_____ _____ _____ _ _ _____ _____ | ___ \ / ___ \ / ____| | | / / | ___| |_ _| | ___/ | | | | | | | |/ / | |__ | | | | | | | | | | | < | __| | | | | | |___| | | |____ | |\ \ | |___ | | |_| \_____/ \_____| |_| \_\ |_____| |_| _____ ___ ___ _ _ _ _____ |_ _| / _ \ | \ | | | | / / / ___| | | / /_\ \ | |\ \ | | | |/ / | |___ | | / _____ \ | | \ \ | | | < \___ \ | | / / \ \ | | \ \| | | |\ \ ___| | |_| /_/ \_\ |_| \___| |_| \_\ |____/ FAQ (c) Sao Li Zhou (REIKANE 6379) 2003 For usage of this FAQ, contact me. Pocket Tanks and all other applicable trademarks are (c) Blitwise 2001 ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< |II: Introduction| ================== Genre: PC Game Author: "Sao Li" Zhou (REIKANE 6379) Creation Date: 4/13/2003 Version: 0.1 E-mail: itsuki@teamartail.com Best viewed on Corel WordPerfect 9 Pocket Tanks is a strategy game much like the Worms series. You play the role of a tank commander and you get to control all the vital actions of piloting a tank. You decide which weapon to use, how much power is needed to fire the weapon towards the enemy, what angle your turret should be at, if you should do this maneuver first or something else; all the aspects of being in control of your very own tank. If you ever wanted a tank, this is as close as you can get to experience being in control of one (unless you're in the army). <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> |III: Table of Contents| =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ I. Title II. Introduction III. Table of Contents (You are here) IV. The Game V. Basics VI. The Armory VII. Advanced Tactics VIII. Glitches and Tricks IX. Frequent Questions X. History of Revision XI. Credits +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- |IV: The Game| ============== Basically, this whole game is divided up into five parts: 1 Player mode, 2 Player mode, Target Practice mode, Return to Title option, and the Options menu. 1 Player mode is obviously you against the computer. When you first start it up, type in your name if you want, select your tank's color if you want, then click continue on the bottom. Next, you have the option of selecting your opponent's difficulty level. The CPU can play against you from level 1 to 10 based on how good you are. Here is a description of what each CPU level does. CPU-1: Misses about half the shots. A good level to play against if you're new to the game. CPU-2: Misses 60% of the shots. Again, a good level if you're a newbie. CPU-3: Hits more frequently at about 65%. CPU-4: Hits with 70% accuracy. CPU-5: Aha, now is when they start getting harder. The computer hits with at least 75% accuracy and is able to hit with difficulties that you implant in the game such as wind. CPU-6: Same with CPU-5 but it hits at 80% accuracy. CPU-7: 85% accurate. CPU-8: 90% accurate. CPU-9: 95% accurate. CPU-10: The king of hits, at this difficulty, the CPU can score all of its weapons directly on you. Once in a blue moon it will miss, but other than that, its accuracy is perfect. You can trick it so it won't be able to hit you directly anymore. It's simple. Either build a tall obstruction right in front of the enemy or take shelter inside a large piece of land (this maneuver is called bunkering, I'll explain later). Other than that, don't expect a whole lot of misses from CPU-10. After choosing the CPU difficulty, you will proceed to the Weapon Shop, a different screen with 20 weapons randomly chosen. This is where you select the weapons to be loaded into your tank before you duke it out. The concept is easy; you choose a weapon and then the CPU chooses one. If at any time you tire of selecting, there is a "Randomize" button at the bottom of the screen. Pressing it will assign what weapons are left randomly. After each player has a total of 10 weapons, hop in your armored behemoth and let there be a battle royale. 2 Player mode is you against another person. It is a lot different than 1 player because instead of facing against some computer AI, you're contending against someone else's wits, skill, and intellect. After selecting both players' names and colors, you go on to the Weapon Shop. Target Practice takes you directly to battle without all that choosing crap. There, you can see what each weapon does, experiment with them, and have fun without running out of any weapon. The game never ends in this mode so if you want to stop the fun, press the ESC key. Return to Title option takes you back to the title screen, duh! There you can see the high scores from the top five battles. Make sure you get immortalized in the tower of champions. The Options button at the bottom of the screen after the title screen enables you to configure the game's setup. Here are the schematics to the Options menu: Terrain - Allows you to change the terrain you're going to battle upon. You can select mountain, valley, cliff, plains, or a combination of all of them by randomizing the terrain selection. Explosion Size - This allows you to choose how big you want the weapon explosions to be. You can choose from small, medium, or large explosion sizes. Explosion Kick - Explosion kick is how far you get knocked if a weapon hits. Low EK factor mean that your tank will stay still most of the times, medium means that your tank will bounce if hit, and high EK factor makes your tank bound all over the place if hit. Turret Orientation - There are two settings for this option. Absolute means your tank's turret will stay in place if you're hit while the Relative to Tank setting means that if you sustain damage from a hit, your turret will go awal and will be in a random position every hit. Watch out! Wind Speed - This is the option to have wind in the game or not. Wind changes the entire gameplay. It will make weapons travel faster or slower depending if they're fired with or against the wind. You're going to have to think twice as hard if you want to score a direct hit. The higher the wind speed, the more dramatic impact it will have when firing. Wind is only for expert players and newbies are going to have an extremely hard time getting points from their hits with wind on. Luckily for you, most players don't play with wind, even experts so no need to worry. You can have no wind, low, medium or high wind factors. Wind Variability - This option sees how often the wind changes direction. To tell which direction the wind is blowing, look at the number on the bottom right part of the screen when you're in a battle. A negative number means that the wind is blowing to the left while a positive number means that the wind is blowing to the right. You can have the wind remain constant, change slightly, or change a lot. The options for wind variability is none, low, medium, or high. Wind Change - Wind change is changes in wind speed. This option is related to wind speed. If you have a high wind speed, this will ensure that when the wind changes, it will be a high value. For example, if I start out with -93 wind, this will make it change from -93 to whatever other high value wind speed like -100 for instance. That way, you can choose if you want to stick with the same old wind speed or let it change. You can either let the wind speed stay the same all through the game, change every time a player fires a shot, change every volley, or change randomly. Default Options - This is the last thing in the options menu. Pressing this will make all options be like it was when you first installed the game. That means there is no wind whatsoever, turret orientation is absolute, explosion size and kick is small, and the terrain is set on mountain. You can make your options default anytime. IMHO, I find that the best experience when playing Pocket Tanks is turret on absolute, explosion size large, kick small, terrain on random, and no wind. But it's really up to you... [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] |V: Basics| *********** When in battle, there are many things to do before you fire that first shot. You have to modify your tank a bit. One such thing is power. Turret power determines how far you're going to shoot. The higher power is, the further your shots will travel. However, some weapons aren't affected by power. I'll be listing which ones later on. Angle lets you know how far up or how straight you're going to shoot. Angles from 0-89 degrees are going to make you shoot to your right. The higher those angles are, the more upwards you are going to shoot. Angles from 91-180 lets you shoot to your left. The higher those angle values are, the further left you'll shoot. 90 degree angle shots are going to make your shots travel straight up and sometimes down at you while anything above 180 degrees but less than 359 degrees are going to make your shots travel downwards. Knowing your angles and which ones to use are going to make your shots a lot more effective (See, there is a use to geometry after all ^_^). To the left of the power and angle adjusters are the weapon menu and the movement menu. You select which weapon you want to fire off next in the weapon menu and in the movement menu, you control where you move. Pressing the left and right arrows on the menu accordingly makes you move in the direction you pressed a little bit. The number you see in the middle of the menu shows you how many times you can move. Each player starts out with four opportunities to move and after you use them all, you can no longer move so make good use of them. Each time a player fires is called a shot and each time both enemy and you fire a shot, it is called a volley. If you score a hit, you gain points and if a shot hits yourself, you lose points. For the most part, you gain the maximum amount of points if you get a direct hit, but some weapons don't work well with direct hits. Your objective is to have the most points by the end of 10 volleys. Hotkeys can be used instead of a mouse. They are certain keys on the keyboard that perform the same functions as a mouse does when it is clicked and dragged on the configuration bars for controlling your tank. Hotkeys: Up - Increase Power Down - Decrease Power Left - Increase Angle Right - Decrease Angle , (or <) - Move to the left . (or >) - Move to the right A - Goes to the weapon above the one selected Z - Goes to the weapon below the one selected Spacebar - Fires the weapon F7 - Changes between full screen and window mode ESC - Exits the game or the program -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= |VI: The Armory| =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Welcome to the armory, the place where you can get all your weapon knowledge in the world of piloting a tank. War can be confusing, especially if you don't possess intimate knowledge of what is the right weapon to use. Luckily, your arms dealer here can tell you all you need to know. With your copy of Pocket Tanks shareware, you get 30 weapons. Once you purchase Deluxe which, by the way, costs $15.99 (US dollars) you gain an additional 30 weapons. There is also an added bonus to buying the Deluxe version; you get to use Weapon Expansion Packs. They provide you with even more weapons to spread the fun. To our current knowledge, there is a total of three "trial" weapon packs which cost no money. Each contains five new weapons for your free use. You can download them from Blitwise's official website at: http://www.blitwise.com There are also 3 more weapon packs with 15 new ones in each one. They are not free and they cost $7.99 (US dollars). For more information on how to order, please visit Blitwise's website. Now to start my mass weapon archives... Some statistics and their abbreviations you should know before taking a look here: --------------------- Explosion sizes (ES): --------------------- N/A - Not available (no explosion) N - Non existent (explosion so small it is not noticeable unless it is multiple) S - Small (explosion not that big) M - Moderate (fairly sized explosion) L - Large (big explosion) EX - Extremely large (larger than your average explosion... a lot larger...) --------------------------------- Explosion knock-back levels (EK): --------------------------------- N/A - Not available (no knock-back) N - Non existent (tank only gets nudged back) S - Small (tank bounces back) M - Moderate (tank gets blown back) L - Large (tank flies back) EX - Extremely large (tank gets blasted sky-high) Now, without further ado, here are the weapons in the order they are released and in the order you see in the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Weapons in Pocket Tanks Shareware (30) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Single Shot ES: S EK: M Damage Stats: 60 when hit directly. Description: A single shell is shot from your tank. Name: Big Shot ES: L EK: S Damage Stats: 30 when hit directly. Description: A single shell is shot from your tank. Makes a big crater. Name: 3 Shot ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 20 per shell. Description: Fires three shells at the same time. Name: 5 Shot ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 20 per shell. Description: Fires five shells at the same time. Name: Jackhammer ES: S EK: N/A Damage Stats: 10 per bounce. Description: When this hits the ground, it bounces five times. Wind will make this weapon "skip." Otherwise, it bounces in the same spot. This weapon has the capability of creating a ditch if explosion size is set on large. Name: Heatseeker ES: M EK: M Damage Stats: 40 when hit directly. Description: A missile that tries to home in on the enemy when it approaches. Name: Tracer ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Fires five highly advanced bullets which tells you how much you should change your angle. Name: Pile Driver ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 20 when hit directly. Description: When it hits the ground, it creates a V-shaped ditch. Name: Dirt Mover ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Moves dirt in front of you. Blast spreads out the further it travels. Any remaining dirt above you collapses on you afterwards. Power doesn't affect how far it digs. Name: Crazy Ivan ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 10 per shell. Description: A single missile is fired. As it gets near the enemy, it spreads into many shells that travel in random, wobbly paths. Name: Spider ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 10 per web bomb, 100 if Spider shell hits you. Description: Spider shell is launched from tank. If it gets near you, shell spreads web bombs in a small downward arc and they slowly travel down towards you. Name: Sniper Rifle ES: N/A EK: L Damage Stats: 100 if hit directly. Description: A single high caliber bullet is fired towards the enemy tank. Name: Magic Wall ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Where this shell lands, a tall wall forms and rises from the ground. Name: Dirt Slinger ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Makes a V-shaped cone of dirt which falls and forms a dirt pyramid covering anything that is beneath it. Name: Zapper ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: 40 Description: A shell is launched and if it gets close to the enemy, it shocks the enemy tank with an electrical beam. Name: Napalm ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: Up to 40 per cycle. Description: When this shell hits the ground, it spreads liquid flames in the surrounding area that stick and incinerate anything. Name: Hail Storm ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: Up to 20 per cycle. Description: When this shell hits the ground, it spreads ice balls in the surrounding area freezing anything. Name: Ground Hog ES: S EK: M Damage Stats: 50 if hit directly. Description: This weapon can burrow straight through dirt. When it reaches the end of the dirt, it detonates. Name: Worm ES: S EK: M Damage Stats: 50 if hit directly. Description: This is like the Groundhog, but it tends to burrow upwards inside dirt. Name: Homing Worm ES: S EK: S Damage Stats: 30 if hit directly. Description: This is like the Worm, but it burrows straight up if it passes under the enemy. Name: Skipper ES: S EK: M Damage Stats: 40 if hit directly. Description: This weapon can bounce up to four times before it explodes. Name: Chain Reaction ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 20 per explosion. Description: Forms random explosions where the shell lands. Name: Pineapple ES: S EK: M Damage Stats: 30 per round, 100 if Pineapple shell hits you. Description: Fires a shell which explodes and releases a circle of green rounds. Name: Firecracker ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: Up to 5 per explosion. Description: Where the shell lands, explosions travel outwards in both directions. Name: Homing Missile ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 20 if hit directly. Description: A missile that descends straight down if it passes over the enemy. Name: Dirtball ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Forms a small ball of dirt where it lands. Covers your enemy in the dirt forcing him to waste a turn digging himself out or even worse, blasting himself out. Name: Tommy Gun ES: N EK: M Damage Stats: 20 per bullet. Description: Fires a volley of blue bullets. This is especially good at point blank range and is fatal if you pin your opponent against a wall as you massacre him just like how the gangsters did back then in early America... Name: Mountain Mover ES: EX EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: As the name implies, this can move a mountain. It makes a huge crater where the shell lands. Name: Scatter Shot ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 10 per scattered shot. Description: This weapon starts out as one shell then as it lands, it splits into five shells. Name: Cruiser ES: S EK: S Damage Stats: 20. Description: A rolling bomb that can go up hills. It makes a small explosion and does okay damage. Cruisin' for a bruisin'? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Weapons in Pocket Tanks Deluxe (30) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Jump Jets ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Enables your tank to do a slight jump in the air traveling in whichever direction your angle points to. Power affects how high you jump. The higher it is, the higher you jump. Name: Mud Pie ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Fires a whole lot of Dirtballs up into the air where this weapon lands. This weapon has the capability of piling enormous quantities of dirt on top of you. Name: Pin Cushion ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 10 per pin. Description: When it gets near the enemy, the cushion bursts into 20 mini-zappers or pins that shocks foes nearby. Name: Laser Battery ES: N EK: N Damage Stats: 5 per laser beam. Description: A guidance laser is launched at first, then where it lands, it calls a volley of laser blasts to fry the exact coordinates where it lands, and finally, the lasers cut a circle around you. Name: Cannon Ball ES: N/A EK: EX Damage Stats: 100. Description: A cannonball is launched and it can bounce slightly for a little while before it explodes on its own. Name: Wacky Tank ES: L EK: S Damage Stats: 40 if hit directly. Description: If any tank is caught in the explosion, it randomly changes the tank's power and angle. It also fragments any remaining dirt not destroyed making it hard to move around. Name: Digger ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Digs a narrow tunnel, but the dirt doesn't collapse unlike other dirt removing implements. Name: Glue Bomb ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Many people make the common mistake thinking that this weapon disables your tank from moving. But they're wrong. This actually detonates rolling weapons and bouncing weapons and replaces bouncy dirt with glued dirt. Name: Fission Bomb ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 10 per warhead. Description: First impact causes this single shell to spread into three shells. Those three shells spread into three more shells and pretty soon, you will have blanket-bombed the opponent. Its nearly impossible to miss (and if you do, consider yourself dishonorably discharged if I was your commanding officer). Name: Late Bloomer ES: M EK: S Damage Stats: 20 per bloomer. Description: A burrowing weapon that shoots out five shells once it emerges from dirt. Name: Fire Bolt ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: 10 per cycle. Description: A super concentrated fireball is launched incinerating all in it's path. Name: Color Bomb ES: S EK: S Damage Stats: 100 if hit by capsule, 5 per color bomb. Description: Releases a capsule that unloads a flurry of colorful bombs as it gets near the other tank. Name: Potholes ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 5 per bullet. Description: Fires a lot of bullets in a "Z" formation that produces a small ditch where each one lands. Great for messing up the terrain. Name: Boomerang ES: M EK: M Damage Stats: 40. Description: A cruiser that travels backwards and can last twice as long as a regular Cruiser before exploding. Best used if you overshoot slightly because this cruiser type weapon does roll backwards. Name: Popcorn ES: N/A EK: S Damage Stats: 20 per popcorn. Description: Fires a single popcorn bomb, and if it lands on the terrain, it splits into more popcorn bombs and continuously multiply. Deadly if your opponent is inside a crater and you unleash your popcorn inside the depression. Name: Sprinkler ES: S EK: S Damage Stats: 60 if Sprinker hits directly, 10 per sprinkle bomb. Description: A missile is fired and it releases eight sprinkle bombs at regular intervals. Name: Well Digger ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Digs straight up not stopping until it gets to the very sky. This is very useful for removing large quantities of dirt like from Mud Pies. Name: Bouncy Dirt ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Spreads a special kind of dirt that reflects weapon shots right off of it. Name: Super Tracer ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Fires seven advanced bullets with the ability to tell you how accurate you are and how much you should add or subtract from your angle for a more direct hit. 0 degrees mean you shouldn't adjust anything, in other words, you have a direct hit on the other tank. Name: Minigun ES: N EK: S Damage Stats: 10 per bullet. Description: Fires a spray of bullets at your foe. Name: Laser ES: N/A EK: L Damage Stats: 70 if hit directly. Description: Fires a beam of heated light at whichever angle you choose. Please note that this weapon travels straight instead of in an arc like the others. Name: Super Skipper ES: M EK: M Damage Stats: 50 if hit directly. Description: Like the regular Skipper, but this does 10 more damage and can bounce up to six times. Name: Crater Maker ES: EX EK: M Damage Stats: 30 if hit directly. Description: Fires a shell that makes an extremely big crater. It is like Mountain Mover but it can deal damage. Name: Big Dirtball ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Makes a ball of dirt that is about... I'd say four times bigger than a regular dirtball. Name: Super Zapper ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: 40. Description: Like the regular Zapper weapon but this one has a longer shock range. Name: Cruball ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Like a Cruiser, but when it hits the enemy, it releases a tiny amount of dirt, enough to cover the tank. Name: Mega Cruiser ES: M EK: S Damage Stats: 30. Description: A souped-up Cruiser rolling bomb with 10 more Damage and a bigger explosion. Name: Roller ES: S EK: S Damage Stats: 30. Description: A weapon that works like a Cruiser but it rolls down slopes and can't go uphill. Name: HeavyRoller ES: M EK: M Damage Stats: 40. Description: (see Roller) Name: Flash Blast ES: L EK: M Damage Stats: 40 if hit directly. Description: A weapon that has a large explosion but doesn't destroy any dirt whatsoever. It has a kewl side effect of darkening the terrain. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ambush Weapon Pack (15) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Ambush ES: N EK: N Damage Stats: 10 per Cruiser. Description: Launches five Cruiser rolling bombs on both sides on the enemy. They then roll in towards your foe on both sides. Name: Beehive ES: N EK: N Damage Stats: 1 per bee. Description: When this weapon gets close to the enemy, it releases a swarm of bees that home in on the enemy tank. Name: Blast Off ES: S EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Jumps with twice the force as Jump Jets and removes dirt below you as well. This is a really nice transport utility with the added bonus of dirt removal meaning instant escape from shallow dirt and/or being in the same place. Name: Fire in the Hole ES: S EK: N/A Damage Stats: Up to 40 per cycle. Description: Makes a small crater in the affected area, fills the crater with napalm, then buries it with dirt. Name: Lob-o-Matic ES: S EK: S Damage Stats: 40 if lobber hits you, 10 for each lob bomb. Description: Fires the lobber missile and when it gets close to the enemy, it starts releasing bombs. Name: Rainbow Dirt ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Rainbow colored dirt spreads out in both directions when the shell lands. The dirt can cover a large area. Name: Super Laser ES: N/A EK: L Damage Stats: 70 if hit directly. Description: A laser beam that can travel through dirt. Has all the aspects of the Laser. Name: Ground Shocker ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 5 per shock bomb. Description: Spreads a lot of bombs through dirt when the shell hits the terrain. Name: Bouncy Wall ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Erects a wall coated with bouncy dirt. Anything that hits it bounces off. Name: Lodestones ES: N EK: N Damage Stats: 4 per lodestone. Description: Shoots a spray of magnetic bullets that home in on the enemy tank. Name: Particle Bomb ES: N EK: N Damage Stats: 10 per particle. Description: When it hits something, it explodes and numerous shrapnel particles fly out in all directions. Name: Magic Forest ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Spreads a lot of seeds where this shell lands. Those seeds grow into mini magic walls. Name: Buckshot ES: N EK: N Damage Stats: 5 per bullet. Description: Shoots bullets in a random formation that spreads out the further it has to travel. Name: Quad Missile ES: M EK: N Damage Stats: 20 per missile. Description: When the single missile gets in close proximity with your foe, it splits into four heat seeking missiles and they all home in on the enemy. Name: Carpet Bomb ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 10 per bomb. Description: Shoots a blanket of bombs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nuke Pack (5) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Nuke ES: L EK: L Damage Stats: Up to 40 initially plus 40 more for each second you spend in the radiation zone. Description: Makes a large explosion and releases a deadly radiation ring when the missile lands. Name: Mega Nuke ES: EX EK: M Damage Stats: Up to 30 initially plus 30 more for each second you spend in the radiation zone. Description: Makes a large explosion and releases a deadly radiation ring when the missile lands. Name: Pillow Fight ES: S EK: S Damage Stats: 40 if hit directly by the pillow, 5 per feather. Description: Upon impact, the pillow explodes and feather bombs fly out. Name: Sink and Swim ES: M EK: N Damage Stats: 10 per shockwave, up to 5 per hail cycle. Description: Damaging shockwaves make a crater where this missile lands and hail rains inside the hole. Name: Hot Foot ES: S EK: S Damage Stats: 20 per warhead. Description: Burrows underground and releases a chain of warheads that burrow upwards after a second. Those bombs can multiply by threes. This weapon is best used on valley or cliff terrain if your enemy is high up on the valley or cliff. You'll be surprised at the staggering point values after this lands right under your enemy and he is on top of a towering cliff. *evil grin* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Meteor Pack (15) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Meteor Shower ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 8 per meteor. Description: Fires a shell and it calls down a rain of meteors from the heavens where it lands. Name: Roman Candle ES: N/A EK: S Damage Stats: 10 per candle. Description: Shoots six fireworks at the enemy each traveling in the same direction. Name: Flying Digger ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 10 if hit directly. Description: Fires a missile that digs in the direction where the it lands. Name: Comet ES: N EK: N Damage Stats: 20 per fragment. Description: A comet is launched and it splits into six bouncy fragments as it hits the earth. Name: Sunburn ES: N/A EK: S Damage Stats: 20 per flare beam. Description: Shell explodes into laser beams that bounce off terrain when near enemy tank. Name: Riptide ES: S EK: S Damage Stats: 3 per riptide. Description: Missile explodes into many smaller bombs that can skim on terrain for a short while. Name: Buzzsaw ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 20 if hit directly. Description: Makes mini craters as it bounces on terrain. Name: Static Ball ES: S EK: S Damage Stats: 30 if hit directly, 10 per shock. Description: Shoots an electrical bomb that shocks enemy tanks nearby. After five shocks or after bouncing for a while, it explodes. Name: Mystery Bombs ES: L EK: N Damage Stats: 10 per bomb. Description: Fires four bombs that travel on random courses sometimes going off course. This weapon is not good, and it can sometimes backfire on you due to the bomb's tendency to go on random crash courses. Name: Flower Power ES: S EK: S Damage Stats: 5 per color bomb. Description: A burrowing capsule that releases color bombs when it hits an obstruction. Name: Turn and Burn ES: EX EK: EX Damage Stats: 100 if caught in the epicenter of the blast. Description: Sets a C4 charge with a single second before detonation and lets you jump away to safety. You can jump a long distance with this so this can be used as both a weapon and a very reliable transport. Name: Dome Protect ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Makes a dome around you. (Note: The dome tends to be smaller when you set your explosion size larger and if you set your explosion size to Large in the Options menu, it will not make a dome; just remove dirt.) Name: Backfire ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Your tank flies off the screen and gets sent to a random location on the map. Name: Old Faithful ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: Up to 35 per cycle. Description: A plume of extremely dangerous hail rises from where this shell lands and rains on the ground below. Name: Bouncy Bomb ES: L EK: N Damage Stats: 10 if hit directly. Description: Makes a large crater and coats it with bouncy dirt. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Flamethrower Pack (5) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Flamethrower ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: Up to 10 per cycle. Description: Shoots a burst of flames where you choose. Don't let it travel through the air for too long, because they will burn less when they land and the fire tends to spread out if it stays in the air for a long duration of time. Name: Skimmer ES: S EK: S Damage Stats: 20 per skipping bomb. Description: Fires a missile that splits into two skipping bombs. They skim along terrain for a few seconds until they explode naturally. Name: Volcano ES: N/A EK: M Damage Stats: 30 if caught in the eruption, up to 10 per cycle. Description: Plants a volcano on the ground where this weapon lands and after a moment, it will erupt spraying flames and earth everywhere. The amount of napalm released will stay the same, the dirt released varies. Sometimes, there will just be a mound of dirt where the volcano missile lands while at other times, it will cover the surrounding area full of debris. Name: Pedestal ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Builds a tower and puts your tank on it. Name: Fire Storm ES: S EK: S Damage Stats: 10 per explosion, up to 10 per cycle. Description: Blows small craters into the ground and releases bouncing flames. The flames can be snuffed out by dirt. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Power Pack (15) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Power Grid ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: 15 per zapper. Description: Creates a snowflake shaped grid of electricity where the bullet lands and each end shocks the enemy. Areas electrical grid will dissipate if it hits the ground. This is not a weapon you want to hit directly with. You need to miss the enemy in order to do more than 15 Damage (but don't miss too much). Name: Shadow Blast ES: L EK: S Damage Stats: 50 if hit directly. Description: An upgraded version of the Flash Blast that releases white flashes of pure light. It can slow down the kickback from the explosion and also scorches the dirt black. Name: X-Ray Cannon ES: N/A EK: N Damage Stats: 10 per X-ray. Description: Fires a wall of X-ray radiation that can travel through dirt. Deadly at point blank range. Name: Bazooka ES: EX EK: EX Damage Stats: 150 if hit directly. Description: The most damaging weapon in the game, it produces an extremely large explosion and does obscene damage. However, it travels straight like a laser instead of at an arc. Name: Lucky Shot ES: S EK: S Damage Stats: 20 if hit directly. Description: Digs some dirt out of your way and fires a mini heatseeker that is green. I'm feeling lucky, how 'bout you? Name: Shelter ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Piles bouncy dirt on top of you and digs a small firing hole in the direction of angle you pick. Be very careful with Shelters for they can very easily backfire on yourself and some weapons like Sprinkler can totally decimate you if it lands inside your firing hole. Name: Fire + Ice ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: Up to 25 per cycle (maybe more). Description: Fires a helix that releases fire and ice particles on impact. The particles tend to bounce a lot and spread out. Name: Anvil ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 20 if hit directly. Description: Throws an anvil in the air. It stops when it is directly over the enemy and drops down like the Homing Missile. On impact, it creates a small depression in the ground. Name: Flare ES: S EK: M Damage Stats: 5 if flare hits directly, 30 if flaming missile hits directly. Description: Shoots a flare that splits into 3 flaming missiles in a few seconds. Name: Super Flare ES: S EK: M Damage Stats: 5 if flare hits directly, 30 if flaming missile hits directly. Description: Works like the Flare, but instead of 3 flaming missiles, 5 missiles are released. Name: Fracture ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Digs random holes in the area where it lands. Name: Claymore ES: N EK: N Damage Stats: 1 per fragment. Description: Launches a cube towards your enemy that explodes into many small fragments on impact. Name: Phantom ES: S EK: N Damage Stats: 1 per phantom. Description: Starts out as a single shell, when it gets close to the enemy, it splits into many bullets that can travel harmlessly through dirt. They go in circles around the enemy tank. Name: Earth Mover ES: EX EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Makes a crater large enough to remove half of all the dirt on the map. This is by far, the weapon with the largest explosion size in the game. Name: Flak ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: N/A Description: Creates a small, curved shield above your tank. Where the shield is varies by your angle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chaos Pack (5) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Chaos Grenade ES: N/A EK: N/A Damage Stats: Varies. Description: Releases a chock of different weapons. I believe the things released are: a spider bomb, a laser beam, a wacky tank, a cruiser, a dirt slinger, a dirtball, a zapper, a pile driver, a magic wall, and bouncy dirt (anything I miss?). Name: Tar Ball ES: L EK: S Damage Stats: 30 if hit directly. Description: Encases the tank inside a large ball of hot tar. Name: Lightning Strike ES: M EK: S Damage Stats: 40 if hit by the lightning capsule, 15 for each lightning bolt. Description: Fires a capsule that releases bolts of lightning in a snowflake pattern when near the enemy. Name: Acid Rain ES: N EK: N Damage Stats: 1 per raindrop. Description: Launches a capsule that stops over the enemy and falls down like the Homing Missile. It forms into a cloud and the cloud rains green bullets on the tank. The bullets are affected by wind and blow in the direction the wind blows in. Name: Porcupine ES: N EK: N Damage Stats: 10 per quill bomb. Description: Shoots a shell that bursts into a circle of porcupine quills when it gets near the enemy. The quills can go through like Phantom bullets dirt. I now present to you... the 120 weapons of Pocket Tanks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |VII: Advanced Tactics and Combo Attacks| ***************************************** The majority of these ingenious tactics are provided by the kind folks at the Pocket Tanks message boards. Thank you and to all who contributed something, your name goes under the tip you gave... Offensives: Playing offensives mean that you go on an all out brawl with your own unique arsenal of damaging weapons. Defensives: If you're a defensive player, you spend more of your time putting your enemy in predicaments where he will have a hard time hitting you. That means putting him in holes with Flying Diggers and preventing him from firing on you with a variety of dirt weapons. Those weapons have the main purpose to prevent firing back. Of course, in combination with those weapons, you want offensive weapons so you can stay ahead of your foe in the long run and beat him. Strategist: You spend your time wisely picking weapons to use in combo attacks and ones that support each other. For more info on those combo attacks, look below. Duelist: You use the strong points of both the defensive and offensive player so you're using both powerful weapons as well as ones that cover your enemy in dirt as a distraction or diversion from your real ploy. However, this will cause you to pick ridiculous arsenals at times, so it's best to stick with one or the other instead of having traits of both players. Bunkering: This tactic is mostly used by newbies and can very easily backfire upon yourself, but it is effective if you play your cards right. Basically, you fire a digger or a flying digger into the side of a mountain and hide inside the tunnel if your score is ahead of the opponent. The enemy will have a hard time getting you while you remain relatively safe from their assaults. You can attack them if you stock up on weapons that are able to travel through dirt like Worms and the Super Laser. However, the following weapons are considered "bunker busters," and can demolish or cause some unpleasantness to your ploy if you let your foe get their hands on them. They mostly consist of weapons that can burrow for they can reach you and if they are explosive, they will cause the bunker to cave in. Another "bunker buster" type weapon are ones with large explosions. Instead of burrowing inside your bunker, they can simply blow it away. It is especially true with the Earth Mover weapon. Use this maneuver very carefully! Behind the Wall: For this tactic, you move next to a steep slope giving your foe a hard time hitting you with conventional weapons that explode on impact. Your only good hopes of hitting are if you have a weapon that covers a large area like Carpet Bombs, a weapon with a large explosion so that you can have some splash damage on the enemy or blow the shield away, a bouncing weapon, or firing shots straight up into the sky. Most newbies to the game would not even think about shooting straight up; they prefer to keep their original angles. Bouncy Bomb/Dirt + Fission Bomb: This combo is effective because the bouncy dirt causes the fission warheads that missed the tank directly to bounce towards the tank causing more hits. Bouncy Bomb/Dirt + Sprinkler: This one is very effective for the majority of the sprinkles will bounce toward the enemy and if the missile hits the bouncy dirt, it has an extended period of time spreading the sprinkles. Flying Digger + Sunburn: You hit directly with a Flying Digger putting your enemy in a ditch, then fire a Sunburn shell inside. The Sunburn should explode in the mouth of the hole releasing all the lasers as they bounce down the pit towards your opponent. You are guaranteed to get more than 100 points from this move if you do it right. Pile Driver + Sunburn: This combo is a little less effective than the one above, but still, it does decent damage and is also easier to do than the above one too. Turn and Burn + Pedestal: You use T.A.B so you fly towards your enemy's area. Then after your opponent's turn, you move right into his coordinates and use Pedestal. He should be right under the pedestal. Shelter (only if opponent uses it) + Sprinkler: You fire a Sprinker into the shelter's firing hole. It should bounce around inside releasing the sprinkles resulting in obscene amounts of damage. Make sure you're far away from the enemy, or else the sprinkles will affect you. Fission Bomb + Shelter: Fire a FB inside the shelter's firing hole. The warheads released will multiply inside the firing hole and continue to double. After that, all warheads inside the hole will explode. Fission Bomb + Bouncy Wall: First build a wall behind the opponent. Then fire a FB right next to the wall. The warheads that collide with the wall will bounce back and multiply on the way down right on the enemy. Bouncy Bomb + Power Grid: Make a bouncy crater and fire a Power Grid inside the crater. The electrical grids will bounce around inside the crater and electrocute the enemy heavily. You can usually get more than 150 points if you do this. (Those five combos were provided by EmuSlugX. Thank you.) Flying Digger + Old Faithful: Ah, this is just deadly. First, you hit directly with Flying Digger causing your opponent to be trapped inside a sinkhole. Then if your enemy hasn't caved in the entrance yet, you follow through with Old Faithful. The majority of the hail should settle in the bottom of the sinkhole causing MAJOR damage. It also works with Hail Storm and Napalm. Any dirt weapon + Flower Power: I shouldn't explain this but what the heck... You cover your enemy in dirt and burrow a Flower Power inside. All the pellets will hit the enemy resulting in lots of points. (Thanks to NetNomad for providing these) Fire in the Hole while your opponent is on the gray dirt: This is not really a combo attack, just a very effective maneuver. Basically, you hit your opponent directly with F.I.T.H. while he is on the indestructible gray dirt. That way, the napalm doesn't spread. It stays concentrated in a small area causing more damage. This combo, at best, does 40 per burn cycle. Rake in those points. :) Flying Digger + Volcano: This combo is very fun to play with because the volcano will spread it's dirt and debris inside the hole burying the enemy in dirt and flames. Turn and Burn + Lodestones/Tommy Gun/Minigun/Potholes You T.A.B. so you'll fly up close to the enemy, and then bust some caps up his @$$. Flying Digger + Fire and Ice Hit directly with Flying Digger then put Fire and Ice inside. The hole from the Flying Digger not only packs the fire and ice closely together, but it also prevents it from bouncing out of the hole. (Thanks to SpawnBlunt for these) Blast Off/Turn and Burn + Particle Bomb: My favorite combo. Use Blast Off or T.A.B. to get close to your opponent. Then you move right next to him, adjust your turret so it is sticking inside the enemy tank, and fire your Particle Bomb. It should detonate inside the enemy with the majority of the particles hitting him and a few hitting you. I'm afraid it'll hurt you a lot more than it'll hurt me... (Thanks to pyrogore6 for this) Pile Driver + Napalm: You make a ditch with Pile Driver and get a Napalm in the bottom of the ditch. You should get over 100 points with this combo. Dirtball + Sniper Rifle. You hit directly with the Dirtball. When your opponent blows himself out, you follow with the Sniper Rifle. Instant 100 points. 5 Shot + Hail Storm: You use the 5 Shot to make the terrain around your foe uneven, then you fire a Hail Storm inside the uneven terrain. It'll get you more than 100 points. (Thanks to Exiledfromreality for these 3 combos) (And lastly, combos invented by myself...) Bouncy Bomb/Dirt + Lob-o-Matic: You make the terrain around your opponent bouncy, then fire the Lob-o-Matic on the bouncy terrain. The shell will release lobbed bombs on the bouncy terrain skipping towards the enemy and if it bounces off the terrain, it will have an extended period of time releasing bombs. It works best if your opponent is in a crater and also in the center of the bouncy terrain. That way, the lob shell will bounce continuously in the crater releasing lob pellets that bounce toward the center of the crater and to the enemy tank. Blast Off/Turn and Burn + (Super)Laser/Bazooka: You jump close to the enemy and fire a laser or bazooka rocket at the other tank. Take care when using the Bazooka; it has a huge explosion. Earth Mover + (Super)Laser/Bazooka: Mountain in your way? Get rid of it with EM and feel free to blast away. (Super)Flare + Shelter: Let the enemy get the Shelter and wait until he uses it. Then fire the flare inside the firing hole. This works best if you're close to the enemy when he uses Shelter because you can launch the flare inside the firing hole and it will burst into flaming missiles inside the Shelter. The most points you can get is if you use the Super Flare while up close to the Shelter. If you're fortunate enough to have this occur to you, expect to get 150 points if it gets inside the hole. Lob-o-Matic + Shelter: Do what you always do with the Shelter. Let the enemy use the Shelter and fire the weapon inside. This gets you around 150 - 300 points. Comet + Shelter: Wait for the enemy to use Shelter. Fire the Comet inside the enemy's Shelter. Flying Digger + Comet: Hit directly with the Flying Digger and fire a Comet inside the hole. All fragments should hit. Flower Power + Dome Protect: Let the enemy get the Dome Protect which will most likely happen. Then after he uses it, burrow the Flower Power missile through the dome and your enemy will be trapped inside a capsule with bombs constantly raining on him. This will not work if explosion size is set on large because the dome will explode on itself under those conditions. Fire in the Hole/Dirtball/Cruball/Dirt Slinger + Ground Shocker: Ok, the one thing in common with all those weapons is the fact that it buries you in shallow dirt. Since the enemy is in shallow dirt, when a Groundshocker hits the surface of the dirt, it will immediately spread the shock bombs and the majority of them should hit the enemy tank resulting in major damage. Of course, it is more effective on the indestructible gray terrain at the bottom of the screen because it's such a short distance from the shallow dirt to the ground below. Big Dirtballs and Mudpies work too, but lesser shock bombs will hit because those dirt weapons bury you deeper in dirt... Magic Wall + Magic Wall + Flower Power 
(First triple combo created by Yours Truly... ^_^): Place a wall behind the enemy, 
a wall in front, then burrow a FP through the wall. Your enemy should be in a 
gauntlet with color bombs galore inside. Obviously, the narrower the gauntlet, 
the more damage the enemy takes. But you also have to sacrifice your clear shot 
of him unless you also know his coordinates when shooting straight up. Color Bomb 
also works, but they tend to release the smaller color bombs further away, so 
it won't be as effective as FP.

Bouncy Wall + Magic Wall + Late Bloomer: BW behind, MW in front, LB into the regular 
wall and the 5 shells should hit the enemy and also rebound off the bouncy wall 
into the enemy as well. Not my best combo but...

The Art of Point Blank Combat: 

       This section is to inform you about up close combat and how to use it to 
your advantage. Up close combat is well... battling up close (you should be able 
to figure it out...). It is better than normal fighting far away especially if 
you use weapons specifically designated for point blank combat because you get 
a very easy shot at your opponent and there are an abundance of weapons that work 
extremely well at point blank situations. 
       You can get in point blank range of the enemy by simply moving, but it doesn't 
work in all situations. How will you get to him if there is a huge mountain in 
your way? Easy. By using jumping utilities like Jump Jets, Blast Off, and Turn 
and Burn, you can get to him in a single quick and easy move. After that, time 
to pump him full of lead.
       To have an effective battle up close and personal, you must choose specific 
weapons that work well fighting in that way. Obviously, you should not use a 
Sprinkler up close mainly because it affects a wide area and will hurt you as 
well as the other tank. The following weapons work well at point blank range if 
not downright deadly. Weapons marked with (*) means that it works especially well 
up close.  

3 Shot
5 Shot
*Crazy Ivan (must have turret inside enemy tank)
*Spider (for best results, fire it when your turret is sticking inside the enemy 
tank)
*Pineapple (must have turret inside enemy tank)
*Tommy Gun
*Pin Cushion (for best results, fire it when your turret is sticking inside the 
enemy tank)
Fire Bolt
Potholes
Minigun
Laser


Ambush
Super Laser
Lodestones
*Particle Bomb (for best results, fire it when your turret is sticking inside 
the enemy tank)
Buckshot
Carpet Bomb
Pillow Fight
Roman Candle
*Sunburn (must have turret inside enemy tank)
Riptide
*Turn and Burn
*Flamethrower
Pedestal
*X-Ray Cannon
*Bazooka (best used if a little further away from the enemy, it has a large 
explosion)
Claymore
*Chaos Grenade (must have turret inside enemy tank)
*Lightning Strike (must have turret inside enemy tank)
*Porcupine (must have turret inside enemy tank)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|VIII: Glitches and Tricks|
===========================

The Eternal Game: If you erect a Bouncy Wall in front of the enemy or if your 
opponent uses Shelter, and you fire the following weapons:

Heatseeker
Beehive
Lodestones
Lucky Shot

The reason is that these weapons home in on the enemy, but since there is a barrier 
pushing them back, they will keep on trying to break through the barrier even 
though they can't. Thus, they will keep on trying, but the barrier keeps pushing 
those weapons back. And there you have it, the Endless Game...



Use a weapon more than once/Manipulation Glitch: In a 1 or 2 Player game, set 
your angle, power, and move if you must. Now open the weapon menu and highlight 
the weapon you want to use more than once with the mouse. Press the spacebar to 
fire it and immediately move the mouse cursor to a weapon you deem of not much 
use. DO NOT CLICK! Keep the cursor on the weapon you don't need. After that, it 
should be your opponent's turn and the weapon menu should still be open as long 
as you haven't clicked. Now, you can check out your opponent's weapons and also 
choose which weapon he uses. It's simple. Before your opponent fires, highlight 
the weapon you want your opponent to use and keep your mouse on it. If you want 
your enemy to keep using that weapon, highlight a different weapon after your 
opponent used the weapon you want him to use. Now that it's your turn again, check 
your weapon menu. Surprised? The weapon you fired when using the glitch should 
still be there and the useless weapon will no longer be there. Now you can achieve 
your dream of using 10 Cannonballs on your enemy and him attacking you with nothing 
but Tracers... :P
(thanks to exelle from the Pocket Tanks Board for providing this glitch)

That's all for now folks. If any more glitches and tricks rise, be here for them. 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|IX: Frequently Asked Questions|
--------------------------------

Q: What does glue do?
A: Look in the Armory section. It's in there under "Glue Bomb." 

Q: Can I E-mail you about this FAQ?
A: Yes, you can give me comments, feedback, suggestions, and such. But if I find 
something in your letter that is answered in this FAQ, it will be ignored and 
deleted. If there is one kind of mail I like, it's useful and informative letters...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|X: History of Revision |
()()()()()()()()()()()()()

4/13/2003: Started this FAQ. Did the ASCII art and up to the introduction.

4/14/2003: Finished up the intro and did all the sections up to the Armory.

4/15/2003: Did the Pocket Tanks Shareware part of the Armory.

4/16/2003: Started up the Pocket Tanks Deluxe part of the Armory.

4/17/2003: Finished up the Pocket Tanks Deluxe part and did all sections after 
that until I completed the Nuke Pack section.

4/18/2003: No upgrade for today. Sorry, but some people have to take a day off 
and enjoy life and Spring Break :P

4/19/2003: Completed the Armory section.

4/20/2003: Completed everything from the Armory down to the end of the FAQ. The 
end at last!

4/21/2003: Some final revisions before sending it in... 
*crosses fingers*

4/22/2003: Made a few corrections for near perfection.

5/13/2003: Corrected more things and added a new glitch, several new combo attacks, 
and opened up a section on up close combat.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|XI: Credits|
-------------

Jeff "CjayC" Veasey: For creating and managing GameFAQs, one of the best gaming 
sites ever. Thanks for that and for putting this FAQ on it.


Blitwise: For creating such a cool game like Pocket Tanks as well as DX Ball.
Thanks.

George Hehl: For introducing me to this game in the first place.

SpawnBlunt: For providing some combos and letting me use the combos everybody 
else gave. Thanks dude.

EmuSlugX: The Master of Shelter Destruction, thanks providing some more combos.

NetNomad: The Master of Flower Power Combat, thanks for providing combos as well.

Exiledfromreality: For providing combos. Thanks.

exelle: For providing the "Use Weapon Multiple Times/Manipulation Glitch. Thanks. 

The good and friendly people at GameFAQs: For taking time out of their busy lives 
and writing the FAQs for those beginner and less experienced gamers.

And finally... You: For reading this FAQ (saving the best for last).

And to all: Peace, world!

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Copyright 2003 Sao Li Zhou
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