Bolo in a Nutshell
Bolo in a Nutshell
Since the official Bolo documentation is in a proprietary Macintosh format (like the dang game itself...grrrr...), I thought I would put together a little summary of the basics of the game in plain text. There are many more complete guides to Bolo and how to play it than this, but this one should get you started.
What is Bolo?
A multi-player, networked game of tank warfare which allows (and encourages) alliances between players...which is something like saying chess is a game on a bunch of squares with different shaped pieces. It's easy to describe elements of Bolo but hard to capture what it's really like when you put them all together. Let's just say that it can be some of the most intense real-time combat you'll ever experience, and it will stretch your strategic abilities to the limit as well.
How many lives do I get?
Unlimited. When you begin the game, your tank will be in a boat in deep water, randomly assigned to one of several starting positions. When you die, the screen fades out and you soon find yourself back in a boat at one of those positions again.
Ok, enough blabbing. How do I win?
There is no strictly defined "victory condition" for Bolo, i.e. there is nothing you can do to cause the game to end and a victor to be automatically declared. The mode most competitive games of Bolo are played in is tournament mode. To understand the effect this has on victory conditions, you need to know about some of the basic elements of Bolo.
Fine. What are they?
The Bolo tank carries four basic supplies: bullets, armor, mines, and trees. When you run out of bullets, you can't shoot anything- this is important! :-) More on that in a minute... Armor is your tank's only defense. A tank carries eight units of armor. The next shot after that destroys the tank, so nine shots kill a fully armored tank. Your tank can carry up to 30 mines. These mines are visible to you and your current allies (though they will be invisible to any *future* allies) and invisible to everyone else, unless they are on the screen with you when you lay the mine. Mines are triggered by proximity of a tank or by explosions, like when you shoot one or when the fireball from an exploding tank lands in its square. Trees are used to construct things. Your tank carries a little green man (LGM). When you click with the mouse on a map square, your LGM will attempt to run out of your tank to that square and perform whatever task he is currently set to perform. You acquire trees by clicking on spaces containing the "tree" terrain type. The LGM will run from your tank to that space, "farm" the tree and carry it back to your tank, increasing your stocks. If the LGM is set to build roads, he will lay down "tarmac" in that square. If you send him to build road in a shallow water space adjacent to land, he will build a bridge. The LGM can also build a wall on any land space. If you send him to build a wall in an adjacent water space, he will build a boat. The LGM can lay a mine. The difference between laying a mine this way and simply pressing your "mine" key (which drops a mine out the back of your tank) is that the mine will be invisible even if an enemy tank is watching you do it. The other thing your LGM can do is build or repair a pillbox, which brings me neatly to that topic.
Pillboxes are the most powerful weapon in Bolo. Pillboxes can be either neutral (which is the state all pillboxes begin the game in), friendly, or enemy. Here's the #1 rule for a pillbox: A pillbox fires continuously at any tank within range that is NOT FRIENDLY to it, i.e. neutral OR enemy pillboxes will always attack you. A pillbox has a shooting range one space greater than a tank, and it takes 15 shots to kill one instead of 9 for a tank. In addition, as a pillbox gets gets hit, it gets "mad", and its fire rate increases to several times that of a tank. You've probably figured out all by yourself that simply bull-rushing a pillbox is an occupation with a very low life expectancy. There are a variety of methods used to take pillboxes, but more on that later. Pillboxes are planted in one spot, and do not move on their own. They can be used to defend a position or to move an enemy off of a position of their own by planting one within range of that position. If you "kill" a pillbox, it lies on the ground, defenseless, until someone picks it up by driving over it. Then, if that person has at least two units of trees, they may send their LGM out to build the pillbox on any land space they choose. The pillbox, once built, will be friendly to you and your allies. If your LGM is in pillbox mode and you click on a space containing a pillbox, he will repair it of as much damage as possible given your tree supply, whether the pillbox is friendly or not. (Obviously, this is key to defending your holdings.) But pillbox superiority alone does not win the game, because as long as your enemy has bullets, they can still take one down when your back is turned. The key to winning is to deny your enemy any bullets, and to understand how to do that, you have to understand what bases are.
Bases are the final basic element of Bolo, and the critical holding in any Bolo game. Like pillboxes, all bases start out neutral. (As a side note, tanks entering the game or coming back after dying start with a number of bullets equal to two times the number of unclaimed bases. When there are no more neutral bases, players enter the game with no bullets.) Bases hold stocks of supplies- bullets, mines, and armor. If you drive your tank onto a space containing a friendly base and stop there, the base will quickly refill your stocks of armor, bullets, and then mines in that order. Unlike pillboxes, bases can be claimed by simply driving over them when they are neutral. To claim a base owned by a hostile player, you must shoot the base. Every time you score a hit, the base loses units of armor, and when the armor is gone, you may drive over the base and claim it as if it were neutral again. Bases replenish their supplies slowly over time, which means if too many people all use one base repeatedly, that base will be sucked dry in short order...
Alright already...so I win when I get all the bases! Why didn't you just say so?
Because you need to understand the way resources work. Just because you drive over the last base doesn't mean the game is over. Until the base has regained two units of armor, an enemy can still drive over it and reclaim it. Also, if an enemy tank happens to be carrying a full load of bullets, they can take down a base guarded by a lone pillbox somewhere else and establish a new position. You have to own all the bases, they must all have at least two units or armor, and all enemy tanks must be carrying no bullets. THEN you win, because they don't own any bases and have no way to get one.
All of the above victory conditions assume tournament mode. Strict tournament mode is the same, except that players start with no bullets at all rather than two times the number of unclaimed bases. Open game mode is more of a training or specialty mode. In this mode, tanks enter and re-enter the game with full bullets, mines, and trees as well as full armor. Obviously, there is no real victory condition in this type of game, unless you catch a tank with no mines or bullets and build walls around them so that they can't die to refill their stocks, but that is unlikely to say the least.
So there's no score? What if I kill the most tanks?
Bully for you- like war, the only thing in Bolo that matters is the final outcome, not how it is reached. Many games are won or lost on a single mistake by a tactically stronger player. Bolo does record the number of times you kill other tanks and are killed, though, which gives rise to a special type of Bolo game called a joust. A joust is a timed game played in open game mode, usually on a map with no bases or pillboxes. The object is to have the best kills-to-deaths ratio in the allotted time. These can be a lot of fun. But in a tournament game, kills are only a means to an end.
I get it. So what does the map look like?
There is a default map built into Bolo named "Everard Island". Anyone who has played Bolo for any length of time knows that map like they know their own house. It has a good mixture of terrain, base/pb alignments, and is just about the right size for a 2x2 or 3x3 game, or even a 1x1 if desired. However, there are literally HUNDREDS of Bolo maps out there. They include your generic maps, theme maps (like a map that looks like the Jurassic Park logo), real-life maps (maps of college campuses, cities, historic battles, etc.), gimmick maps (lotsa PB's in a tiny area, etc.), and indescribable maps. Some are unplayably huge, some are tiny, most fall in between. All maps are made up, however, of the following basic building blocks:
Does Bolo have gee-whiz-cool Doom-style 1st-person virtual reality graphics with digitized sound?
Nope. Well, it does have digitized sound, courtesy of the Mac's marvelous multimedia capabilities, but the graphics are actually based on the BBC Micro's graphics, the platform from which Bolo was originally ported. They are functional, however, and do not distract from the game in any way. (I'd like to be able to do graphics this "primitive", believe me.) Bolo sports an overhead, third-person view of eight squares in all directions plus the ability to scroll slightly farther with the arrow keys. Like many of the old classics, it proves that you don't need to be a graphic artist to design an eminently playable game.
Did you say you can play in teams?
Yes! In fact, the name "Bolo" is from the Hindi word meaning "communication". A game with every man for himself involving four or five players generally goes nowhere...too many enemies at once. Bolo works best with two equal teams, whether the equality lies in numbers or skill offset by superior numbers. Bolo has a built-in message system for communication among team members, as well. You can type a message, and it will scroll along the bottom on the screen of any player or players you choose, friendly or not.
I think I get it. So tell me all about strategy.
Strategy and tactics are really beyond the scope of this bulletin. Much more lengthy works have been written on both subjects, and I couldn't possibly cover them adequately.
Please?!? Come on...
Ok, ok, don't whine. I'll give you the most basic look at strategy and tactics possible.
First, strategy. Tournament games generally follow several fairly distinct phases. When the game begins, you get the "base-grabbing phase". Everyone scrambles to grab the available bases. Realize, too, that most bases start out in the range of at least one pillbox. Remember that sometimes you can build a wall between the pillbox and the base to hide behind, allowing you to refuel until you can take out the PB. Most maps will have only one or two "free" bases at the start of a game. Your aim in this phase should be to grab as many bases as possible, but especially to try to get two or three in a small area to become your initial base of operations, an area to defend and fall back to when in trouble. If you're playing in teams, make sure everyone knows where your "area" is.
The next phase is the "PB-grabbing phase". Everyone goes out and generally just grabs up all the remaining neutral property, reasoning that it's easier to attack an unguarded pillbox than one being watched over by a tank or three. Some players, though, will go ahead and attack during this phase, so you have to stay vigilant. Hopefully, you emerge from this portion of the game with at least as many pillboxes as your opponent, if not more.
The next phase is simply the battle joined. There's nothing left to do but go after each other, and there are nearly as many ways to go about that as there are players that play the game, which speaks to the richness found in the game's simplicity. Some players will sit back and defend, waiting for an opponent to make a mistake. Some will try to pick off PB's and bases from outlying areas. Some will take it to you right where you live, employing the "spike" (placing a pillbox within range of an enemy base to prevent enemy tanks from using it) to drive you back. Rest assured that for each of these strategies, there is a counter- strategy. It usually comes down to either tactical superiority or mistakes.
The final phase is the end game, which usually involves the losing team falling back to a (hopefully) well-fortified location and holding off all comers as long as possible. Average (or rusty) players can take hours to finish off a game that they seemed destined to overwhelm minutes before. Good players use their pillbox advantage to bring things to a quick end.
Tactics are even more complicated. Tank-to-tank fighting is discouraged, since getting killed is a real waste of resources- but sometimes you gotta fight, especially if you see a tank you suspect of carrying pillboxes around, or find yourself defending a teammate carrying one. If you are being chased, drop mines to slow your follower down. Stay on roads and grassy areas to avoid getting hung up, and head for a friendly area ASAP.
One side note here: your LGM is *vital* to your chances of success- don't let him get killed. He dies if he builds on a space containing a hidden mine, if someone shoots him, or if he walks through an explosion (like a tank's dying fireball or the explosion of a tank hitting a mine). He will come back, but he has to parachute in, which can take from 30 seconds to 10 minutes, and lands where your tank was when he was killed, so you have to go back and get him. While he's gone, you can't build or repair anything, which is a bad thing.
Pillbox taking is the most difficult tactical skill in Bolo- most methods are simple enough to describe, but the timing and alignment are difficult to learn by yourself, much less to execute under pressure in a game. There are three basic methods employed by most players. The first has been called the "Hardliner", where a player pelts a PB with bullets, then drives out of range as it heats up. After 6-10 seconds, it will calm down enough to let you drive up and pelt it again, killing it before it kills you. You generally don't have much armor left, but you can get one that way without too much practice.
The next method is by far the most common, and involves exploiting one of the few weaknesses of pillboxes. Your tank's gunsight rotates pixel by pixel, allowing you extremely fine control over where you are aiming, as well as which part of your target you will hit. A pillbox, however, always has to fire at the middle of its target. This opens up the possibility of placing something (usually some walls or another pillbox) between you and the pillbox in such a way that you can fire around it at the edges of the pillbox while the pillbox has to fire through it to get to your center, giving you some extra protection to take it down. With practice, you can take lone pillboxes quickly this way, with little or no armor depletion.
The last method, decoying, requires at least one partner, and can be the quickest method with partners who know what they're doing. This method exploits the other known weakness of a pillbox- it can only fire at one tank at once, and always at the closest one to it. The team picks a natural barrier (walls, rocks, etc.) or builds one in an appropriate place. One tank drives up behind the barrier, as close to the pillbox as possible. The other tank shoots from anywhere farther away than his ally. The maddened pillbox vaporizes the barrier, but if executed properly, the pillbox is dead on the ground and neither tank takes a hit.
These tactics are all offensive. The last thing I'll tell you a little bit about is how to play defense. If you can play defense, holding secure that which your team has already fought to take, you can be a valuable team member even without a great deal of experience. The ideal area to defend is reasonably small with 2-4 bases surrounded by 3-6 pillboxes. Make sure you always have plenty of trees to build with. Make extra sure you protect your LGM- without him, you are next to useless in defense, except to pick up dead PB's and attempt to run off with them before the enemy claims them.
When there's no enemy around, busy yourself by turning your area into a giant parking lot. Lay lots of road for easiest travel between points of defense. (Make sure you keep enough trees to rebuild pillboxes, though.) You can also mine in areas around where you are, to make it difficult for enemy tanks to approach and retreat. Make sure you don't make it too difficult for friendly tanks to approach, though. Light mining in strategic locations is generally best.
When the enemy comes to attack, stay behind your PB. When they get into range, fire 2-4 shots into your PB. This will cause it to immediately begin firing at top speed. When they back off or are destroyed, rebuild the box.
The most difficult part of defense is learning to defend against spikes. If you suspect the enemy of coming to spike, try to manuever into a position where you can shoot his LGM on its way to plant the PB. If you fail in killing him and the PB is planted, BACK OFF! You accomplish nothing by working the pillbox into a fury and getting blown away. Back out of range, re-establish yourself and call for help. If the enemy manages to die while you are waiting, you can try to take the spike back. Above all, STAY ALIVE until help arrives, then use a decoy or a suicide attack to remove the pill, say "thank you very much" and enjoy your new acquisition.
Well, that should be enough to get you thinking. Hope you enjoy playing Bolo as much as I have. Oh- one final suggestion- be a good sport. Simply put, be a good winner, and lose like you win. Your rep is all people know of you on the net. Don't be embarrassed when someone humiliates you in an Internet game. Everyone was a newbie once, and when you start to play better, people will notice. But if you get the reputation for being a jerk, that can stick with you forever. Have fun!
Tigger's "Bolo in a Nutshell"
Rob Darwin - Copyright 1994
[Last updated: 8/15/94 (with thanks to Hedgehog)]
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