Re: Stupid Battlezone tricks...

On Tue, 10 Oct 2000, Clay Cowgill wrote:
>
> (Another curious thing would be to replace the first-person view with an
> overhead view.)

Ob90sDrivingGame:
A "view" button (use the Start button during play) to cycle between
"overhead", "10 feet behind and above your tank", and "first person".

> Also, there's *lots* of unused RAM in Battlezone. You could probably make
> the playfield "non-random" with some work.

Someone did that and called it "Cybersled" ;-) Seriously, playing BZ in a
continuously-regenerating maze could be fun... though there's always the
risk that the game could build blocks so close together that you can't
move.

> I actually (accidentally) made it so you and the enemy can shoot
> *through* the blocks last night. That was... Interesting.

Yeah, I second the idea about making the blocks destroy-able.
That sounds like fun, especially if the number of blocks goes
up so you have to carve your way through/around 'em.

> >I'll also second Doug comment about building controls/hardware for the BT.
>
> You're both nuts, you know that, no? ;-)

You say that like it's a bad thing :)

> I like the "shield" idea. I was thinking I could toss up the monitor
> convergence image (the diagonal cross-hatch) for the shield.

Very good idea from an implementation point of view.

> I think it might be tricky to replace much of the screen imagery (the
> display-list is kinda funky with the realtime-calculated stuff).

Yeah, one thing to watch out for is "number of vectors drawn". The
only "bug" I've seen in BZ is that there's a hard limit to how many
you can draw at once.

My high score list - with all the time I've played, and the BZ Save
High Score mod, which I tweaked to save 9 scores, not 3, displays a
*lot* of tanks. When it's up on the screen, the lower portion of the
display is pretty mangled. It gets about halfway through drawing one
set of initials and score and then just blanks out.

> double-timed it over to a block to hide. The missile jumped the block
> and went over me. I then started a hard turn trying to flank the
> missile, but it looked like we were locked in with similar turning
> rates-- the missile always stayed pretty-much behind me while I
> turned, probably about 10-15 seconds. I finally got it about to 9
> o'clock on the radar, but then it took off and left the screen...
> What would a missile "normally" do in that case?

Pretty much exactly that. I've been able to get 'em to about 8 o'clock
and 4 o'clock in the original, and the time period is necessarily shorter.
But what you describe sounds like normal missile behavior.

It may even be possible ("Stupid Battlezone Tricks" *is* the name of this
thread!) with a proper setting of rotation speed, tank movement speed, and
missile speed, to cajole a missile into flying around you in a circle.
Your own orbiting missile!

> * I found how to modify the "range" of the player's gun. Kind-of
> interesting. You can trade off shorter range for higher firing rate.
>
> * You can set the bullet speeds slow enough so the player tank can outrun
> it's own shell. (You can't shoot yourself I found out.)
>
> * It's pretty funny (for a minute or two) setting all bullet speeds to 25%
> of normal-- like playing the "Matrix" version of Battlezone. About the only
> way to kill an enemy tank it to go place the muzzle of your gun against the
> side of the enemy...

Request: Gorfian bullets.

As in Midway's "Gorf", press FIRE, the existing bullet vanishes, and
is replaced by a new bullet. Sounds like a cool way to make Matrix BZ
playable.

The main technique I use to "beat" BZ is by sliding up *beside* the tank,
rotating, and firing at point-blank range before the enemy can get a shot
off. I'm thinking that if the _enemy_ also has "gorfian" bullets, he may
be able to get a shot off at you sooner, rendering this strategy moot.

(Alternate - a higher enemy turn rate would almost guarantee this strategy
would no longer work. Slower bullets would have a lower probability of
hitting you, but you'd have to actually face the tank down and fire at it
to get the kill - and you'd have a lower probability of hitting due to the
lower speed of your bullets...)

As long as I'm blue-skying... "Matrix BZ" sounds a lot like submarine
warfare.

When/if anyone figures out the 3D object shapes:

1) Replace tanklike shapes with sublike shapes.
2) Make collision with underwater objects fatal.
3) I have a really cool use for a 19-inch BW X/Y from either Red Baron or
   Asteroids Deluxe.

Later,
Doug.

-- 
 dougj   |
   @     |
hwcn.org |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
** To UNSUBSCRIBE from vectorlist, send a message with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the
** message body to vectorlist-request@synthcom.com. Please direct other
** questions, comments, or problems to neil@synthcom.com.