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- TANKS! README.TXT
- Created May 14 1994
- Updated August 9 1994
-
- This file contains information not available at the
- time that the game manual was printed.
-
- COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS
-
- TANKS! will accept several command line parameters.
- Ordinarily you won't have to worry about this, but they can
- be handy under certain special circumstances.
-
- DEBUG : Enables a special game error checking and
- data recording mode that should only be used at SSI's
- request.
-
- FM : Forces the game to use FM sounds if your sound
- card supports them, even if your sound card normally plays
- digitized sounds. This will free up about 20K of
- conventional memory for use by TSR's, etc.
-
- MONO : Forces monaural sound on stereo capable
- sound cards. Use this if you don't care for the stereo
- effects. Other than balancing the sound volume from both
- speakers, there is no detrimental effect on sound quality.
-
- QUICK : Disables the time delays built into the
- combat results reports. Using this will speed up the game
- considerably, but you will have to check the results of
- combat manually by examining the units involved after the
- combat.
-
- QUIET : Turns off the intro music only.
-
- VANILLAMOUSE : Some obsolete mouse drivers may
- have problems with the game. If you encounter graphics
- "glitches" around the edge of the map try using this
- parameter until you can update your mouse driver software.
- Using this parameter fixes the shape of the mouse to an
- arrowhead and decreases mouse sensitivity in some areas.
-
- If you decide to use one or more of these commands,
- you just type them after the word TANKS but before you
- hit the <Enter> key.
-
- Example: Typing "TANKS FM VANILLAMOUSE <Enter>"
- would start the game with the fixed mouse cursor and fm
- sounds only.
-
- PLAY MENU
- Addition:
-
- The "Show All Visible" item controls display of
- map graphics indicating which hexes can be seen, or have
- been spotted by the current player. Visible hexes are
- indicated by a crosshair graphic. The ownership of each
- visible hex is indicated by the color of the crosshair.
-
- "RANDOM" ORDERS OF BATTLE
- Clarification:
-
- TANKS! automatically creates orders of battle when
- it makes random scenarios and when you use the random forces
- button in the editor. These orders of battle aren't really
- "random". They are based on real unit organizations for
- each force represented in the game. Equipment assignments
- are heavily influenced by the historical overall mobility of
- the force. Low mobility forces tend to have lots of
- dismounted infantry. High mobility forces tend to have lots
- of tanks and mechanized support. If you wish, you can
- override historical force mobilities with the mobility
- buttons that pop up during random scenario and OOB creation.
-
- When you ask the program to create a random
- scenario, you will be asked to choose tiny, small, medium,
- or large forces for each side. These correspond roughly to
- 10, 30, 60, or 90 units per side. But in order to balance
- the scenario, the force sizes you request may be modified.
- This is particularly likely if you select forces with very
- different levels of technology or quality. For example, if
- you request a "tiny" random battle between 1918 Germans and
- 1991 Americans, the scenario balancing routine will probably
- create a very large German force.
-
- COMMAND RULES
- Addition:
-
- Formations with control ratings lower than 7 are
- more susceptible to forced "reorganization" (and loss of a
- turn) than those with higher control ratings. This
- reflects the relative scarcity of communications equipment
- and rigidity of command structure in forces with low
- control ratings: 1940 French, Italians, Chinese, Iraqis,
- pre '67 Soviets, and all 1918 armies.
-
- MOVING YOUR UNITS
- Addition:
-
- Any unit with a non-zero movement rate, which has
- not already moved this turn, can always move at least one
- hex regardless of movement cost.
-
- Unarmed units will not launch close assaults. In
- order to be considered "armed", the unit must have at least
- one weapon mounted on its "top" equipment type. Out of
- ammo units will be allowed to assault, but their chance of
- success is small.
-
- DIRECT FIRE
- Additions:
-
- If the target unit is in a fort hex, there is a
- 40% chance that any direct fire shot will miss.
-
- If the target is in a depression hex, there is a
- 10% chance that any direct fire shot will miss.
-
- Parent formation morale and control ratings affect
- the accuracy of a unit's fire. Units belonging to
- formations with poor morale and control ratings will not
- hit their targets as often as units belonging to higher
- quality formations.
-
- Change:
-
- When firing at a unit composed of an armed
- transport and some other type of equipment, the transport
- will always be shot at first. Your units will only fire on
- unarmed transports if they (the transports) are the top
- equipment type in the target unit.
-
- INDIRECT FIRE
- Addition:
-
- In addition to unspotted intersection, town, and
- village hexes, you can shoot indirect fire into unspotted
- bridge hexes. A bridge hex is any hex containing a road
- and a stream or river.
-
- SMOKE FIRE
- Addition:
-
- The program won't allow you to order smoke fire
- into a hex that already contains smoke.
-
- AMMUNITION
- Addition:
-
- Most units will eventually run low on ammo if they
- fire their weapons. Infantry and artillery units with
- transports (trucks or whatever) will be less likely to run
- low on ammo as long as the transports are not destroyed.
-
- SCENARIO ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
- Addition:
-
- Wind has the following effects:
-
- If there is no wind, smoke can be created during
- combat and it will tend to linger in the smoked hex for
- several turns.
-
- If winds are light, smoke can be created during
- combat and it will tend to drift with the wind from turn to
- turn.
-
- If winds are strong, smoke will not be created. If
- the scenario is set in the arid tileset and there is no
- precipitation much of the map will be obscured by blowing
- sand. If the scenario is set in the frozen tileset much of
- the map will be obscured by blowing snow. Patterns of
- blowing sand and snow will change from turn to turn.
-
- BATTLEFIELD RESUPPLY
- Addition:
-
- Helicopter units are never eligible for battlefield
- resupply. Once they run out of ammo, they stay that way.
-
- CAMPAIGNS
- Addition:
-
- Whenever you start a new game without using the
- "Start next scenario in campaign" option, you are beginning
- a new campaign. Any old campaign will be lost.
-
- If you re-start a saved game from any file other
- than CAMPAIGN, any current campaign may be lost. The
- CAMPAIGN file contains the latest information on your
- campaign. Earlier saved games may not contain the
- information necessary to continue the campaign.
-
- Remember, the game automatically saves your game
- as file CAMPAIGN whenever you exit to DOS. You don't need
- to manually save games.
-
- Technical information:
-
- The campaign information is stored in the files
- CAMPAIGN.SAV, LASTGAME.DAT and CAMPAIGN.DAT in the scenario
- directory. If you want to permanently save a campaign, or
- send it to a friend, just copy these three files. To
- restore the campaign, re copy these files into the scenario
- directory. LASTGAME.DAT will only be present if you are
- between games in the campaign.
-
- EDITOR-DRAWING THE MAP
- Clarification:
-
- When you use the auto-fill tool, it will fill the
- map until a boundary of the same general type of tile is
- reached. If you don't draw a complete (no gaps) outline
- using the fill tile type before using the auto-fill tool,
- you may fill the entire map with the fill tile. Boundaries
- of other tile types will have no limiting effect on
- auto-fill.
-
- EDITOR-CREATE THE ORDER OF BATTLE
- Addition:
-
- As you create a formation with the order of battle
- editor, the program will create a formation name based on
- the types and numbers of units assigned to the formation.
- You can override the automatic formation name by clicking
- on the "Rename" button in the upper right corner of the
- current formation box. Your formation names are limited
- to 12 characters (11 for the tenth and subsequent
- formations).
-
- SCENARIO DESCRIPTIONS
- New rules section:
-
- A short scenario description may appear when you
- select a scenario for play. These scenario descriptions are
- stored in the form of small ASCII (text) files in the
- SCENARIO
- directory.
-
- If you wish to write a description for a scenario,
- you must follow these guidelines:
-
- 1) Use a text editor capable of saving text in ASCII
- form. The MS-DOS editor will do the job, as will most word
- processors.
-
- 2) A description can have a maximum of 14 lines.
- Each line can have no more than 36 characters. If you
- violate these limits, you may see strange results in your
- file description within the game.
-
- 3) The name of your description file must be based
- on the name of the scenario you wish to describe. If your
- scenario is named "MYGAME.SCE", your description must be
- named "MYGAME.TXT".
-
- 4) Your description file must be in the SCENARIO
- directory.
-
- 5) A sample description file (SAMPLE.TXT) is
- included in the SCENARIO directory. This can be used as a
- template for your scenario description files. You can also
- examine any of the *.TXT files already in the directory, but
- please do not modify them.
-
-
- RULEBOOK MISTAKES
-
- *Page 38, second bullet statement
-
- Delete
-
- "...that has slight, hidden effects for these values"
-
- There are NO "hidden" effects.
-
-
- *Page 41, Fixed Objective Values, last sentence.
-
- Replace
-
- "... using the manual objective value set button ..."
-
- with
-
- "... using the Objective Value button ...".
-
- *Page 43, Direct Fire Kill Probability vs. Armored Targets.
-
- The armor penetration calculation used in the game is
- actually a bit more sophisticated than that described
- in the rulebook.
-
- Replace
-
- "If the hit is...from one to five." (First sentence)
-
- with
-
- "If the hit is from a weapon with a hard attack rating,
- the target is killed if the hard attack rating of the
- firing weapon is greater than or equal to a random
- number from 0.75 times the armor rating of the target
- to 1.25 times the armor rating of the target. For
- example, a hit from a weapon with a hard attack rating
- of 15 would have the following chances to kill an
- enemy armored vehicle:
-
- Armor Chance
-
- 0...12 100%
- 13 78%
- 14 67%
- 15 56%
- 16 44%
- 17 36%
- 18 27%
- 19 18%
- 20 9%
- 21 8%
- 22... 0%"
-
- Appendix D - Equipment Description Table (Addition)
-
- Equipment Primary Weapon Secondary Weapon
- . . . FrontArmor
- . . . . SideArmor
- . . . . . Speed
- . . . . . . Special
-
- T-80 125mmATl HMG 37 9 22 NV SP WF SM
-
- Appendix H - Historical Forces (Addition)
-
- By popular demand, a new historical period has been
- added to the game database. Its all pretty self explanatory.
- The British, French, and Americans are similar to the forces
- used in 1991- with the inclusion of some older equipment not
- shipped to the Persian Gulf. The Russians and Ex-Pact can be
- used to create Russian civil war or Eastern European
- scenarios.
-
- 13. Tomorrow...
-
- British force characteristics:
- morale: 9, control: 9, supply: 9.
- air assets: Heavy jet/full player control.
-
- Available British units:
- Tank Plt: 3 x Challenger.
- Recce Plt: 8 x Scorpion.
- Recce Sec: 2 x Scorpion.
- Recce Plt: 8 x Scimitar.
- Recce Plt: 4 x Ferret Armd Car.
- AT Plt: 3 x Striker.
- AT Plt: 6 x Milan ATGM, 6 x FV432 APC.
- Gun Bty: 6 x 105mm Gun, 6 x Truck.
- Gun Bty: 6 x 155mm Gun, 6 x Truck.
- Gun Bty: 6 x M109 SP Gun.
- Gun Bty: 6 x M110 SP Gun.
- MRL Bty: 9 x MLRS.
- Mortar Bty: 8 x FV432/81Mr.
- Mortar Bty: 6 x 81mm Mortar, 6 x Truck.
- Gunship Sc: 2 x Lynx AH1.
- Inf Plt: 3 x Assault/B Squad, 3 x FV432 APC.
- Inf Plt: 3 x Assault/B Squad, 3 x Warrior IFV.
-
- French force characteristics:
- morale: 9, control: 9, supply: 9.
- air assets: Heavy jet/full player control.
-
- Available French units:
- Tank Plt: 3 x AMX-30.
- Tank Plt: 3 x AMX-30B2.
- Recce Plt: 3 x ERC-90.
- Recce Plt: 3 x AML-90.
- Recce Plt: 3 x AMX-10RC.
- Recce Plt: 3 x VAB APC.
- Recce Plt: 4 x Jeep.
- ATGM Bty: 2 x Milan ATGM, 2 x VAB APC.
- AA Bty: 2 x 20mm DP Gun, 2 x VAB APC.
- Gun Bty: 6 x 105mm Gun, 6 x Truck.
- Gun Bty: 6 x 155mm Gun, 6 x Truck.
- Mortar Sec: 2 x 81mm Mortar, 2 x VAB APC.
- Mortar Bty: 6 x 120mm Mortar, 6 x VAB APC.
- Inf Plt: 3 x Assault/R Squad, 3 x VAB APC.
- Inf Plt: 3 x Assault/R Squad, 3 x AMX-10 APC.
-
- American force characteristics:
- morale: 9, control: 9, supply: 9.
- air assets: Heavy jet/full player control.
-
- Available American units:
- Tank Plt: 4 x M1A1 Abrams.
- Tank Plt: 4 x M60A1.
- Tank Plt: 4 x M60A3.
- Tank Plt: 4 x M551 Sheridan.
- Recce Plt: 6 x M3 Bradley IFV.
- Recce Sec: 2 x M998 Humvee.
- AT Plt: 4 x M901-ITV.
- AA Plt: 4 x M163 SP AA.
- Gun Bty: 8 x M109 SP Gun.
- Gun Bty: 6 x M110 SP Gun.
- Gun Bty: 6 x 105mm Gun, 6 x Truck.
- Gun Bty: 6 x 155mm Gun, 6 x Truck.
- MRL Bty: 9 x MLRS.
- Mortar Sec: 2 x M125 SP Mortar.
- Mortar Bty: 6 x M125 SP Mortar.
- Gunship Sc: 2 x AH-1 Cobra, 1 x OH-58 Kiowa.
- Gunship Sc: 2 x AH-64 Apache, 1 x OH-58 Kiowa.
- AB Inf Plt: 3 x UH-60 Blackhawk, 3 x Assault/A Squad.
- AB Mtr Bty: 4 x UH-60 Blackhawk, 4 x 81mm Mortar.
- Inf Plt: 4 x Assault/A Squad, 4 x M2 Bradley IFV.
- Inf Plt: 4 x Assault Squad, 4 x M113 APC.
-
- Russian force characteristics:
- morale: 8, control: 8, supply: 9.
- air assets: Heavy jet/partial player control.
-
- Available Russian units:
- Tank Plt: 3 x T-55.
- Tank Plt: 3 x T-62.
- Tank Plt: 3 x T-64.
- Tank Plt: 3 x T-72 (early).
- Tank Plt: 3 x T-72 (late).
- Tank Plt: 3 x T-80.
- As Gun Plt: 3 x ASU-85.
- Recce Plt: 3 x PT-76.
- Recce Plt: 3 x BTR-40 Armd Car.
- Recce Plt: 3 x BRDM Armd Car.
- ATGM Bty: 3 x BRDM/Sagger.
- ATGM Bty: 2 x AT-3 Sagger, 2 x Truck.
- ATGM Bty: 2 x AT-4 Spigot, 2 x Truck.
- AT Bty: 4 x 85mm AT Gun, 4 x Truck.
- AT Bty: 3 x 100mm AT Gun, 3 x Truck.
- AT Bty: 6 x 73mm Recoilless, 6 x Truck.
- AA Bty: 4 x ZPU-4 AA Gun, 4 x Truck.
- AA Bty: 4 x ZU-23 AA Gun, 4 x Truck.
- AA Plt: 4 x ZSU-23/4.
- AA Plt: 4 x BRDM/SA-9.
- AA Plt: 4 x SA-13 Gopher.
- SP Gun Bty: 6 x 2S1 SP Gun.
- SP Gun Bty: 6 x 2S3 SP Gun.
- Gun Bty: 6 x 122mm Gun, 6 x Truck.
- Gun Bty: 6 x 130mm Gun, 6 x Truck.
- Gun Bty: 6 x 180mm Gun, 6 x Truck.
- Gun Bty: 6 x 152mm Field Gun, 6 x Truck.
- MRL Bty: 6 x BM-21 MRL.
- MRL Bty: 6 x BM-24 MRL.
- Mortar Bty: 6 x 82mm Mortar, 6 x Truck.
- Mortar Bty: 6 x 120mm Mortar, 6 x Truck.
- Inf Plt: 3 x Assault/R Squad, 3 x Truck.
- Inf Plt: 3 x Assault/R Squad, 3 x BTR-60 APC.
- Inf Plt: 3 x Assault/R Squad, 3 x BMP-1 IFV.
- AB Inf Plt: 3 x Mi-8 Hip, 3 x Assault/R Squad.
- AB Mtr Bty: 6 x Mi-8 Hip, 6 x 82mm Mortar.
- AB AT Bty: 2 x Mi-8 Hip, 2 x AT-3 Sagger.
- AB AT Sec: 2 x Mi-8 Hip, 2 x 73mm Recoilless.
-
- Ex Soviet force characteristics:
- morale: 8, control: 8, supply: 9.
- air assets: Heavy jet/partial player control.
-
- Available Ex Soviet units:
- Tank Plt: 3 x T-55.
- Tank Plt: 3 x T-62.
- Tank Plt: 3 x T-64.
- Tank Plt: 3 x T-72 (early).
- Tank Plt: 3 x T-72 (late).
- Tank Plt: 3 x T-80.
- As Gun Plt: 3 x ASU-85.
- Recce Plt: 3 x PT-76.
- Recce Plt: 3 x BTR-40 Armd Car.
- Recce Plt: 3 x BRDM Armd Car.
- ATGM Bty: 3 x BRDM/Sagger.
- ATGM Bty: 2 x AT-3 Sagger, 2 x Truck.
- ATGM Bty: 2 x AT-4 Spigot, 2 x Truck.
- AT Bty: 4 x 85mm AT Gun, 4 x Truck.
- AT Bty: 3 x 100mm AT Gun, 3 x Truck.
- AT Bty: 6 x 73mm Recoilless, 6 x Truck.
- AA Bty: 4 x ZPU-4 AA Gun, 4 x Truck.
- AA Bty: 4 x ZU-23 AA Gun, 4 x Truck.
- AA Plt: 4 x ZSU-23/4.
- AA Plt: 4 x BRDM/SA-9.
- AA Plt: 4 x SA-13 Gopher.
- SP Gun Bty: 6 x 2S1 SP Gun.
- SP Gun Bty: 6 x 2S3 SP Gun.
- Gun Bty: 6 x 122mm Gun, 6 x Truck.
- Gun Bty: 6 x 130mm Gun, 6 x Truck.
- Gun Bty: 6 x 180mm Gun, 6 x Truck.
- Gun Bty: 6 x 152mm Field Gun, 6 x Truck.
- MRL Bty: 6 x BM-21 MRL.
- MRL Bty: 6 x BM-24 MRL.
- Mortar Bty: 6 x 82mm Mortar, 6 x Truck.
- Mortar Bty: 6 x 120mm Mortar, 6 x Truck.
- Inf Plt: 3 x Assault/R Squad, 3 x Truck.
- Inf Plt: 3 x Assault/R Squad, 3 x BTR-60 APC.
- Inf Plt: 3 x Assault/R Squad, 3 x BMP-1 IFV.
- AB Inf Plt: 3 x Mi-8 Hip, 3 x Assault/R Squad.
- AB Mtr Bty: 6 x Mi-8 Hip, 6 x 82mm Mortar.
- AB AT Bty: 2 x Mi-8 Hip, 2 x AT-3 Sagger.
- AB AT Sec: 2 x Mi-8 Hip, 2 x 73mm Recoilless.
-
- VERSION 1.1 NOTES
-
- The following items have been patched to create TANKS!
- version 1.1:
-
- 1) In version 1.0, it was possible for non-fording
- transports to dismount their fording capable infantry, cross
- a stream, and re-mount (on a later turn) in their
- transports. This effectively allowed infantry to carry
- their trucks across streams... This has been changed.
- Units can now only cross streams if all assigned equipment
- types are capable of fording.
-
- 2) The effectiveness of light artillery (especially mortars)
- vs. armor has been decreased.
-
- 3) There is a new menu item in the game Info menu. The
- "Info / Combat Time Delays" item allows players to select
- from a range of time delays for displaying combat results.
-
- 4) A bug which could affect spotting in two player games has
- been fixed.
-
- 5) A bug which allowed close assaults to continue for a very
- long time in rare cases has been fixed.
-
- 6) A bug which locked the game up when creating random
- scenarios or orders of battle with "mobility 10" in some
- time periods / forces has been fixed.
-
- 7) Programmed opponent use of artillery has been improved.
-
- 8) Information on unit "static" status has been made
- available to players. Static units have an additional
- "static" indicator graphic at center right on their icon.
- In formation displays, static status is given for each unit
- in the formation. The static status is also given in
- detailed unit reports.
-
- 9) The original PC speaker sound effect used in airstrikes
- has been replaced with a digitized effect.
-
- 10) Conventional memory requirements have been relaxed a
- bit. Version 1.1 requires the following:
-
- 538K (550912 bytes) No sound
- 560K (573440 bytes) FM sounds only
- 584K (598016 bytes) Full digitized sounds
-
- Some sound cards may have slightly higher memory
- requirements.
-
- 11) In version 1.0 the editor did not fully initialize
- scenarios saved with "fixed" objective values. This could
- cause problems when the scenarios were later played.
- Scenarios saved with "fixed" values are now properly
- initialized. If you created any scenarios using fixed
- (not calculated) objective values with version 1.0, you
- should load them into the v1.1 editor and save them
- again to patch the files. Scenarios created with
- calculated objective values are unaffected.
-
- 12) Terrain is now much more effective in protecting
- units from airstrikes. Additionally, airstrikes are
- somewhat less effective against heavily armored vehicles
- than in version 1.0.
-
- 13) The number of files that the game file manager boxes
- can locate has been increased from 50 to 999.
-
- VERSION 1.11 NOTES
-
- 1) Version 1.1 introduced a bug which could freeze the
- game if a "strong" computer player encountered certain
- conditions. This has been corrected in version 1.11,
- and it is the only difference from version 1.1.
-
-
- END OF CHANGES / ADDITIONS.
-
- Norm Koger 2.0
-
- EMAIL addresses-
- GEnie: n.koger
- Internet: n.koger@genie.geis.com
- (_NO_ "attached files" please!)
-