WeapEd Help

WeapEd is the companion program to WarHeads.  It allows a player to create his/her own weapons for use in the game.  It is a highly versatile tool, and it can create an almost infinite variety of weapons.

File Menu

Help Menu

WeapEd Main Dialog


File Menu

The 'File' menu of WeapEd has four items:

New

Open

Return

Exit


Help Menu

The 'Help' menu of WeapEd has two items:

Contents

About


New

The 'New' item of the 'File' menu initializes a new bank of weapons.  All fifty weapons will be blank.  When you select this item, the Main WeapEd Dialog will appear.


Open

The 'Open' item of the 'File' menu allows you to load a weapon bank that has previously been created.  When you select this item, the Main WeapEd Dialog will appear.


Return

The 'Return' item of the 'File' menu allows you to go back to the WeapEd Main Dialog, if you already have a bank open.


Exit

The 'Exit' item of the 'File' menu allows you to exit WeapEd.


About
About WeapEd

The 'About WeapEd' item of the 'Help' menu tells you about WeapEd.


Contents

The 'Contents' item of the 'Help' menu brings up the help file you are reading right now!


WeapEd Main Dialog

The WeapEd main dialog is where you actually edit the weapons for WarHeads.  To get a better idea of how a weapon is constructed, you should probably load in the 'default.wep' weapon bank to see how it is constructed.  This dialog has several items which can be changed to create or customize your weapons:

Weapons

Weapon Name

Cost

Weapon Description

Pattern Name

Warhead Number

Stage Numbers

Save It!

Cancel


Weapons

The 'Weapons' combo box allows you to select any one of the 50 weapons contained in the bank.


Weapon Name

The 'Weapon Name' text box allows you to name an individual weapon.  You can give the weapon any name, but WarHeads will only read in alpha-numeric characters.  In addition, WarHeads will truncate the name of a weapon to 13 characters.


Cost

The 'Cost' dialog is the price of the individual weapon.  This is a calculated value, and if you change it, it will simply revert back to the computed cost.  This is necessary to preserve fair play.


Description

This edit box allows you to type in a description of your weapon.  During a WarHeads game, this description will appear in the scroller bar at the top of the weapons panel to help the game player. You can give the weapon any name, but WarHeads will only read in alpha-numeric characters.


Pattern

Every weapon in WarHeads fires in a particular pattern.  A pattern specifies how the actual weapon is delivered to its target.  This pattern is determined by the 'Pattern' combo box.  WarHeads supports eleven patterns:

Spread

Split

Scatter

Leaflets

Crazy Bombers

Bombard

Spew

Popcorn

Pile Driver

Bounce

Bracket


Warhead Number

Each weapon can have up to 10 different warheads.  These warheads are fired in the manner specified by the 'Pattern' combo box.  You do not have to use all 10 warheads; in fact, most weapons don't because of price reasons.  When you select a 'Warhead Number', you will see the stages below change to reflect the settings of that particular warhead.


Stage

The Stage combo boxes determine how a single warhead is armed and in what order they will perform.  For example, if you want a warhead to simply fly through space and then meekly explode, you would set 'Stage 0' to 'Fly' and 'Stage 1'  to 'Small Explosion'.  The 'Terminate' item of the stages always ends the execution of the warhead.  The following is a list of all the different selections you can have for any stage:

Tiny Explosion

Small Explosion

Medium Explosion

Large Explosion

Massive Explosion

Small Blast

Medium Blast

Large Blast

Massive Blast

Straight Burrow

Anti-Grav Burrow

Walk

Large Napalm

Small Fire

Large Fire

Heat Seek

Small Terraform

Large Terraform

Kick Ships Off Planet

Splitting Burrow

Splitting Burrow (L)

Orbit

Smoke Bomb

Fly

Terminate


Save It!

The 'Save It!' button saves the weapon bank with the file name specified in the edit box next to the button.  Be careful!  This button will overwrite by default!


Cancel

The 'Cancel' button returns to the WeapEd menu without saving the weapons bank.


Spread
The 'Spread' pattern fires all of the warheads simultaneously, with each warhead equally spaced exactly 2 degrees apart.


Split
The 'Split' pattern fires a dummy warhead that splits into the actual warheads you selected when it has traveled 75 percent of the way to its target.  The warheads will split in 16 degree increments from each other.


Scatter
The 'Scatter' pattern fires a dummy warhead that splits into the actual warheads you selected when it traveled 75 percent of the way to its target.  The warheads will split in random directions and speeds.


Leaflets
The 'Leaflets' pattern fires a dummy warhead and launches the actual warheads at equally spaced intervals during the journey.  If, for example, you have four warheads defined and you use the 'Leaflets' pattern, the first warhead will be launched exactly 25 percent of the way to its target, the second at 50 percent, etc.  The launched warhead will travel at exactly one half the speed of the dummy warhead, but in the same direction.


Crazy Bombers
The ' Crazy Bombers ' pattern fires a dummy warhead and launches the actual warheads at equally spaced intervals during the journey.  If, for example, you have four warheads defined and you use the 'Leaflets' pattern, the first warhead will be launched exactly 25 percent of the way to its target, the second at 50 percent, etc.  The launched warhead will travel at a random speed and direction.


Bombard
The 'Bombard' pattern launches the warheads one after another, pulverizing the target.


Spew
The 'Spew' pattern will launch a dummy warhead that will travel until it collides with a ship, shield, or planet.  Upon the collision, the user-selected warheads will launch directly away from that object.  The warheads will have a spread pattern with each warhead traveling 10 degrees apart.  The velocity with which the user warheads are launched is exactly one half the speed of the dummy warhead.


Popcorn
The 'Popcorn' pattern will launch a dummy warhead that will travel until it collides with a ship, shield, or planet.  Upon the collision, the user-selected warheads will launch directly away from that object.  The warheads will then be launched in a random direction at a random velocity.


Pile Driver
The 'Pile Driver' pattern will launch a dummy warhead that will travel until it collides with a ship, shield, or planet.  Upon the collision, the user-selected warheads will launch directly away from that object.  The warheads will have differing velocity with the first one being slowest and the last warhead being propelled the farthest into space.


Bounce
The 'Bounce' pattern detonates one warhead every time it collides with a ship, shield, or planet.  With each collision, the remaining warheads bounce back into space at 80 percent of their former speed.


Bracket
The 'Bracket' pattern detonates one warhead every time it collides with a ship, shield, or planet.  With each collision, the remaining warheads bounce back into space at 80 percent of their former speed.  Also, they travel in the opposite direction they came from.


Tiny Explosion
Just what it says, a tiny explosion!


Small Explosion
Just what it says, a small explosion!


Medium Explosion
Just what it says, a medium explosion!


Large Explosion
Just what it says, a large explosion!


Massive Explosion
Just what it says, a massive explosion!


Small Blast
Just what it says, a small blast!


Medium Blast
Just what it says, a medium blast!


Large Blast
Just what it says, a large blast!


Massive Blast
Just what it says, a massive blast!


Burrow
This burrows straight through a planet until it encounters a ship or reaches the surface.  It is unaffected by gravity.


Anti-Grav Burrow
This burrows through a planet until it encounters a ship or reaches the surface.  Also, 'Anti-Grav' burrow returns to the surface of a planet, traveling against the planet's gravity.


Walk
This walks along the surface of a planet until it encounters a ship or takes 18 steps.


Large Napalm
Molten lava napalm flows along the surface of a planet and gradually seeps into the planet.


Fire
This creates a fire on the surface of the planet.


Heat Seek
'Heat Seek' causes a warhead to fly in the direction of a ship, especially when it is very close to a ship.  It is barely affected by gravity.


Small Terraform
This creates a very small planet.


Large Terraform
This creates a small planet.


Kick Ships Off Planet
This propels any ship from a planet that it hits.


Splitting Burrow
This digs through a planet, unaffected by gravity, duplicating itself along the way to the surface.


Splitting Burrow (L)
This digs through a planet, unaffected by gravity, frequently duplicating itself along the way to the surface.


Orbit
This orbits around a planet that it hits until it collides with a ship, shield or planet.  It will also stop once it has orbited 360 degrees.


Smoke Bomb
This clears out space and does absolutely no damage to ships.


Fly
This is the most common warhead stage component, it causes a warhead to fly through space, affected by gravity.


Terminate
This ends the execution of a particular warhead.