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Armagetron Advanced

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Armagetron Advanced
Armagetron Advanced icon
Developer(s)Armagetronad.net
Publisher(s)Armagetronad.net
Platform(s)Cross-platform
Genre(s)3D online multiplayer game, arcade
Mode(s)multiplayer, single player

Armagetron Advanced is a multiplayer game in 3D that attempts to emulate and expand on the light cycle sequence from the movie Tron.[1]

Armagetron Advanced is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, Linux and OpenBSD. Released under version 2 of the GNU General Public License, Armagetron Advanced is free software.

Playing the game

Armagetron Advanced running in windowed mode.

Two or more players are represented by dual-wheeled motor vehicles, or light cycles, in a grid-lined arena. The vehicles constantly move forward, leaving a coloured trail behind them as they travel. Contact with either the arena walls or a trail left by a player will result in death and elimination from the battle. Therefore, players attempt to "box" each other in in order to force their opponents to touch their trail or one of the arena walls. Players can change the direction of movement, by turning 90 degrees to the left or right (though in some servers the axes is more than four, making it possible to turn in 45 degrees, 180 degress, or none at all).

The closer a player is to a coloured trail, the faster his or her cycle will move. This allows players to accelerate and use the resulting speed advantage to outmaneuver their opponents. Players are able to use a brake - the 'v' key by default - to slow down, however the effectiveness of the brake varies from server to server. Some servers even implement a 'speed brake', which turns the brake key into an accelerator.

Game settings

Armagetron Advanced allows for a high level of configuration, however these settings are most common:

  • Points are given for core dumping an opponent. A core dump implies that the enemy has touched your wall. Points are also given for being the last player in the arena.
  • The cycle will accelerate if it is being driven closer to the trails.
  • A player wins the match when he surpasses a set score limit, the maximum number of rounds is surpassed, or a time limit is reached.

In the command console, you can reach the advanced level of configuration in singleplayer games. Popular commands include editing the length of cycle walls, brakes, color, and acceleration; arena size and speed can also be accessed from the preferences menu. For a list of commands, go to their website. Some commands are more tricky to find, encouraging experimentation for the curious mind.

The most important setting currently in most Armagetron Adavnced servers is rubber. Rubber in this game is the setting telling the player how much more they can hit the wall and still be alive. In older days, rubber was used to deal with lag, which is a crucial problem in all online games. Now rubber is used to play different game modes such as Sumo, Capture The Flag, and High Rubber. Generally, in most servers, rubber recovers over time.

Game modes

Several game modes exist:

  • Team Gauntlet: Two teams compete with each other on various generated maps.
    • Wild Fortress: Objective is to conquer the opponents' zone while defending yours.
  • Rotation: Two teams compete on various game modes.
  • Death Match: Last man standing.
    • No Rubber (NR): Played with no or one rubber.
    • Low Rubber (LR): Played with an average of five to ten rubber.
    • Medium Rubber (MR): Played with an average of ten to fifteen rubber.
    • High Rubber (HR): Played with an average of fifteen to thirty rubber. And a speed of about 20-40
    • Dog Fight (DF): Currently it is a mode that consists of slow bikes and medium rubber (around 10). In most DF servers, theres are rules to trapping your opponent that is widely accepted throughout the armagetron advanced community, but is not completely defined. Yet you may not trap you opponent using a seal or stab.
  • Team Death Match: Cooperate with teammates.
  • Fortress: Capture the enemy base. This game can be played with teams or death match style.
  • Sumo: The object is to stay in a zone while trying to force the opponent out.
  • Race: Race to the win zone at the end of the map.
  • Maze: Find a path to the win zone.
  • Sty Patch (formerly Pig Sty):
    • Shooting: A team death match where the object is to try to shoot the other team's players with death zones.
    • StyBall: A team match where the object is to score a goal by pushing the ball zone into the goal zone. (quite similar to football)
    • Capture the Flag (CTF): Capture the opponents' flag. Players are respawned if they are dead and a player (ally or opponent) touches the base on the respective side.
    • Capture The Flag Shooting (CTFS): Capture the opponents' flag while shooting. Players are respawned if they are dead and a player (ally or opponent) touches the base on the respective side.
    • Flag Fortress (FF): A fortress game with fortress physics with the objective being to capture the opponents flag. Players are respawned if they are dead and a player (ally or opponent) touches the base with the respective color.

Online

Armagetron Advanced has a large and lively online community. There are numerous servers[2] available, some only to those with particular versions of the Armagetronad client. Online gameplay offers people from around the world to play and talk.

The Armagetron Advanced client can be used to host servers for internet play and LAN. However, 'dedicated servers' are more popular for internet servers. Many Armagetron Advanced players form clans that participate in clan wars and tourneys.

A Large Ambitious 1,048,576 player tournament in the game style fortress, named the TRONIC Cup, is scheduled to occur in a future.

A short history

  • 2000: Walls, a prototype for Armagetron is released for Linux and Windows.
  • 2001-2003: Armagetron is released and actively developed.
  • 2003: A Mac OS X port created by Ben Hines is released.
  • 2003: The author, Z-man, halts development and breaks communication channels. The Master Server Browser, used to connect to internet games, continues to run.
  • 2004: A group of developers fork Armagetron and create Armagetron Advanced.
  • 2007: Included in Fedora Core under the name Armacycles Advanced.[3]
  • Present Day: Development continues.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Armagetron advanced website". Retrieved 2007-05-26.
  2. ^ "Server List".
  3. ^ Jon Ciesla. "Bugzilla Bug 251529: Review Request: armacycles-ad - A lightcycle game in 3D". bugzilla.redhat.com. Retrieved 2007-09-30.

References

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