Artillery Duel

two player artillery game for Commodore 64, 1983

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SCENARIO

You're the officer in command of a
mighty military battle. Your heavy
artillery is in place. You sight the
enemy. Set your trajectory and
firepower, compensating for the wind.
And fire! A near miss ? Remember your
wind speed and gauge where the shot
landed, so you can correct for the next
one. But your opponent gets off a round
first. Did you survive ? Will your next
shot be on the mark ? If so, you win the
battle, but not the war. The landscape
and the placement of your gun changes,
and the battle begins again.

A two player game of skill and strategy
as you try to knock out your enemy's gun
emplacement, new random terrains in each
battle!

GAME INSTRUCTIONS

You are in charge of an artillery gun
emplacement set in a rugged mountain
terrain. Your enemy's gun emplacement
is set across the hills in another
strategic location, and it is your task
to knock out the enemy before he is able
to destroy you. You must take into
account distance, gun placement relative
to terrain, wind direction, and wind
speed as you mount your assault. You can
control the amount of powder and barrel
angle for each shot fired as you zero in
on your opponent. Before you can fire
again, your enemy will get off a round,
so make each shot count!

GET READY TO PLAY ARTILLERY DUEL

Artillery Duel is a two player game, so
player #1 use the left joystick (Port 1)
and player #2 use the right (Port 2).

There are 3 player skill levels which
are independent of each other, so each
player may choose to be a Private,
Captain or a General.

ARTILLERY DUEL VIDEO GAME

As the officer in charge of an artillery
gun emplacement, you must square off for
an exciting duel of skill and action as
you plan and coordinate the destruction
of your opponent. Check the wind, make
critical adjustments of barrel angle and
powder charge, and fire! Random terrains
and gun placement ensure that every
battle is different. Start off as a
Private and as your skill in measuring
the effects of wind and shot adjustment
increases, you can promote yourself to
Captain and eventually all the way
to General. But when you get your
promotions you will have to make
progressively faster assessments of the
situation as you zero in on your enemy!

1.OBJECT OF THE GAME:

Destroy the opposing artillery gun
emplacement before he destroys you.
Predetermine between you and your
opponent how many battles you are going
to play in your way (i.e. first player
to destroy five gun placements).

2.CONTROLS:

Joystick controls which instrument is to
be adjusted (move flashing indicator
left or right) and the amount of barrel
angle (up or down) and the amount of
powder (up or down) used for each shot.
The Fire button at the right side on the
panel fires your gun.

3.SCORE DISPLAY:

At the end of each battle, a cumulative
score of the number of gun emplacements
which both you and your opponent have
knocked out will be displayed on each
side in your continuing series of
battles to win the war.

4.SKILL LEVELS:

You have three skill levels, Private,
Captain and General. Each player
selects the level that they wish to play
before the start of the first battle.
The levels will remain in effect until
the end of the war.

5.SCORING:

After each hit a damage report will show
on the screen. When you have damaged
more than 50% of your enemy, his gun
emplacement will explode and a recap
of the scoring will be shown.

GAME LAYOUT

The randomly created alpine terrain and
gun emplacements will be new every time
you play the game, so no two games will
ever be the same!

OPENING SCREEN:

When you first turn on the game, a menu
with 3 ranks (difficulty levels) will
appear on screen. Move the joystick UP
or DOWN to choose rank and press the
FIRE BUTTON to lock selected rank.
Player #1 selects first, then player #2.
The game starts after player #2 selected
a rank.

ARTILLERY DUEL - THE BATTLE:

An alpine terrain will appear and two
gun emplacements will be located to
defend their territory. In each battle
of the war, the terrain and gun
locations will be different, so you
never fight the same battle twice.
Across the top of the scene a banner of
instruments show the player in control
(the flashing number under player).
Barrel angle, Powder level, and Wind
speed with flag for wind direction. The
player in control makes his adjustments
by using the JOYSTICK to move control
(flashing indicator) from Barrel to
Powder to Fire instruments. To increase
Barrel angle PUSH UP, or to decrease
angle PULL DOWN. You also control the
amount of the Powder charge the same
way. When you have made the correct
adjustments, move control to Fire and
press the FIRE BUTTON to fire your gun.

There is an automatic shot countdown
below the T.V. sight monitor in the
instrument panel, and you must make your
adjustments prior to reading "0" or
your gun will automatically fire. Once
you have fired control goes over to your
opponent.

Shots falling short or long of your
target explode, but you only score by a
direct hit. Wind speed and direction may
change between shots so you must take
this into account when adjusting your
gun as you zero in on your target. When
one gun is finally destroyed, a group of
your infantry soldiers will march on
to the field of battle to a military
drum beat to indicate which side has
control of the territory. When you have
destroyed your opponent, a score display
will show you the number of shots,
number of hits, and battle score to
date in your war.

PLAY ACTION - PRIVATE LEVEL:

Adjust powder level and barrel angle
using the joystick. Take into account
your previous shot's point of impact and
the wind in making your adjustments.

You will have 60 seconds to set up your
shot before the automatic firing
mechanism takes over. The on-screen
clock tells you how many seconds you
have to make your calculations. When you
are ready, highlight Fire on the panel
and press fire button to fire. The game
will continue until one player has
destroyed the opponent's emplacement.

PLAY ACTION - CAPTAIN & GENERAL LEVELS:

You will still have all the variables
(wind direction and speed, barrel angle,
powder level and terrain) that you had
in the Private level, but as your rank
increases you will have less time (30
seconds for Captain and only 15 seconds
for General) to make your adjustment
decisions. The wind variations will also
increase between shots, and your shots
must be more accurate to destroy your
opponent. Part of the challenge of being
a captain or general is that you have
less time to react to make the proper
decisions. Assess the situation and
rapidly decide what changes in your
barrel angle and/or amount of powder
will give your shot the proper
trajectory to hit your target. You must
always try to remember where your shot
landed on the previous attempt and what
the wind direction and wind speed were.
This way when it is your turn again you
can estimate which adjustment will be
best under the particular conditions.

STRATEGIES FOR WINNING THE BATTLE:

When you first start a battle, test fire
a shot based on your past experiences to
see how gravity and wind are affecting
your shot. Each game has slightly
gravity and wind force changes to
prevent an experienced player from
"memorizing" shot distances and
trajectories (angles that the shots make
at different barrel angles). Therefore
the first shot is very important. Watch
the opponent's shot as well, for you can
learn from how his adjustments affect
his shots to make yours more effective.

The higher you point your barrel the
steeper the angle of your shot will be.
This is good for getting at a gun
emplacement nestled in a valley or
behind a mountain, but high angle shots
are more affected by the wind. (Note:
about one increment of powder is equal
to 2 MPH of wind change at 60 degree of
barrel angle). This changes slightly
with each new game.

As a last resort, use verbal exchanges
and bad advice to distract and confuse
your enemy. This is called "counter
intelligence" and is often used by
real military forces to supply false
information to the enemy for their
advantage.

PLAY IT AGAIN:

After you have fought your battle and
either you or your opponent has won,
your score display will recap the number
of hits and emplacements knocked out so
far in your continuing war. A new
terrain will be drawn for a new battle
when the marching scenario ends.

ARTILLERY DUEL - INSTRUCTION SUMMARY

On your screen will appear an alpine
terrain with hills, valleys and
snowcapped mountains. Terrain will
change with each new battle. Two
artillery guns face each other on each
side. The player whose number (1 or 2)
is in the instrument panel has control
(his gun flashes). Winning any battle
takes cunning and quick decision
making. Artillery Duel has a number of
instruments in which to help you make
correct calculations to win a battle
and finally win the war.

At the top of your screen is your
instrument panel. At the left is your
Barrel angle indicator. To the right
of Barrel is your countdown, your Powder
charge indicator and Fire control. To
the right of this is your Wind speed
indicator and a flag of wind direction.

When a new round of firing begins you
will first want to determine wind speed
and wind direction. You will have 60
seconds for Private, 30 seconds for
Captain, and 15 seconds for General to
make the correct adjustments before
firing. By moving your joystick right
or left you will guide the flashing
indicator to the instrument you wish
to make adjustments to.

BARREL ANGLE:

Push up your joystick to increase (+5)
the barrel angle and down on the
joystick to decrease (-5) the angle.

POWDER LEVEL:

To increase (+1) the powder charge used
in a shot push up on your joystick. Pull
down on your joystick to decrease (-1)
your powder level.

WIND SPEED/DIRECTION:

The wind instrument indicates wind speed
in MPH. Watch the little flag or the
movement of the clouds to determine wind
direction.

SHOT COUNTDOWN:

The number displayed at he bottom center
of the screen indicates the number of
seconds remaining before you must fire
60 seconds for Private, 30 seconds for
Captain, and only 15 seconds for
General.

Once the correct calculations have been
made you should fire your gun. After
your shot countdown has expired your gun
will automatically fire. Firing will
continue until one of the artillery guns
is destroyed. When a battle is won,
infantry soldiers marching to a military
drumbeat will announce which side has
control of the territory. The war
continues with new terrain and new
challenges.

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Some useful keyboard shortcuts
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       [PAUSE] - stop/continue game
          [F9] - quick load game state
         [F12] - quick save game state (still stored after leaving the site)
         [F11] - toggle fullscreen mode
  [ScrollLock] - quick switch control ports
    [PageDown] - make a screenshot (320x200)