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| D E P T H C H A R G E |
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GAME: DEPTHCHARGE
PLATFORM: ARCADE
GENRE: ARCADE SHOOTER
CREATOR: GREMLIN 1977
AUTHOR OF THIS FAQ: Kevin Butler AKA War Doc
E-MAIL: kevinb(at)technologist(dot)com
FAQ VERSION: 1.01
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
UNIT I: INTRODUCTION
1. Legal Stuff
2. Version Information
3. Acknowledgements
4. Welcome
5. Overview
UNIT II: GAME INFORMATION
6. The Game
6.1 The Controls
6.2 The Playing Field
6.3 Scoring
UNIT III: STRATEGIES
7. Playing the Game
UNIT IV: CONCLUSION
8. Conclusion
_______________________________________________________________________________
To find a particular chapter or subchapter do the following:
1. Highlight the chapter or subchapter name you wish to find.
2. Press CTRL-C
3. Press CTRL-F
4. Press CTRL-V
5. Press CTRL-F
5. You will arrive at the desired chapter or subchapter.
_______________________________________________________________________________
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********************************* U N I T I **********************************
**************
+=================+
| 1. LEGAL STUFF |============================================================
+=================+
This guide may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed
publicly without advanced permission from the author. Use of this guide on
any other web sit or as part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and
a violation of copyright. All content in this guide is Copyright 2003 by
Kevin Butler. Only the sites listed below have permission to publish this
work or to display it:
www.gamefaqs.com
www.cheats.de
faqs.ign.com
If you wish to put this guide on your site, e-mail me and ask. Save yourself
the headache of putting up with lawsuits and whatnot because you failed to ask
a simple "Can I post your guide on <insert site>?". If you wish to use info
in this guide, please acknowledge that you have done so.
If you see this guide on any other site then the one listed above, please
e-mail me. If you wish to ask questions or give input to this guide, please
e-mail me. Just have Depthcharge as the subject so I know it isn't another
kooky vendor trying to sell me hair gel or another XXX site telling me I have
new friends.
+=========================+
| 2. VERSION INFORMATION |====================================================
+=========================+
Version 1.0 7/25/03: A guide is born.
Version 1.01 8/28/03: Fixed a couple of errors
+======================+
| 3. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |=======================================================
+======================+
The following are a list of people or organizations that have made this FAQ
possible:
My wonderful family (who has had to put up with the tapping on the keyboard)
Gremlin for making a great arcade game
GameFAQ's for putting up this FAQ
+=============+
| 4. WELCOME |================================================================
+=============+
Welcome to my FAQ for Depthcharge. Since the game is just a shooter that goes
until you run out of time, there is no walkthrough per se. Instead it will
be broken up into the game itself and strategies for survival. Input is
appreciated along with constructive criticism. If you wish to e-mail me
thoughts on this FAQ, better ways of doing things, other strategies, etc., feel
free. Make sure you put Depthcharge as the subject. If you don't, I'm liable
to discard the e-mail as spam.
+==============+
| 5. OVERVIEW |===============================================================
+==============+
Depthcharge was one of the early video games. Action was simple, you were in a
destroyer and your job was to destroy submarines. Of course, the submarines
aren't totally defenseless since they fired back so you had to watch out for
return fire. This game also had the ability to retain the highest score (with-
out the initials of course). Although the game is simple in concept, just
trying to get enough points was enough to keep you working at it. Good luck on
your submarine hunting mission.
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******************************** U N I T II **********************************
***************
+==============+
| 6. THE GAME |===============================================================
+==============+
Depthcharge is a two-dimensional shooter. You control your destroyer on the
surface of the water while submarines patrol underneath. Your job is to drop
depth charges to eliminate these submarines. The submarines aren't defenseless
as they launch mines straight up toward your ship.
____________________
/ 6.1 The Controls /__________________________________________________________
--------------------
In order to become a master of this game, you must be familiar with the
controls. The controls are a little complicated at first since there are more
buttons to work with.
- Two buttons that move your destroyer left and right.
- Two buttons that allow you to fire a depth charge left or right.
_________________________
/ 6.2 The Playing Field /_____________________________________________________
-------------------------
The playing field consists of your destroyer on the surface and submarines
lurking under the water. You also will see your depth charges or the sub-
marines mines. I have included an example of what the playing field look like:
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| _ |
| TIME [_]<-DEPTH CHARGES SCORE |
| LEFT |
| |
| +---+ |
| _T___| |___T_ |
| \ / |
|_______________________\___________/_______________________________|
| |
| _ |
| . . [_] <-DEPTH CHARGE |
| . <-MINE |
| . . |
| |
| +--+ |
| /-----+ +-----\_ |
| | 40 _| |
| \______________/ |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|___________________________________________________________________|
| |
|___________________________________________________________________|
| #### #### #### <-SUBMARINES OR SHIPS DESTROYED |
|___________________________________________________________________|
| |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
You control the destroyer to depth charge the submarines.
_______________
/ 6.3 Scoring /_______________________________________________________________
---------------
Scoring in this game is pretty simple:
- Submarines will have their score posted on their hull. The submarine scores
are from 10 to 90 incrementing in 10's. For example, if you see 40 on the
submarine, then that submarine is worth 40 points.
- Generally speaking, the lower in depth the submarine is, the higher the
value for the submarine.
- You get 90 seconds on the timer to do as much damage as possible. If you
score 500 points or greater, you will get an additional 45 seconds for over-
time.
- After you are totally done, you get 30 points for each submarine killed.
You do not lose points for losing your ship although it takes about 2
seconds to get a new one.
****************
******************************** U N I T III *********************************
****************
+======================+
| 7. PLAYING THE GAME |=======================================================
+======================+
When you start the game, your destroyer will be in the middle of the water.
You will start seeing submarines entering the screen either from the left or
right and at varying depths. You have a total of 6 depth charges that can be
on the screen at any one time. This means if you fire all 6, then you have to
wait until one detonates on a submarine or the bottom of the sea before you get
them back.
- Try to aim your shots to where the submarine will be at. This is, in a
sense, "leading" the submarine. This is especially important if you are
trying to get those submarines at the bottom of the sea.
- Always try to keep at least 2 depth charges in reserve. This is for those
submarines that are close to the surface that like to throw mines you cannot
avoid.
- Try to keep moving around in your destroyer. If you sit in one place, the
submarines can put mines on either side of your ship and prevent you from
escaping and adding a destroyer to their kills.
- Don't fire your depth charges too close together on one side. The reason is
if a submarine is killed by one of them and the other one is too close, it
will also detonate. If you were aiming at another submarine with the second
one, then your shot is wasted.
- In addition to the mines themselves being dangerous, your ship can also be
sunk by the effects of the mines. Don't sit too close when a mine detonates
or you will be at the bottom of the sea.
- If you "walk" your shots you have a better chance of getting a good spread
and taking out multiple submarines. Kind of like leaving a diagonal string
of depth charges the submarines must pass through. Plus, you don't lose
your other depth charges to the detonation of ones around them.
- Try to get the 500 required for extra time, it isn't too hard if you play
smartly.
****************
******************************** U N I T IV *********************************
****************
+================+
| 8. CONCLUSION |=============================================================
+================+
This is probably one of the first video games I played. Although simple in
concept, it could keep your attention for a while anyway. The big thing was
always getting to the overtime rounds so you could get as high a score as
possible. After a while, one tended to get a little fancier and started to
"aim" their shots so that they could hit the high scoring deep submarines
while avoiding the submarines that had less depth. One could conceivably get
scores in the 2000 range by destroying a lot of submarines and filling up at
least 3 bars at the bottom with confirmed kills. Unfortunately, it is very
rare to find this machine anywhere. However, through the miracle of emulation,
a whole new generation is realizing what we "old" folks enjoyed those many
years ago. I hope this guide helps you in being able to get the most amount of
gameplay for this game. If you do have other ideas or thoughts, please e-mail
me and share them. Who knows, maybe I'll start a Q&A Chapter in this guide if
enough people ask the same questions. Anyway, thank you again for reading this
guide.
To see other FAQ's I have written please go to:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/32691.html
~~~ No trees were harmed in the making of this FAQ ~~~
