– 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
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This is you. You can move in any of the four cardinal directions – up (north), down (south), left (west), right (east). Your Tank can also fire a “laser” in any one of these same four directions. This laser differs from a Real World laser and is more like those in the Star Wars universe. It doesn’t move at the speed of light but it can be used to move (“push”) or destroy certain types of objects. You can’t push objects by driving into them with your Tank – you have to use your laser.
Unlike Sokoban, you don’t need to be next to something to push it with your laser. You can shoot it from the other side of the game board if you wish. The laser shot ceases to exist whenever it hits an object or the outside border (edge) of the game board, unless it hits the reflecting surface of a Mirror (see below).
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This is where you must get your Tank onto to finish (solve) the level. There may be more than one Flag on a level. Not all of these Flags will necessarily be reachable – they may be “decoys” to distract you from your task! There is always at least one reachable Flag on every level, even if at first it seems impossible to get to it.
Flags are not objects so laser shots can pass over them without effect.
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This is the basic “empty” terrain tile. It does not affect movement or laser shots in any way.
You can move your Tank over it, laser shots can pass over it, and you can push objects over it.
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You cannot move your Tank over Water (it must be deep!). If you move your Tank into Water you will drown and the game will end (you can always undo the move and try something else).
Other objects which are movable may be pushed into Water. A Movable Block will float and make a Bridge which your Tank can safely move onto (see below). All other objects will sink out of sight (and out of the game). This can be useful if you wish to get rid of something.
► Show Spoiler
This is your enemy! It has a laser cannon exactly like yours, except that it shoots a red projectile instead of green one. Its laser cannon always points in one of the four standard directions (up, down, left, or right) and does not rotate. If you move your Tank in front of an AT’s laser cannon, and the path is not blocked by another object, it will “see” you and shoot you. Your Tank will die and the game will end.
ATs cannot see you through any object, not even Crystal Blocks. This means that you can push an object in front of an AT to block its view so that you can safely get past it.
You can also slide past an AT on either a Tank Mover or Ice, providing that you are not too close to it. It will still “see” you when you pass in front of it and fire its laser. If you are not too close, or the timing is just right (advanced tactics!), the AT’s laser shot will miss your Tank and keep travelling until it hits something else (perhaps another AT!). Only one AT laser shot can be in the game at any time – this is important for solving some levels as an existing laser shot will prevent other ATs from shooting at you.
If your Tank is seen by more than one AT at the exact same time, only one AT will shoot its laser. The AT which fires is determined by a strict priority which never changes. The priority order is:
- left-pointing
right-pointing up-pointing down-pointing.
Obviously if you are on Ground when seen by more than one AT, it won’t matter which AT shoots since you will die anyway. However, if you are sliding when seen by an AT, it can be very important for solving some levels to know (and sometimes change) which AT will shoot its laser.
If a laser shot hits the end of an ATs laser cannon the AT is destroyed (disabled). The laser shot could be deliberately fired by you, either through a Crystal Block or by reflecting off a Mirror, or it could be accidentally hit by a stray shot from another AT, if that shot were to miss your Tank because it was sliding. A disabled (dead) AT stays on the game board and behaves exactly like a Solid Block (see below).
Lastly, if a laser shot hits one of the other 3 sides of an AT, it will be moved (pushed) one square in the direction that the laser shot was travelling. There is no limit to the numbers of times that an AT can be pushed. If it is pushed into Water it will drown and be taken out of the game (disappear from the game board). ► Show Spoiler
This is the exact opposite of Ground. You cannot move onto or through a Solid Block and laser shots cannot pass through it. Solid Blocks are not affected at all by laser shots and cannot be moved or destroyed. ATs cannot see you through a Solid Block. The edge (border) of the game board behaves like it is made out of Solid Blocks.
► Show Spoiler
This is a bit like a Solid Block except that it can be pushed by a laser shot – either yours or a stray one from an AT if it misses you. You cannot move onto a Movable Block. However, a feature of the game is that it is possible to cause a Movable Block to be pushed onto your Tank! More on this and other advanced techniques in a later post.
You cannot shoot through a Movable Block – your laser shot will push it instead. You can therefore push a Movable Block in front of an AT so that it won’t see you.
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A Movable Block may also be pushed into Water to make a Bridge that your Tank can move onto. Bridges behave exactly like Ground. You can also push other objects onto a Bridge. If you push another Movable Block into Water next to an existing Bridge, you can extend the Bridge. You can therefore use this technique to cross a large section of Water if you have sufficient Movable Blocks and can get them into the right places (even around corners!).
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This behaves like a Solid Block except that it is destroyed (disappears) if it is hit by a laser shot. You cannot move through Bricks and it can’t be pushed, but it can prevent an AT from seeing you.
► Show Spoiler
This behaves exactly like a Solid Block except that a laser shot may pass through it without any effect to either the Crystal Block or the laser shot. You cannot move through a Crystal Block. An AT cannot see you through a Crystal Block but you can shoot directly at an AT through it. It cannot be pushed or destroyed.
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This is a special type of terrain that will automatically move your Tank to the next square unless the square is already occupied by an object. Each individual Tank Mover tile always moves your Tank in the same direction – either up, down, left, or right depending on its orientation.
A Tank Mover can be used to move your Tank past an AT . Even though the AT will shoot at you when you pass in front of it, your Tank will be safely moved out of the firing line by the Tank Mover.
A Tank Mover may be positioned so that it moves your Tank onto another Tank Mover. Several Tank Movers may be laid out in sequence so that your Tank can be moved a long way around the game board. If the Tank Mover track joins back to itself, your Tank may travel on this closed loop forever!
As its name suggests, a Tank Mover only moves your Tank - no other object is affected. If you push an object onto a Tank Mover, it will stay on the Tank Mover until it is pushed off by a laser shot. This can be useful as you can use an object to stop your Tank from travelling forever around a closed loop, or perhaps being moved into danger or past where you wish to go.
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This is like a Movable Block that has been cut in half diagonally. It is the shape of a right-triangle with the hypotenuse (longer side) facing one of four diagonal directions – up-left (north-west), up-right (north-east), down-left (south-west), and down-right (south-east).
The two shorter sides behave exactly like the sides of a Movable Block – if they are hit by a laser shot, the Movable Mirror will be pushed one space in the direction of the laser shot. The longer diagonal side is a Mirror. Any laser shot that hits this side is reflected away from it at right-angles and continues on as normal.
Several Movable Mirrors may be placed in such a way so that a laser shot is reflected many times. It is even possible to set up a Mirror loop so that you can shoot your own Tank (this is not advised!). Movable Mirrors may be also pushed into position and then used to reflect a laser shot to destroy an AT or push an object that you can’t otherwise shoot directly.
► Show Spoiler
This is like a Movable Mirror – it can face in the same four diagonal directions and it reflects a laser shot in exactly the same way. However, when either of its non-mirror sides is hit by a laser shot, instead of being moved, it rotates clockwise. This means that its orientation can be changed which may be essential for solving a level.
You can combine these with Movable Mirrors to set up complicated reflecting paths for your laser (or a stray laser from an AT – you can make the ATs do work for you!)
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This is like slippery Ground. Laser shots pass over it unaffected. When you move your Tank onto Ice your Tank continues sliding in the same direction as you were moving until it either moves onto different terrain, or it hits an object or the edge of the game board. It is possible for your Tank or an object to stand on Ice if there is something to stop you from sliding off it.
Similarly, any object which is pushed onto Ice will also continue sliding until it meets either different terrain or another object.
As with Tank Movers, Ice may be used to safely move past an AT that might otherwise shoot your Tank. Pieces of Ice may also be joined together with more pieces of Ice and even Tank Movers to create a complex intertwined path that your Tank will travel on (some levels have to be seen to be believed!).
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This behaves exactly like regular Ice except that it turns to Water immediately after your Tank or an object slides over it. This means that a Thin Ice tile can only be crossed over once. If you wish to be able to move over that square again, you will need to push a Movable Block into the Water to make a Bridge. Sometimes the order in which Thin Ice on a level is used up is an essential part of correctly solving the level.
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This is the final type of tile and, perhaps, the most difficult to intuitively understand. A Tunnel may be one of eight different colours. They look a bit like holes in the Ground but they work like teleports. When you move your Tank onto a Tunnel, it will be instantly teleported to another Tunnel of the same colour.
It is also possible to push objects onto Tunnels and have them teleported to another part of the level. Laser shots are not teleported – they pass over Tunnels as if they were Ground.
Tunnels have a priority order and your Tank and objects are always teleported to the Tunnel of the highest priority that is of the same colour and “free” (available). Generally speaking, Tunnels that are closer to the top-left of the game board have a higher priority than those closer to the bottom-right. More specifically, a Tunnel at position A1 on the game board has the highest priority (=1), a Tunnel at B1 has priority 2, C1 priority 3,... P1 priority 16, A2 priority 17, B2 priority 18,... P2 priority 32,... P16 priority 256. A Tunnel is “free” if it doesn’t have an object on it.
When an object is teleported, the Tunnel that it is teleported to becomes blocked with the object and is no longer free. It is not able to receive any more objects until the first one is pushed off it. You can use this to teleport an object to a lower-priority Tunnel by first blocking all the tunnels of higher priority.
If there are no free Tunnels then an object (or your Tank) cannot be teleported and they will remain on the entry Tunnel, waiting for a Tunnel to become free. You can use this to travel, or push an object, over a Tunnel that would otherwise teleport your Tank or the object somewhere else. In some ways this works a bit like a Bridge for Tunnels , except that you can use any object to "fill" them, may need a lot more than one object to do so, and the bridge can be unmade if a Tunnel is freed up later in the game.
► Show Spoiler
This is a single Tunnel. If there is only one Tunnel of a colour on the entire game board then it behaves like a Black Hole. Anything that is pushed onto it will disappear from the game. If you move your Tank onto it, you will die. It behaves a bit like Water in the way that it can remove objects from the game, except that you can’t ever make it safe by turning it into a Bridge.