Zauron's Lair

Sometime in the far future, in a competition for money and fame that takes place in a confined arena, you are in control of a Minebot - a highly mobile remote-controlled hover-bot that can generate dangerous plasma mines. Your goal is to destroy as many waves of attack bots as you can to earn the title of Best Minebot Pilot. In addition to mines, the Minebot can fire energy shots and point-blank blasts. It can also be upgraded with items purchased from the cash you make after each enemy wave.

Controls:

Minebot	To move your Minebot, simply move the mouse. The Minebot's maneuverability allows it to move as fast and as accurately as your mouse cursor. You will notice a small gun move out from beneath your Minebot and point in the direction you are moving.
Mines	To drop a mine, click the left mouse button once. A mine will drop below your Minebot gun. For safety reasons, your own mines will not detonate while you are directly over top of them, so move away from the mine. The mine will then explode when an enemy gets near.
Blasts	To release a point-blank blast, hold down the left mouse button and your Minebot will begin storing energy. Once your Minebot flashes briefly, hold still and release the button to perform the blast (or right-click while charged to automatically hold still then blast).
Shots	To fire an energy shot, charge up power by holding the mouse button. Move your Minebot around with the mouse and you'll notice your gun begins to glow with blue energy. Once this energy is visible, release the mouse button and a shot will fire in the direction the gun was pointing. The size and power of the shot depends on how much energy you stored before releasing the button. You must be moving to fire a shot! Shots have slight homing ability, and large shots can bounce off walls. Since you can get bonus points for killing multiple enemies with a single large shot, it's generally best to fire full-powered shots rather than trying to rapid-fire small ones.

Gameplay:

Defeat enemy bots using your mines, shots, and blasts. But be careful, not all enemies are vulnerable to all of your attacks, and some can defend each other!

If your Minebot runs into the arena walls, enemy bots, or enemy shots, your hull will take damage. When your hull strength meter is empty, your Minebot will be destroyed and you will have to use one of your spare Minebots. You will also lose any upgrades your Minebot had, unless you had active Insurance at the time. To resume play, click anywhere in the arena and your new Minebot will appear at the point you clicked. You will also immediately release a powerful point-blank blast to clear out any enemies nearby. If your Minebot is destroyed and you have no spares left, the game is over and you can submit your score online.

After you have defeated enough enemies, the wave will end and you will be taken to a victory screen. Here you will be awarded cash and bonus points and get the opportunity to buy upgrades. Click on an upgrade to view of a description of it, then click Purchase (or double-click the icon if you enabled that option) to buy it. Click Next when finished.

Interface and Options

When you start the game you will be presented with a main menu. Here is what each menu item does:

Start Game begins play with the current game type you have selected. If you have no game type selected or you don't have the option to change game types, you will start a Normal game.

Game Type is not avilable at first, but when you have unlocked other game types you can click this option to change which game type will be used by the Start Game and High Scores menu items.

Options takes you to an options screen which has slider bars you can move with the mouse to adjust the music volume, mouse sensitivity, and graphics detail (less detail draws less special effects). You can also click on checkmark boxes to toggle double-click upgrade purchasing, run the game in Windowed mode (which requires you to quit and restart the game afterwards) and to use the middle mouse button instead of the right mouse button to use Gravity Wells.

Instructions will show you instructions like these in the game. Use the More and Back buttons to navigate through the instructions.

High Scores will display the high score list after downloading it from this web site. Make sure your internet connection is currently working and no firewalls will block Minebot's access to the internet before choosing this option. Which high score list is displayed depends on which Game Type you currently have selected.

Credits just displays information on who made the game - which is pretty much just one guy, Zauron.

Quit exits the program and returns you to Windows.

Once in the game itself, along the top of the screen, from left to right, is how many Minebots you have left in reserve; your remaining hull strength (life); your shot/blast charge meter; what level you are on; which upgrades you now have; how much cash you have remaining; and your current score. The rest of the screen is the arena itself, displaying all the action as it happens!

At any point during play, press the Esc key to pause the game or exit the current menu. Once paused you can restart the game in your current game type, display the Options, or exit to the main menu to change game types, read the instructions, or quit the game. If you need to temporarily leave the game, press Alt+Tab to pause and minimize the game.

Keyboard Commands:

Esc: Pauses game, displays pause menu, returns to previous screen.
Space Bar: Uses a Gravity Well if you have one purchased.
Ctrl: Hold this key down to continuously drop mines automatically.
Enter: Changes the current music to the next song.
+ on number pad: Skips to the next wave when used on the wave description screen.
V: Changes the V-Sync graphics method used by the game - try pressing this multiple times until you find a setting that runs smoothly on your system if you have poor performance. The default setting uses your CPU to synchronize frames with your monitor's refresh rate for smooth drawing. The second setting uses the video card's timing. The third setting uses both. The fourth setting forces 30 frames per second via manual timing from your computer clock. The final option turns off all timing methods and runs the game as fast as your computer will allow. Pressing V again after this will reset to the first setting again.
F: Toggles on a frames-per-second indicator in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. Note that in most V-Sync modes, your maximum frames per second will be limited to your monitor's current refresh rate.
Alt-Tab: Pauses game, displays pause menu, and minimizes the game.
F4: Immediately quits the game and exits to Windows.

NOTE: See the readme file included with the game for additional instructions on advanced features and for some troubleshooting tips.

Upgrades:

Insurance	Description: When your Minebot is destroyed, some upgrades and items are normally lost. At first, all upgrades are lost, but once you have passed Wave 10, only upgrades worth more than $100 are lost, and after Wave 20, only upgrades worth more than $250 are lost. If you have purchased Insurance, no upgrades or items are lost at all, and your new Minebot is fully equipped. Although free at first, having Insurance means you will be charged a fee automatically each Wave. The fee is 1% of the combined cost of your currently owned upgrades per wave. You can turn Insurance back off to save money at the risk of dying uninsured. Cost: 1% of the combined cost of all currently owned upgrades taken out of your cash bonus at the end of each Wave. Tips: You should buy Insurance right away and keep it on as soon as you buy your first upgrade if you are a new player. Once you are practiced with the game and confident you will not die, then you may want to hold off on buying insurance until boss waves and higher waves in order to save money and be able to buy points and other upgrades sooner. It's not a bad idea for an experienced player to turn Insurance on temporarily for certain difficult Waves and then turn it back off again to save money.
Instant Repair	Description: This immediately fully repairs your Minebot. It can be purchased as often as you need (and have available cash for). Once you do purchase a Repair, the cost of the next Repair goes up. The raise in price depends on what Wave you are on (higher wave = bigger price increase). Cost: $100, cost increases each time purchased to a total of: (cash bonus for the current Wave) x 2. Tips: Remember that this item repairs you completely for the same cost as just repairing a small amount of damage. Therefore the most efficient way to use it is to only buy it when you are severely damaged. But doing so means you are at greater risk of dying before you get a chance to repair. You must carefully weigh the risk of continuing without repairing versus the reward of extra cash for other upgrades. Also, when the repair starts to get expensive, remember that the Force Shield and the Improved Hull will also repair you when purchased!
Mine Production Upgrade	Description: This upgrade will allow your Minebot to generate mines rapidly. With this you will be able to drop mines as fast as you can click! This works best when combined with the Mine Detonator Upgrade, allowing you to drop many mines very fast. Cost: $100 Tips: It is highly recommended that you buy this upgrade before fighting a Boss Bot. The quickest way to damage a Boss Bot once you have destroyed any arms, weapons, and protective spikes is by dropping lots of mines very quickly right next to the Boss Bot's body. This upgrade will make finishing off the Boss much easier. It's also vital for the higher waves against Boomers and large numbers of Homers.
Mine Detonator Upgrade	Description: This upgrade will allow your detonator to track more mines. You can have up to 8 mines on the screen at once with this. Cost: $100 Tips: Nothing is more frustrating than trying to drop a mine when Homers are on your tail and being unable to because you've already dropped some somewhere else and they haven't gone off yet. This upgrade removes that problem. Combined with the Big Mines and Mine Production upgrades this allows you to fill the screen with mine explosions quickly. This is also useful for dropping a small pile of lots of mines and leading a heavily armored enemy (such as a Boss's arm) into the mine pile for high damage instantly.
Energy Capacity Upgrade	Description: This allows you to hold a greater charge for shots and blasts. Thus you will be able to fire larger shots and have a bigger blast radius. Cost: $100 Tips: Another good early upgrade, the additional blast radius and shot size available with this is a big boost to your damage output. The bigger blast can destroy almost all normal enemies, even Boomers, with one hit. The bigger shots can bounce more times and kill more enemies before they dissipate. For those that seek high scores, this means each shot can get a higher bounce/multi-hit bonus and thus give more points than smaller shots. This may be a good choice for your first upgrade if you are going for points.
Energy Generator Upgrade	Description: This upgrade improves the speed of charging to 150% This will allow you to fire shots and use point blank blasts more frequently. Cost: $250 Tips: Not vital at first, but definitely a solid choice for those that use shots and blasts often.
Improved Hull	Description: This gives your Minebot reinforced plating on the hull. With it you can take 50 more damage before being destroyed. Your starting hull can take 100 damage, so this upgrade allows you to take 150 total damage. Purchasing this item also grants an immediate full repair of your Minebot! Cost: $250 Tips: It may be a good idea to wait and use this upgrade when you are fairly damaged just to get the free repair that comes with it! This upgrade should be purchased earlier if you are a newer player or prone to dying often, later if you are a pro going for the top score.
Energy Absorption Module	Description: With this item, while charging you will automatically absorb energy from enemy shots and your own shots. This absorbed energy will fill up your Charge meter very quickly. This can not only easily protect you from enemy fire, but can allow for fast counter attacks or correcting a misfired shot. Cost: $300 Tips: This is one of the most vital defensive upgrades once you start facing Gunners and Dodgers at around Wave 14 because it makes enemy shots much less threatening. When under fire just hold down your mouse button to start charging and you won't take any damage from enemy shots, plus your charge meter will fill up very fast. Even after your charge is full you can still absorb enemy shots just as a protective measure. As for catching your own shots, you can only absorb them when your energy isn't quite full yet. It benefits you to try to catch your own shots then shoot another shot with the energy because the second shot can keep some of the point bonus from the absorbed shot.
Force Shield Module	Description: This produces a forcefield that will protect you from hull damage. When you are hit, the shield is depleted but it can regenerate over time. It can ONLY regenerate when your Hull is undamaged! The shield can absorb 25 damage (to compare you start out being able to take 100 damage total). Purchasing this item also grants an immediate full Repair. Cost: $400 Tips: Like the Hull Upgrade, you may want to hold off on buying this until you are damaged in order to take advantage of the free repair that comes with it. However, this upgrade can really help in getting the Flawless point bonus at the end of each wave and thus lead to higher scores. As long as the shield never drops completely, you don't lose your Flawless bonus, and it regenerates quickly enough that you can take the occassional hit from most enemies and still be in the clear. A solid upgrade to buy at any point in the game.
Big Mines Upgrade	Description: This upgrade greatly increases the detection range, explosion radius, and damage of your mines. Cost: $250 Tips: Combined with other mine upgrades, this provides quite a boost to your firepower. Not only will your mines detonate quicker and with a wider radius, but they will do 50% more damage to enemies that take more than one hit to kill. Boomers, for example, take only 2 mines instead of 3 to kill with this upgrade. A good choice at any time, but better after getting at least one of the other two mine upgrades first.
Triple Shot Upgrade	Description: This will cause your shot to split into three when fired. The middle shot will still go where a normal shot would go, but the other two will fly off at slightly different angles on either side. Each split shot is just as powerful as the original shot would have been, essentially tripling your firepower. Cost: $750 Tips: This upgrade is expensive for a reason - combined with the energy upgrades this allows you to quickly fill the entire screen with bouncing shots, greatly increasing your firepower and your point-gaining potential. Once you have this, the only enemies you have to fear are Absorbers and Boomers. Definitely the prime upgrade of the bunch, but not one you can expect to get very early.
Gravity Well	Description: This one-time-use item will destroy most of the enemies on the screen when you use it. By default, you can use it by clicking the right mouse button or pressing the Space Bar on your keyboard. You can also use the Options screen to change it to your middle mouse button (mouse wheel) instead of right click if you find that you accidentally right-click when you didn't mean to. When using the standard right-click method, remember that you must have no charge built up in your charge meter when right-clicking in order to use a Gravity Well. Once you have used it, you will have to buy it again to use again, and the price goes up each time you buy one. Cost: $200, plus an additional $50 each time its purchased. Tips: Always good to have one of these ready for emergencies, especially at the later levels. Use this when the screen becomes so full of enemies that you have no room to manuever. There are also some high-end waves that throw all the enemies at you right at the beginning, and using this then can make things a LOT easier. Many experienced players will tell you that the key to getting to high waves and lots of points is to know the right times to use these. Just remember, the more you use them the more expensive they become.
Extra Minebot	Description: This gives you another Minebot in reserve for after your current stock has run out. This increases how long you can last in the Arena over all. You can buy extra Minebots as many times as you can afford to, but the price goes up each time. Cost: $1000, plus an additional $250 each time its purchased. Tips: Best saved for late in the game to extend your survival and get a higher score (by getting the bonuses from passing waves). However, its worth must be compared to other high end items such as extra points, Gravity Wells, and expensive Repairs. Extra points can actually lead to getting extra Minebots since you are given one every 50,000 points, and the Gravity Well can really save your skin in emergencies. Repairs are generally cheaper than extra minebots, so if you think you can live through the next wave without dying they can be a better investment. You'll have to weigh the benifits of these four items carefully in the high end game.
1000/10000 points	Description: This will give you bonus points at a cost to cash. It's a good way to spend your money when going for a high score, especially after getting all the upgrades. Cost: $100 for 1000 points, $800 for 10000 points. Tips: Extra points are the real goal for trying to save up your cash when going for a high score. The more cash you can save by not buying Gravity Wells, Repairs, and Extra Minebots the more you have to buy points and increase your score. Just note that saving up for the $800 point increase is a better deal in points, but if you think you are getting close to the limits of your play skill, you may want to invest in the $100 points just so you don't end up with a Game Over and unspent cash! Of course, as with some other purchases, there's always the risk when buying points that you may have been better off with an extra Minebot, a Gravity Well, or enough cash saved up for a repair when needed. Deciding between these items is often the key to success at the highest levels!

Enemies:

Homer	The mainstay of the enemy bot arsenal, Homers are fast suicide bots with a simplistic AI. They just try to smash into your Minebot, and do a fair chunk of damage when they do. They have limited detection range but they can remember the last location where you were spotted and they will continue to search the area, even if you're dead, to try to locate you again. They are best destroyed with mines.
Defender	These protect themselves from your mines with a special energy shield. They also emit protective beams to nearby enemies that shield them from mines as well. These beams and shields don't do anything to your shots or point-blank blasts though. Defenders can attack you with a short-range rotating blade if you get too close. They are best destroyed with shots from outside their range. If there are no threats nearby, they will shut down their shields and beams to conserve energy.
Absorber	These provide defense against your fired shots. If any of your shots get nearby them, they will quickly pull the shot to themselves and absorb the energy from it. They can then use this energy to fire shots of their own in all 8 directions. They try to position themselves between you and other enemies. Best destroyed with mines, unless a Defender is protecting them, in which case you need point-blank blasts.
Spike	These heavily armored enemies are just there to get in your way. When you get too close, their spikes protrude in all directions. They just bounce around the arena with no actual AI. Any attack works about the same on them, but they always take multiple hits to destroy. Spikes can also join together and be used as joints in special arms used by the Boss Bot. The damage a Spike does is much greater when it rams into your Minebot at high speed than if it just lightly bumps into you.
Snake	This rarely-used enemy just randomly slithers around the arena dropping enemy mines. If part of it is destroyed, the remaining pieces will break off into smaller Snakes. Each of these smaller Snakes can also drop mines. Any attack will destroy pieces of the Snake, although mines usually work best.
Leacher	The fastest and smallest bots, using the same AI as Homers, these things are small enough that your mines won't detect them (although they can still destroy them if something else sets the mine off) and your shots won't home in on them. When they reach you they latch on to your Minebot and slowly degrade your hull and slow your movement speed. The only way to get Leachers off once they are attached is with a point-blank blast, but any attack will destroy them before then.
Gunner	These enemies are quick and intelligent. They will try to avoid you and your shots and fire shots back at you. They don't detect your mines, however, so it is possible to drop a mine and then chase them into it. Despite their large size, their weapons system allows little room for armor and are somewhat instable, so running into them or hitting them with a mine, shot, or blast will instantly destroy them. If they don't have to move for a while, Gunners can perform a dangerous rapid-fire flurry of shots!
Boomer	Boomers are large, armor-plated Homers with a radar system that lets them know your location at all times. Their armor has been especially designed to withstand your energy shots, although a large number of shots will eventually destroy them. Due to their bulk, they are much slower than Homers but also do more damage if they hit you. A few mines are usually the best way to destroy them.
Dodger	The precursor to your own Minebots, these enemies have 8 engines allowing them to quickly move in any direction. Combined with an advanced AI and a weapons system similar to yours, they can dodge your shots and mines while laying down mines of their own. If you try to hit them with a shot, they will dodge it and fire back with shots of their own. Like Gunners, anything can destroy them, but their manuevaribility makes them difficult to catch. Often running them into a wall is easiest.
Repair	These aren't really an enemy, they just float lazily across the screen. Touching one with your Minebot will instantly repair some hull damage, as well as awarding a few points. They don't appear very often, but they can be helpful when they do. Just be careful not to damage yourself even more trying to reach one!
Boss Bot	This very large and heavily armored hovering tank has an internal bot factory allowing it to produce and fire out Homers and other bots from special bays. It can also have up to 3 projectile weapons mounted on top. It is surrounded by mounted Spikes to protect its hull. These special Spikes can have robotic arms attached to them with various weapons as hands, such as guns, claws, blades, shields, and even other enemies like Absorbers and Defenders. The protective Spikes and the hand weapons can be destroyed to weaken the Boss Bot, but the arm joints between the 'hand' and the 'shoulder' are invulnerable. Look for black particles flying out to see if your attacks are doing any damage to Boss Bot components. Also, the top-mounted projectile weapons can be destroyed by a few full-powered point-blank blasts once you can get close enough to hit them. Each time you encounter a Boss Bot it will have a different configuration of weapons and tactics!

Score Chart:

Enemies/Methods	Mine	Shot	Blast	Wall	Boss	Well	Minebot
Homer	5	10	7	0	3	15	0
Defender	20	40	25	0	3	15	0
Absorber	50	0	35	0	3	15	0
Spike	20	20	25	0	0	15	0
Snake Segment	3	5	4	0	0	15	0
Leacher	12	25	10	0	0	15	0
Attached Leacher	0	0	5	0	0	0	0
Gunner	25	15	20	0	3	15	0
Boomer	20	15	25	0	3	15	0
Dodger	40	25	35	20	3	15	0
Repair	0	0	0	0	0	0	20
Boss Bot	10000	10000	10000	0	0	0	0
Boss 'Hands'	100	100	100	0	0	0	0
Boss-mounted guns	0	0	100	0	0	0	0