MORTAR(6)                            GAMES                           MORTAR(6)



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DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
       Mortar  is  a sideview, multiplayer artillery game, somewhat similar to
       Atari Ballerburg, DOS Scorched Earth and Amiga Scorched Tanks.  It  has
       better graphics (they are all reytraced) but is simpler, has much fewer
       weapon and graphics effects and configuration options.

       Game is composed of one or more rounds where players battle on  a  ran‐
       domly  generated  landscape.   Each player selects in turn ammunitation
       and shoots it at another player, intending to inflict  some  damage  on
       him/her/it.   Players  are  represented  by  cannons,  possibly  having
       shields which at first protect player from damage.  After shields  have
       been  weared down and player’s energy is exhausted, the player’s cannon
       explodes and the round is over for him/her/it.  Round  continues  until
       only one player is left (or none).

       At the top of the screen are shown current player statistics.

       First row:

              · remaiming energy (colored bar)
              · wind strenght (gray bar in the middle)
              · player name (in the middle)


       Second row:

              · shot power (first number)
              · shot angle (second number)
              · selected weapon


       Between  rounds players may purchase more ammunitation etc.  Player who
       has won most rounds or in case of a tie, one who has more  money  left,
       wins the game.

       The  more  the players the merrier the game.  Four players is much more
       fun than two, so this is kind of a party game...



SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
       mortar [options] <player names>



OOPPTTIIOONNSS
       There has to be names at least for two players.

       --cc ##   Configuration file name.

       --ll ##   Language used in the game messages.

       --rr ##   How many rounds are played (1-).

       --ww ##   Game area width (may get ignored).

       --hh ##   Game area height (may get ignored).

       --ff ##   Whether the game should run as fullscreen (0 = no,  >0  =  yes).
              Affects only the SDL backend.

       --mm ##   Screen update mode; "single" uses single, "multi" multiple dirty
              rectangles.  Test which one is faster.

       --pp ##   Path for configuration file and data.

       You can run Mortar from anywhere on your filesystem as long  as  you’ll
       supply  it  with  the data directory path with the ’-p’ option.  Mortar
       starts up by reading the configuration file from  the  data  directory,
       sets  game variables and reads images mentioned in it.  Most things are
       configurable.

       Besides data path, only required arguments are the names for the  play‐
       ers,  for  rest Mortar can use values from the configuration file.  For
       example:
            mortar -p data/ You Me

       The default configuration  file  ’config.def’  in  the  data  directory
       should  be  sufficiently  commented  for  manual editing (read also the
       README in the data directory).



CCOONNTTRROOLLSS
       All user input in Mortar is given from the keyboard  (that’s  the  most
       portable  solution).   By  default, _n_u_m_b_e_r _k_e_y_p_a_d is used both for buy‐
       ing/selling items and to enter angle/power values.  _S_p_a_c_e  key  can  be
       used  to  select  a  shot type before shooting.  _R_e_t_u_r_n key accepts the
       values and shoots (you can use _S_p_a_c_e also  for  interrupting  the  shot
       flight).   _Q  exits play / game / demo.  _S saves a snapshot of the cur‐
       rent screen[1].

       On some platforms (SDL, GGI) you can also use the _H_o_m_e, _E_n_d, _P_a_g_e _U_p  /
       _D_o_w_n and _a_r_r_o_w _k_e_y_s in addition to the keypad.

       In SDL you can press _f _t_o _t_o_g_g_l_e _f_u_l_l_s_c_r_e_e_n _m_o_d_e_.

       _C_u_r_r_e_n_t_l_y _y_o_u _c_a_n _d_o _o_n_l_y _o_n_e _o_f _t_h_e_s_e _i_n _o_n_e _t_u_r_n_:

              · shoot
              · activate shield
              · use some utility

       This way round starter doesn’t have such an advantage.

       [1] Snapshot image format is standard uncompressed PPM (at 640x480 it’s
       size is almost 1MB).  Image name is defined in the config file.   Image
       is  saved  into your current directory unless image name in config con‐
       tains also a path.



SSHHOOTT TTYYPPEESS
       All shot types are affected by wind and always explode when  hitting  a
       cannon,  regardless  of  type.   The  damage  done  to cannon by a shot
       depends on two factors:  how much of the cannon  explosion  covers  and
       how  effective  the  shot  is.   Every  hit decreases receiver’s energy
       (NOTE: until Mortar v5.4 shot power was limited by the player  energy).

       BBaassiicc  Default type.

       BBaacckkrroollll
              Like Roll shot, but rolls towards you.

       BBiiggggiiee Double explosion size.

       BBoooommeerraanngg
              Gets  back  after  reaching  top altitude.  Dangerous to shooter
              with very low angles and power.

       BBoouunnccee Bounces twice from ground before exploding.

       DDiigg    Dives through the ground and explodes when gets back to surface.

       FFllooaatt  After  reaching top altitude, ’floats on’ until gets as far from
              top point, as that was from you.  Then drops straight down.

       NNuukkee   Double explosion size, effect and shot weight.

       RRoollll   Rolls along the ground until ground starts to rise.

       SSttoonnee  Instead of exploding, this spurts a ball of cement which hardens
              to stone.  Minimal effect otherwise.

       SSuurrpprriissee
              When  hitting  ground splits into several shots that bounce back
              into air.

       TTiimmeerr  Flies straight ahead but has short range.

       TTrriippllee At top altitude splits into three.



SSHHIIEELLDD TTYYPPEESS
       Except for Repulser and Damper types, shields  work  only  on  contact.
       That is, you have to shoot beside the cannon to harm it.  With Repulser
       you need to shoot low instead.

       BBoouunncceerr
              Bounces shots off.

       DDaammppeerr--11
              1/2 effect of explosions.

       DDaammppeerr--22
              1/4 effect of explosions.

       DDaammppeerr--33
              1/8 effect of explosions.

       PPaasssseerr Lets shots pass through the cannon.

       PPaayy--bbaacckkeerr
              Sends shots back where they came from.

       RReeppuullsseerr
              Pushes shots upwards.

       TTeelleeppoorrtteerr
              Teleports shots away.



UUTTIILLIITTIIEESS
       Note that parachute minimizes just  the  effect  of  dropping,  banging
       against  ground  on the way down still damages you.  Suiciding prevents
       others from getting kill bonus from you.

       PPaarraacchhuuttee
              Gives you safer droppings.

       PPoowweerr UUpp
              Gives you more power (20% of max).

       SSuuiicciiddee
              Die with a BANG!



GGAAMMIINNGG HHIINNTTSS
       Shields are fairly efficient, so if your opponent takes one, you’d bet‐
       ter  take  one  too.   Most  shields  act on contact, so you should aim
       *beside* your opponent.

       When running low on energy there are few things you could do,  assuming
       you have bought the right utilities:

              · Increase your energy with a battery.

              · Apply a shield, it will protect you for a while.  Because this
              is expensive, you might need to concider  whether  the  pay  off
              will be enough.

              · If there’s nothing else you can do, suicide.

       The  generic  tactic is to concentrate to the most threatening opponent
       (usually the one nearest you), aim with basic  shot(s)  (if  you  don’t
       have  many  special  shots) and then dump on him/her the worst you got.
       Depending on your situation,  concentrating  on  the  weakest  opponent
       might  sometimes  be most profitable, especially if you’re going to die
       soon but need to get the kill bonus, or if you don’t want somebody else
       to get the bonus.

       You can use bounce, roll or dig shots to extend your range.  Float shot
       might also help sometimes.

       Btw.  with multiple shots (triple, surprise)  it’s  possible  to  raise
       your hit-% over 100.  :-)



SSUUPPPPOORRTTEEDD PPLLAATTFFOORRMMSS
       The generic Mortar code can work with any screen size and graphics will
       be scaled to the size requested by user (or overridden by the  underly‐
       ing graphics backend).  Following platforms are supported:


       WW      Monochrome / color W servers (Linux, MiNT).

       DDOOSS    320x200x256  (VGA) and 640x480x256 (VESA) resolutions.  No sound
              support.

       TTOOSS    Monochrome and 4/8-bit Atari resolutions.

       AAmmiiggaa OOSS
              8-bit modes (all Amiga graphics boards and AGA).

       lliibbGGGGII Allows running Mortar in several bit depths  on  many  different
              platforms such as X, SVGAlib and linux-fb.  For ggiFlushRegion()
              function you need libGGI version from March 1999 or later.   See
              http://www.ggi-project.org/

       SSDDLL    Allows  running  Mortar  in several bit depths on many different
              platforms such as Linux, Windows, Mac, BeOS.  Nowadays SDL seems
              to be most popular game library. See: http://www.libsdl.org/

       LLiinnuuxx >>== vv22..11..11xxxx ffrraammeebbuuffffeerrss
              Currently  only  8-bit palettized and 16-bit modes are supported
              (untested ppiilloott--lliinnuuxx version  supports  monochrome).   If  this
              freezes, try disabling sound from the config file.


       At  the  moment  Mortar supports SDL_mixer MID, MOD and sample playing,
       TOS XBIOS sound effects, Amiga Paula soundchip and GSI,  Generic  Sound
       Interface,  that’s available for some unix platforms.  GSI driver needs
       GSI server and includes from:
            http://www.xs4all.nl/~whs/



LLIICCEENNCCEE
       This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify  it  under
       the terms specified in the GNU Public Licence (GPL).

       If you use any of the Mortar code in your own GPL programs, it would be
       nice if you would mention that somewhere in your source code  or  docu‐
       mentation...



WWAARRRRAANNTTYY
       None.



CCOOPPYYRRIIGGHHTT HHOOLLDDEERRSS
       Mortar as a whole:
            Eero Tamminen <eero.tamminen@movial.fi>

       LibGGI port with support for several bitdepths:
             Andrew Apted <andrew.apted@ggi-project.org>

       Amiga OS port:
            Frank Wille <frank@phoenix.owl.de>

       GSI client (GSI sound code):
            Wouter Scholten <whs@xs4all.nl>

       Random functions (modified version of NetBSD libc random code):
            Regents of the University of California

       Large part of the win-lfb.c framebuffer code and win-tos.c chynky->pla‐
       nar conversion code were originally from  Torsten  Scherer’s  W  window
       system (now GPL).  Thanks!



SSEEEE AALLSSOO
       There  are  two  other free "Scorched Earth" successors in Open Source.
       The more complete of them is "XScorch", which has a Gtk  GUI  interface
       and is nowadays on par with the original.  Network support is in devel‐
       opment:
            Justin David Smith
            Jacob Luna Lundberg
            http://chaos2.org/xscorch/

       Another one is called "Koth", "King of The Hill", which uses libGGI and
       16-bit graphics and has a fully working network play.  It’s development
       stalled before it was finished though:
            Peter Amstutz <tetron@student.umass.edu>
            http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~tetron/

       [2004 update] Nowadays there’s also a really cool  3D  variant  of  the
       game type called Scorched3D:
            http://www.scorched3d.co.uk/



Mortar                            Version 0.6                        MORTAR(6)
