Thus began the resurrection of the Atomic Cannons. They were outfitted with as many kinds of ammunition systems as possible to deter the enemy. It is your mission to command our Atomic Cannon and be victorious...

Controls

You can control the game in several different ways, the default controls are discussed below.  You can customize which keys can control each action by going to the Settings > Controls > Customize Controls menu option.

Hardware Control	Windows	Mac	Pocket PC	Smartphone
Fire cannon	Enter	Enter	Home	Dir pad
Previous weapon	Q	A	Contacts
Next weapon	A	Z	Mail
Decrease power	Down Arrow	Down	Dirpad down	Dirpad down
Increase power	Up Arrow	Up	Dirpad up	Dirpad up
Decrease turret angle	Left Arrow	Left	Dirpad left	Dirpad left
Increase turret angle	Right Arrow	Right	Dirpad right	Dirpad right
Exit	Escape	Escape	Record	Menu button 1
Minimize	m	NA
Screen shot	F9	F7
Show tutorial	F1	F1	Calender	Menu button 2
Toggle full screen	F11	F8	NA	NA
Chat Taunt	C	C	C	C

Mouse controls: Right mouse = fire, scroll wheel = select weapon/scroll weapons dialog

User Interface

Settings Menu

Weapons Depot

Windows/Macintosh

Pocket PC

Smartphone

Settings

All of the games settings can be adjusted through the settings menu.  When a menu item is selected a short description of the setting is displayed at the bottom of the screen.  A few settings are not available on some platforms.

Menu Item Name	Description	Possible Values
Main menu
Play	Jump right in and start blasting away
Quick Play	Play with your last config
High Scores	View the top players by score
Settings	Adjust the game settings
About	Details about the game
Exit	Run like a coward
Settings
Economy Options	Adjust economic settings
Tank Options	Adjust tank settings
Gameplay Options	Adjust gameplay settings
Graphics Options	Adjust graphics settings
Audio Options	In game razzle dazzle soundfecta
Game Content	Enable specific weapons and landscapes
Customize Controls	Define custom buttons for game actions
Customize Players	Define custom names and colors (quits current game)
Done	Return to the main menu
Menu when playing
Resume	Continue playing the game in progress
Minimize	Pause the game in progress and minimize
Settings	Adjust the game settings
Show Help	Show the in game help tutorial
Quit	Quit and return to the main menu
Settings > Graphics Options
Resolution	Window size or monitor size (requires restart)	Defaults to desktop resolution
Full Screen	Toggle the game between full screen and windowed modes	On Off
Tracking	Draws a notch for off screen shots	On Off
Draw Smoke	Draws smoking plumes on ground	On Off
Detail	Lower detail for smoother gameplay	Old School, Simple, High, Wargame,
High Contrast	Outlines objects with white	Off, On,
Land Type	Select different landscapes	Flat, Hill, Gulley, Plateau, Slope, Random,
Show AI Stats	Show the computer's stats	On Off
Show Team Color	Display each tanks name and team color	On Off
Small Buy Fonts	Use a smaller font on the buy menu	On Off
Power Save	The game idles to lower power usage	On Off
More Graphics Options	Adjust graphics settings
Done	Return to the settings menu
Settings > Gameplay Options
Battles	How many battles per Deathmatch	0 to 50
Rounds	How many rounds in a Point game	0 to 50
Difficulty	How badly the computer will dominate you	1. Easiest, 2. Very Easy, 3. Easy, 4. Moderate, 5. Fun, 6. Challenging, 7. Hard, 8. Very Hard, 9. Mastery, 10. Elite,
Wind	How the wind affects the trajectories	Disabled, Low, Medium, High,
Change Wind	Defines when the wind changes direction	Per game, After round, After shot, Anytime,
Explosion Size	How big the explosions are.	Small, Normal, Large, Massive,
Variance	All weapons have a different random variance when shot	On Off
Utility Turn	If a utility item use counts as turn	On Off
Randomize Turns	Randomly assings the turn order each battle	On Off
Update Scale	The speed at which the game is animated (default 10)	X 1 to X 20
Right Click Fires	If you are accidentally firing disable this	On Off
Done	Return to the settings menu
Settings > Audio Options
Sound	Toggle sound effects on and off	On Off
Music	Toggle music on and off	On Off
Sound Volume	Sound effects volume	0% to 100%
Music Volume	Music soundtrack volume	0% to 100%
Stereo	Enable stereo sound	On Off
Playback Rate	Sound playback sampling frequency rate	8000 Hz, 11025 Hz, 16000 Hz, 22050 Hz, 32000 Hz, 44100 Hz,
Done	Return to the settings menu
Play
Start Game	Start the game
Humans	Number of human players	0 to 8
Computers	Number of computer AI players	0 to 8
Tanks	Number of tanks per player's team	0 to 5
Game Type	What type of battle	Rounds, Deathmatch,
Battles	How many battles per Deathmatch	0 to 50
Rounds	How many rounds in a Point game	0 to 50
Land Size	How large the battle landscape is	1 Screen, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x,
Difficulty	How badly the computer will dominate you	1. Easiest, 2. Very Easy, 3. Easy, 4. Moderate, 5. Fun, 6. Challenging, 7. Hard, 8. Very Hard, 9. Mastery, 10. Elite,
Wind	How the wind affects the trajectories	Disabled, Low, Medium, High,
Cancel	Return to the main menu
Settings > Graphics Options > More Graphics Options
Show Turn	Display an arrow when its your turn	On Off
Show Blast Circles	Display bounds of explosions	On Off
Show Power/Points	Display individual points or power bars	On Off
Show Tank Stats	Display stats of each tank	On Off
Auto Scroll	Automatically scrolls during game events	On Off
Show Last Aim	Show last power and angle position	On Off
Explosion Waves	A very cool refractive wave effect for nukes	On Off
Show Framerate	Display frames rendered per second	On Off
Demo Mode	Game automatically plays itself	Off, Normal, Fast Test,
Done	Return to the settings menu
Settings > Game Content
Weapons	Enable only the weapons you want (quits current game)
Landscapes	Enable only the landscapes you want (quits current game)
Done	Return to the settings menu
Settings > Economy Options
Buy Time	When players are allowed to buy, set to automatic for randomly assigned weapons	Anytime, Round, Start, Automatic,
Credit Start	Credits given to each player at match start (default 3000)	0 to 10000
Credit Round	Credits given to each player each round (default 1000)	0 to 10000
Credit Turn	Credits given to each player per turn (default 0)	0 to 10000
Credit Kill	Credits given to each player per kill (default 500)	0 to 10000
Credit Damage	Credits given to each player per damage done (default 1)	0 to 100
Sell Back Rate	Rate at which weapons are sold back to depot (default 50%)	0% to 100%
Done	Return to the settings menu
Settings > Tank Options
Kickback	How much explosions move the tanks.	Off, Low, Normal, High,
Player Size	How big the tanks are.	Small, Normal, Large,
Relative Turrets	Aiming it relative to the tank	On Off
Bury Tanks	Tanks can be underground	On Off
Power Scale	This affects how far a shot will go based on power	0.1 to 5.0
Hitpoints	Number of points tank starts with	0 to 0
Chatter	Tanks talk to each other	On Off
Colorize Team	Tanks are team color	On Off
Done	Return to the settings menu

Landscapes

There are 25 beautiful landscapes in the game.  A random landscape is chosen for each battle.  Each landscape is generated using five different formations including Flat, Hill, Gulley, Plateau, and Slope.  If you really like playing one particular type of formation you can set the game to always use it by changing the menu option in Settings > Graphics Options > Land Type.  You can also disable each landscape background in Settings > Game Content > Landscapes.

Weather

Several landscapes feature weather effects such as rain, snow, hail, and sand storms.  You can disable the weather by setting the graphics detail lower Settings > Graphics Options > Detail (set this to Simple).

Weapons

Weapons are bought and sold through the Weapons Depot, a box listing all of the weapons in the game.  In the game you can see a description of each weapon by hovering your mouse over or clicking on the weapon icon in the weapons dialog.

Each column and its meaning is explained below. Dividers are at each new letter alphabetically.

Weapon Type Descriptions

Difficulty & Computer AI

Definitions: Targeting is choosing which tank to fire at. Aiming is setting the power and angle correctly to hit the target.
Tanks have a 10% better chance of targeting an enemy at each difficulty level. AI levels 1-9 have a 50% chance of aiming incorrectly (with a slightly bad angle).

Difficulty Level
3 - will buy and use shield and life
4 - DEFAULT SETTING - will buy and use armor and death weapons
5 - will fire underground weapons first if underground to dig out or go through land
6 - will buy and use move utilities
7 - will buy weapons with most damage 50% of the time
8 - will target the enemy with lowest hp 40% of the time else has a 40% chance of targeting the closest enemy
9 - fires weapon with highest damage in its arsenal 70% of the time
10 - targets and aims correctly 90% of the time

Gameplay Tips

If you are just starting out and dont' have any idea where to aim buy a few Tracer rounds and use them.  Tracers are also very useful when the games wind is enabled.

You can hover over or click on the icon for the weapon in the weapons depot dialog and it will pop up a tooltip tell you what the weapon does. You can also hover over each category to see what each weapon stat means. Press the 'Stats' button to see some additional columns of weapon information.

If you want an enhanced soundtrack you can copy the full MP3 soundtrack into the games music directory and the game will use it. The full soundtrack has more tracks and sounds much better.

Find two enemy tanks which are nearest each other on the horizontal plane. When you hit one tank, the splash damage will also score some points on its neighbor. This is especially advantageous in the Rounds mode. Once I scored almost 12,000 points in ten rounds because three tanks were all right on top of each other! - Brad W.

One of my favorite movies is Wargames, I added a special rendering mode which looks just like the graphics when the WHOPPER computer Joshua is playing itself in the end battle sequence at Norad.  You can set this graphics mode by changing the detail settting to Wargame.

When you are close to your enemy aim low as possible and use weapons which spread out first, such as the shotgun and cannon. These weapons cause low damage if shot from far away, but can do a lot of damage if fired from close range.

This tip is most useful in Deathmatch mode with up to 5 tanks on each team. Get close (one tank length) from an enemy tank, then aim directly at the enemy tank, now you can them zap 'em to eternity with a Stinger or Trojan, with zero to minimal damage to yourself. The most effective weapon for this zapper move is the Stinger, followed by the Trojan, with the Hex Bomb trailing. For best results, use this to annihilate two enemy tanks parked side by side. The downside to this super ability is that the game gets to be too easy after a while, hence not as interesting as it should often be. Submitted by Emmanuel A.

If your enemy hits you with an irradiating weapon which causes damage over time, such as the Plutonium Nuke, move to a non-irradiated location as soon as possible to suffer less damage. Using a lower power for weapons which blossom, such as the Hex Bomb, Porcupine, Trojan, and Blow Fish deals more damage on your target since the weapons spread or blossom distance is based on the shots initial power when launched.

In a death match, two weapons will kill enemy tanks with just one shot, but only if employed very precisely. They are the Trojan and the Stinger. To use them, move to within one or two tank lengths of your enemy and very gently lob the payload their way. If you manage to land the entire volley directly on the opposing tank’s turret, it will be eliminated. Just be careful with the Trojan, as too short of a shot will both bury you and leave you seriously damaged, at which point your now very upset opponent can essentially put you away with a small shovel full of dirt. Of course remember violence never solved anything, so consider the vigorous pursuit of diplomatic solutions to your differences before resorting to the use of thermonuclear weapons. Thanks to Judd B. for submitting this tip. (note after this tip was submitted these weapons power have been reduced, but they are still very potent if deployed as described in this tip.)

Did you know you can see how many total battles you've played and shots you've fired on the second page of the About screen?

If you are buried underground you cannot move, but you can use some special weapons, the escaper, and any of the cleaners are good weapons to use.

If you are playing more than one tank per team and are next to one of your opponents be sure to buy a death weapon, that way if you tank blows up it will take the opponent next to it with him.

If an enemy has scored a few direct hits on your buy a move weapon and move to a new location to throw off his aim.

Death weapons are automatically used when your tank explodes (in deathmatch mode only). If you are close to an enemy when you die they can kill or bury your enemy. They are most useful when playing more than 2 teams or more than 1 tank per team. You can click on the weapon's icon in the weapons depot dialog to see descriptions of each weapon. You can also disable the death weapons in the options.

Atomic Cannon Fact The game's main menu background is an actual photograph from military archives of the real Atomic Cannon. The image shows Operation Upshot Knothole, it was the only shot ever fired from an atomic cannon. The shot was on May 25th, 1953 at the Nevada Test Site, USA. The image here shows the atomic cannon being loaded with a shell. You can read more facts about the Atomic Cannon in the game's about pages.

Demo vs Full Version