truckwarshelp

TruckWars is a simple, Silverlight, real-time strategy game. It was intended to be educational by letting the user play with a system of interacting objects.

Goal

The goal is simply to push all the green "PushButtons" down. The buttons vary - some buttons need to be hit just once, others will just pop back up and therefore need a unit to stay on top of them to keep them pushed down. Once all buttons are pushed down, you progress to the next level. Your progress (i.e. the top level you've reached) is saved on the client machine. However, you can always click the "Reset Game" to clear any saved data. You can load up previously-solved levels.

How to control units

Because Silverlight only has a left click (as opposed two buttons), controlling multiple units is a little different than normal real-time strategy games.

• Select a unit - simply click it. A selected unit has a box around it, and shows up in the bottom of the screen on the "dashboard". You can select enemy or neutral units too.
• Move a unit - drag and drop it.
• Attack another unit - move (drag and drop) one of your units to the location of another unit.

The game is context-sensitive. If you drag one of your units to an open space, it assumes you want to move there, but if you drag a unit to an occupied space, it assumes you want to attack it.

Hit SPACEBAR to pause the game.

Hit 'A' or double click the mouse to drop an object (currently only applicable to the pickup truck who can carry objects)

Teams

There are three teams:

• Hero - The units that you control. These units are usually green.
• Neutral - miscellaneous objects in the game that are neither good nor bad. The neutral team does not deliberately try to hurt you. These units can be many different colors.
• Enemy - The enemy team that is specifically trying to destroy your units. These units are usually red.

Creatures and Objects

The TruckWars engine supports a variety of creatures and objects. While this list will grow, here is the list for the current release.

	Tank		An offensive, medium ranged, attacking unit. Tanks are slow.
	Ambulance		A fast, smaller, unit. Ambulances heal surrounding units on your team.
	PickupTruck		A truck that can carry other objects, like keys.
	PushButton		You solve the level by keeping all the PushButtons down. The buttons vary - some simply need to be hit once, but others pop right back up and therefore need a unit to stay and weigh them down. Some PushButtons even need to first be unlocked with a key. Any unit or object can hit a PushButton (which you can use to your advantage).
	Sign		Hit the sign and a message (usually a hint) pops up.
	Crate		Crates can be pushed around. They're also useful as shields from enemy fire, and can hold a PushButton down.
	Key		Have a Pickup Truck touch the key to pick it up. Keys can unlock things, like certain types of PushButtons.
	FireBall		A projectile fired by tanks (and potentially other units). Fireballs can destroy other fireballs. They can also hit PushButtons.
	Bomb		This bomb is like a land mine and inflict heavy damage. You can destroy it by pushing an object (like a crate or a tank) over it. Projectiles are useless against it, and will hover right over it.
	Sentry Brick		An indestructible brick that bounces back and forth. It changes direction whenever it hits a stop block. Bricks will crush anything in their way (including enemy creatures).
	Rock Blob		Rock Blobs start out small, but can grow larger (if there's space), and eventually sprout other blobs. A single blob can grow into an entire cluster. When a blob is done growing and sprouting, it changes to a dark color.
	Cracked Block		A cracked stop-block that you can destroy.

PowerUps

PowerUps grant special one-time benefits to the unit that touches them.

	Faster Fire		A powerup that makes your units attack faster, making them more powerful. For example, this would make a tank fire faster, or an ambulance heal faster. Be aware that enemy units can use power-ups too, so try to get them before the enemy does. Ambulances cannot heal themselves.
	Thrust		This doubles your unit's thrust (which should increase its speed).
	Bounce		Move your unit over this powerup to make all your projectiles bounce off walls. Only ranged units benefit from this powerup.
	Clone		This powerup will clone the unit that touches it, giving you a new unit. The new unit will not have the powerups of the old one.
	Health		This powerup gives +50 health points. This only repairs damage; it is useless to a perfectly health unit.

Blocks

The game board consists of blocks.

	Open Tile		Simply an open tile.
	Grass		Another open space.
	Path		Just like an open path that any unit can travel over.
	Stop Block		A block that no unit (except flying units) can pass through. Tanks, fireballs, crates, and almost everything else cannot move through a stop block.
	Blue Stone		Another kind of stop-block
	Water		Grounded units (like tanks) cannot pass through water - but hovering or flying units can - such as fireballs. Use pools of water in your attacking strategy.

Strategy and Tips

As objects can interact with each other in various ways, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. TruckWars has similar strategy to other Real-Time-Strategy games. Here are some tips:

• Coordinate your units to work as a team. Have all your attacking units strike at the same enemy.
• You can move multiple units. When you drag an object to move it, a blue flag indicates the target where that object will move too.
• Take advantage of neutral objects. A Crate can be used as a shield to block enemy fire, or even hinder the movement of other neutral creatures.
• Use the board - you can fire across water, use stop blocks as impenetrable walls and lure enemies into inconvenient situations.

Feel free to send comments to Tim Stall's blog, or leave a comment on any blog post.