/----------\
| Shrapnel |
\----------/
by Andrew Geers, 2000
e-mail: andy@geero.net
website: http://www.geero.net/

Last Updated 10/06/2000

Shrapnel is a really simple little 2D tank game, like Scorched Earth, where
up to five players take it in turns to try and hit their opponent. Aim your
turret with the left and right cursor keys, then select your weapon by cycling
through them with the TAB key. The weapon selection window can be closed by
pressing Enter, and when you're ready to shoot, press and hold SPACE until
the power bar reaches the desired setting, and then let go. You can also move
your tanks about by pressing < and >, provided that the ground is not too 
steep.
If you want to activate a shield, first select one from the bottom row of the
weapons selection window, then press SPACE to switch it on. Depending on the
type of shield, it will either last until your next turn, or until it has
been hit a certain number of times.

If you are playing with more than two players, you may scroll around the map
with the mouse.

The tool bar at the top of the screen shows the currently selected weapon
of the next tank to fire, and the health of each tank. At the start of
each round, you have 100 hit points, and this will decrease as you are
hit. After each round, the winner is awarded 1000 and the loser is given
250. Players are then taken to the Shop, where you can buy extra weapons,
or sell existing weapons by pressing 'S' or clicking with the right mouse
button. When you have finished buying weapons, press Escape, and the next
player can then take their turn.


/---------\
| Weapons |
\---------/
Shrapnel comes ready with 6 unique weapons:

* 100mm Shell - This is your standard tank shell (damage = 25)
* Bouncing Bomb - This will bounce along the ground until it comes to a
  stand still and explodes (damage = 45)
* Banana Bomb - Upon contact with the ground, this will release 10 smaller
  shells (damage = 50)
* Cluster Bomb - Similar to the banana bomb, except it explodes mid-flight
  (damage = 25)
* Mini Nuke - An incredibly powerful missile. Use with caution.
  (damage = 70)
* Machine Gun - 15 rounds rapid fire, very useful for clearing obstructions
  (damage = 5 per round)

It is also possible to create completely new weapons of your own. To do this,
you must create a .wep file in the 'weapons' directory, describing how your
weapon functions. For a more detailed description, please see how2make.txt in
the 'weapons' directory.
You can also create new shield types by adding a .shl file in the 'shields'
directory. As of yet there's nothing in the way of a tutorial, but it's
fairly similar to weapons scripting, and pretty easy stuff.

If you manage to make a cool weapon, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE send it to me! I 
want to try and build up a huge database of weapons eventually, and stick them
all up on my website for everyone to download.

/------------\
| To Do List |
\------------/
* Add an 'effect' property, so that you can make weapons such as an EMP cannon
  that causes the opposition to miss two turns, or reduces the range of their
  weapons, etc.
* Make reflective shields
* Add obstacles to the terrain such as Palm Trees
* Better map generating algorithm to allow for overhangs, etc.
* AI computer opponents


The following bugs are also known to exist, and may be fixed some time soon:

* If you try to join a TCP/IP game that has not actually been started, it just
  sits there forever and there's no way to cancel
* Particle explosions tend to flicker rather a lot

/---------------\
| Alpha Testers |
\---------------/
Thanks to all of the following for testing Shrapnel for me, and helping me to
gradually fix many many bugs:

Adam Antonik
Alex O'Meara
Chris McGuire 
Danny Green
James Webley
Jason Richardson
Kit O'Neill
Kris Michael
Nick Lay
Paul Bonser
Roberto Carlos
Torben Gallob
Vedran Jelenic
Walter Hanagriff
