bzflag(6)
bzflag - a tank battle game
As shipped in IRIX 6.5.5. Unchanged since IRIX 6.5.
NAME bzflag - a tank battle game SYNOPSIS bzflag [-anonymous] [-callsign callsign] [-host host-resource] [-interface interface] [-port port] [-mute] [-render render-resource] [-style style-resource] [-team {red | green | blue | purple | rogue}] [-ttl ttl] [server] DESCRIPTION is a multi-player tank battle game that allows users to play against each other in a networked environment. There are five teams: red, green, blue, purple and rogue (rogue tanks are black). Destroying a player on another team scores a win, while being destroyed or destroying a teammate scores a loss. Individual and team scores are tallied and displayed whenever you are dead or paused. Your score and your team's score are always displayed on the control panel. Rogues have no teammates (not even other rogues), so they cannot shoot teammates and they do not have a team score. There are two main styles of play: capture-the-flag and shooting- gallery. In capture-the-flag, each team (except rogues) has a team base and each team with at least one player has a team flag. The object is to capture an enemy team's flag by bringing it to your team's base. This destroys every player on the captured team and adds a bonus to your team's score. In shooting-gallery, there are no team flags or team bases. The object is simply to get as high a score as possible. Options -anonymous Uses the email address anonymous instead of username@hostname. -callsign callsign Uses callsign as the player's callsign. By default, the callsign is the value of the BZID environment variable. If BZID is empty or undefined and a callsign is not supplied, bzflag will prompt for one. -host host-resource Uses the host resource host-resource from the .bzflagrc resource file. -interface interface Communicate with other players over interface. Communication is via multicast. -mute Disables sound. -port port Connect to server on port instead of the default. The server must be listening on this port. -render render-resource Uses the render resource render-resource from the .bzflagrc resource file. The default is to use the result of glGetString(GL_RENDERER). -style style-resource Uses the style resource style-resource from the .bzflagrc resource file. -team team-name Chooses the player's team. -ttl time-to-live Sets the maximum time-to-live of the interplayer multicast packets. -version Prints the version number of the executable. server Specifies the host running the bzfs server. Multiple independent games can be run on a single network. Which server you choose decides which game you enter. CONTROLS Tanks are controlled by moving the mouse within the large yellow box in the main view. When the mouse is inside the small yellow box, the tank is motionless. The large box is the limit of the tank's speed. Shots are fired by pressing the left mouse button. The type of shot fired depends on what flag the tank has. Normal shots last about 3.5 seconds. Reloading also takes 3.5 seconds for normal shots. Pressing the middle mouse button drops a flag. Nothing will happen if the tank has no flag or is not allowed to drop the flag for some reason (e.g. it's a bad flag). Flags are picked up by driving over them. A dropped flag gets tossed straight up; it falls to the ground in about 3 seconds. Pressing the right mouse button identifies the closest player centered in the view. If the tank has the guided missile super-flag, this will also lock the missile on target. However, the target must be carefully centered for the missile to lock. When the server allows jumping or if the tank has the jumping flag, the Tab key jumps. Tanks can jump onto buildings, however there is no way to shoot downward (or upward) with a regular shot. The guided missile and the shock wave are two ways of destroying a tank on a building. The current radar range can be changed by pressing the 1, 2, or 3 keys above the alphabetic keys for low, medium, and long range, respectively. Online help is available at all times. The h key toggles the help display, which lists all the controls. In addition, the f key toggles the flag help display, which describes the flag in the tank's possession. Displaying help does pause the game. The p key pauses and resumes play. When paused, the tank cannot be destroyed nor can it's shots destroy other players. The reload countdown is suspended and the radar and view blanked when paused. A paused tank has a transparent black sphere surrounding it. The b key toggles binoculars. The t key toggles the frame rate display. The Esc key quits the game. The time of day can be changed with the plus and minus keys, which advance and reverse the time by 5 minutes, respectively. Also, the [ and ] keys advance and reverse the time by 5 seconds, respectively. The time of day in the game is initialized to the system's clock. In addition, the system's latitude and longitude (as specified in the resource file) are used to calculate the sun and moon positions. These positions is accurately computed for any time of day, any day of the year, anywhere on the globe. TELEPORTERS The server can be configured to place teleporters in the game. A teleporter is a tall black transparent object that instantaneously moves any object (tanks and shots) passing through it to some other teleporter. The teleporter connections are fixed for the entire game. In the capture-the-flag style the connections are always the same. In the shooting gallery the connections are random and reversable (going back through where you come out puts you back where you started). Each side of a teleporter teleports independently of the other side. However, it's possible for each side to go to the other. This is a through teleporter and it's almost as if it weren't there. It's also possible for a side to teleport to itself. This is a reverse teleporter. Shooting at a reverse teleporter is likely to be self-destructive. Shooting a laser at a reverse teleporter is invariably fatal. RADAR The radar is displayed on the left side of the control panel. It provides a satellite view of the game. Buildings and the outer wall are light blue. Team bases are outlined squares in the team colors. Teleporters are short yellow lines. Tanks are dots the in the tank's team color, except for rogues which are yellow. Flags are small crosses. Team flags have the team color while super-flags are white. Shots are small white dots. The tank always appears in the center of the radar and the radar display rotates with the tank so that forward is always up. There's a small tick mark indicating forward. North is indicated by the letter N. FLAGS Team flags are supplied by the server in the capture-the-flag style game. While at least one player is on a team, that team's flag is in the game. When captured, the flag is returned to the team's base. If the flag is dropped in a Bad Place, it is moved to a safety position. Bad Places are: on top of a building or on an enemy team base. The flag can be dropped on a team base only by a player from a third team; for example, when a blue player drops the red flag on the green base. A team flag is captured when a tank takes an enemy flag onto its base or when a tank takes its flag onto an enemy base (even if there's no one playing on that team). The server can be configured to supply a fixed or random set of super- flags. These flags are white and come in many flavors. However, you cannot tell what a super-flag is until it's picked up. There are two broad catagories of super-flags: good and bad. Good super-flags may be dropped and will remain for up to 4 possessions. Bad super-flags are sticky -- in general, they cannot be dropped. The server may provide a yellow antidote flag. Driving over it will release the bad flag. The server may also allow a timeout and/or a number of wins to shake the flag. Scoring the required number of wins, surviving the required amount of time or being destroyed will automatically drop the flag. Bad flags disappear after the first possession. A brief description of each good superflag with the flag's code in parentheses: High Speed (V) Boosts top speed by 50%. Quick Turn (A) Boosts turn rate by 50%. Oscillation Overthruster (OO) Lets the tank go through buildings. You cannot back up in or into a building, nor can you shoot while inside. Rapid File (F) Increase shot speed and decreases range and reload delay. Machine Gun (MG) Increases shot speed and dramatically decreases range and reload delay. Guided Missile (GM) Shots guides itself when locked on. The missile can be retargeted at any time during its flight (with the right mouse button). This allows the player some control over the missile's steering. Laser (L) Shoots a laser, with effectively infinite speed and range. Just point and shoot. The binoculars are handy for lining up distant targets. The downside (you knew it was coming) is that the reload time is doubled. RicochetFlag (R) Shots reflect off walls. It is exceptionally easy to kill yourself with this flag. Super Bullet (SB) Shots can go through buildings (possibly destroying a tank with the oscillation overthruster flag) and can also destroy (phantom) zoned tanks. Stealth (ST) Tank becomes invisible on radar but is still visible out-the-window. Invisible Bullet (IB) Shots are invisible on radar (except your own). They are visible out- the-window. Sort of stealth for shots. Tiny (T) Tank becomes much smaller and harder to hit. Narrow (N) Tank becomes paper thin. It's very hard (but not impossible) to hit a narrow tank from the front or back. However, the tank is just as long as ever so hitting it from the side has the same difficulty. Shield (SH) Getting shot while in possession of this flag simply drops the flag (instead of destroying the tank). Since the flag may not disappear you may want to wait around for it to fall to the ground so you can grab it again, but, be warned, the shield flag flies for an extra long time. Steamroller (SR) Tank can destroy other tanks by driving over them (but you must get quite close). Shock Wave (SW) Tank doesn't fire shells. Instead it sends out a shock wave in all directions. Any tank caught in the wave is destroyed (including tanks on or in buildings but excluding phantom zoned tanks). Phantom Zone (PZ) Driving through a teleporter phantom zones the tank. A zoned tank cannot shoot, but can drive through buildings and cannot be destroyed except by a Super Bullet (or if the team's flag is captured). Genocide (G) Destroying any tank on a team destroys every player on that team. Jumping (JP) Allows the tank to jump. You cannot steer while in the air. Identify (ID) Displays the identity of the closest flag in the vicinity. A brief description of each bad superflag with the flag's code in parentheses: Colorblindness (CB) Prevents tank from seeing any team information about other tanks. You have to be careful to avoid shooting teammates. Obesity (O) The tank becomes very large and easy to hit. It's so big that it can't fit through teleporters. Left Turn Only (<-) Prevents the tank from turning right. Right Turn Only (->) Prevents the tank from turning left. Momentum (M) Gives the tank a lot of inertia. Blindness (B) Blanks the out-the-window view. The radar still works. It is effectively impossible to detect any tank with Stealth; shooting a Stealth with Blindness is the stuff legends are made of. Jamming (JM) Disables the radar but you can still see. Wide Angle (WA) Gives the tank a fish eye lens that's rather disorienting. FILES ./.bzflagrc $HOME/.bzflagrc /usr/demos/General_Demos/bzflag/data/bzflagrc Defines named resources for hosts, game styles, and graphics systems. SEE ALSO bzfs(6), bzflagrc(6) AUTHOR Chris Schoeneman, Winner of the Best Reality Engine Category for IndiZone3