Secret Squïrrel's School of LaserTank

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Secret Squïrrel
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Secret Squïrrel's School of LaserTank

Post by Secret Squïrrel » Mon Sep 11, 2017 6:09 am

– The Basics –

LaserTank has been going continuously since 1995 and has over 20,000 levels for you to try and solve! It is a turn-based logic puzzle game so it doesn’t require fast reflexes nor good hand-eye coordination. You drive a Tank which has a laser cannon which can be used to manipulate objects in your environment.

Each time you move your Tank or fire its laser cannon it counts as one turn. You can take as long as you like while considering what you will do next. If you make a mistake or change your mind, you can undo as many turns as you wish, all the way back to the beginning of the level.

It has some similarity to the Japanese block-pushing puzzle game Sokoban but, instead of just moving blocks into their final positions, the object of the game is to get your Tank through an obstacle course to the Flag.

The game board is currently a 16 × 16 grid of squares, also known as “tiles”. At the beginning of the game, each square contains exactly one type of tile – either terrain such as Ground or Water, or an object such as your Tank or a Movable Block. Some objects are movable. Each movable object begins the game on Ground but may be pushed onto other terrain types (see below for more detail).

You only have one job – to move your Tank onto a Flag tile! Of course, there will be various obstacles in your path which you will have to negotiate, manipulate, or avoid.



LaserTank Terrain and Objects Summary

Object        Laser Shot Hits Object
Your Tank       You die
Anti-Tank       Disabled or Pushed
Solid Block     No effect
Movable Block   Pushed
Bricks          Destroyed (disappears)
Crystal Block   Passes through unharmed
Movable Mirror  Reflects shot / Pushed
Rotary Mirror   Reflects shot / Rotated

Terrain       Your Tank   Movable Block   Other Objects
Ground          Safe         Safe              Safe
Flag            Wins game    Safe              Safe
Water           Drowns       Makes Bridge      Sinks out of game
Tank Mover      Is moved     Is not moved      Is not moved
Ice/Thin Ice    Slides       Slides            Slides
Tunnel          Teleports    Teleports         Teleports
"Black Hole"    Dies         Disappears        Disappears



LaserTank Terrain and Objects Detail
Click SHOW SPOILER to read a detailed description.

Tank – object
► Show Spoiler
Flag – terrain
► Show Spoiler
Ground – terrain
► Show Spoiler
Water – terrain
► Show Spoiler
Anti-Tank Gun (“AT”) – object
► Show Spoiler
Solid Block – object
► Show Spoiler
Movable Block – object
► Show Spoiler
Movable Block Bridge – terrain
► Show Spoiler
Bricks – object
► Show Spoiler
Crystal Block – object
► Show Spoiler
Tank Mover – terrain
► Show Spoiler
Movable Mirror – object
► Show Spoiler
Rotary Mirror – object
► Show Spoiler
Ice – terrain
► Show Spoiler
Thin (Cracked) Ice – terrain
► Show Spoiler
Tunnel – terrain
► Show Spoiler
“Black Hole” Tunnel – terrain
► Show Spoiler

Liyifeng
Tank Master
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Re: Secret Squïrrel's School of LaserTank

Post by Liyifeng » Wed Sep 13, 2017 2:27 am

Thanks Mr Squirrel
Very Nice introductions!!
And it seems better if some photos inserted in the article.

wrldwzrd89
Tank Driver
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Re: Secret Squïrrel's School of LaserTank

Post by wrldwzrd89 » Wed May 23, 2018 12:14 am

Liyifeng wrote:
Wed Sep 13, 2017 2:27 am
Thanks Mr Squirrel
Very Nice introductions!!
And it seems better if some photos inserted in the article.
I agree - images would make this tutorial better. However, I'm not sure to what extent this forum supports that directly. However, it just so happens that the official LaserTank help file has exactly what is needed - if only it could be converted into a form not requiring ancient software... and it just so happens that such a thing exists on the main LaserTank download page.

Yes, in case you are wondering, I contributed that. Extracting it was far from simple, but now that it's done, learning how to play just got a lot easier.

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jack9267
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Location: United Kingdom

Re: Secret Squïrrel's School of LaserTank

Post by jack9267 » Wed May 23, 2018 6:11 pm

The PDF is probably the best format for readability.

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