, 52 Ball, Dirt, 29 Ballistic Guidance, 32 Basic Scoring, 47 Batteries, 34 Recharging Your Tan , 16 Blast, Plasma, 30 Blast, Riot, 28 Bomb Icon, 55 Bomb, Fun y, 26 Bomb, Heavy Riot, 28 Bomb, Riot, 28 Borders Extend, 49 Boy, Lazy, 33 Bumpiness, 51 Buying Equipment, 20 Calibrate Joystic , 45 Careful Keyboard, 44 Cash, 47 Cash at Start, 47 Changing Weapons, 13 Changing Wind, 52 Charge, Dirt, 29 Charge, Riot, 28 Choose Target, 32 Chooser, 8 Choosing Players, 6 Clear Screen, 37 Clod, Dirt, 29 Command Line Options, 40 Controlled Players, 8 Computerized Opponents, 8 Computers Buy, 47 Concrete Walls, 50

Configuration Files, 40 Configuration FilesSaving, 42 Contact Triggers, 36 Contact Triggers, 55 Customizing Scorch, 40 Cyborg, 8 Death's Head, 26 Defense Systems, 34 Deflectors, Mag, 34 Delay, Falling, 45 Deploying Parachutes, 34 Die File, 53 Digger, 28 Digger, Baby, 28 Digger, Heavy, 28 Dirt Ball, 29 Dirt Charge, 29 Dirt Clod, 29 Dirt, Liquid, 29 Dirt, Ton of, 29 Disrupter, Earth, 29 Earth Destroying Weapons, 28 Earth Disrupter, 29 Earth Producing Weapons, 29 Economics Menu, 47 Effect of Walls, 50 Equipment List, 24 Erratic Walls, 50 Extra Dirt, 56 Filthy Lucre, 47 Firing, 13 Firing Speed, 45 fix.bat, 40 Fixed Emplacements, 9 Flatten Pea s, 51 Flight Sounds, 43 Force Shields, 34 Free Mar et, 47 Fuel Remaining, 17 Fuel Tan s, 36 Fun y Bomb, 26 Graphics Mode, 44 Gravity, 49 Gray Walls, 50 Greedy Scoring, 47 Green Walls, 50 Guidance Systems, 32 Guidance SystemsSelecting, 17 Guidance, Ballistic, 32

Scorched Earth Index cont... Guidance, Heat, 32 Guidance, Horizontal, 33 Guidance, Vertical, 33 Hardware Menu, 44 Heat Guidance, 32 Heavy Digger, 28 Heavy Riot Bomb, 28 Heavy Rollers, 27 Heavy Sandhog, 28 Heavy Shields, 35 Help!, 4 Hills, 51 Horizontal Guidance, 33 Hostile Environment, 52 Hot Napalm, 26 Controlled Players, 7 Impact Damage, 57 Initial Cash, 47 Interest Rate, 47 Introduction, 3 Inventory, 13 Joystic Rate, 45 Joystic Threshold, 45 Joystic , Enabling, 45 Kibitzing, 13 Landscape Menu, 51 Lazy Boy, 33 Leapfrog, 26 Liquid Dirt, 29 Mag Deflectors, 34 Main Menu, 42 Mass Kill, 37 Max Wind, 52 MIRV, 26 Miscellaneous Extras, 36 Missile, 26 Missile, Baby, 26 Money, 47 Moron, 8 Mountains, 51 Mouse Rate, 45 Mouse, Enabling, 45 Moving your Tan , 18 Napalm, 26 Napalm, Hot, 26 New Game, 37 Night S y, 52 Nu e, 26 Nu e, Baby, 26 Number of Players, 42 Number of Rounds, 42 Options, Archaic, 57 Parachutes, 34 Changing State, 16 Deployed, 34 Passive, 34 Safety Threshold, 16 Safety Threshold, 34 Passivating Parachutes, 34 Physics Menu, 49 Pinball Walls, 50 Plain S y, 52 Plasma Blast, 30 Play Options Menu, 53 Play Order, 53 Players, How Many, 42 Playing the Game, 10 Pointer, 45 Poolshar , 8 Power, 10 Quic Start, 4 Quit Game, 38 Random Land, 51 Random S ies, 52 Random Walls, 50 Reassigning Players, 39 Red Walls, 50 Registering Scorch, 59 Restore Game, 37 Retreat, 13 Riot Blast, 28 Riot Bomb, 28 Riot Bomb, Heavy, 28 Riot Charge, 28 Rollers, 27 Rollers, Baby, 27 Rollers, Heavy, 27 Rounds, How Many, 42 Rubber Walls, 50 Safety Threshold, 34 Sandhog, 28 Sandhog, Baby, 28 Sandhog, Heavy, 28 Save Changes, 42 Save Game, 37 Saved Games, 39 Scale, 55 scorch.cfg, 40

page 62

Scorched Earth Index cont...

page 63

scorch.m t, 47 Scoring Mode, 47 Selecting a Target, 32 Selling Items, 22 Shields, 34 Automatic Defense, 35 Engaging, 16 Force Shields, 34 Heavy Shields, 35 Mag Deflectors, 34 Normal Shields, 34 Selecting, 17 Shooter, 8 Simultaneous Mode, 53 Simultaneous Play, 58 S y, 52 Slope, 51 Small Memory, 44 Smo e Tracers, 26 Sound Menu, 43 Spoiler, 8 Spring Walls, 50 Standard Scoring, 47 Standard Weapons, 26 Starry S y, 52 Status Bar, 53 Stormy S ies, 52 Sunsets, 52 Surrender, 13 Suspend Dirt, 49 System Menu, 37 Tal Probability, 53 tal 1.cfg, 53 tal 2.cfg, 53 Tal ing Tan s, 53 Tan Control Panel, 16 Tan Icon Selection, 9 Tan s Fall, 49 Tan s, Fuel, 36 Target Selection, 32 Ton of Dirt, 29 Tosser, 8 Trace Paths, 55 Tracers, 26 Tracers, Smo e, 26 Treads, 9 Triggers, 17 Triggers, Contact, 36 Using, 17

Triple-turreted Tan , 9 Tunneling, 55 Un nown, 8 Useless Items, 56 Vertical Guidance, 33 Viscosity, Air, 49 Walls Exist, 49 Walls, Effect of, 50 Weapons List, 25 Weapons Menu, 55 Weather Menu, 52 White Walls, 50 Wind, 52 Wraparound Walls, 50 Yellow Walls, 50