# The &kspaceduel; Handbook

Andreas Zehender

    az@azweb.de

Eugene Trounev

    eugene.trounev@gmail.com

1999 2000 &Andreas.Zehender;
&FDLNotice;
2021-08-23
2.1 (KDE Gear 21.08)

This documentation describes the game of &kspaceduel; version 2.1

KDE kdegames game KSpaceDuel arcade space war two players satellite starwars wars

## Introduction

Gametype:

Arcade

Number of possible players:

Two

The idea behind &kspaceduel; is simple, but addictive. Each of two possible players controls a satellite spaceship orbiting the sun. As the game progresses players have to eliminate opponent's spacecraft. As soon as the opponent's satellite is destroyed, the remaining player wins the round.

## How to Play

Objective:

Destroy the opponent's satellite, while keeping the own one in tact.

&kspaceduel; loads directly into the game mode; however, the action does not start until either player makes the first move.

If the opponent's satellite is controlled by the built in artificial intelligence, game action does not start until the human player makes the first move.

In &kspaceduel; you control the ship's rotation, acceleration, and weaponry. Your satellite is constantly drawn towards the sun by gravity. You have to adjust the rotation and acceleration of your ship to make it stay on course.

Approaching the sun too close causes the satellite to explode.

In the same time you have to monitor the opponent's movement and use your weapons consisting of bullets and mines, to destroy the enemy spacecraft.

Your own weapons are as harmful to your satellite as they are to the enemy one.

## Game Rules, Strategies and Tips

### &kspaceduel; Game Screen Overview.

&kspaceduel; game screen
&kspaceduel; game screen

- The top of the playing area is occupied by the menubar and toolbar.

- The central part of the &kspaceduel; screen is the playing area.

- On the left and on the right sides of the playing area there are the Red Player's and the Blue Player's information screens.

- The top box on the information screen represents the Hit Points of the spacecraft.

- The middle box on the information screen represents the battery power.

- The bottom box on the information screen shows player's number of wins.

- The bottom of the playing area is the status bar.

### Default Shortcuts

The following table contains the default shortcuts for &kspaceduel;.

Action | Red Player | Blue Player
--- | --- | ---
Rotate Left | S | &Left; arrow
Rotate Right | F | &Right; arrow
Accelerate | E | &Up; arrow
Shot | D | &Down; arrow
Mines | A | &Ins;

To change these keys, please refer to the Game Configuration section.

### Rules

#### About Energy Points

- Each player controls one ship.

- The ships can rotate, accelerate, shoot and set mines.

- Each ship has a limited amount of energy required for rotation, acceleration, shooting and setting mines.

- Each ship has a limited amount of energy.

- Ships absorb solar energy required for the ship's operation. The amount of energy the ship gets depends on the distance from and the direction to the sun.

A ship gets more energy near the sun and less energy near the border. It gets the full amount of energy if the sun shines directly on the solar panels and less or even no energy if the sun shines at an angle to the panels or at the other side of the panels.

#### About Bullets and Mines

- Bullets fly around the sun just like a ship does.

- Mines have an amount of energy to stay at the same position. When the energy is spent, the mines collide with the sun and disintegrate.

- The closer to the sun the mine is set, the more energy it needs to stay in place.

- Mines can be destroyed with bullets.

- By default each ship has 5 bullets and 3 mines.

#### About Hit Points

- Collision with own bullets, or enemy bullets or mines decreases the hit points.

- If two ships collide then the weaker ship is destroyed and the hit points of the stronger ship are decreased by the amount of the hit points the weaker ship had.

- If the ship's amount of hit points goes to zero then ship explodes.

- If a ship collides with the sun it is destroyed regardless of the amount of hit points remaining.

#### Powerups

From time to time powerups appear on the play field.

There are four different powerups:

  Mine

    The maximum number of mines is increased.

  Bullet

    The maximum number of bullets is increased.

  Energy (yellow or green sphere)

    Player's energy increases.

  Shield (red or blue sphere)

    Player's hit points increase.

## Menu Items

&Ctrl;N Game New

  Starts a new game of &kspaceduel;.

&Ctrl;R Game New Round

  Starts a new round, at the current level.

P Game Pause

  Pauses and unpauses the game.

&Ctrl;Q Game Quit

  Quits &kspaceduel;.

Settings Configure &kspaceduel;…

  Opens a configuration dialog which lets you define many settings of the game, refer to the chapter Game Configuration for further information.

Additionally &kspaceduel; has the common &kde; Settings and Help menu items, for more information read the sections about the Settings Menu and Help Menu of the &kde; Fundamentals.

## Frequently asked questions

I want to change the way this game looks. Can I?

No. At this moment &kspaceduel; features only one theme.

I have made a mistake. Can I undo?

No. &kspaceduel; does not have an Undo feature.

I cannot figure out what to do here! Are there hints?

No. &kspaceduel; does not have a Hint feature. However, if you carefully read through the Game Rules, Strategies and Tips section you shouldn't have this problem.

I have to quit the game now, but I am not finished yet. Can I save my progress?

No. &kspaceduel; does not have a Save feature.

## Game Configuration

### Game Keys

&kspaceduel; has a default set of keys to control the game. For a list of default keys see the section entitled Default Shortcuts.

Keys can be configured by selecting the Settings Configure Shortcuts… menu item.

This will bring up a dialog box which lets you configure all hotkeys, including the keys used for steering the space ships, for firing bullets, and for laying mines.

You can see that each player (Red and Blue), has 5 keystrokes corresponding to Rotate Left, Rotate Right, Accelerate, Shot, and Mines.

When you are finished configuring your keys, you should click on OK to apply your changes.

If you want to restore the default keys, simply click on the Default button once. To make these changes permanent, press OK.

If you want to abandon the changes you made, and return to your previously selected keys, simply click Cancel, and your changes will be lost.

### Game Configuration

All game settings of &kspaceduel; are configurable.

If you want to change the game settings, simply select the Settings Configure &kspaceduel;… menu item.

This will bring up a dialog box with two pages, labelled General and Game. The first page is rather simple, the second one has seven tabs across the top.

Settings are collected in different configurations. You can choose from several pre-defined configurations.

If you choose the Custom configuration, you can define all settings for yourself.

If you have not selected Custom, you will not be able to make any changes to these options.

If you have found an interesting configuration, mail it to the author of the game. It can be implemented in a future version (send the part [Game] in the file `~/.config/kspaceduelrc`).

When you are finished altering the options, you should click on OK to apply your changes.

If you want to restore the default, simply click on the Default button once. To make these changes permanent, press OK.

If you want to abandon the changes you made, and return to your previous options, simply click Cancel, and your changes will be lost.

The settings are:

#### The General Page

Hit Points

  This section contains two sliders allow you to define the hitpoints for each of the two players; you might want to decrease the hitpoints for a player to give that player a handycap.

Refresh time:

  Time between two screen refreshes in milliseconds. All other settings are independent of the refresh time.

Red Player

  In this section you can define whether the red player gets controlled by the AI, and also choose the skill level of the AI for this player. Just experiment with the different skill level to find one which fits you.

Blue Player

  This works the same as the options for the Red Player section described above.

#### The Game Page

Here you can select a custom setting set from a drop-down list. Then use the tabs to customize the settings a bit more.

General tab
  Game speed:

    Controls the speed of the whole game.

Bullet tab
  Shot speed:

    The speed of bullets.

  Energy need:

    The amount of energy needed for one shot.

  Max number:

    The maximum number of bullets a player can have on the screen.

  Damage:

    The number of hit points damage done when a bullet hits a ship.

  Life time:

    The maximum life time of a bullet.

  Reload time:

    The time a ship needs to reload a bullet.

Mine tab
  Mine fuel:

    The amount of fuel on a mine.

  Energy need:

    The amount of energy needed for laying a mine.

  Activate time:

    The time a mine is inactive.

  Damage:

    The number of hit points of damage done when a ship hits a mine.

  Max number:

    The maximum number of mines a player can have on the screen.

  Reload time:

    The time a ship needs to reload a mine.

Ship tab
  Acceleration:

    Acceleration of the ships.

  Energy need:

    The energy needed to accelerate a ship.

  Rotation speed:

    The speed at which a ship rotates.

  Energy need:

    The energy needed to rotate a ship.

  Crash damage:

    The number of hit points damage done when two ships collide.

Sun tab
  Sun energy:

    The strength of the sun. The higher the value, the quicker ships will be recharged.

  Gravity:

    The strength of the gravitational pull of the sun.

Start tab
  Position X: and Position Y:

    The ships position at the beginning of a new round. The ships start at opposite sides of the sun.

  Velocity X: and Velocity Y:

    Velocity at the beginning of a new round.

Powerups tab
  Appearance time:

    Maximal time between the appearance of two powerups.

  Life time:

    Maximal life time of a powerup.

  Energy amount:

    Amount of energy a player gets from an energy powerup.

  Shield amount:

    Amount of hit points a player gets from a shield powerup.

## Credits and License

&kspaceduel;

Program Copyright 1999-2000 &Andreas.Zehender; &Andreas.Zehender.mail;

Documentation Copyright 2000 &Andreas.Zehender; &Andreas.Zehender.mail;

Documentation updated for &kde; 4.11 by &Mike.McBride; &Mike.McBride.mail;

&underFDL; &underGPL;
&documentation.index;