Hello out there AI Wars gaming community!   My name is Shea Parkes.  I've been programming cybugs for about half a year now, and that's long enough to be considered an ancient in this game.  I never hear from any of the people I started with except James really, they've all moved on.  AI Wars is a growing and adapting gaming environment though.  I've made new and dear friends such as James, Philip, and Dumbo during my time.  The latest version of AI Wars, version 5, is sure to attract another all new crowd to AI Wars.  I wish everyone good luck, and hope you find good friendship and comradery in your experiences.  I hope to be there, and plan on it, but the world is ever changing, and I might change as well.      I want to leave behind something more tangible than my lasting presence so to say.  I had tried to work on an intermediate tutorial, but could never get motivated enough to get much done.  After a while I decided to release the source code to my tournament bug Torque.  I've just now finished version 4 of Torque, updated quite a bit to reflect the new version of AI Wars.  I considered just making it available to download, but had second thoughts.  I hadn't commented it very well, and 1800 lines of code could drive anyone, including me, crazy trying to understand what it all does for the first time. I came to fear this would incur plagiarism, and I don't believe anyone would learn much from the copy and paste commands.       About this time I told James about my thoughts.  He'd just come upon some free time in his busy life style, and had a brilliant idea.  He'd take Torque's code and make a tutorial out of it.  Not just any tutorial though, he'd make one to be used and remembered for time untold.  He's linked all the routines, explained all sorts of things and tried to make it understandable and easy to access.  James has done wonders with this code, and I can't thank him enough.  He has put in a lot of his time and effort, and I'd like everyone to thank him if you get something out of this.       As for Torque the bug, it's my pride and joy so to say.  Torque started at the bottom of the charts just like everyone else, and it has taken me a while to work my way up.  I have no prior programming experience, so don't think you need it to make a good cybug.  Torque started off much simpler, but has expanded.  Mainly, Torque was meant to have a routine for every situation.  I suppose you could probably cut Torque in half and you'd never notice in an average battle, but it's that extra edge that often means so much.  Also, speed and sub-click optimization play an important role.  Philip has written an excellent Sub-Click Tutorial that i suggest you read at some point, preferably before you try to comprehend Torque.  Last but not least, Torque is adaptive.  The bug can switch between routines very fast, and often jumps all over the place in his code.  I'm not for sure which of these facts makes Torque run so good, probably some of all aspects.       Now, sit back and enjoy.  Let me provide the code, and James turn it into a parade of lights and links, dazzling to the eyes.  May you enjoy yourself and learn much!   Path of Life   I may reach the end of my days, before I reach the end of my path. Although, to die on the path might be better than to reach my destination, and find I loved the travel better.   Shea Parkes