Armagetron Advanced - User contributions [en]

Server Administration Guide

2008-08-17T02:27:12Z

C10ud: /* Setting Up */

Setting up a server for Armagetron Advanced isn't terribly difficult, but there are a few things you need to consider when you do it. Taking a few minutes to figure out what you're trying to do will save you a whole lot of headache/heartache later on when people start playing your server.

== Starting out ==

Before you consider what OS you're going to use, what version of the game to run, and so forth, you should figure out a few basic parameters of the server. Here are some you should consider.

=== Private or Public? ===
The setting <code>TALK_TO_MASTER</code> is off by default. To make your server public (available on the master server list), you must turn on this setting. If it is off, players will only be able to connect to your server through the [[Server Bookmarks]] using your IP address. If you are connected to the internet through a router, normally used so that multiple computers can share the same internet connection, you will also need to open a port.

More information on both of these topics is available below.

=== Moderated? ===

Armagetron Advanced supports a limited but expanding set of in game administration commands(in 0.2.8, it will be a fairly comprehensive set). The catch is that you can only have one administration password. So in order to make moderators on your server, all you have to do is give out the administration password.

The alternative is to use the voting features that are intended to allow players to moderate the server as they see fit.

You can go either way, of course. It's entirely up to you.

=== Round or Match ===

There are plenty of ways to setup scoring on a server. A common setting is one point for each kill. While this scoring method encourages competitive play, it's not always desirable. On some servers, just surviving to the end of the round is quite an accomplishment, and you may wish to reward players for doing so. Too much of a reward will encourage players to just screw around instead of fighting.

You should also consider if you even want the standard gladiator-style fighting. It's certainly possible to set up scoring to allow for different games, such as [[Roulette]], and to encourage different playing styles. So just take a few minutes to think about it. It'll pay off in the end, because the default game server settings aren't necessarily the most popular scoring rules, and unless you really want the default scoring, you could lose most of your audience in the first two hours of operation if you didn't think about scoring.

== Requirements ==

=== If you fall short ===

If you cannot meet the requirements to host a server yourself (or simply don't want to leave your computer on 24/7), don't despair! There are companies that specialize in hosting colocated servers-- you can use many of them (such as [http://www.sevenl.net/ SevenL] or [http://www.vr.org VR Hosted]) to host an Armagetron Advanced server. If you don't have the expertise or want to bother with maintaining a full Linux server, you can get hosting specifically for Armagetron from [http://lightfoot.dashjr.org Lightfoot Hosting] or [http://flynnsarcade.net Flynn's Arcade] without needing to setup anything.

=== Hardware ===

Hardware requirements are fairly small. The game itself will only need around 10MB of RAM or so, more for more players. So whatever the minimal requirements for your target operating system will usually suffice. It is important to make sure that the game will not have any of its parts swapped to disk, just like with any other server, but memory usage is minimal.

CPU requirements are also pretty slim. Again, whatever the requirements for your target operating system will likely suffice. A common number provided for a server CPU is a 600mhz Pentium II or greater. Some popular servers have run on as little as 800mhz AMD Duron! Starting in 0.2.7.1, it is possible to limit the framerate of the simulation itself. This gives several important traits to the game. First, it makes it play nicely even on a computer that runs other tasks (such as a web server). It also provides for more stable gameplay. Finally, it allows you to tailor the simulation for your hardware, so on a smaller CPU, you should consider limiting the framerate of the simulation to improve gameplay.

=== Network ===

The size and speed of your network connection is more than likely going to be your first and most serious performance bottleneck. Generally you'll want to consider that each player connected requires about 6KB/second of upstream bandwidth. So for 16 players, you'll need 96 KB/sec of upstream bandwidth. This doesn't consider any other bandwidth usage on your network, such as web browsing from a different machine. Use MAX_CLIENTS to limit the number of players accordingly.

More information is given for both of these topics in the [[Advanced Server Administration Guide]].

== Setting Up ==

So now you've figured out what kind of server you want and how you want people to play on it, and you want to know how to set it up and optionally make it available on the master server browser. Setting up is fairly straightforward.

If you do not wish to bother with setting up a server yourself, and be left to simply administrate your server, [http://lightfoot.dashjr.org Lightfoot Hosting] or [http://flynnsarcade.net Flynn's Arcade] provide managed hosting for Armagetron servers-- you can just configure it how you like using a simple web interface and be ready to play.

=== Install the Server ===

First you need to install the server. It's common to think of any given "server" as a special machine built by old women in third-world countries, but actually, a "server" is just any machine that makes a "service" available to other users. In this case, you're going to install software on a computer, possibly your desktop computer, that will make a game service available for other users to use.

So first you need to acquire the package called "armagetronad-dedicated". If you're using Linux, get one that says "linux" on it. For Windows, get the one that has ".exe" on the end of it. For Mac OS X, there's one with a ".dmg" extension for you. Usually the CPU architecture and OS are embedded in the filename, so pick the right one and install it.

We won't go into too many details here about installation, consult the regular documentation for how to install the server for your architecture.

=== Test the Server ===

After installing the server, the first thing you should do is test it. So start it up. If you're in Linux, you will want to become the superuser and type, in a terminal, "/etc/init.d/armagetronad-dedicated start". If you're in Windows, find the icon in your Start menu and click it. If you're in Mac OS X, open the application Terminal which can be found in Utilities in the Applications folder. Type "cd " there (without the quotes) and drop the folder containing the dedicated server on the window. You should now see something like "cd /Users/username/Desktop/Armagetron\ Advanced\ Dedicated/ " if the folder is located on your desktop. Run it by pressing enter or return. Once you're in there, run ./armagetronad-dedicated to start the server. Then fire up a client and see if you can connect to it as a LAN game (under Network Game). If you can do this, then you have successfully tested the server. Now you need to shut it down. In Windows, go to the console window for the server (it opens when you start the game) and type "QUIT". In Linux, just do "/etc/init.d/armagetronad-dedicated stop". In Mac OS X, you type "quit" in the Terminal window like in Windows, after which you can close the Terminal window.

== Public Servers ==

If you want to host a server at home. You have to open UDP port 4534 in your firewall and possibly forward the port from your router to the PC running ArmagetronAd (and is hosting a game).

=== Firewalls ===
*Windows XP: Either your firewall will ask you if you want ArmagetronAd to open port 4534. You can also follow [http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308127 these instructions] use name: "Armagetron Server" the port is UDP 4534 (leave TCP blank).
*ZoneAlarm: TODO: popular? should it be added ?
*Mac OS X: Go to System Preferences ? Sharing ? Firewall. One way to let all traffic through is turning it off, but you may not want to do that. If you decide to leave/turn it on, look for a button labeled “Advanced…”. If it exists, go there and ensure “Block UDP Traffic” is not checked. If it doesn't exist you have an old version that never blocks any UDP. For the curious: this is a limited GUI to ipfirewall.
*Linux: TODO Lucifer ? Link to a site ?

=== Port forwarding ===

If you have a router with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_address_translation NAT], you'll want to forward a port to your server so others can reach it. Armagetron uses the UDP port from configuration option SERVER_PORT, which is 4534 by default. You'll probably want a forwarding entry that looks like:
* Local/internal address: <your server's IP address>
* Protocol: UDP
* Local/internal port: <SERVER_PORT>
* Remote/external port: anything should work, but <SERVER_PORT> is common.

It is important that your server's IP address never changes. You can manually choose an address outside the address pool used by DHCP, or an address that is unlikely to be assigned (e.g. if the lowest available address is always assigned, you can use an address ending with 100), or disable DHCP altogether and configure everything manually. [http://www.portforward.com/ http://www.portforward.com/] has more info on that.

If you can't figure it out, consult your router's manual. You can also look for help at the aforementioned [http://www.portforward.com/ http://www.portforward.com/], which has tutorials for many routers, and a forum. It doesn't have an Armagetron entry (yet), but it has been found that [http://www.portforward.com/english/applications/port_forwarding/F-22Lightning3/F-22Lightning3index.htm F-22 Lightning 3's] port range contains Armagetron's default port, so if you're absolutely clueless you can go with that.

==== Dynamic external IP addresses ====

If you have a dynamic external IP address, you can use a service like DynDNS's [http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns/ Dynamic DNS] to map a name to your IP address. When your IP address changes, a small updater program will send the new address to DynDNS and update the address associated with the name. You should set the setting SERVER_DNS to the name you registered to ensure clients and the master servers can keep track of you when your IP address changes.

=== Secure the Server ===

There isn't really a lot to do here, but you should consider how you want to secure the machine. If you think it will be necessary to ban certain players, then a firewall is your only option. Since ArmagetronAd 0.2.8.x you are able to ban IPs.
For older versions you can use a firewall that allows you to deny connections from users by IP address. It's not foolproof, but it's the only thing possible until we have player authentification.

Contrarily, if you do not want internet players to be able to use your server, you will need to make sure your router prevents such players but making the port mentioned above inaccessible through the router.

== [[Configuration Files]] ==

At this point you should have a good idea of what kind of server you're going to run and you should also have a working server running, but you don't yet have the server you set out to build. Now you need to configure the server itself.

The server is very flexible. As of the 0.2.8 release, you have pretty complete control over the simulation, and you also have some settings that you can configure the game rules a bit. So now all you need to do is make the settings, right? Wrong. :) First you need to understand how the settings are loaded and in what order.

=== Examples ===

Note: These examples first appeared in one of the release candidates for 0.2.8. Depending on what version you install, you may not have all of them, or even any of them. The final 0.2.8 release will have them for all platforms, however.

Several example files are provided to help you get set up and running quickly. These files contain snippets of settings that range from simple adjustments to cycle physics to more complex snippets that encapsulate complete game rules. So if you've played a server that you really enjoy and you'd like to use it as a base to build your own server, you can look to see if any of the example snippets provide the settings you're wanting.

Some of the snippets are named from the servers they came from. When you see this, it is because the file contains a fairly complete set of settings to make a server exactly like the server where the settings originated. Others are named after a specific action. These may have originated in a server, or they may not have originated in a server. If they came from a server, you can read the comments in the file to see which server they came from.

Each example snippet is built with the intention of being included in your <code>settings_custom.cfg</code> file so you don't have to copy and paste the contents in order to use them. Be warned, however, that the example snippet you've picked may be changed in an upgrade. This will happen periodically when the game engine changes in a way that renders the settings snippet in a different fashion than it was intended, and the changes will be made to attempt to bring that file back to the same feel of play as it originally had. If you want to use those upgrades to your benefit, then you can and should go ahead and include the snippet file as shown. If you want to insulate your server from such upgrades, then you'll need to copy and paste the contents of the file into your own <code>settings_custom.cfg</code>.

Examples:

To make a fortress server, add this line to <code>settings_custom.cfg</code>:

<code>INCLUDE examples/fortress_soccer.cfg</code>

To add a death zone to your server, you can add this line:

<code>INCLUDE examples/death_zone.cfg</code>

To add a single-use booster in place of the brake, you can use:

<code>INCLUDE examples/single_use_turbo.cfg</code>

Some of the example files may modify the same settings that others modify. When two examples conflict in this fashion, the one that is listed last will override all others. So place the one you wish to have persist at the end.

If you'd like to taylor the settings after you've included them, place your own settings after the relevant include lines. In fact, you should place all of your additional settings after all includes in order to ensure that no new included file will override your own settings.

=== Making your own Settings ===

The most common settings to change affect game logic, scoring, and some basic simulation such as cycle speed, acceleration, and so forth.

==== Simulation Settings ====
;EXPLOSION_RADIUS
:Blast radius of cycle explosions. Set to 0 to have no explosion radius (obviously).
;WALLS_LENGTH
:Cycle trail length. Set to -1 to have infinite trails.
;WALLS_STAY_UP_DELAY
:Cycle trail stay up this long after the cycle's destruction, measured in seconds.
;SPEED_FACTOR
:Cycle speed factor. Increase this by two to double the speed
;CYCLE_RUBBER
:This affects grinding. Higher numbers allow players to get closer to walls before crashing. It's intended to be used solely to correct for lag, but it's usually not used that way.

==== Map Settings ====
;ARENA_AXES
:Sets the number of possible driving directions (used only when map is axes-independent, otherwise the map overwrite this value)
;MAP_FILE
:This describe how to retreive a map. It uses a special syntax to allow to describe the location of the map on the local disk and a possible list of network based location, such as web url, where to retreive the file. The syntax is "[./][directory[/directory[...]]]/filename [(fulluri[; fulluri[; fulluri[...]]])]". By default, missing files are looked up by the client on the central resource repository. If one of more URI are given in the MAP_FILE, they will be queried before going to the resource repository.

==== Game Rules ====

;SCORE_WIN
:Points you gain for being last one alive. Also known as "camping points"
;SCORE_SUICIDE
:Points you gain for every stupid death (race into the rim/your own wall). It is added, so negative numbers are appropriate here unless you want to reward people for being stupid.
;SCORE_KILL
:Points you gain for everyone racing into your wall.
;SCORE_DIE
:Points you gain for every time you race into someone else's wall. Like SCORE_SUICIDE, you should make this a negative number unless you want to reward people for sucking.

;LIMIT_SCORE
:Score limit. When a player reaches this score, the match ends and that player wins. Ties are resolved by playing another round until one player has more points than the rest.
;LIMIT_ROUNDS
:Max number of rounds to play. When this is reached, the highest-scoring player is named the winner.
;LIMIT_TIME
:Max time (in minutes). When this is reached, the highest-scoring player is named the winner of the match.

Here is a pretty common setup:

<pre>
SCORE_WIN 0
SCORE_SUICIDE 0
SCORE_KILL 1
SCORE_DIE 0

LIMIT_SCORE 10
LIMIT_ROUNDS 40
LIMIT_TIME 30
</pre>

This is the scoring system used on servers like Swampland, the old Tigers Network servers, and the goshdarn clones that are floating around. It basically means you have to get 10 points by killing other players to win the match. Breakfast in Hell used a variation:

<pre>
SCORE_WIN 0
SCORE_SUICIDE 0
SCORE_KILL 1
SCORE_DIE 0

LIMIT_SCORE 1000
LIMIT_ROUNDS 40
LIMIT_TIME 7
</pre>

You still had to kill people to win, but the match was limited to 7 minutes. After 7 minutes, a winner was declared. The Crack Pipe still uses these settings at the time of writing but may change in the future.

'''This isn't a complete list!'''

There are a whole slew of configuration items available. Since the config items are the same as console commands, you can see a pretty complete list on the [[Console Commands]] page.

== Finishing Up ==

The last thing you need to figure out is usually the first thing you know. Do you want this server to be known by the master server? If so, you need to add this line to your settings_custom.cfg:

<code>
TALK_TO_MASTER 1
</code>

Note: in previous versions, this was the default, but as of 0.2.8, the default will be to not talk to master. You will have to manually set that, so make it the last thing you do before starting the server up for play.

You will also likely need to set <code>DEDICATED_IDLE</code> to 0. If you're in Linux and you're using the init script, then you probably don't have to worry about it, because the init script will restart the server automatically. But if you're not in Linux, you'll need to place this in your settings_custom.cfg:

<code>
DEDICATED_IDLE 0
</code>

For instructions on server-restarting on Mac OS X and Linux/UNIX systems go to [[Server_auto_restart]].

If you want your server to be known on the internet, you will probably need to open a port in your router. The default port is 4534, and you need to open it for "udp". Instructions on how to configure this on your router are beyond the scope of this document, you should consult your owner's manual for further information.

Of course, when that's all done, you need to start the server. Use the same procedure already referenced.

== Conclusion ==

This article is the basic "How to setup a game server" article. After reading through this article and getting your server running, the best thing you can do is to play your server for awhile, talk to other administrators, and so forth. Find out what people want, or figure out what you want. Tweak your settings however you'd like, it's your server. When you feel like you've got the hang of running a server, check out the [[Advanced Server Administration Guide]] for more cool things you can do with your server.

In the meantime, have fun!

[[Category:Server/config]]

Sty

2008-08-07T20:43:13Z

C10ud: /* Gameplay Settings */

'''Sty''' is a server mod that can allow to have Shooting, Capture the Flag, Hold the Flag, Styball using some hacks here and there. Sty is also known as « the pigsty » and « the stypatches ». Sty is totally configurable and has many features.

=Installing=

==Linux, UNIX, BSDs, OSX, cygwin and every UNIX-compatible operating system==

===Downloading and unpacking===

===== Bazaar Style =====

We maintain (don't confuse this with "we support", this is still unsupported third party code) a reasonably up to date version of the code in a [https://code.launchpad.net/~armagetronad-dev/armagetronad/0.2.8-armagetronad-sty bzr branch here]. To fetch it, you'll need [[Bazaar]]. Type into your console

<code>$ bzr branch http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~armagetronad-dev/armagetronad/0.2.8-armagetronad-sty 
$ cd 0.2.8-armagetronad-sty</code>

Optional (and risky, you may get difficult to resolve conflicts): merge in changes from the mainline with

<code>$ bzr merge lp:armagetronad/0.2.8 
$ bzr commit -m "Merging changes from the mainline"</code>

===== Traditional =====
'''WARNING: This method is now basically obsolete. Please use bazaar if at all possible (and I can't think of a good reason why not). It is already pre-patched and up to date.'''

The following is the traditional old way of getting the patch. It causes lots of conflicts you will need to resolve if followed to the letter.

So, here do we start, we need lastet SVN(=the lastet development revision) and the pigsty patch in order to install sty.

(Note: you will need to download subversion software from http://subversion.tigris.org/ and install it for your specific OS)

(You'll enter these codes in your SSH connection to your dedicated server, or in your terminal at home if you use your computer to host the server. Note that you wont enter the $ at each line, this character is generally used to indicate it's in a shell.)

We'ill create a working directory and enter in it to let the patches and the source here.

<code>$ mkdir armagetronad+sty 
$ cd !^</code>

Then we download the source of armagetronad.

<code>$ svn co https://armagetronad.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/armagetronad/armagetronad/branches/0.2.8.0/armagetronad .</code>

And the pig sty patch.

<code>$ wget -O stypatch.zip http://forums.armagetronad.net/download.php?id=5691</code>

Once the download is finished, we unpackthe zip file we downloaded:

<code>$ unzip stypatch.zip</code>

Now that all the resources and the patch have been unzipped, we will patch our code.

<code>$ patch -p0 < pigsty-061021.patch</code>

===Building and installing===

Now that we have patched our code, we can begin the build process which will process the source and output the binaries which will be ready for use.
First, we will generate a configure script using bootstrap.sh. On FreeBSD, you may need to modify the bootstrap.sh http://wiki.armagetronad.net/index.php/Help:Editingscript to point to the location of the automake tools since they may not be in your path, but in /usr/local/libexec/automakeXX and /usr/local/libexec/autoconfXX.

<code>$ ./bootstrap.sh</code>

Once we are notified that we have a working configure script, we can configure. The code given would install in the user's home directory.

<code>$ ./configure --prefix=${HOME} --disable-glout --enable-automakedefaults --disable-sysinstall --disable-etc --disable-useradd --disable-initscripts</code>

Finally, the standard make and make install. You will obviously want to su to root if you are installing outside your home folder.

<code>$ make 
$ make install</code>

On FreeBSD, you may need to run as:

<code>$ gmake 
$ gmake install</code>

Next, copy the Your_mom directory from the SOURCE_DIR/resources to your new resource folder in $PREFIX/share/games/armagetronad-dedicated/resource. You can now modify the sample config files given in the SOURCE_DIR/config/examples. Now you should have a functional CTF server. All that's left is tweaking settings!

Alternatively you can download the source pre-patched from the following link: [http://flynnsarcade.net/armagetronad-0.2.8_svn04122007.pigsty_ljr3.tar.gz] (FIXED)

=Map Settings=
###############################################
#Zone Types #
###############################################
flag # The flag in CTF
ball # The ball in StyBall
fortress #The flag base or ball goal.
death # Death zones
win # Win zone

=Gameplay Settings=

############################################################################################
#
# Shooting / Self Destruct / Zombies
#
############################################################################################

# The braking reservoir used for shooting goes from 1.0 (Full) to 0.0 (Empty)
# All of the shot thresholds are calculated from the amount of reservoir used
# To disable shooting, set SHOT_THRESH to 1.0

SHOT_THRESH 2 # Amount of brake reservoir that will make a shot, > 1.0 to disable shooting, 0.001 will enable shooting
SHOT_DISCARD_TIME 0.3 # Time in seconds to hold off shooting between shots
SHOT_START_DIST 1.0 # Starting distance of a shot from the cycle
SHOT_VELOCITY_MULT 1.8 # Cycle velocity is multiplied by this to calculate shot velocity
SHOT_RADIUS_MIN 0.7 # Minimum radius for a shot (As if minimum reservoir was used)
SHOT_RADIUS_MAX 5.0 # Maximum radius for a shot (Full reservoir used)
SHOT_ROT_MIN 2.0 # Minimum rotation for a shot (As if minimum reservoir was used)
SHOT_ROT_MAX 10.0 # Maximum rotation for a shot (Full reservoir used)
SHOT_EXPLOSION 0 # 0 for no explosion, 1 for explosion centered at cycle, 2 for explosion centered on shot

MEGA_SHOT_THRESH 2 # Amount of brake reservoir that will make a megashot, > 1.0 to disable, 0.98 is normal to enable this
MEGA_SHOT_MULT 0.3 # Radius and rotation calculated for a normal shot, then multipled by this for mega
MEGA_SHOT_DIR 3 # Number of directions to shoot around cycle, 0 to disable the shots (cycle explosion still works)
MEGA_SHOT_EXPLOSION 1 # 0 for no explosion, 1 for explosion centered at cycle, 2 for explosion centered on each shot, 3 for both

SHOT_KILL_SELF 0 # (0,1) if set to 1, your own shot kills you or your team
SHOT_KILL_VANISH 1 # (0,1) if set to 1, shot vanishes after killing someone
DEATH_SHOT 1 # (0,1) if set to 1 and you were in the middle of a shot, releases it after you die
SHOT_COLLISION 0 # (0,1) if set to 1, shots collide with each other - WARNING, this is very buggy

SELF_DESTRUCT 0 # (0,1) if set to 1, creates a blast zone when you die
SELF_DESTRUCT_RADIUS 18 # Radius of the self destruct zone at the largest
SELF_DESTRUCT_ROT 7 # Rotation of the self destruct zone
SELF_DESTRUCT_RISE 5 # Rise speed of the self destruct zone - 0 to start at largest
SELF_DESTRUCT_FALL 2 # Fall speed of the self destruct zone - 0 to leave there
SELF_DESTRUCT_VANISH 1 # (0,1) if set to 1, self destruct zone vanishes quickly after a kill

SHOT_SEEK_UPDATE_TIME 0.5 # The time in seconds that seeking shot directions are updated (zombies)

ZOMBIE_ZONE 0 # (0,1) if set to 1, killed players create a zombie zone
ZOMBIE_ZONE_RADIUS 6 # Final radius of the zombie zone
ZOMBIE_ZONE_ROT 2 # Speed of rotation
ZOMBIE_ZONE_RISE 0.4 # Rise speed of the zombie zone
ZOMBIE_ZONE_FALL 0 # Fall speed of the zombie zone, 0 for zombies that don't diminish
ZOMBIE_ZONE_VANISH 0 # (0,1) If 1, zombie will vanish after killing someone other than his killer
ZOMBIE_ZONE_SPEED 12 # Speed of the zombie zone
ZOMBIE_ZONE_SHOOT 1.0 # If > 0, shots will kill of zombies, 1 to decrease zombie size by shot size, > 1 to decrease zombie faster

SCORE_SHOT 1 # points you gain for shooting someone
SCORE_SHOT_SUICIDE 0 # points you gain for shooting yourself
SCORE_DEATH_SHOT 1 # points you gain for shooting someone with your death shot
SCORE_SELF_DESTRUCT 1 # points you gain for blasting someone with your self destruct blast
SCORE_ZOMBIE_ZONE_REVENGE 1 # points you gain for getting your killer with your zombie zone
SCORE_ZOMBIE_ZONE 0 # points you gain for getting anyone but your killer with your zombie zone

############################################################################################
#
# Capture the Flag / Ball / Goal
#
############################################################################################

BASE_RESPAWN 0 # (0,1) if set to 1, any fortress / goal / flag base will respawn the team that owns it if a team player enters it
BASE_ENEMY_RESPAWN 0 # (0,1) if set to 1, any fortress / goal / flag base will respawn the team that owns it if an enemy player enters it

BASE_ENEMY_KILL 0 # (0,1) if set to 1, any fortress / goal / flag base will kill the enemy if they enter it, usually set to 1 for ball games

SCORE_FLAG 3 # points you gain for capturing a flag and returning it to your base
SCORE_GOAL 1 # points you gain for shooting a goal

FLAG_CHAT_BLINK_TIME -1 # time in seconds that the chat triangle above a player with a flag will blink, -1 to disable

FLAG_BLINK_TIME 2 # time in seconds between flag blinking over player with the flag, -1 to disable
FLAG_BLINK_START 0.2 # percentage of the flag radius to start the flag blink at
FLAG_BLINK_END 1.0 # percentage of the flag radius to end the flag blink at
FLAG_BLINK_SPEED 8 # speed at which the flag blink radius increases
FLAG_BLINK_START 0.1 # percentage of the flag radius to start the flag blink at
FLAG_BLINK_ESTIMATE_POSITION 0.6 # 0 to start the flag blink at the current player position, 1 to start the flag blink where the player would be at the end of the blink at current speed and direction

Sty

2008-07-28T14:13:26Z

C10ud: /* Traditional */ put up a warning about using the traditional patch method

Sty

2008-07-17T21:15:19Z

C10ud: /* Building and installing */ Fixed link

'''Sty''' is a server mod that can allow to have Shooting, Capture the Flag, Hold the Flag, Styball using some hacks here and there. Sty is also known as « the pigsty » and « the stypatches ». Sty is totally configurable and has many features.

=Installing=

==Linux, UNIX, BSDs, OSX, cygwin and every UNIX-compatible operating system==

===Downloading and unpacking===

===== Bazaar Style =====

We maintain (don't confuse this with "we support", this is still unsupported third party code) a reasonably up to date version of the code in a [https://code.launchpad.net/~armagetronad-dev/armagetronad/0.2.8-armagetronad-sty bzr branch here]. To fetch it, you'll need [[Bazaar]]. Type into your console

<code>$ bzr branch http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~armagetronad-dev/armagetronad/0.2.8-armagetronad-sty 
$ cd 0.2.8-armagetronad-sty</code>

Optional (and risky, you may get difficult to resolve conflicts): merge in changes from the mainline with

<code>$ bzr merge lp:armagetronad/0.2.8 
$ bzr commit -m "Merging changes from the mainline"</code>

===== Traditional =====

The following is the traditional old way of getting the patch. It causes lots of conflicts you will need to resolve if followed to the letter.

So, here do we start, we need lastet SVN(=the lastet development revision) and the pigsty patch in order to install sty.

(Note: you will need to download subversion software from http://subversion.tigris.org/ and install it for your specific OS)

(You'll enter these codes in your SSH connection to your dedicated server, or in your terminal at home if you use your computer to host the server. Note that you wont enter the $ at each line, this character is generally used to indicate it's in a shell.)

We'ill create a working directory and enter in it to let the patches and the source here.

<code>$ mkdir armagetronad+sty 
$ cd !^</code>

Then we download the source of armagetronad.

<code>$ svn co https://armagetronad.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/armagetronad/armagetronad/branches/0.2.8.0/armagetronad .</code>

And the pig sty patch.

<code>$ wget -O stypatch.zip http://forums.armagetronad.net/download.php?id=5691</code>

Once the download is finished, we unpackthe zip file we downloaded:

<code>$ unzip stypatch.zip</code>

Now that all the resources and the patch have been unzipped, we will patch our code.

<code>$ patch -p0 < pigsty-061021.patch</code>

===Building and installing===

Now that we have patched our code, we can begin the build process which will process the source and output the binaries which will be ready for use.
First, we will generate a configure script using bootstrap.sh. On FreeBSD, you may need to modify the bootstrap.sh http://wiki.armagetronad.net/index.php/Help:Editingscript to point to the location of the automake tools since they may not be in your path, but in /usr/local/libexec/automakeXX and /usr/local/libexec/autoconfXX.

<code>$ ./bootstrap.sh</code>

Once we are notified that we have a working configure script, we can configure. The code given would install in the user's home directory.

<code>$ ./configure --prefix=${HOME} --disable-glout --enable-automakedefaults --disable-sysinstall --disable-etc --disable-useradd --disable-initscripts</code>

Finally, the standard make and make install. You will obviously want to su to root if you are installing outside your home folder.

<code>$ make 
$ make install</code>

On FreeBSD, you may need to run as:

<code>$ gmake 
$ gmake install</code>

Next, copy the Your_mom directory from the SOURCE_DIR/resources to your new resource folder in $PREFIX/share/games/armagetronad-dedicated/resource. You can now modify the sample config files given in the SOURCE_DIR/config/examples. Now you should have a functional CTF server. All that's left is tweaking settings!

Alternatively you can download the source pre-patched from the following link: [http://flynnsarcade.net/armagetronad-0.2.8_svn04122007.pigsty_ljr3.tar.gz] (FIXED)

=Map Settings=
###############################################
#Zone Types #
###############################################
flag # The flag in CTF
ball # The ball in StyBall
fortress #The flag base or ball goal.
death # Death zones
win # Win zone

=Gameplay Settings=

############################################################################################
#
# Shooting / Self Destruct / Zombies
#
############################################################################################

# The braking reservoir used for shooting goes from 1.0 (Full) to 0.0 (Empty)
# All of the shot thresholds are calculated from the amount of reservoir used
# To disable shooting, set SHOT_THRESH to 1.0

SHOT_THRESH 2 # Amount of brake reservoir that will make a shot, > 1.0 to disable shooting, 0.001 will enable shooting
SHOT_DISCARD_TIME 0.3 # Time in seconds to hold off shooting between shots
SHOT_START_DIST 1.0 # Starting distance of a shot from the cycle
SHOT_VELOCITY_MULT 1.8 # Cycle velocity is multiplied by this to calculate shot velocity
SHOT_RADIUS_MIN 0.7 # Minimum radius for a shot (As if minimum reservoir was used)
SHOT_RADIUS_MAX 5.0 # Maximum radius for a shot (Full reservoir used)
SHOT_ROT_MIN 2.0 # Minimum rotation for a shot (As if minimum reservoir was used)
SHOT_ROT_MAX 10.0 # Maximum rotation for a shot (Full reservoir used)
SHOT_EXPLOSION 0 # 0 for no explosion, 1 for explosion centered at cycle, 2 for explosion centered on shot

MEGA_SHOT_THRESH 2 # Amount of brake reservoir that will make a megashot, > 1.0 to disable, 0.98 is normal to enable this
MEGA_SHOT_MULT 0.3 # Radius and rotation calculated for a normal shot, then multipled by this for mega
MEGA_SHOT_DIR 3 # Number of directions to shoot around cycle, 0 to disable the shots (cycle explosion still works)
MEGA_SHOT_EXPLOSION 1 # 0 for no explosion, 1 for explosion centered at cycle, 2 for explosion centered on each shot, 3 for both

SHOT_KILL_SELF 0 # (0,1) if set to 1, your own shot kills you or your team
SHOT_KILL_VANISH 1 # (0,1) if set to 1, shot vanishes after killing someone
DEATH_SHOT 1 # (0,1) if set to 1 and you were in the middle of a shot, releases it after you die
SHOT_COLLISION 0 # (0,1) if set to 1, shots collide with each other - WARNING, this is very buggy

SELF_DESTRUCT 0 # (0,1) if set to 1, creates a blast zone when you die
SELF_DESTRUCT_RADIUS 18 # Radius of the self destruct zone at the largest
SELF_DESTRUCT_ROT 7 # Rotation of the self destruct zone
SELF_DESTRUCT_RISE 5 # Rise speed of the self destruct zone - 0 to start at largest
SELF_DESTRUCT_FALL 2 # Fall speed of the self destruct zone - 0 to leave there
SELF_DESTRUCT_VANISH 1 # (0,1) if set to 1, self destruct zone vanishes quickly after a kill

SHOT_SEEK_UPDATE_TIME 0.5 # The time in seconds that seeking shot directions are updated (zombies)

ZOMBIE_ZONE 0 # (0,1) if set to 1, killed players create a zombie zone
ZOMBIE_ZONE_RADIUS 6 # Final radius of the zombie zone
ZOMBIE_ZONE_ROT 2 # Speed of rotation
ZOMBIE_ZONE_RISE 0.4 # Rise speed of the zombie zone
ZOMBIE_ZONE_FALL 0 # Fall speed of the zombie zone, 0 for zombies that don't diminish
ZOMBIE_ZONE_VANISH 0 # (0,1) If 1, zombie will vanish after killing someone other than his killer
ZOMBIE_ZONE_SPEED 12 # Speed of the zombie zone
ZOMBIE_ZONE_SHOOT 1.0 # If > 0, shots will kill of zombies, 1 to decrease zombie size by shot size, > 1 to decrease zombie faster

SCORE_SHOT 1 # points you gain for shooting someone
SCORE_SHOT_SUICIDE 0 # points you gain for shooting yourself
SCORE_DEATH_SHOT 1 # points you gain for shooting someone with your death shot
SCORE_SELF_DESTRUCT 1 # points you gain for blasting someone with your self destruct blast
SCORE_ZOMBIE_ZONE_REVENGE 1 # points you gain for getting your killer with your zombie zone
SCORE_ZOMBIE_ZONE 0 # points you gain for getting anyone but your killer with your zombie zone

############################################################################################
#
# Capture the Flag / Ball / Goal
#
############################################################################################

BASE_RESPAWN 0 # (0,1) if set to 1, any fortress / goal / flag base will respawn the team that owns it if a team player enters it
BASE_ENEMY_RESPAWN 0 # (0,1) if set to 1, any fortress / goal / flag base will respawn the team that owns it if an enemy player enters it

BASE_ENEMY_KILL 0 # (0,1) if set to 1, any fortress / goal / flag base will kill the enemy if they enter it, usually set to 1 for ball games

SCORE_FLAG 3 # points you gain for capturing a flag and returning it to your base
SCORE_GOAL 1 # points you gain for shooting a goal

FLAG_CHAT_BLINK_TIME -1 # time in seconds that the chat triangle above a player with a flag will blink, -1 to disable

FLAG_BLINK_TIME 2 # time in seconds between flag blinking over player with the flag, -1 to disable
FLAG_BLINK_START 0.2 # percentage of the flag radius to start the flag blink at
FLAG_BLINK_END 1.0 # percentage of the flag radius to end the flag blink at
FLAG_BLINK_SPEED 8 # speed at which the flag blink radius increases
FLAG_BLINK_START 0.1 # percentage of the flag radius to start the flag blink at
FLAG_BLINK_ESTIMATE_POSITION 0.6 # 0 to start the flag blink at the current player position, 1 to start the flag blink where the player would be at the end of the blink at current speed and direction

Code hacks

2008-07-17T19:30:49Z

C10ud: Updated link for ctf pre-patched code

From time to time people do various hacks to the code or write various scripts and programs to support the game. We'll try to collect them here so you can use them too. If you have a hack you'd like to add, just add it here. For it to format correctly, put

<nowiki>
<pre>
Copy paste your script here, in the space inbetween the code and pre commands.
</pre>
</code>
</nowiki>

Alternatively just copy and paste the script as it is, but add a space in front of every line.

Note: there is no <nowiki><code></nowiki> in front of the script.

== Modifications to Armagetron Advanced ==

These usually require actually applying a patch to Armagetron Advanced source and recompiling. Not for the faint of heart!

=== Applying a Code Patch ===

So, how exactly do you apply a code patch? First, you must cd into your directory containing the source code. Next, assuming you have a unix-based server, you must use the patch utility to hack the code. The patch utility is simple to use-- here is its syntax:

<code><pre>patch -p0 < code_hack.patch</pre></code>

now compile as you normally would.

=== Styball Patch ===

groundpig's famous ball games, shooting, CTF, HTF, and many other games types work. Apply this patch to 0.2.8.2 source and build it.

[[:Image:styball.zip|Download the patch]]

=== CTF Server ===

Here are instructions for making a CTF server.

So, where do we start? First, we need to get the armagetron source. The version we need for a CTF server is the 0.2.8 SVN branch. The command I used to get this was:

<code><pre>$ svn co https://armagetronad.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/armagetronad/armagetronad/branches/0.2.8/armagetronad armagetronad</pre></code>

Note that the SVN version does not come with a prebuilt configure script so you will have to generate your own using bootstrap.sh which requires [http://sources.redhat.com/automake/ automake]. Now that we have the code, we must download the pigsty [http://forums.armagetronad.net/download.php?id=5691 patch]. Make sure that the patch is in our armagetronad source folder, and then untar it.

<code><pre>$ tar -xvf pigsty-061021.zip</pre></code>

Now that all the resources and the patch have been unzipped, we will patch our code.

<code><pre>$ patch -p0 < pigsty-061021.patch</pre></code>

Now that we have patched our code, we can begin the build process. First, we will generate a configure script using bootstrap.sh. On FreeBSD, you ''may'' need to modify the bootstrap.sh script to point to the location of the automake tools since they may not be in your path, but in /usr/local/libexec/automakeXX and /usr/local/libexec/autoconfXX.

<code><pre>$ ./bootstrap.sh</pre></code>

Once we are notified that we have a working configure script, we can configure. The code given would install in the user's home directory.

<code><pre>$ ./configure --prefix=$HOME --disable-glout --enable-automakedefaults --disable-sysinstall --disable-etc --disable-useradd --disable-initscripts</pre></code>

Finally, the standard make and make install. You will obviously want to su to root if you are installing outside your home folder.

<code><pre>$ make
$ make instal</pre></code>

On FreeBSD, you may need to run this as:

<code><pre>$ gmake
$ gmake install</pre></code>

Next, copy the Your_mom directory from the SOURCE_DIR/resources to your new resource folder in $PREFIX/share/games/armagetronad-dedicated/resource. You can now modify the sample config files given in the SOURCE_DIR/config/examples. Now you should have a functional CTF server. All that's left is tweaking settings!

Hopefully this helps someone :D In case any of you are feeling lazy, I decided to help you by uploading a prepatched version of the code [http://flynnsarcade.net/armagetronad-0.2.8_svn04122007.pigsty_ljr3.tar.gz here] (UPDATED LINK)

=== Hardcoded teams ===

'''Note''': In the latest 0.2.8 branch (to become 0.2.8.3) there are settings to control the team colors and names (<code>TEAM_(NAME|RED|GREEN|BLUE)_[1-8]</code>).

eTeam.cpp starts with the team names and colors:
<code><pre>#define TEAMCOLORS 8

static unsigned short se_team_rgb[TEAMCOLORS][3]=
{ { 4, 8, 15 } , // blue
{ 15, 15, 4 } , // gold
{ 15, 4, 4 } , // red
{ 4, 15, 4 } , // green
{ 15, 4, 15 } , // violet
{ 4, 15, 15 } , // ugly green
{ 15, 15, 15 } , // white
{ 7, 7, 7 } // black
};

static char* se_team_name[TEAMCOLORS]=
{
"$team_name_blue",
"$team_name_gold",
"$team_name_red",
"$team_name_green",
"$team_name_violet",
"$team_name_ugly",
"$team_name_white",
"$team_name_black"
};</pre></code>
The colors are just like player colors. See [[Elaborate color explanation#With teams|elaborate color explanation]] for details on how they are merged. The $ means they are taken from the corresponding entry in the language files. Changing the language files is actually a cheap way to change team names without altering the code, although $team_name_blue → "Team yellow" isn't the most elegant solution, not to mention that language files can't make a team look yellow.

A bit further down the file are switches that control the source and can be set using the console commands <code>ALLOW_TEAM_NAME_COLOR</code> and <code>ALLOW_TEAM_NAME_PLAYER</code>.
static bool se_allowTeamNameColor = true; // allow to name a team after a color
static bool se_allowTeamNamePlayer = true; // allow to name a team after the leader
The team leader is the oldest human player on a team, or the oldest bot if no human is available. Age is simply how long a player has been on a team. Which is used depends on a somewhat slanted democratic process. If there are at least two players and less than 50% of them have "Name Team after Player" set (bots and the leader are an implicit no, but are not excluded from the total when determining the percentage), an entry from the above list is used. Otherwise the team is named and colored after the leader, either as "Leader" if he is the only player, or "Leader's team" (team_owned_by in the language files) if there are more. The two switches can be used to influence the decision. If nothing is allowed an entry from the list is used. Then, finally, the team is forced to be named and colored after the leader if all entries in the list are in use.

== External Scripts and Programs ==

These are programs and scripts people have written that modify the game without requiring compiling the game.

=== Generators ===

These are scripts used to generate maps.

==== Labyrinth Script ====

This is the script that generates mazes. It requires python and almost certainly requires a Linux installation. It's never been tested in windows. It's also available in [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/armagetronad/private/Lucifer/aamaprotator/scripts/mazer.py?view=markup Lucifer's private area of the SVN repository]. Patches should be made against that and sent to Lucifer.

[[:Image:mazer.zip|Download this script]]

==== Racer Script ====

This script generates racer maps with walls and deathzones and obstacles. You can configure the look of the obstacles and the average amount of obstacles to be put onto the map. It requires PHP and probably runs best on linux, though it doesn't use any system- specific calls, it just prints to stdout.

The script is quite hacky and lacking any proper documentation, but not very complex, so it shouldn't be hard to hack it some more. [[:Image:Racer-php.gz|Download the script]]

=== Map Rotation ===

People have worked up good map rotation programs, hopefully they'll put them here.

==== Lucifer's Map Rotator ====

This is the rotator that used to power Swamplords on Crack before it was taken down. It includes the mazer.py script listed in Generators on this page. Probably requires Linux, it's not known to work in Windows.

[[:Image:aamaprotator.zip|Download the file]]

=== Server monitors ===

==== [[ArmaBell]] ====

A server monitor written by iF with tons of features for windows. Unfortunately the source code isn't available and it has been discontinued, and it doesn't even work anymore without some quirks.

==== [http://wejp.k.vu/projects/armaspy/ ArmaSpy] ====

A GTK server monitor written by weip in C. It runs on Linux and most likely other *nix–like operating systems too.

==== ArmaSpy Advanced ====

A server monitor written in python using PyKDE with some more features than ArmaSpy. It lets you directly join a server by clicking on a player in it, hilights servers in your server favorites and features a buddy list.

===== Links =====

* [http://wrtlprnft.ath.cx/armaspyadvanced2.png Screenshot of the menu]
* [http://wrtlprnft.ath.cx/armaspyadvanced3.png Screenshot of the buddy screen]
* [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/armagetronad/private/wrtlprnft/armaspyadvanced/armaspyadvanced.py?view=markup View Source]
* [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/armagetronad/private/wrtlprnft/armaspyadvanced/armaspyadvanced.py Download]
* [http://forums.armagetronad.net/viewtopic.php?t=7791 Original topic]

Server Administration Guide

2008-06-15T03:20:53Z

C10ud: /* If you fall short */

Setting up a server for Armagetron Advanced isn't terribly difficult, but there are a few things you need to consider when you do it. Taking a few minutes to figure out what you're trying to do will save you a whole lot of headache/heartache later on when people start playing your server.

== Starting out ==

Before you consider what OS you're going to use, what version of the game to run, and so forth, you should figure out a few basic parameters of the server. Here are some you should consider.

=== Private or Public? ===
The setting <code>TALK_TO_MASTER</code> is off by default. To make your server public (available on the master server list), you must turn on this setting. If it is off, players will only be able to connect to your server through the [[Server Bookmarks]] using your IP address. If you are connected to the internet through a router, normally used so that multiple computers can share the same internet connection, you will also need to open a port.

More information on both of these topics is available below.

=== Moderated? ===

Armagetron Advanced supports a limited but expanding set of in game administration commands(in 0.2.8, it will be a fairly comprehensive set). The catch is that you can only have one administration password. So in order to make moderators on your server, all you have to do is give out the administration password.

The alternative is to use the voting features that are intended to allow players to moderate the server as they see fit.

You can go either way, of course. It's entirely up to you.

=== Round or Match ===

There are plenty of ways to setup scoring on a server. A common setting is one point for each kill. While this scoring method encourages competitive play, it's not always desirable. On some servers, just surviving to the end of the round is quite an accomplishment, and you may wish to reward players for doing so. Too much of a reward will encourage players to just screw around instead of fighting.

You should also consider if you even want the standard gladiator-style fighting. It's certainly possible to set up scoring to allow for different games, such as [[Roulette]], and to encourage different playing styles. So just take a few minutes to think about it. It'll pay off in the end, because the default game server settings aren't necessarily the most popular scoring rules, and unless you really want the default scoring, you could lose most of your audience in the first two hours of operation if you didn't think about scoring.

== Requirements ==

=== If you fall short ===

If you cannot meet the requirements to host a server yourself (or simply don't want to leave your computer on 24/7), don't despair! There are companies that specialize in hosting colocated servers-- you can use many of them (such as [http://www.sevenl.net/ SevenL] or [http://www.vr.org VR Hosted]) to host an Armagetron Advanced server. If you don't have the expertise or want to bother with maintaining a full Linux server, you can get hosting specifically for Armagetron from [http://lightfoot.dashjr.org lightfoot.dashjr.org] or [http://flynnsarcade.net Flynn's Arcade] without needing to setup anything.

=== Hardware ===

Hardware requirements are fairly small. The game itself will only need around 10MB of RAM or so, more for more players. So whatever the minimal requirements for your target operating system will usually suffice. It is important to make sure that the game will not have any of its parts swapped to disk, just like with any other server, but memory usage is minimal.

CPU requirements are also pretty slim. Again, whatever the requirements for your target operating system will likely suffice. A common number provided for a server CPU is a 600mhz Pentium II or greater. Some popular servers have run on as little as 800mhz AMD Duron! Starting in 0.2.7.1, it is possible to limit the framerate of the simulation itself. This gives several important traits to the game. First, it makes it play nicely even on a computer that runs other tasks (such as a web server). It also provides for more stable gameplay. Finally, it allows you to tailor the simulation for your hardware, so on a smaller CPU, you should consider limiting the framerate of the simulation to improve gameplay.

=== Network ===

The size and speed of your network connection is more than likely going to be your first and most serious performance bottleneck. Generally you'll want to consider that each player connected requires about 6KB/second of upstream bandwidth. So for 16 players, you'll need 96 KB/sec of upstream bandwidth. This doesn't consider any other bandwidth usage on your network, such as web browsing from a different machine. Use MAX_CLIENTS to limit the number of players accordingly.

More information is given for both of these topics in the [[Advanced Server Administration Guide]].

== Setting Up ==

So now you've figured out what kind of server you want and how you want people to play on it, and you want to know how to set it up and optionally make it available on the master server browser. Setting up is fairly straightforward.

If you do not wish to bother with setting up a server yourself, and be left to simply administrate your server, [http://lightfoot.dashjr.org lightfoot.dashjr.org] provides managed hosting for Armagetron servers-- you can just configure it how you like using a simple web interface and be ready to play.

=== Install the Server ===

First you need to install the server. It's common to think of any given "server" as a special machine built by old women in third-world countries, but actually, a "server" is just any machine that makes a "service" available to other users. In this case, you're going to install software on a computer, possibly your desktop computer, that will make a game service available for other users to use.

So first you need to acquire the package called "armagetronad-dedicated". If you're using Linux, get one that says "linux" on it. For Windows, get the one that has ".exe" on the end of it. For Mac OS X, there's one with a ".dmg" extension for you. Usually the CPU architecture and OS are embedded in the filename, so pick the right one and install it.

We won't go into too many details here about installation, consult the regular documentation for how to install the server for your architecture.

=== Test the Server ===

After installing the server, the first thing you should do is test it. So start it up. If you're in Linux, you will want to become the superuser and type, in a terminal, "/etc/init.d/armagetronad-dedicated start". If you're in Windows, find the icon in your Start menu and click it. If you're in Mac OS X, open the application Terminal which can be found in Utilities in the Applications folder. Type "cd " there (without the quotes) and drop the folder containing the dedicated server on the window. You should now see something like "cd /Users/username/Desktop/Armagetron\ Advanced\ Dedicated/ " if the folder is located on your desktop. Run it by pressing enter or return. Once you're in there, run ./armagetronad-dedicated to start the server. Then fire up a client and see if you can connect to it as a LAN game (under Network Game). If you can do this, then you have successfully tested the server. Now you need to shut it down. In Windows, go to the console window for the server (it opens when you start the game) and type "QUIT". In Linux, just do "/etc/init.d/armagetronad-dedicated stop". In Mac OS X, you type "quit" in the Terminal window like in Windows, after which you can close the Terminal window.

== Public Servers ==

If you want to host a server at home. You have to open UDP port 4534 in your firewall and possibly forward the port from your router to the PC running ArmagetronAd (and is hosting a game).

=== Firewalls ===
*Windows XP: Either your firewall will ask you if you want ArmagetronAd to open port 4534. You can also follow [http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308127 these instructions] use name: "Armagetron Server" the port is UDP 4534 (leave TCP blank).
*ZoneAlarm: TODO: popular? should it be added ?
*Mac OS X: Go to System Preferences ? Sharing ? Firewall. One way to let all traffic through is turning it off, but you may not want to do that. If you decide to leave/turn it on, look for a button labeled “Advanced…”. If it exists, go there and ensure “Block UDP Traffic” is not checked. If it doesn't exist you have an old version that never blocks any UDP. For the curious: this is a limited GUI to ipfirewall.
*Linux: TODO Lucifer ? Link to a site ?

=== Port forwarding ===

If you have a router with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_address_translation NAT], you'll want to forward a port to your server so others can reach it. Armagetron uses the UDP port from configuration option SERVER_PORT, which is 4534 by default. You'll probably want a forwarding entry that looks like:
* Local/internal address: <your server's IP address>
* Protocol: UDP
* Local/internal port: <SERVER_PORT>
* Remote/external port: anything should work, but <SERVER_PORT> is common.

It is important that your server's IP address never changes. You can manually choose an address outside the address pool used by DHCP, or an address that is unlikely to be assigned (e.g. if the lowest available address is always assigned, you can use an address ending with 100), or disable DHCP altogether and configure everything manually. [http://www.portforward.com/ http://www.portforward.com/] has more info on that.

If you can't figure it out, consult your router's manual. You can also look for help at the aforementioned [http://www.portforward.com/ http://www.portforward.com/], which has tutorials for many routers, and a forum. It doesn't have an Armagetron entry (yet), but it has been found that [http://www.portforward.com/english/applications/port_forwarding/F-22Lightning3/F-22Lightning3index.htm F-22 Lightning 3's] port range contains Armagetron's default port, so if you're absolutely clueless you can go with that.

==== Dynamic external IP addresses ====

If you have a dynamic external IP address, you can use a service like DynDNS's [http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns/ Dynamic DNS] to map a name to your IP address. When your IP address changes, a small updater program will send the new address to DynDNS and update the address associated with the name. You should set the setting SERVER_DNS to the name you registered to ensure clients and the master servers can keep track of you when your IP address changes.

=== Secure the Server ===

There isn't really a lot to do here, but you should consider how you want to secure the machine. If you think it will be necessary to ban certain players, then a firewall is your only option. Since ArmagetronAd 0.2.8.x you are able to ban IPs.
For older versions you can use a firewall that allows you to deny connections from users by IP address. It's not foolproof, but it's the only thing possible until we have player authentification.

Contrarily, if you do not want internet players to be able to use your server, you will need to make sure your router prevents such players but making the port mentioned above inaccessible through the router.

== [[Configuration Files]] ==

At this point you should have a good idea of what kind of server you're going to run and you should also have a working server running, but you don't yet have the server you set out to build. Now you need to configure the server itself.

The server is very flexible. As of the 0.2.8 release, you have pretty complete control over the simulation, and you also have some settings that you can configure the game rules a bit. So now all you need to do is make the settings, right? Wrong. :) First you need to understand how the settings are loaded and in what order.

=== Examples ===

Note: These examples first appeared in one of the release candidates for 0.2.8. Depending on what version you install, you may not have all of them, or even any of them. The final 0.2.8 release will have them for all platforms, however.

Several example files are provided to help you get set up and running quickly. These files contain snippets of settings that range from simple adjustments to cycle physics to more complex snippets that encapsulate complete game rules. So if you've played a server that you really enjoy and you'd like to use it as a base to build your own server, you can look to see if any of the example snippets provide the settings you're wanting.

Some of the snippets are named from the servers they came from. When you see this, it is because the file contains a fairly complete set of settings to make a server exactly like the server where the settings originated. Others are named after a specific action. These may have originated in a server, or they may not have originated in a server. If they came from a server, you can read the comments in the file to see which server they came from.

Each example snippet is built with the intention of being included in your <code>settings_custom.cfg</code> file so you don't have to copy and paste the contents in order to use them. Be warned, however, that the example snippet you've picked may be changed in an upgrade. This will happen periodically when the game engine changes in a way that renders the settings snippet in a different fashion than it was intended, and the changes will be made to attempt to bring that file back to the same feel of play as it originally had. If you want to use those upgrades to your benefit, then you can and should go ahead and include the snippet file as shown. If you want to insulate your server from such upgrades, then you'll need to copy and paste the contents of the file into your own <code>settings_custom.cfg</code>.

Examples:

To make a fortress server, add this line to <code>settings_custom.cfg</code>:

<code>INCLUDE examples/fortress_soccer.cfg</code>

To add a death zone to your server, you can add this line:

<code>INCLUDE examples/death_zone.cfg</code>

To add a single-use booster in place of the brake, you can use:

<code>INCLUDE examples/single_use_turbo.cfg</code>

Some of the example files may modify the same settings that others modify. When two examples conflict in this fashion, the one that is listed last will override all others. So place the one you wish to have persist at the end.

If you'd like to taylor the settings after you've included them, place your own settings after the relevant include lines. In fact, you should place all of your additional settings after all includes in order to ensure that no new included file will override your own settings.

=== Making your own Settings ===

The most common settings to change affect game logic, scoring, and some basic simulation such as cycle speed, acceleration, and so forth.

==== Simulation Settings ====
;EXPLOSION_RADIUS
:Blast radius of cycle explosions. Set to 0 to have no explosion radius (obviously).
;WALLS_LENGTH
:Cycle trail length. Set to -1 to have infinite trails.
;WALLS_STAY_UP_DELAY
:Cycle trail stay up this long after the cycle's destruction, measured in seconds.
;SPEED_FACTOR
:Cycle speed factor. Increase this by two to double the speed
;CYCLE_RUBBER
:This affects grinding. Higher numbers allow players to get closer to walls before crashing. It's intended to be used solely to correct for lag, but it's usually not used that way.

==== Map Settings ====
;ARENA_AXES
:Sets the number of possible driving directions (used only when map is axes-independent, otherwise the map overwrite this value)
;MAP_FILE
:This describe how to retreive a map. It uses a special syntax to allow to describe the location of the map on the local disk and a possible list of network based location, such as web url, where to retreive the file. The syntax is "[./][directory[/directory[...]]]/filename [(fulluri[; fulluri[; fulluri[...]]])]". By default, missing files are looked up by the client on the central resource repository. If one of more URI are given in the MAP_FILE, they will be queried before going to the resource repository.

==== Game Rules ====

;SCORE_WIN
:Points you gain for being last one alive. Also known as "camping points"
;SCORE_SUICIDE
:Points you gain for every stupid death (race into the rim/your own wall). It is added, so negative numbers are appropriate here unless you want to reward people for being stupid.
;SCORE_KILL
:Points you gain for everyone racing into your wall.
;SCORE_DIE
:Points you gain for every time you race into someone else's wall. Like SCORE_SUICIDE, you should make this a negative number unless you want to reward people for sucking.

;LIMIT_SCORE
:Score limit. When a player reaches this score, the match ends and that player wins. Ties are resolved by playing another round until one player has more points than the rest.
;LIMIT_ROUNDS
:Max number of rounds to play. When this is reached, the highest-scoring player is named the winner.
;LIMIT_TIME
:Max time (in minutes). When this is reached, the highest-scoring player is named the winner of the match.

Here is a pretty common setup:

<pre>
SCORE_WIN 0
SCORE_SUICIDE 0
SCORE_KILL 1
SCORE_DIE 0

LIMIT_SCORE 10
LIMIT_ROUNDS 40
LIMIT_TIME 30
</pre>

This is the scoring system used on servers like Swampland, the old Tigers Network servers, and the goshdarn clones that are floating around. It basically means you have to get 10 points by killing other players to win the match. Breakfast in Hell used a variation:

<pre>
SCORE_WIN 0
SCORE_SUICIDE 0
SCORE_KILL 1
SCORE_DIE 0

LIMIT_SCORE 1000
LIMIT_ROUNDS 40
LIMIT_TIME 7
</pre>

You still had to kill people to win, but the match was limited to 7 minutes. After 7 minutes, a winner was declared. The Crack Pipe still uses these settings at the time of writing but may change in the future.

'''This isn't a complete list!'''

There are a whole slew of configuration items available. Since the config items are the same as console commands, you can see a pretty complete list on the [[Console Commands]] page.

== Finishing Up ==

The last thing you need to figure out is usually the first thing you know. Do you want this server to be known by the master server? If so, you need to add this line to your settings_custom.cfg:

<code>
TALK_TO_MASTER 1
</code>

Note: in previous versions, this was the default, but as of 0.2.8, the default will be to not talk to master. You will have to manually set that, so make it the last thing you do before starting the server up for play.

You will also likely need to set <code>DEDICATED_IDLE</code> to 0. If you're in Linux and you're using the init script, then you probably don't have to worry about it, because the init script will restart the server automatically. But if you're not in Linux, you'll need to place this in your settings_custom.cfg:

<code>
DEDICATED_IDLE 0
</code>

For instructions on server-restarting on Mac OS X and Linux/UNIX systems go to [[Server_auto_restart]].

If you want your server to be known on the internet, you will probably need to open a port in your router. The default port is 4534, and you need to open it for "udp". Instructions on how to configure this on your router are beyond the scope of this document, you should consult your owner's manual for further information.

Of course, when that's all done, you need to start the server. Use the same procedure already referenced.

== Conclusion ==

This article is the basic "How to setup a game server" article. After reading through this article and getting your server running, the best thing you can do is to play your server for awhile, talk to other administrators, and so forth. Find out what people want, or figure out what you want. Tweak your settings however you'd like, it's your server. When you feel like you've got the hang of running a server, check out the [[Advanced Server Administration Guide]] for more cool things you can do with your server.

In the meantime, have fun!

[[Category:Server/config]]

Servers

2007-06-04T17:11:49Z

C10ud: /* ~}xD{~ Clan Server */

This is a list of current servers, in alphabetical order. To see a list of old servers that no longer exist but were interesting enough to write about, visit the page about [[Old Servers]].

== Flynn's Arcade - .:Avl:. Clan Server==

Flynn's Arcade aims to be similar to the actual movie game grid, with emphasis on maneuvering skill, not just speed and rubber (although high speeds are quite possible). Settings include relatively low rubber, moderate speed and acceleration, infinite walls, and a turbo instead of brakes on one server, and good brakes and slow speed on the other server. Brake server is sometimes used for clan training. Servers are run by .:Avl:.C10ud:. (formerly ianthetechie). Homepage is http://flynns.servegame.org/

== ~|DarkSyndicate|~ Arena ==

High rubber Settings

The right place to test your skills. Fast server with high rubber settings. The 100mbit connection did the rest to make the server that popular. Specifications:

*server running armagetron 0.2.8.2
*standard arena
*walls last until you die
*explosions on a wall make gaps to get through
*no winzone activated
*server admins are ~|DS|~segv

== [[GP-Clan server]] ==

Low rubber, not infinite, rim makes speed.
Fun to test your LR skills.

== [[Ion]] ==
Ion is a test server hosted by zero. It allows players to test out new server settings and maps without having to use their own server. For more information, please contact [[User:zero]].

== [[MicroBusCity]] ==

This server has long walls and high speeds. Brake users need not apply. This server is a standard gladiatorial-style arena where you are expected to kill or be killed. Server settings change at the end of every month, but MBC is always winzone-friendly.

== Norms Place ==

A classic style server with friendly people. This server combines the best aspects of classic and fast play minus any bugs or much hated lag. To be among the best here you need skill and a range of strategies; however all are welcome whatever your ability.
For server stats, FAQ and links visit [http://norm.ds-media.eu norm.ds-media.eu]
== Race Server ==

This is the first server of its kind, but the setup is simple: You all start at about the same position of a long narrow alley with many obstacles in it. Whoever arrives first at the other end and hits the winzone there gets declared the winner — if anyone makes it there, that is. Many different obstacles that are tricky to escape, small killzones, sticky rim walls, a passage where the alley gets even narrower or splits, killzone- only rounds, the ability to lay mines to get rid of your followers and the turbo make this server an experience you don't want to miss!

== [[RaceToWinzone]] ==

You drive on the server a genuine running — head at head — with a speed from 0 to > 700. Obstacles will try you there to stop. The level are labyrinth-well-behaved however without erring courses. One must also never the way seeks to separate to simply only loose-race. There are different types of level. Times an obstacle run, times goes it through narrow tunnels, times must you try between the barks to drive. Adrenalin impacts are guaranteed.

== Race From Death Zone ==

Similar to any race server, get to the end first, and hit the win zone. Just here, if you slow down, or make a wrong turn, you smash into the death zone, that is quickly expanding behind you.
With an arrange of different maps and brake to boost, it is a very fun server.
To see server stats and maps, visit [http://www.freewebs.com/racefromdeathzone Race From Death Zone Website]
This server is run by Aang.

== [[Shrunkland]] ==

Small grid, low speed. It is also a standard gladiatorial-style arena. This server is run by Swampy.

== [[Swampland]] ==

This server offers shorter walls and moderately high wall acceleration. It is also a standard gladiatorial-style arena. This server is run by Swampy.

== The Lobster Cage and The Lobster Tub==

The Lobster Cage consists of a Medium/Small Grid, Endless Walls, Moderate Speeds, with Moderate Acceleration. Rubber Is slightly above average. The Lobster Tub is a combination of the server settings of In Limbo, Shrunkland, and The Lobster Cage to make one pretty swanky server. Both have a single use turbo instead of a brake. They also are the first official Armagetron servers to have their own Public Teamspeak Server.

These servers are ran by Dr Joe Tron(Lobster Cage/Tub) and Gomes(Teamspeak Server)

== [[~"XzL.Clan Server]] ==

This server is similar to MicroBusCity. It has high speed, non-infinite walls, and the scoring is based upon core dumps making this server more challenging. This server also has a quickly expanding deathzone that loves to eat your lightcycle.

== |VPF| SUPER SHRUNK ==

Home to the best shrunk-map clan in armagetron, having won multiple awards for several stunning performances over the years. Clan leader, Legend "Thick Dick" Goldenburg, has pushed VPF to the forefront of amazingness. We proudly boast our all-white player lineup, consisting of Stalin "Where the Hair at" Schnitzcral, Jim Tomash, Evin Polack, Rick Poor, and Sean "Why's my Dick so Small?" Carlyle. Hide yo' kids nukkas 'cause VPF be indahouz.

Servers

2007-06-04T17:11:25Z

C10ud: /* TGF Training Server */

Servers

2007-06-04T17:10:25Z

C10ud: /* Flynn's Arcade - .:Avl:. Clan Server */

This is a list of current servers, in alphabetical order. To see a list of old servers that no longer exist but were interesting enough to write about, visit the page about [[Old Servers]].

== Flynn's Arcade - .:Avl:. Clan Server==

Flynn's Arcade aims to be similar to the actual movie game grid, with emphasis on maneuvering skill, not just speed and rubber (although high speeds are quite possible). Settings include relatively low rubber, moderate speed and acceleration, infinite walls, and a turbo instead of brakes on one server, and good brakes and slow speed on the other server. Brake server is sometimes used for clan training. Servers are run by .:Avl:.C10ud:. (formerly ianthetechie). Homepage is http://flynns.servegame.org/

== ~|DarkSyndicate|~ Arena ==

High rubber Settings

The right place to test your skills. Fast server with high rubber settings. The 100mbit connection did the rest to make the server that popular. Specifications:

*server running armagetron 0.2.8.2
*standard arena
*walls last until you die
*explosions on a wall make gaps to get through
*no winzone activated
*server admins are ~|DS|~segv

== [[GP-Clan server]] ==

Low rubber, not infinite, rim makes speed.
Fun to test your LR skills.

== [[Ion]] ==
Ion is a test server hosted by zero. It allows players to test out new server settings and maps without having to use their own server. For more information, please contact [[User:zero]].

== [[MicroBusCity]] ==

This server has long walls and high speeds. Brake users need not apply. This server is a standard gladiatorial-style arena where you are expected to kill or be killed. Server settings change at the end of every month, but MBC is always winzone-friendly.

== Norms Place ==

A classic style server with friendly people. This server combines the best aspects of classic and fast play minus any bugs or much hated lag. To be among the best here you need skill and a range of strategies; however all are welcome whatever your ability.
For server stats, FAQ and links visit [http://norm.ds-media.eu norm.ds-media.eu]
== Race Server ==

This is the first server of its kind, but the setup is simple: You all start at about the same position of a long narrow alley with many obstacles in it. Whoever arrives first at the other end and hits the winzone there gets declared the winner — if anyone makes it there, that is. Many different obstacles that are tricky to escape, small killzones, sticky rim walls, a passage where the alley gets even narrower or splits, killzone- only rounds, the ability to lay mines to get rid of your followers and the turbo make this server an experience you don't want to miss!

== [[RaceToWinzone]] ==

You drive on the server a genuine running — head at head — with a speed from 0 to > 700. Obstacles will try you there to stop. The level are labyrinth-well-behaved however without erring courses. One must also never the way seeks to separate to simply only loose-race. There are different types of level. Times an obstacle run, times goes it through narrow tunnels, times must you try between the barks to drive. Adrenalin impacts are guaranteed.

== Race From Death Zone ==

Similar to any race server, get to the end first, and hit the win zone. Just here, if you slow down, or make a wrong turn, you smash into the death zone, that is quickly expanding behind you.
With an arrange of different maps and brake to boost, it is a very fun server.
To see server stats and maps, visit [http://www.freewebs.com/racefromdeathzone Race From Death Zone Website]
This server is run by Aang.

== [[Shrunkland]] ==

Small grid, low speed. It is also a standard gladiatorial-style arena. This server is run by Swampy.

== [[Swampland]] ==

This server offers shorter walls and moderately high wall acceleration. It is also a standard gladiatorial-style arena. This server is run by Swampy.

== The Lobster Cage and The Lobster Tub==

The Lobster Cage consists of a Medium/Small Grid, Endless Walls, Moderate Speeds, with Moderate Acceleration. Rubber Is slightly above average. The Lobster Tub is a combination of the server settings of In Limbo, Shrunkland, and The Lobster Cage to make one pretty swanky server. Both have a single use turbo instead of a brake. They also are the first official Armagetron servers to have their own Public Teamspeak Server.

These servers are ran by Dr Joe Tron(Lobster Cage/Tub) and Gomes(Teamspeak Server)

== [[~"XzL.Clan Server]] ==

This server is similar to MicroBusCity. It has high speed, non-infinite walls, and the scoring is based upon core dumps making this server more challenging. This server also has a quickly expanding deathzone that loves to eat your lightcycle.

== [[TGF Training Server]] ==

This server is made for people who want to train to become better. Here you will get lessons from some of the best players. Just visit the server, and look at the url and go to that forum. Then you will see where you can make requests for people to help you learn the game. This server is also fun for people who just want to play. Great settings, some say :)

== |VPF| SUPER SHRUNK ==

Home to the best shrunk-map clan in armagetron, having won multiple awards for several stunning performances over the years. Clan leader, Legend "Thick Dick" Goldenburg, has pushed VPF to the forefront of amazingness. We proudly boast our all-white player lineup, consisting of Stalin "Where the Hair at" Schnitzcral, Jim Tomash, Evin Polack, Rick Poor, and Sean "Why's my Dick so Small?" Carlyle. Hide yo' kids nukkas 'cause VPF be indahouz.

== ~}xD{~ Clan Server ==
New and improved server. Nice brakes, high rubber, and Good speed. "An all around good server."

Code hacks

2007-03-21T14:13:04Z

C10ud: Added CTF server tutorial

From time to time people do various hacks to the code or write various scripts and programs to support the game. We'll try to collect them here so you can use them too. If you have a hack you'd like to add, just add it here. For it to format correctly, put

<nowiki>
<pre>
Copy paste your script here, in the space inbetween the code and pre commands.
</pre>
</code>
</nowiki>

Alternatively just copy and paste the script as it is, but add a space in front of every line.

Note: there is no <nowiki><code></nowiki> in front of the script.

== Modifications to Armagetron Advanced ==

These usually require actually applying a patch to Armagetron Advanced source and recompiling. Not for the faint of heart!

=== Applying a Code Patch ===

So, how exactly do you apply a code patch? First, you must cd into your directory containing the source code. Next, assuming you have a unix-based server, you must use the patch utility to hack the code. The patch utility is simple to use-- here is its syntax:

<code><pre>patch -p0 < code_hack.patch</pre></code>

now compile as you normally would.

=== Styball Patch ===

groundpig's infamous ball games, shooting, CTF, HTF, and many other games types work. Apply this patch to 0.2.8.2 source and build it.

[[:Image:styball.zip|Download the patch]]

=== CTF Server ===

Here are instructions for making a CTF server.

So, where do we start? First, we need to get the armagetron source. The version we need for a CTF server is the 0.2.8 SVN branch. The command I used to get this was:

<code><pre>$ svn co https://armagetronad.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/armagetronad/armagetronad/branches/0.2.8.0/armagetronad armagetronad</pre></code>

Note that the SVN version does not come with a prebuilt configure script so you will have to generate your own using bootstrap.sh which requires [http://sources.redhat.com/automake/ automake]. Now that we have the code, we must download the pigsty [http://forums.armagetronad.net/download.php?id=5691 patch]. Make sure that the patch is in our armagetronad source folder, and then untar it.

<code><pre>$ tar -xvf pigsty-061021.zip</pre></code>

Now that all the resources and the patch have been unzipped, we will patch our code.

<code><pre>$ patch -p0 < pigsty-061021.patch</pre></code>

Now that we have patched our code, we can begin the build process. First, we will generate a configure script using bootstrap.sh. On FreeBSD, you ''may'' need to modify the bootstrap.sh script to point to the location of the automake tools since they may not be in your path, but in /usr/local/libexec/automakeXX and /usr/local/libexec/autoconfXX.

<code><pre>$ ./bootstrap.sh</pre></code>

Once we are notified that we have a working configure script, we can configure. The code given would install in the user's home directory.

<code><pre>$ ./configure --prefix=$HOME --disable-glout --enable-automakedefaults --disable-sysinstall --disable-etc --disable-useradd --disable-initscripts</pre></code>

Finally, the standard make and make install. You will obviously want to su to root if you are installing outside your home folder.

<code><pre>$ make
$ make instal</pre></code>

On FreeBSD, you may need to run this as:

<code><pre>$ gmake
$ gmake install</pre></code>

Next, copy the Your_mom directory from the SOURCE_DIR/resources to your new resource folder in $PREFIX/share/games/armagetronad-dedicated/resource. You can now modify the sample config files given in the SOURCE_DIR/config/examples. Now you should have a functional CTF server. All that's left is tweaking settings!

Hopefully this helps someone :D In case any of you are feeling lazy, I decided to help you by uploading a prepatched version of the code [http://flynns.servegame.org/armagetronad-0.2.8.0_svn03162007.pigsty.tar.gz here]

=== Hardcoded teams ===

'''Note''': In the latest 0.2.8 branch (to become 0.2.8.3) there are settings to control the team colors and names (<code>TEAM_(NAME|RED|GREEN|BLUE)_[1-8]</code>).

eTeam.cpp starts with the team names and colors:
<code><pre>#define TEAMCOLORS 8

static unsigned short se_team_rgb[TEAMCOLORS][3]=
{ { 4, 8, 15 } , // blue
{ 15, 15, 4 } , // gold
{ 15, 4, 4 } , // red
{ 4, 15, 4 } , // green
{ 15, 4, 15 } , // violet
{ 4, 15, 15 } , // ugly green
{ 15, 15, 15 } , // white
{ 7, 7, 7 } // black
};

static char* se_team_name[TEAMCOLORS]=
{
"$team_name_blue",
"$team_name_gold",
"$team_name_red",
"$team_name_green",
"$team_name_violet",
"$team_name_ugly",
"$team_name_white",
"$team_name_black"
};</pre></code>
The colors are just like player colors. See [[Elaborate color explanation#With teams|elaborate color explanation]] for details on how they are merged. The $ means they are taken from the corresponding entry in the language files. Changing the language files is actually a cheap way to change team names without altering the code, although $team_name_blue → "Team yellow" isn't the most elegant solution, not to mention that language files can't make a team look yellow.

A bit further down the file are switches that control the source and can be set using the console commands <code>ALLOW_TEAM_NAME_COLOR</code> and <code>ALLOW_TEAM_NAME_PLAYER</code>.
static bool se_allowTeamNameColor = true; // allow to name a team after a color
static bool se_allowTeamNamePlayer = true; // allow to name a team after the leader
The team leader is the oldest human player on a team, or the oldest bot if no human is available. Age is simply how long a player has been on a team. Which is used depends on a somewhat slanted democratic process. If there are at least two players and less than 50% of them have "Name Team after Player" set (bots and the leader are an implicit no, but are not excluded from the total when determining the percentage), an entry from the above list is used. Otherwise the team is named and colored after the leader, either as "Leader" if he is the only player, or "Leader's team" (team_owned_by in the language files) if there are more. The two switches can be used to influence the decision. If nothing is allowed an entry from the list is used. Then, finally, the team is forced to be named and colored after the leader if all entries in the list are in use.

== External Scripts and Programs ==

These are programs and scripts people have written that modify the game without requiring compiling the game.

=== Generators ===

These are scripts used to generate maps.

==== Labyrinth Script ====

This is the script that generates mazes. It requires python and almost certainly requires a Linux installation. It's never been tested in windows. It's also available in [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/armagetronad/private/Lucifer/aamaprotator/scripts/mazer.py?view=markup Lucifer's private area of the SVN repository]. Patches should be made against that and sent to Lucifer.

[[:Image:mazer.zip|Download this script]]

==== Racer Script ====

This script generates racer maps with walls and deathzones and obstacles. You can configure the look of the obstacles and the average amount of obstacles to be put onto the map. It requires PHP and probably runs best on linux, though it doesn't use any system- specific calls, it just prints to stdout.

The script is quite hacky and lacking any proper documentation, but not very complex, so it shouldn't be hard to hack it some more. [[:Image:Racer-php.gz|Download the script]]

=== Map Rotation ===

People have worked up good map rotation programs, hopefully they'll put them here.

==== Lucifer's Map Rotator ====

This is the rotator that used to power Swamplords on Crack before it was taken down. It includes the mazer.py script listed in Generators on this page. Probably requires Linux, it's not known to work in Windows.

[[:Image:aamaprotator.zip|Download the file]]

=== Server monitors ===

==== [[ArmaBell]] ====

A server monitor written by iF with tons of features for windows. Unfortunately the source code isn't available and it has been discontinued, and it doesn't even work anymore without some quirks.

==== [http://wejp.k.vu/projects/armaspy/ ArmaSpy] ====

A GTK server monitor written by weip in C. It runs on Linux and most likely other *nix–like operating systems too.

==== ArmaSpy Advanced ====

A server monitor written in python using PyKDE with some more features than ArmaSpy. It lets you directly join a server by clicking on a player in it, hilights servers in your server favorites and features a buddy list.

===== Links =====

* [http://wrtlprnft.ath.cx/armaspyadvanced2.png Screenshot of the menu]
* [http://wrtlprnft.ath.cx/armaspyadvanced3.png Screenshot of the buddy screen]
* [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/armagetronad/private/wrtlprnft/armaspyadvanced/armaspyadvanced.py?view=markup View Source]
* [http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/armagetronad/private/wrtlprnft/armaspyadvanced/armaspyadvanced.py Download]
* [http://forums.armagetronad.net/viewtopic.php?t=7791 Original topic]

=== Chat Programs and other Social Stuff ===

* If you are Windows user you can try [http://freewebtown.com/woof/armachatron.zip Armachatron], IM software for arma players exclusively.

Code hacks

2006-12-15T17:26:05Z

C10ud: /* Modifications to Armagetron Advanced */

Servers

2006-11-30T19:21:29Z

C10ud: /* ~[Wing]~ Clan Server */

This is a list of current servers, in alphabetical order. To see a list of old servers that no longer exist but were interesting enough to write about, visit the page about [[Old Servers]].

== 4 Team Fourtress {By WPN Clan] ==
* Fortress server with 4 teams instead of 2
* Sneaky side passages for quick attacks
* Map made by Durka for the [[We Pwn Noobs|WPN]] clan server

== Flynn's Arcade - .:Avl:. Clan Server==

Flynn's Arcade aims to be similar to the actual movie game grid, with emphasis on manuvering skill, not just speed and rubber (although high speeds are quite possible). Settings include relatively low rubber, moderate speed and accelleration, infinite walls, and a turbo instead of brakes on one server, and good brakes just for fun on the other server. Brake server is usually used for clan training. Servers are run by .:Avl:.C10ud:. (formerly ianthetechie). Homepage is http://flynns.servegame.org/

== [[GP-Clan server]] ==

Lowrubber, not infinite, rim makes speed.
Fun to test your LR skills.

== [[Ion]] ==
This server is in the testing phases right now. This will be updated in the next few weeks.

== [[MicroBusCity]] ==

This server has long walls and high speeds. Brake users need not apply. This server is a standard gladiatorial-style arena where you are expected to kill or be killed.

== Norms Place ==

A classic style server with friendly people. This server combines the best aspects of classic and fast play minus any bugs or much hated lag. To be among the best here you need skill and a range of strategies; however all are welcome whatever your ability.
For server stats, FAQ and links visit [http://norm.ds-media.eu norm.ds-media.eu]
== Race Server ==

This is the first server of its kind, but the setup is simple: You all start at about the same position of a long narrow alley with many obstacles in it. Whoever arrives first at the other end and hits the winzone there gets declared the winner — if anyone makes it there, that is. Many different obstacles that are tricky to escape, small killzones, sticky rim walls, a passage where the alley gets even narrower or splits, killzone- only rounds, the ability to lay mines to get rid of your followers and the turbo make this server an experience you don't want to miss!

== [[RaceToWinzone]] ==

You drive on the server a genuine running — head at head — with a speed from 0 to > 700. Obstacles will try you there to stop. The level are labyrinth-well-behaved however without erring courses. One must also never the way seeks to separate to simply only loose-race. There are different types of level. Times an obstacle run, times goes it through narrow tunnels, times must you try between the barks to drive. Adrenalin impacts are guaranteed.

== [[Shrunkland]] ==

Small grid, low speed. It is also a standard gladiatorial-style arena. This server is run by Swampy.

== [[Swampland]] ==

This server offers shorter walls and moderately high wall acceleration. It is also a standard gladiatorial-style arena. This server is run by Swampy.

== The Lobster Cage, The Lobster Tub, and The Lobster Pot==

These servers have Medium/Small Grid, Endless Walls(Tub has limited but long walls), Moderate Speeds, with Moderate Acceleration. Rubber Is slightly above average, and is home of The group(not clan The Lobster Mafia. Two things that makes these servers Unique: The brake in these servers act like a small turbo boost, which is your best weapon when you are one on one with another player. The turbo Lasts for 2 seconds. Once depleted it cannot be used untill next round. They also are the first official Armagetron servers to have their own Public Teamspeak Server. Be sure to check them out some time!

These servers are ran by DrJoeTron(Lobster Cage), Gomes(Lobster Tub), and LinuxLizzard(Lobster Pot)

== [[~"XzL.Clan Server]] ==

This server is similar to MicroBusCity. It has high speed, non-infinite walls, and the scoring is based upon core dumps making this server more challenging. This server also has a quickly expanding deathzone that loves to eat your lightcycle.

Servers

2006-11-30T19:19:58Z

C10ud: /* Flynn's Arcade - .:Avl:. Clan Server */

This is a list of current servers, in alphabetical order. To see a list of old servers that no longer exist but were interesting enough to write about, visit the page about [[Old Servers]].

== 4 Team Fourtress {By WPN Clan] ==
* Fortress server with 4 teams instead of 2
* Sneaky side passages for quick attacks
* Map made by Durka for the [[We Pwn Noobs|WPN]] clan server

== Flynn's Arcade - .:Avl:. Clan Server==

Flynn's Arcade aims to be similar to the actual movie game grid, with emphasis on manuvering skill, not just speed and rubber (although high speeds are quite possible). Settings include relatively low rubber, moderate speed and accelleration, infinite walls, and a turbo instead of brakes on one server, and good brakes just for fun on the other server. Brake server is usually used for clan training. Servers are run by .:Avl:.C10ud:. (formerly ianthetechie). Homepage is http://flynns.servegame.org/

== [[GP-Clan server]] ==

Lowrubber, not infinite, rim makes speed.
Fun to test your LR skills.

== [[Ion]] ==
This server is in the testing phases right now. This will be updated in the next few weeks.

== [[MicroBusCity]] ==

This server has long walls and high speeds. Brake users need not apply. This server is a standard gladiatorial-style arena where you are expected to kill or be killed.

== Norms Place ==

A classic style server with friendly people. This server combines the best aspects of classic and fast play minus any bugs or much hated lag. To be among the best here you need skill and a range of strategies; however all are welcome whatever your ability.
For server stats, FAQ and links visit [http://norm.ds-media.eu norm.ds-media.eu]
== Race Server ==

This is the first server of its kind, but the setup is simple: You all start at about the same position of a long narrow alley with many obstacles in it. Whoever arrives first at the other end and hits the winzone there gets declared the winner — if anyone makes it there, that is. Many different obstacles that are tricky to escape, small killzones, sticky rim walls, a passage where the alley gets even narrower or splits, killzone- only rounds, the ability to lay mines to get rid of your followers and the turbo make this server an experience you don't want to miss!

== [[RaceToWinzone]] ==

You drive on the server a genuine running — head at head — with a speed from 0 to > 700. Obstacles will try you there to stop. The level are labyrinth-well-behaved however without erring courses. One must also never the way seeks to separate to simply only loose-race. There are different types of level. Times an obstacle run, times goes it through narrow tunnels, times must you try between the barks to drive. Adrenalin impacts are guaranteed.

== [[Shrunkland]] ==

Small grid, low speed. It is also a standard gladiatorial-style arena. This server is run by Swampy.

== [[Swampland]] ==

This server offers shorter walls and moderately high wall acceleration. It is also a standard gladiatorial-style arena. This server is run by Swampy.

== The Lobster Cage, The Lobster Tub, and The Lobster Pot==

These servers have Medium/Small Grid, Endless Walls(Tub has limited but long walls), Moderate Speeds, with Moderate Acceleration. Rubber Is slightly above average, and is home of The group(not clan The Lobster Mafia. Two things that makes these servers Unique: The brake in these servers act like a small turbo boost, which is your best weapon when you are one on one with another player. The turbo Lasts for 2 seconds. Once depleted it cannot be used untill next round. They also are the first official Armagetron servers to have their own Public Teamspeak Server. Be sure to check them out some time!

These servers are ran by DrJoeTron(Lobster Cage), Gomes(Lobster Tub), and LinuxLizzard(Lobster Pot)

== [[~"XzL.Clan Server]] ==

This server is similar to MicroBusCity. It has high speed, non-infinite walls, and the scoring is based upon core dumps making this server more challenging. This server also has a quickly expanding deathzone that loves to eat your lightcycle.

== ~[Wing]~ Clan Server ==

This server is crazy!

Multi-Player Tactics

2006-11-15T02:54:26Z

C10ud: /* '''General Tactics and Terminology''' */

== '''Experience''' ==

"Practice makes perfect" is an old saying you need to heed before playing. You need to play before you can get better, and the more you play the better you'll get. Try to play against people at your own skill level, where you aren't losing or winning constantly, for the best gameplay experience.

Don't think that reading the following info alone will help you improve in game. Use this as a guideline along with practice and soon you'll be getting better and can take on more advanced players.

== '''Know the server''' ==

Base strategies upon which server you're in.

'''[[Servers]]'''

'''[[Rubber]]'''

''Low''-In a low rubber server you'll want to be careful about where you grind, pick your spots, and try to play in the open if possible.

''High''-In a high rubber server look for players who arn't getting close to walls to outgrind them (this can lead to some fun [[Grid_Games#Tunneling]]. Also try to play on medium or low rubber server (or local game) before coming here so you'll have a slight advantage. By trying not to use rubber you can also pick spots of when to drain all your rubber in a single grind and take out a player or 2.

'''Accel/Speed'''

''Low''- This wont leave you much room for mistakes, you'll be going slow so you'll have to pick where you'll attack someone. Try to anticipation your opponents moves to gain the upper hand.

''High''- This is where the split second decisions make or break you. Don't let slow players trick you into a sense of control be wary and you'll easily defeat them however. If your on the other side (driving slow) playing possum isn't often a bad idea. Use both techniques to your advantage

'''Trail Length'''

''Infinity''- This won't leave much room for error if you leave someone in too big a box they'll stall for a long time try to follow in after an opponent as far as you can if they try to hide and don't let anyone camp if possible. Again you'll have to pick when you will relentlessly attack and when you leave them inside a box

''Limited''- Alright making a box for guys here is pointless, they'll just stall and escape. Make any boxes you do make here as small as possible. Limited trail length often pits you against more relentlessly attacking rivals. Feel free to stall if you have to as it is generally accepted, but don't sit around doing nothing for to long or you'll just be camping again pick your spots here

== '''Anticipation''' ==

'''-Learn how the individual player reacts.-'''

''-1.Retreats'' - Look for openings and try to take this guy out first. If he's hugging walls you can either outgrind him or go around to the other side and force him to either get off the wall, outgrind you or take a corner . If they ar just generaly running try to build up enough speed to overcome the player. Most runners will not have an offense plan and can be overtaken easily you'll have to change strategies depending on other situations as well, use your best and varied strategies for each situation as it arises.

''-2.Attacks'' - Judge where this guys going to make his move and assault you. If he's using speed you can make some quick turns to throw him off often killing him, or giving you room to stall or a chance to escape and turn the tables.

'''-How you should attack and respond.-'''

''-1 Defense'' - Most of this is just stalling, if you get trapped try mazing. If you have an exit coming about quickly(limited trail length)zig zag. If you're waiting for someones wall to come down (or retreat) that's a good reason to stall, try not to camp([[Camping]]) if at all possible.

''-2 Offense'' - After you play for a while you'll figure out what to do here. Remember to vary how you attack players based on their own styles of play and don't forget to have at least some fun.

== '''General Tactics and Terminology''' ==

unfinished

Box - Pretty self-explanatory. The idea is to force your opponent into a "box", being defined as a closed area that is hard to escape.

psyche outs - to do

Corners - grind one wall and then grind the next outer wall perpendicular to it he'll have to beat both grinds to survive

Stalling - different methods 180'ing and other various methods(to do), [[Camping]], [[Mazing]]

Traps - A trap is, well, a trap. The most common form of a trap is to force a player into a box, grind the wall around the box, and as you grind one wall, go a little bit past the box and do a 180 and continue grinding around the box. This is very hard to escape.

adjusting - pros and cons

180'ing(sealing/grinding reversal etc any other names where appropriate) pros and cons

Grinding - [[Building_Your_Skillset#Grinding]]

[[Rubber]]

[[The_Basics]]

[[Fortress_Tactics]]

Sumo(do we have one) link

etc.

Building Your Skillset

2006-11-15T02:47:17Z

C10ud: /* Speed */

This article is for new players that want to get good at the game. It provides a path to follow and discusses the basic set of skills that are needed to play the game. Even older players can benefit from this article, and are invited to contribute their collected wisdom.

== Server Selection ==

Obviously, you're going to select servers on which you have low pings. The main settings to be concerned with are wall size, rubber, base speed, acceleration, and point awards. Some servers have brakes, others don't, so to build the most portable skillset, you need to work without brakes. I suggest unbinding your brake key while learning.

Each server, due to its settings, is going to emphasize a different part of your skillset. High rubber means heavy grinding. Infinite walls give a distinct advantage to mazing, and so forth. So to start, you should make sure you're playing several different servers that you can reach with a reasonable ping. You should also play servers that you have a really nasty ping on, so you can learn how to account for lag into your tactics.

=== Recommended Servers ===

Here are some servers that will help you to build specific skills. This is not a recommendation of fun servers or an endorsement of any particular server, however. Some of these servers have very specific audiences and some have very wide audiences. You will pick the ones you find the most fun based on your own tastes, this list is focused on servers that are good for building particular skills.

* Swampland - Open grid combat, emphasizes speed and maneuvering. For European players, this server is excellent practice in high ping conditions.
* Swamplords in Shrunkland - A small grid with long walls emphasizes mazing and close combat
* Tigers Network Classic - Brakes, low cycle acceleration, and infinite walls emphasize close combat. For American players, this server is excellent practice in high ping conditions.
* MicroBusCity - The intersection of Tigers and Swampland, this server is fast and with long walls. Point awards are based on survival rather than killing. This server emphasizes speed and maneuvering, and will help to develop the ability to switch between close combat and open grid fighting.
* Sumo - This server emphasizes close combat and mazing by placing each cycle in a ring with up to 3 other cycles. If you venture out of the ring for too long, you will die. You must survive in the ring. It is geared towards practicing to play the goalie position on a team-based fortress server, but the skills practiced are generally applicable to any close combat situation.

It's a common myth that playing locally will enhance your skills for internet games. I recommend not doing that if your ultimate goal is to play over the internet, because lag is a big enough part of the game that playing locally will affect your skillset negatively; you won't learn to account for lag.

The main areas (as I see them) that you need to work on are Grinding, Fast and Slow maneuvering, Dueling, Zoning, and Camera Control.

== Grinding ==

Grinding is such a basic part of the game that it's inarguably the first area for you to focus on. If you can't grind well, you can't accelerate well, it's as simple as that. Grinding can be defined as "Getting as close to the wall as possible without crashing, and turning so that you are running parallel to the wall". This is for any player's wall as well as the grid wall, with the player's walls giving you acceleration in the deal. In order to grind, you approach a wall and actually hit it. At the moment of contact with the wall, there will be a slight pause before your cycle explodes into pieces. The length of that pause is determined by your speed and the amount of rubber available. When you have run out of rubber, you explode. So the longer you wait before turning, the closer you will be to the wall after you turn. But if you wait too long, big bada boom.

Grinding is also a tactic, as well as a basic maneuvering skill. As a tactic, it's fairly straightfoward. To seal someone in a box, you have to grind the open points on the box, closing the box. To drive someone into a corner (any corner, not necessarily the grid corners) you have to grind both sides of the corner, leaving one side with enough space for the player to reasonably get in it and sealing the other side so they can't turn without hitting your wall. Grinding as a tactic can be effective, but is also easily defeated by better grinding, so while you need to build this skill first, it's a skill you should work on intermittently on its own. Instead, focus on working grinding into the rest of your tactics, where it will serve you best.

== Speed ==

Speed confers a strong advantage to a person who can maneuver at high speeds, but a tactical advantage can also be gained by being good at low speed maneuvering, especially against someone who depends on speed and is therefore likely to have a weakness in low speed manuevering. As you pick up speed, it becomes harder to grind any wall you approach, because the magical period during which you have struck the wall but haven't crashed is reduced in time, requiring faster moves to make the grind.

Speed isn't used as a standalone tactic, generally. It is part of every move you ever make, however. A speed kill is generally associated with a pretty simple kill that you earned through the advantages conveyed by high speeds, but the kill itself is usually very basic in nature. If your speed is high enough compared to the bike you've targetted, it is possible to build all four sides of the box around that bike before they escape and/or attack you directly.

To build skills at different speeds, you want to work in both an open grid and a pretty confined grid. The open grid will give you plenty of opportunities to work on grinding at high speeds, and the confined grid will give you plenty of opportunities to work on manuevering at high speeds in close quarters. The open grid will also give you an area in which to work on building a high speed and maintaining it. Reaching a high speed is generally pretty easy, but staying at a high speed is harder because as you get faster you have to grind more to stay fast.

=== Building Speed With a Launcher ===

One of the best ways to build up speed is by constructing a trail pattern that I
call “The Launcher”. I’m not exactly sure if this maneuver has a name or not, but
I’m going to call it the launcher until I hear otherwise :D...

The basic maneuver goes like this. First, you head straight in one direction for a
little bit- the longer you make it, the faster you will come out. Once you have gone
far enough, do a 180 and follow your trail back almost to the end. Next, do a 180
into your last wall like you are going to box yourself. Then do a 180 towards the
wall you are grinding now which will take you out of your box and shoot you out a
lot faster then you went in. Note that this will shoot you in the opposite direction
of your ﬁrst turn, so you could either turn the direction opposite your desired ﬁnal
orientation, or you could throw in another 180 outward before you do the inward
180. It sounds kindof confusing when I write it out, but it is really easy once you
get the hang of it. (By the way, don’t even try this if rubber is less than 6).

You can make many variations on this as well, like grinding the launcher wall
multiple times to build up more speed, or you can make a very short launcher to
help escape an enemy that is faster than you. Another technique that many speed
players favor is to start oﬀ a round by going about halfway to the center of the
arena and constructing a launcher to build up speed for the initial clash. You will
see launcher-like trails all over the grid and you should learn to incorporate these
techniques into your game eﬀectively.

== Maneuvering ==

Maneuvering and mazing are shades of the same skills. Mazing can be defined as maneuvering at close quarters, but that's not entirely accurate. Maneuvering is as much navigation as it is simple turning. The right moves can be found to kill everyone at any speed in any situation, so this is easily the most important skill you need to build. It's also the most basic skill of the game, so you will always be working on it.

Maneuvering as a tactic comes in three flavors: mazing, attack, and defense. Mazing is both an attack and a defense, and there's a fine line between a good mazer and a damn camper. Building a maze is tricky because it requires you to create paths that will confuse anybody who enters it, but still allow you to get out. Some players are easily suckered into mazes, others will go in to get you, and still others won't go in at all, preferring to fight in the open grid.

Maneuvering for attack is all about putting your wall in front of someone before they can turn away from it. You don't necessarily have to cross their line to get them to hit your wall. A little subtlety will go a long way in this regard. Tricking players to turn into your wall is generally more reliable (and harder) than just crossing their path.

Maneuvering for defense is all about putting walls in places to prevent someone from attacking you or allowing yourself a way out.

== Zones ==

Zoning is what you might expect it to be if you've ever played a zone defense in any regular sport. The grid itself is made up of several zones. As walls get laid down, several zones will appear. Generally speaking, you can expect the zones to appear in a predictable fashion, even though all players on the grid will behave unpredictably. Being able to play the zones is comprised of knowing how to take advantage of each zone to attack someone, and knowing how to maneuver into and out of each zone consistently.

Each cycle also has several zones around it that interact with the zones of the arena, and with each other's zones. Each attack you make will be initiated first from your cycle, then through a specific zone around your cycle, through the grid zone that the two cycles are in, and through/across a zone around the target cycle, and finally ending at the target cycle.

On a simpler note, defending that requires initiating some sort of action is about closing your zones to the other cycle. The easiest way to do it is to turn around and run, but it's not the only way.

Working the zones is key to using zoning in your tactics. Like any other sport, zoning can be de-emphasized. But like the other sports, doing so opens up weaknesses. Zoning is most used in team play, when understanding the interaction of the zones is vital to killing other cycles without killing your teammates.

On the whole, zones get tighter and smaller as more players enter the grid, so your zone-based tactics will need to be different depending on the number of players on the grid.

Zoning is a complex topic. It is also a very low-level topic, since most of what's conceptually a zone in play is handled by a part of your brain that you're not conscious of. Most players either have only a rudimentary understanding of zones or none at all, yet they still consider zoning in their attacks and defenses. If you want to consider the phrase "zone of influence", from military jargon, during your play, then that's probably all you need to do unless you're a hopeless taxonomic freak.

== Camera Control ==

Camera Control is all about being able to look around you so you know what's going on. It can be a hard skill to acquire, but it is an essential skill. Glance controls are the ones most used, because they give you the ability to look around and then return back to a regular view. There are other camera controls, such as zooming, and camera switching. You will need to find a combination of controls that works for you and then practice it. You will need to be able to switch views as instinctively and as easily as you turn your head while walking.

== Dueling ==

Dueling is obviously the skill that is used when it is you against one other cycle. The tactics change for one cycle versus many cycles. Dueling and jousting are similar, the difference between that jousting usually involves both cycles turning away and having to go back to the end of their traces to face each other again. This resembles medieval jousting quite a bit, actually. Dueling involves knowing the other player well enough to know how to attack them. Some players are better attacked by defending yourself instead and letting them screw up. Other players are better attacked in a straightforward fashion. Still others can only be defeated with subtlety and trickery. And still others only give you a few seconds to make an attack, and if it doesn't succeed you're dead. Dueling as a skill can be de-emphasized safely, if you're willing to sacrifice a point at the end of each round when it's just you and one other cycle. On servers that provide point awards just for being the last one standing (also known as the Camper Reward), you will have to duel the last enemy alive.

== Keyboard Layout ==

Choosing your keybindings is pretty tricky. In any discussion of keybindings, I find that most people have completely different keybindings. How your hands work together is important. I would suggest that piano players and expert typists should put left-hand moves and cameras on their left hand, literally, and right-hand moves and cameras on their right hand. As a guitar player, I find putting moving on my right hand and cameras (and score) on my left-hand works very well. It's important to remember that you can bind the same action to multiple keys. This brings us to double-binding versus non-double-binding. I don't want to get into it as a tactic or skill, but choosing your keybindings is integral to choosing your game. It's also a subject you should revisit periodically and see if you can make your keybindings better.

Like I suggested at the beginning, I recommend unbinding your brake for starters. You can bind it later and work it into your skillset, but there are distinct advantages conveyed on the player who can play without brakes that can't be denied. Some servers don't have brakes at all, others make their brakes an accelerator. Even among servers that have brakes the effect of the brake varies widely. Players also vary widely in their opinion of the brake. As a result of all of this, the skillset that is most portable amongst servers is the skillset that doesn't depend on any specific brake effect and can also easily assimilate the server's brake settings. After you've gotten fairly good and find yourself winning a few rounds by skill rather than luck, then you might consider binding the brake key and learning how to use your brakes on the servers that have them.

==Internal Resources==
[[Animated Tactics]] Watch and learn!

[[Category:Getting Started (tactics)]]