BMUG PD-ROM B4/PD-ROM B4.iso/Entertainment/Strategy/Bolo/Bolo Utilities/Alt.NetgamesBolo FAQ

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Subject: FAQ: alt.netgames.bolo
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From: Cory L. Scott <[e-mail]>
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1993 18:38:38 GMT
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Archive-name: games/bolo-faq
Last-modified: 1993/09/01
Version: 1.2

alt.netgames.bolo Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Version 1.2 --- September 1, 1993
Compiled and maintained by Cory L. Scott (aka Kimboho)
([e-mail])
This file is meant to displayed in good ol' Monaco 9 point.
You are strongly encouraged to read this FAQ before posting to a.n.b.
If you have any questions or comments about this FAQ, please email
[e-mail]. Thanks!
This FAQ will be posted twice a month.


First off, what is Bolo?
------------------------
Let's let the author do the talking:

"Bolo is a 16 player graphical networked real-time multi-player tank
battle game. It has elements of arcade-style shoot-em-up action, but
for the serious players who play 12 hour games with 16 players
working in teams in different networked computer clusters around
an office or university campus, it becomes more of a strategy game.
You have to play it to understand." --- Stuart Cheshire

How do you play Bolo?
---------------------
Bolo has a large amount of options and elements to its play. Once you
get a copy of the program, you should read and print out the
documentation, which is much more detailed than this explanation.
Basically, you are a tank that travels around a map, which has trees,
rubble, water, trees, deep water, walls, grass, swamps, and roads.
Your tank has ammo (commonly called bullets or shells), mines,
armor (also called shields, and the capacity to carry trees. The map
is created by a  player beforehand. The two most important elements on
the map are pillboxes and bases.
Pillboxes are originally neutral, meaning that they shoot at
every tank that happens to get in its range. They shoot
fast and with deadly accuracy. You can shoot the pillbox with your
tank, and you can see how damaged it is by looking at it. Once the
pillbox is subdued, you may run over it, which will pick it up. You
may place the pillbox where you want to put it (where it is clear), if
you have enough trees to build it back up. Trees are harvested by
sending your man outside your tank to forest the trees. Your man
(also called a builder) can also lay mines, build roads, and build
walls. Once you have placed a pillbox, it will not shoot at you, but
only your enemies. Therefore, pillboxes are often used to protect
your bases. Bases are used for refueling your tank. Like pillboxes,
they start out neutral, meaning that anyone can run over them, and
they will belong to that player. Bases cannot be moved. You can take
over a base by shooting it. Therefore, Bolo becomes exciting when
you have 3 or more people fighting for control of pillboxes and bases,
traveling around the map, and shooting each other. You can also form
alliances with other players for team play. Again, this FAQ doesn't
exist to teach you the basics of how to play the game. That's what the
documentation is for.

What's the current version of Bolo?
-----------------------------------
The current version of Bolo is 0.99.2.

What kind of stuff do I need to play Bolo?
------------------------------------------
Bolo is only available for the Macintosh. Stuart Cheshire, the author,
has made it very clear that he will not port Bolo to DOS or Windows
machines. There's rumors of a port to X-Windows, but don't count on
it anytime soon. Mac emulators for other platforms have had limited
success, but none have been able to play network games.
Bolo can be played on any Mac. Its preferred memory size is 1,100 K,
but you can cut that down by turning off the sound effects. A color
monitor is not necessary, but often useful.
Unless you want to play by yourself, you need to be connected to
some kind of network. You can play Bolo over an Appletalk network
or over the Internet, if your machine is directly connected to the net
and is running MacTCP, which is the standard way of how Macs talk
over the Internet. If you're using a high-speed modem, you can play
with your friend via Appletalk Remote Access. SLIP connections to
the Internet are not recommended, since a direct Internet connection
is so much faster, and Bolo works by forming a ring of networked
Macs where one player sends the game packets to a neighbor, who
sends packets to the next neighbor on the ring, and so on. Therefore,
the rest of the players of the game will be waiting on your slow
modem connection, which is commonly called lag. Also, note that Bolo
is not a client-server system, which is a common misconception.
Instead, Bolo creates a ring out of the Macs, using either DDP on
AppleTalk or UDP over the Internet.  When a new player joins, Bolo
sends a packet to each machine in the game to figure out the delay
between it and all Macs, then it adds itself into the ring in such a
way as to minimize the total time around the ring. (Thanks to Peter
Lewis for that final explanation.)

However, if you're totally isolated and/or have no friends, there is a
small bit of hope. See the section on "Brains."

Can I play AppleTalk Bolo with ARA?
-----------------------------------
Not with the latest version. The author explains:
------
My understanding is this (but I don't have a modem, or ARA, to test it):

ARA messes with network numbers when packets go through the 'gateway'
machine, in some way that is not documented in the tech notes. When Bolo
games pass network addresses to each other, as they have to, this
automatic translation is not done (the ARA gateway has no way of knowing
that four of the bytes in the middle of the data packet are actually a
network address).

Bolo 0.98 did not do any sweep of the ring to find the optimum place to
insert, and consequently it was possible for it to 'get lucky' in some
situations, and still work despite the ARA address translation (but I
wouldn't guarantee it to stay up if the wrong person quit).

Bolo 0.99 always does three sweeps of the ring ('pinging' each machine)
to find the best place to join, and consequently it ALWAYS falls into
ARA's trap.
-----

Okay, now that you know about Bolo, where can you get it?
---------------------------------------------------------
You can find the bolo package at the usual suspect FTP sites for Mac
software, such as sumex-aim.stanford.edu or mac.archive.umich.edu.
Don't ask if someone can mail it to you. It's easily available. You can
gopher or anon ftp it at bolo.stanford.edu, depending on Stuart's
whims and the availability of his machine. As well, you can get it at bolo
archive sites such as saloon.falconmicro.com or aurora.alaska.edu. Some of
these sites also carry older versions of Bolo.

For example, you can get bolo-0992.hqx by anonymous ftp at sumex-
aim.stanford.edu in the directory /info-mac/game/bolo.

Internet Bolo sounds neat! How can I play, find a game, etc.?
-------------------------------------------------------------
As mentioned before, you need to have a Macintosh running Bolo
0.99.2, with a direct connection to the Internet with MacTCP
installed. Therefore, if you can telnet, gopher, ftp, or check your mail
directly with your Mac, you can play Internet Bolo. Just check
UDP/IP in the first dialog box, type in the IP address of another Mac
playing Bolo, and go!

Here's a summary of the various known ways of accessing the Internet
directly:

1. A Mac with MacTCP installed connected via an ethernet card to a
network that has a direct connection to the Internet.

2. A Mac with MacTCP installed connected via a LocalTalk connection to
a network that has a direct connection to the Internet. The router must
be able to assign IP numbers.

3. A Mac with MacTCP installed connected via a SLIP/PPP connection to
a machine on the Internet. This, due to modem speed, is very slow, and
is not recommended, except if you're playing with one or two other SLIP
players.

4. A Mac with MacTCP installed connected via Appletalk Remote Access to
another Mac connected to the Internet. You have to set your configuration
to either Ethertalk or LocalTalk in MacTCP, and have a router on the other
end be able to assign IP numbers. This, also, is very slow and not recommended,
unless you're playing with one or two other ARA/Internet players.

Remember, the proper port to use is 50000.

To find an Internet game, there are various ways to do it. There is a
BoloTracker, set up by Mike Ellis, out there that gets and gives
information about Internet games in progress. For example, if you
start a new game, there's an option to select whether or not the
BoloTracker will be notified. If it is, your IP address and other vital
information, such as the map's name, number of pills and neutral
pills, number of players, etc., will be sent to the Tracker. This
information will be updated throughout the game and made
available to folks who wish to examine it. If you want to see what
games the BoloTracker has registered, just telnet to gwis.circ.gwu.edu
1234. It will give you all the info. you need.

There is also a program called Bolo Finder, by Peter Lewis, which will
telnet to the BoloTracker itself and display the pertinent information.
You can get it at mac.archive.umich.edu, in the directory
/mac/game/war/bolo/tracker.

You can also organize games and discuss strategy with folks on the
IRC channel #bolo.

Now, before you go off "Bolo-Tracking" and start randomly joining
games, THINK. If you're in France, and the game is Australia, and you
join, you'll cause massive lag, destroying the game for everyone.

Some suggested joining guidelines follow:
 * If there are more than 6 players in a game... stay out.

 * If there are more than 4 players and no bases free... stay out.

 * If there are 2 or more people from outside the country stay out.

 * If you get the "Network Delay too long" error... stay out. Don't
repeatedly try to join.

 * Most importantly... if someone asks you to leave (esp. if there are
no free bases), then it is common courtesy to leave.

Also, while you're joining, check the Network Info box. If you see a
massive amount of "Recovering" or "Active/Passive Restart" or
"Failed" and a total ring delay over 325, then quit, before you
destroy the entire game. (Yes, we know it will hang your Mac for an
indefinite matter of time. That will be hopefully fixed in the next release.)

Remember, if someone asks you to leave - LEAVE. There are plenty
of games out there.

I connect to the Internet via modem, and use telnet and ftp with good speed,
but when I play Internet Bolo, it's just TOO slow. What's up?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stuart Cheshire speaks:

I don't know much about modems (as you probably know, I don't have a modem,
I have Ethernet...) but I believe some of these modems try to be 'helpful'
by compressing your data for you. To do this, they have to hold your data
until they have enough to compress. Bolo doesn't really send enough data
to be worth compressing, so the modem holds what it has for half a second
while waiting to see how much more is coming. After half a second it realizes
that no more is coming, and then sends it. This does not help net lag.

Turn off all your modem's compression and error correction features, and Bolo
will work much better.


What's this about an email player list?
---------------------------------------

Al Boulley <[e-mail]> is administrating a player list,
so you can set up games with folks in your skill level and area. Here is
the necessary form that needs to be filled out and sent to Al. His comments
follow.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bolo Name:       IXOHOXI
Real Name:       Al Boulley
E-Mail Address:  32DD3BN @ CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU
Play Location:   Mt. Pleasant, Michigan
Play Time:       Evening - late night
Experience:      Over 6 months
Skill Level:     4   (1-Newbie 2-Novice 3-Average 4-Good 5-Expert)
Bolo Friends:    4
Update Policy:   1   (1-Per new player 2-Weekly 3-Monthly 4-Other)
Comments:        Guy(tm) is a major PUTZ!
----------------------------------------------------------------------

That's all there is to it.  Please mail your file to me at the above address.
Any time you want to send it in is fine.  Any person sending me their info
will be added, so new players will always be welcome to join at any time.

I will distribute updates as follows:
Updates will be mailed to each person on the list depending on their choice
under "Update Policy".  Per new player means if a new player is added to the
list, send me an update.  This list will be updated every month in this news
group.  If you specify "Other", let me know under "Comments" how often.

How can I find out about games on an Appletalk net?
---------------------------------------------------
Use Distant Early Warning or Bolo Tracker (not to be confused with
the Internet BoloTracker), both available at mac.archive.umich.edu,
in the directory /mac/game/war/bolo/tracker.

Issues of etiquette
--------------------
Besides the Internet etiquette mentioned above, there's some other
things you should be aware of.

* If someone asks you to leave, leave. There's no excuse for
destroying another group's game, due to lag or other reasons.

* If it's rather obvious you're losing and want to leave, at least
concede the game to the other side. Don't just quit.

* Profanity via messaging is frowned upon. Don't harass other
players for no good reason. The object of the game is to play to have
FUN, not to prove you're master of the universe. If you want to
assert your manliness, go kick sand in people's faces at the beach:
Don't play Bolo.

* Don't cheat or hack Bolo to give yourself advantages over other
players. If you suspect someone is cheating, a recommended
procedure follows:
(From Dan Rudman, [e-mail])
1. Identify the party suspect of cheating. Identify the behavior which
is hacked.
2. Message to selected players (with the hacked party UNselected)
that you suspect said player of hack, and define the hacked behavior.
3. All other parties should acknowledge in the positive or negative
whether or not they agree and can verify.
4. If most of the players verify back with you, then you may
announce it to all and see what happens. Smart hackers will admit it and just
drop out of the game. If for some reason they do not, please make a note
of their player name and IP address and post it to the newsgroup. Be
sure to include all the players names who verified.

Shareware fees
--------------
Listen up, folks. Bolo is shareware, which means if you use Bolo, you
should pay the $25. Without your payments, Stuart can't put the
amount of effort that he puts in now to support Bolo. To make sure
your payment arrives, follow this procedure. Enclose a SASE with a
note to yourself. And ask Stuart to sign the note and stuff it in the
envelope and mail it back to you. If it arrives, you know he got the
check. If it doesn't arrive, you don't know he didn't, but at least
there's a chance you'll get *some* info out of it.

I've got a new idea for Bolo! Shouldn't I post it to a.n.b right away?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
NO. Hold it right there, cowboy. In the Bolo package of
documentation, there's a file by Stuart which discusses Bolo's future
plans. Read that FIRST, before repeating the already-often-repeated.
For example, his priorities for the next release include:
* 1000 players across the Internet using IP multicast.
* Security measures to stop people from cheating.
* Sound to accompany incoming message.
* Allow man to defuse mines that you can see.

As well, remember: one thing that's nice about Bolo is its simplicity.
As Stuart wrote:
One of the main goals in writing Bolo was to try to give it one of the
properties that Chess, Othello, and other good board games have --
the "a moment to learn and a lifetime to master" characteristic that
gives them lasting interest. The aim is that there are a few simple
'actions' that you can perform in the game, but that they are flexible
enough to let you carry out your complex strategies. That's why
there is only one kind of tank, one kind of armour, and one kind of
bullet. For me to add another major feature, it must add at least as
much interest to the game as any of the features that are already
there.

Common questions/misconceptions/facts about Bolo
------------------------------------------------

* When a builder is killed, the man comes back to where his *tank*
was when he died, not to where the man died.

* It takes 9 shots to kill a tank with full shields.

* It takes 15 shots to kill a pillbox with full armor.

* It takes 5 shots to destroy one section of wall.

* It takes 1 bundle of trees to build a pillbox.

* It takes 1/2 of a bundle of trees to build a road or wall.

* A tank can hold 40 mines.

* It takes 4 mines to kill a tank.

* It takes 5 bundles of trees to build a boat.

* A tank can hold 40 shells.

* A mine exploding next to a tank will damage the tank.

* Shooting from a boat you can only hit land one square from
  the shore.

* 4 shots from a boat to grassland will turn it to swamp.

* 4 shots from a boat to swampland will turn it to shallow water.

* Shooting from a boat:  1 hit sets off a mine, 1 hit destroys a piece of
bridge, 4 hits turns grass into swamp, 4 hits turns swamp into shallow water,
4 hits turns gravel (dead bldg.) into shallow water.

* If you're on a boat, and enter a twilight zone of nasty lag, you can fly
through walls, pillboxes, bases, everything else.  Of course, sometimes the
lag abruptly ends, leaving you somewhere really strange.  This is often
referred to as the "enchanted canoe" effect, from a Ren & Stimpy cartoon.

* Here's how alliances work: (From Stuart's FAQ)
1. Select a person whose alliance you would like to join on the
"Players" menu and select "Request Alliance" on the "Bolo" menu.
2. If agreeable, that person should then select your name on their
"Players" menu and then select "Request Alliance" or "Invite New
Allies".
If you are in an alliance, the menu choices are "Invite New Allies"
and "Leave Alliance". If you are not, then the menu choices are
"Request Alliance" and "Cancel Request".
Take care that you have the correct players selected on the "Players"
menu when requesting/inviting.
If you are already in an alliance, you must select "Leave Alliance"
first before you can join a new one.

* If you leave an alliance while sitting on a base, that base will
become "neutral" with no shields left, and it will be (at least
temporarily) yours. Any pillboxes you're carrying will be yours.

* When you shoot an enemy base and run over it, it will not
completely be in your possession until it gathers enough strength to
defend itself.

* Pillboxes shoot at the nearest enemy.

* Pillboxes shoot from their center to your center, but you can hit them
on the corners.

* Also a base holds (apparently) 90 shots, 90 mines, and 18 armor units
(enough to rearmor two tanks with no spare armor units, plus 2 left to
defend itself).  Hence, it takes 18 shots to destroy a fully-armored base.
Although, you can often run over a base when you only pluck 17 shots into
it, before it shows an "X" in the status window.

* Maximum speed across (shallow) water without a  boat is same as across swamp
or rubble (call it, "base speed"); across trees is twice faster, across
grass is a bit over four times faster, and across road is over five times
faster (~5.4) than base speed.

* You lose 5 mines and 5 shells, but no trees, per cell of water traversed
without a boat (at base speed), except for the first cell so traversed
if entered at road speed (no such reprieve if entered at base speed; at
grass speed you can make it across a single cell, but for more you lose
2 more mines/shells than entering at road speed). A fully loaded tank
entering water from a road can traverse water cells and still have 5
shells and 5 mines at the end (40 - 7*5 = 5).

* Roughly the number of continuous squares of water you can cross without
sinking,if you have a full load of trees and a cyborg (like Nexus) building
roads under you automatically: 22

* From Stuart's FAQ: Bolo is the Hindi word for communication. Bolo
is about computers communicating on the network, and more
importantly about humans communicating with each other, as they
argue, negotiate, form alliances, agree [on] strategies, etc.

* Different versions of Bolo cannot communicate with each other.

* The more weapons you have, the bigger the explosion when you die.

* Lag can screw things up. For example:

   * You can run over boats without getting on them and sink in deep sea.
   * Walls (and land) don't register being shot, so you must shoot more
     slowly or use a lot of extra ammo during heavy lag.

If you have more one-liners, PLEASE send them to
[e-mail].


Where can I find other maps or create my own?
---------------------------------------------
There's absolutely TONS of maps you can play on. You can get them
at sumex-aim.stanford.edu, mac.archive.umich.edu,
aurora.alaska.edu, or saloon.falconmicro.com for starters. Try
different ones out for the different types of play you may use. Some
are small and some are gigantic. Sometimes maps are posted on a.n.b.

So, you want to create your own map, eh? Glad you asked. . .

Bolo Map Editors
section contributed by Pete Gontier
(complaints to: [e-mail])
===================================

A map editor is an application which supports the creation of Bolo
maps. There are two sorts: interactive and random.

Interactive editors are similar to the painting and drawing
applications with which the reader is undoubtedly familiar. There
is most often a variety of tools with which to manipulate the map,
adding and changing the various terrain types and objects. When
running a random map generator, however, the user might merely
be prompted to enter several parameter ranges within which the
program generates a map in an automated fashion.

Interactive editors have the advantage of giving the user great
control over the map, but they also has the disadvantage of giving
one possible player (the map creator) too much familiarity with the
map's geography. Random map generators, of course, solve this
problem, but the maps they generate lack the sophistication of a
hand-built map. Some people prefer to start with a map generated
by a random program and then fine-tune the map with an interactive
program.

There is actually a third sort of map editor, but there is only one
example of it: Bolotomy.

Interactive Bolo Map Editors
----------------------------

BoloMapEditor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
version reviewed: 1.0 of March 13, 1993
author:     Thomas Barrett ([e-mail])
distribution:     unknown
system requirements:    600K
documentation:    none found in archive

This is a no-frills map editor with few tools. Its advantages
include a tiny disk space footprint (64K). However, its
disadvantages include no Undo command, no control over player
starting positions (they are always the same) and no selection tool
(which would allow clipboard operations and other transformations).

BoloStar (tm)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
version reviewed: 1.5 of April 26, 1993
author:     Keith Fry ([e-mail])
Dan Rudman ([e-mail])
distribution:     shareware, $10
system requirements:    900K/1024K, System 7
documentation:    extensive (for shareware)

BMAPEdit
~~~~~~~~
version reviewed: 1.2 of June 21, 1993
*Note: There is now a version 1.3*
author:     Carl R. Osterwald ([e-mail])
distribution:     shareware, $10
system requirements:    800K/1024K, System 6.0.4
documentation:    average (for shareware); includes Balloon Help

Both BoloStar and BMAPEdit are impressive applications. They each
have a feature list as long as you would expect from a 1.X-level
release of any commercial software. They each are designed and
executed extremely well. A few things, of course, set them apart.

BoloStar has as much well-written documentation as you might
expect from a shareware product, complete with a few recommendations on
map editing techniques, in addition to nuts-and-bolts operational
details. BMAPEdit, on the other hand, makes up for in Balloon Help
whatever it might lack in documentation.

BoloStar supports plug-in external command files which can perform
operations on the current map selection. One external included with
BoloStar, for example, is a versatile random island generator which
can relatively gracefully generate additional island space on top
of existing islands. BoloStar also supports "scraps", like Bolo map
clip art, in a special menu.

BMAPEdit, for its part, has a generally more intuitive interface
and has a few more useful built-in features.

Random Map Generators
---------------------

MapGenerator
~~~~~~~~~~~~
version reviewed: 0.97 of April 27*, 1993
author:     Markus Julen ([e-mail])
Ambros Marzetta ([e-mail])
distribution:     shareware, $10
system requirements:    450K
documentation:    none found in archive

*The program's version data claims this is the release date, but the
modification date of the file is the 28th.

This generator is truly random. The user has no control over the
randomness. It tends to generate maps of roughly the same size
each, but within each map there are widely varying degrees of land,
water, forest, etc. This generator also is happy to generate the
"man-made" aspects of a Bolo map, including walls, bases,
pillboxes, roads, rubble. It even generates some rather complex
man-made areas, like ports, mazes, and super-bases, near which are
several bases and several pillboxes.

Unfortunately, this program crashed fairly often in testing, which
is not surprising since its version number would seem to indicate it
is a pre-release version. However, crashing does not result in much
lost work, because the program works quickly and it is easy to
reboot and run it again.

RandomMap
~~~~~~~~~
version reviewed: 1.1.0 of July 1, 1993
author:     Peter N. Lewis ([e-mail])
distribution:     freeware
system requirements:    293K, System 6
documentation:    sufficient

This random map editor allows a fair amount of control over the
parameter ranges of generated maps. Parameters: rows, columns,
percentage of land, percentage of forest (on the land), number of
bases, number of pillboxes, and base maximum supplies.
Unfortunately, while allowing more control, RandomMap does not
generate such things as roads or mazes.

Miscellaneous Map Editing Tools
-------------------------------

Bolotomy (tm)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
version reviewed: April 29, 1993
author:     Alan Witmer (fostex!alan_witmer@dartvax*)
Jerry Halstead (fostex!jerry_halstead@dartvax*)
distribution:     shareware, $8
system requirements:    color, possibly System 7, possibly a Quadra**
documentation:    sufficient

*It's possible your mailer will know where dartvax is, but it's not
likely. The authors should mail the FAQ maintainer with better
addresses.

**This is informal software, folks; the authors haven't had a chance
to test on much else.

This is a tool to convert any PICT into a Bolo map. It uses
sophisticated image analysis algorithms to pick terrain types,
sizes, and placements. It doesn't have a huge feature list; it gets
its job done and gets out of the way; but there are some
adjustments for the user to make so that the transfer goes as
desired.

What are some of the guidelines I should follow for making maps?
----------------------------------------------------------------
(From Matt Slot, [e-mail])
*Note* This is simply advice to make a good map, but different people
feel differently about map making, so try different styles if you like.
------

Some maps are neat, others play well, and some just suck. Maps that
have a particular shortage of trees, a poor layout of the islands, or
most annoyingly start positions beyond the edge of the explored
universe. Maps should be well thought out so that:
* There is a well distributed selection of bases. No clumps of more
than 3 within a 30 square diameter.
* Trees are in abundance, and more can grow back easily
everywhere.
(Note: Some maps have "resource strategies", where trees are precious.
Maps like these can also be fun to play. - cls)
* Land should not have Deep Water embedded into it or without a
suitable shallow water buffer.
* Start positions should be within sight of land, but still in deep sea.
* If you need to make a big map, make it easy to traverse it. If you
make one with lots of islands, make them close enough to be visible
to each other.
* Remember realism is as important a playability -- but both can
make a map *very* enjoyable.

* Large Maps, Small Teams - When playing a 2 on 2 or a 3 on 3, the
map should definitely be no bigger than 100 by 100. For 4-6 players,
maps between 50 by 50 and 75 by 75 are optimal. For 6-8 players,
maps from 70 by 70 to 90 by 90 are optimal. For more players, maps
should still be less than 120 by 120.
A large map slows the game down to a crawl, where a player must
make a long foray into heavily mined territory to find a single
base/pillbox, kill it and return home without refueling. To defend
more than a small area involves a large network of roads which are
easily mined. In general, In either case the game is not one of skill,
but who has the most patience (and time!).

Now what's this about Brains?
-----------------------------
Brains are small bits of code that allow the computer to control your
tank for you. The first brain was Stuart's autopilot. You can use
brains for various uses. You can set a slew of brains to fight it out on
a new map to determine its playability. You can use them as allies.
You can fight against them for practice. Remember, though, for each
brain, you have to use a separate copy of Bolo. For example, I
sometimes run 3 brains on my Centris 610, and run a 4th copy of
Bolo to play myself. That's how you can play by yourself. Just choose
Appletalk (even if the machine is isolated), and run three or more
copies of the application, with one Brains folder (which hold
the different Brain codes), and join in yourself. Ally them to make it
more interesting.

There are now brains called cyborgs (or borgs, for short). They allow you
to control certain parts of the game, while it controls another. For example,
a borg might control your builder, so you don't have to mess with getting
trees and building roads. Others might be used for navigation. If you don't
want people to play with borgs in your game, make sure you turn off computer
tanks in the game setup dialog.

Where can I get brains?
-----------------------
You can get brains at sumex-aim.stanford.edu,
mac.archive.umich.edu, saloon.falconmicro.com, or aurora.alaska.edu.
Each site has different versions and varieties. They are often posted
to a.n.b directly. The following list contains the known and publicly
available brains.

Full Bots:
----------
Indy 1.3a
Dumbot 0.5
Standard Autopilot (comes with the Bolo package)
Helper Autopilot .02
Tonto 1.0 (Formerly Milo's Autopilot)
Rover .01
Maxwell 1.4

Cyborgs:
--------
Nexus 1.1
Navbot

How do you write brains?
------------------------
Stuart included some sample code and directions for writing brains
in the Bolo package. Also, there is a mailing list which discusses brain
programming. To subscribe, send mail to
[e-mail], with any subject, and body

subscribe brain Your Name

You can mail to the list by sending to [e-mail].


Finally, how about some strategy tips?
--------------------------------------
Well, okay. Here you go:

----------
From Steve Kives ([e-mail])

I think most anyone can take a lone pb within a half-minute if they
are not worried about: 1) running their armor down to zero, and 2)
lurkers in the woods nearby.

My standard strategy is this:
Shoot two spaces near the pb for buildings. These spaces are usually
spaces #2 and #3 in a straight line away from the pb. But don't build
yet.
Rush in and pile on the shots. Plan on receiving one hit, and circle
away with no more damage.
The pb is 1/3 damaged and angry. Build your buildings and line
yourself up, not on the same straight axis with pb/buildings, but just
one lane over.
This allows careful placement of the crosshairs on the pb, while the
pb must shoot through the buildings before any shots hit you.
If you have a pb, use a pb in space #3. Keep the cursor on the pb
after building.
Saddle up the lane after a few seconds, when the pb is only slightly
mad, and pour in the glancing blows. If you just built buildings, some
shots still get through, and you must tear away after about 2
seconds.
If you built a pb, then don't move! When enemy pb is dead, charge
forward, simultaneously clicking the mouse button. Man fixes your
pb, which is irate. If a vulture comes out of the woods, he is meat.
This is a good and realistic strategy in a game crowded with cunning
players and many tricks-up-the-sleeves. The whole move takes 30
seconds. Shoot for mines, and shoot the pb in one quick movement.
Build obstructions and clear defending mines when waiting for pb to
cool a little. Then move in for coup-de-grace and fix your pb in a deft
stroke (when shots are *not* hitting you -- don't get your man
killed). This strategy generally deals with problems 1 and 2
mentioned previously.

Also, lay a minefield several spaces behind you, and right outside the
margins of nearby forests. This helps punish the vultures.

As far as base-defenses go, I think the most successful strategy is to
lay scattered mines (not chain-reactable) throughout the entire firing
rage of your pbs, and a little beyond. Especially lay mines right next
to pbs and your bases, though it can make refueling a little delicate.
There is nothing more satisfying than seeing an enemy spiker blow
his man up. Time to bum-rush his pillboxes!

A very important element of pb-defenses is adverse terrain. A
swamp is great, otherwise use lots of craters. This severely inhibits
enemy builders doing bad things to you, and road-building into your
base shows up like a beacon on the pillbox-view function.

For the devious, a proven strategy is to sneak up directly behind the
enemy attacking your base/pbs. This means, of course, a very wide
circle flanking movement, because you cannot let him see you. When
sneaking up behind, just charge right in and shoot! Why does this
work? Because auto-scroll has a number of failings, and this is one of
them. His autoscroll will continue to view your pbs at 10 spaces
away, while you sneak up to within a couple of spaces on the other
side. This tactic is lethal every time.

Of course, nothing beats the pb-gathering tactics of a couple of old-
pros who can decoy-kill at lightspeed. One game, I hooked up with
"Stranger" and we did this without any verbal(typing)
communication of any kind. Wasn't necessary. Took a pb every 20
seconds for a few minutes (refueling when we had to) and the game
was a joke. The other team evaporated to other games when they
saw the pbs disappearing that quickly from the status window.
If the other team doesn't have similar tacticians, they haven't a
chance.

A wonderful example of this tactic occurs when you find an enemy
(uninhabited) base with two pbs flanking. Draw an imaginary line
from one pb, through the other pb, and extended on out several
spaces. Shoot for mines first!
Put a building on this line (space #1 away from enemy pb). Put a pb
on this line next (space #2). Your friend gets behind friendly pb just
as you shoot (from furthest possible distance) the *farthest* pb from
your friendly pb. If you do this right, this pb will start blowing away
the other enemy pb, which consequently starts to blow away the
building, then the friendly pb. But both enemy pbs are dead before
anyone is scratched! And your friend should instantly repair friendly
pb to help ward off well-armed vultures.

This tactic fails when the enemies return too soon and start
bickering.
But this tactic works WAY too often when the maps are humongous.

If you like to lurk, find a well-traveled road through the woods.
Check for mines in the ambush site, then lay 3-4 mines in a row right
next to the road (in the trees). Wait precisely on the opposite side, in
the trees. When sucker comes through (even if going slowly for
mine-caution) you start shooting first, damaging him *and* pushing
him into opposite row of mines. A few more shots and it's over.

As far as safe-guarding your man goes (dead man is several times
worse than dead tank) many players on the Internet need some
serious help! I see the same mistakes made time and time again, by
players that should have seen the light much sooner. Lesson #1:
mines abound! Especially around enemy bases.
Doing something with the man? Shoot the prospective location(s)
first.
It's worth the ammo. By far. Lesson #2: people love to shoot little
defenseless enemy builders. I know I do! When sending the man out,
and there are enemy tanks around, the man should NEVER cross
anything but pavement and grass (or trees, but only if you're being
sneaky). Some players are so anxious to repair a pb, that they
spuriously send the man over 6 craters and 4 swamp spaces. Gun
fodder.

----------
From Tobin C. Anthony, [e-mail]

My pb strategy is somewhat different on UDP than AppleTalk.  On
AppleTalk, I just sidled up to a box, move my crosshairs to full range
and rest them on the opposite edge of the pb and blast away.  The pb
depletes a lot of your armor but it pushes you away with each shot.
Finally, you are out of range but with little armor.  You just wait a
minute and gather wood and wait for the pb to chill.  Then you can
blast
it straight on again providing you waited long enough.

This method all but depletes your armor but even with the chill-out
time
it is the fastest way to get a pb.  I found that there are no prizes for
getting pb's retaining most amount of armor.  The thing you want to
minimize is the time spent grabbing the pb before your enemy does
a pb
check and comes blasting away.  If one of my bases is close enough, I
will even take that cool-down time to replenish my armor.  I am not
proud.

On UDP, I find that netlag usually works against you.  You might end
up
killing the pb but you will get blown to bits as well.  It's frustrating
to blast a pb and wait there anxiously as the net grinds to a halt.  You
only see a few shots changing hands but you end up materializing
somewhere else far away from the pb with a tantalizing  but short-
lived
'x' on the  status board.

You can use a lot of the other methods mentioned previously to
attack a
pb under UDP but there is no substitute for having an ally to act as a
decoy (Bolo raison d'être??).  Two allies can start out near a friendly
base and end up mowing down a swath of enemy pb's in no time.

------------------
From Eric Hiris ([e-mail])

Using Pillboxes (offensively):
1) spiking the enemy base(s) - that is, placing a pillbox next to the
enemies base (for you novices out there, this works best if you place
your pb right next to the enemy base - watch out for mines though).
2) attacking enemy pb's. That is using your pb as a superwall to
shoot around when attacking a pb. Just be forewarned: there are
vultures out there waiting to capture both your pb and the one you
are attacking.
3) shooting your own pb when other are near - kablooie! (or is this
defense?)

Bases: Despite what you might think from discussions in this
newsgroup, bases are how the game is won or lost. If one team has
all the bases, then everyone else has lost. Period. Therefore, take as
many as you can early in the game and defend them to the best of
your ability. If you are satisfied with two early in the game, well, uh,
good luck. If you take 10 bases right away, you will lose some of
them, but so what? You got 8 more. :)

Base placement during map making: Personal Opinion: If you are
making a map, please please, please do not put bases adjacent to
each other.

Forests: The importance obviously depends on the map. If there is
forest everywhere, trees are almost a non-issue. If there are few
forests, by all means, go hide in the enemies for a bit and when no
one is around take the forest or destroy it. In some sense, it is like
killing all your enemies' men if the remaining forests are guarded
well. Another thing to be aware of is that water, walls, roads, and
swamp adjacent to forest will eliminate or greatly reduce the
regrowth of forest. Use this to your benefit or against your enemies
to the best you can. As stated recently in this newsgroup, forest
grows back most rapidly on grass when it is surrounded by other
trees. Harvesting trees in a checkerboard pattern will result in the
fastest regrowth of trees if you are concerned about ecology :)

Walls: Some people like them, some people don't. They are mostly
used offensively - to hide behind when attacking a pb. Others try to
use them defensively, but my experience suggests that except for
special situations, walls are generally not effective in defense. The
best use for the walltool is to make boats.

Roads: Nice, but if you make them, people have a tendency to mine
them right away. Roads are best used to cover up gravel and mine
blasts in your 'home' area, a place where people will get pb'd to
death if they try a mining run. Also two roads will block a waterway
that the enemy has been using (or a road and a wall)

Mines: I don't know if I want to start this again, but: 1) the most
effective use of a mine (I think) is to one mine on squares that share
a border with your pb. Therefore, when people try decoy tricks, the
man will die trying to build wall if they are not careful. If they do
manage to kill the pb, your enemy will hit the mine(s) before and or
after the pb and be weakened and slowed down, allowing you time
to return for easy revenge. Another note is that placing a pb on or
within an area of slow terrain (swamp, mine blasts, rubble) makes it
a real pain for a pb to be retrieved after it has been killed - again
allowing you time to return for revenge. 2) making water ways. This
keeps enemy men with devious plans away from your bases. Also, in
regards to the 'big mine controversy' that raged in this group
recently: make waterways with mines. As of yet there are no sea
mines, so you are perfectly safe going through mined enemy
territory on a boat. Let them spend all their time mining! 3) Mine
randomly. Yes, this counts as a strategy, I hate it, others love it, but
until further notice this is a strategy, like it or not. This strategy
allows you to slow the pace of the game down to almost 0. Be warned
that your enemy will do the same and the enemy may just
circumvent all your mines by making a waterway. Personal Opinion:
use in desperation only.

-----------------
From  Robert Fullmer ([e-mail])

If you can't take a pillbox without dying, 9 times out of 10, or don't
know how to run a two man, or are generally not quite an expert at
the
game yet, spike only after careful consideration and approval from
teammates.

Clearly, there are cases where this rule doesn't apply (when you're
not
an expert but your allies are even greener, for example), but I've had
problems in the past with allies that pick up two or three pills from
one of my heavily fortified bases and spike them deeper than we're
ready
to take. We lose the pills, and if they repeat the exercise for long
enough, the game.

Spiking is an art. It can make the difference when used properly, but
can lose the game when misapplied. So this is a call to newbies: If
you're thinking about spiking with a pillbox you didn't just capture
yourself, check it out with your allies first.

------------- End of alt.netgames.bolo FAQ
------------- Maintained by Cory L. Scott, [e-mail]

--
Cory L. Scott            | "They're inhabitants of alt.tasteless. . .] where
[e-mail] |  they march to a decidedly different drummer, and,
University of Chicago    |  when they're done marching, usually shoot him."
-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| - Dave Ratcliffe -|-|-|-|