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Scorched Earth FAQ
by Ed the Moogle
Version 1.01
Copyright 2001-2002 Ed the Moogle

Not official in any way. Don't copy or alter this FAQ without
permission. If you wish to copy this FAQ, you may not change it from
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This FAQ was written based upon the 1.5 Shareware version of the game. I
cannot answer any questions about older versions or the registered game.

1. Options Screen
-Sound: Tired of those annoying beeping noises yet?
-Hardware: Ever tried steering a tank with a joystick 90 times its size?
-Economics: Money makes the world go 'round, even if it has been
Scorched.
-Physics: Since you can't rely on Vertical Guidance all the time...
-Play Options: Choose everything from teams to how often your tanks
talk.
-Weapons: Disable some/all of the purchaseable weapons, among other
things.

2. The Scorched Earth Shop
- Weaponry: The bigger the weapon, the harder your opposition falls!
- Gizmos and Gadgets: Instant homing missiles and surviving falls from
high cliffs, among other things.

3. Player Setup
-Tank Types: Choose your weapon!
-AI Opponents: Stupid? Smart? Downright evil? You make the call.

4. On the Battlefield
- Scorched Tactics: "I feel like I could...TAKE ON THE WORLD!" -Purple
Tentacle

5. Other Stuff
- Glitches: Hey, even the world of Scorch has a few bugs in it.
- Tricks and Observations: Fun stuff.
- Special Thanks: People who helped move this FAQ along.
- Coming Attractions: Stuff Ed plans to add to this FAQ.
- Contact Info: Send Ed corrections, suggestions, additions, fan mail,
hate mail, whatever!

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Section 1: Options Screen
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Sound

-Sound ON/OFF

Enables or disables the PC speaker sound for Scorch. Since the Sound
tends to get quite annoying during long matches, I'd recommend turning
this option OFF. You can also turn it off in-game in case you forgot to.

-Flight Sound POS/VEL/OFF

POS- The sound the missiles make as they fly through the air depends on
their height while onscreen.

VEL- The sound missiles make as they fly through the air depends on how
quickly they are traveling through the air.

OFF- Turns off both those annoying flight sounds.
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Hardware

Graphics Mode- Set the graphics mode for Scorch. Note that you must
choose to Save Changes, then quit Scorch and restart to see any
noticeable effect. If the game hangs when you start it up as a result of
messing around with this option, delete/edit the file called SCORCH.CFG.
(The default is 320x200).

BIOS Keyboard- If your game locks up while playing, try toggling this
option on. It will run slower, but at least it will stop locking the
game. If your game runs fine, leave this option alone.

NOTE: I'm pretty sure this option has to be on if you're using a Windows
98 Keyboard.

Small Memory- Toggle this option if you don't have enough memory to run
Scorch smoothly. It will disable some of the game's features (mainly
graphical ones) in order to conserve memory. I'd recommend upgrading
your computer if you find yourself using this option.

Pointer- Lets you choose to use your Keyboard, Mouse, or Joystick to
explore Scorch's menus.

Mouse Rate .5-5 - Lets you choose how sensitive your Mouse/Joystick will
be to movement, and thus how quickly the cursor will move when you use
the device. The higher the number, the quicker it will go.

Firing Delay 0-500 - This determines how long it will take for shots to
travel across the screen. The higher the number, the slower it will go.
I'd recommend 10.

Falling Delay 0-1000 - This determines how long it will take for your
tank to fall to the ground when the rug is pulled from under them. The
higher the number, the longer the delay. I leave it at 10 myself, but
you can do whatever you want.
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Economics

Interest Rate- .0-.30 - Any money that you have not spent each round
will gain .0-.3 interest in the bank. Basically, this means if you have
unspent money in the bank, you will gain 0-30% more at the end of each
round. This can be adjusted to your liking.

Cash at start 0-1000000 - This determines how much money your character
and his opponents start with. Each tank will recieve anywhere from $0 to
$1,000,000. If you choose to start with higher than $0, you will enter
the shop before the first round begins.

Computers Buy- This option determines whether or not CPU-controlled
opponents will use their money to buy new weapons or tools between each
round. Makes the game significantly easier when turned off.

Free Market- This is an interesting feature. The shop between rounds
will simulate a "free market," meaning that frequently purchased items
will gradually become more expensive, while weapons that nobody's buying
will gradually drop in price. All of this info is carried over between
games in the scorch.mkt file. If you wish, you can delete it to restore
the "market" to its default settings and start over.

Scoring Mode- Basic/Standard/Greedy

Basic- The person with the most frags and wins the most rounds will be
the winner of the game.

Standard- The person who inflicts the most damage on, but not destroys,
tanks or shields will be the winner. Players will actually lose points
for destroying others. I guess the main strategy here is to chip away at
a tank until they have hardly any energy left, and then they'll blow
themselves up when they try to fire a shot.

Greedy- Whoever collects the most special weapons throughout the course
of the game will be the winner in the end.
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Physics

Air Viscosity 0-20 - This determines the air's viscosity, which, at
higher levels, will throw off some computer opponents' aim and disrupt
the Ballistic Guidance item.

Gravity- .05-10 - Determines the strength of the battlefield's gravity
in pixels per second. I'm not sure what this does, but I think it has
something to do with how much damage you take when you fall.

Suspend Dirt- 0-100 - This will cause dirt that would normally fall to
the ground (when a laser blasts through a mountain, for example) to hang
in the air. The rate at which it stays in the air is determined by the
percentage chosen. For example, if it's set to 20%, dirt will have a 20%
chance of staying in the air each turn. All suspended dirt will fall if
this percentage is not met the next round.

Tanks Fall - This is an interesting option. If it is turned off, your
tanks will simply hang in the air, even in a situation where they would
normally fall to the ground (having a mountain blown out from underneath
them, for example). Note that, for some reason, this doesn't seem to
work with Version 1.5.

Borders Extend- 0-10000 - This determines how far off the edge of the
screen a bomb can travel before it is automatically counted as a miss.
When at 0, any bomb that flies off the edge of the screen will never
return (even if the wind would normally have blown it back on). Just be
aware that you're in for a long wait for your bomb to impact if you set
it to higher values and fire offscreen. This option is only useful if
you're not using "walls." (see "Effect of Walls" below)

Effect of Walls- Concrete/Padded/Rubber/Spring/Wrap/Random/Erratic/None

This determines what effect the "walls" around the arena have.

None- No walls. Any shot that flies offscreen will continue its path for
the duration of the border's extension (see above). This appears as a
gray border.
Concrete- Any bomb that hits a wall will detonate. Appears as a white
border.
Padded- This wall reflects shots, but will reduce the bomb's velocity
somewhat first. Appears as a green border.
Rubber- Shots will bounce off of rubber walls with little to no loss in
velocity. A favorite of Poolsharks. Red border.
Spring- The Spring wall is similar to the Rubber wall, but it will
actually speed up the bomb's velocity slightly. Cyan (light blue)
border.
Wraparound- If a shot is fired off the left side of the screen, it will
continue its path starting from the right-hand end of the screen and
vice versa. Yellow border.
Random- Picks from one of the above walls at the beginning of each
round.
Erratic- Picks from one of the above walls between each character's
turn.

Note that the angle of a shot will remain the same if it hits any
"deflecting" wall. For example, if a shot hits the wall at a 45 degree
angle, it will continue its flight at a 45% angle unless the wind or
another factor prevents it from doing so.
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Landscape

Sky- Plain/Stormy/Stars/Shaded/Sunset/Cavern/Black/Random - This
determines the type of sky that will appear in the battleground.

Plain- Just a blue sky.
Stormy- A stormy sky. Occasional bolts of lightning may damage/destroy
your tanks or their shields on this setting.
Stars- A starry night. Shooting stars in this setting have a similar
effect to the Stormy sky's lightning bolts.
Shaded- Several shades of blue.
Sunset-A sky with a rainbow of colors and a bright yellow sun near the
bottom. Some tanks may be camoflagued by the colors in the sky.
Cavern- A dark background with dirt hanging off of the ceiling (it falls
down when shot). Computer Poolsharks tend to become very annoying in
these levels, as they keep making more and more dirt fall in an attempt