.TH BATTLESHIPS 6 "Aug 23, 1989" .SH NAME bs \- battleships game .SH SYNOPSIS battle [ -b | -s ] [ -c ] .SH DESCRIPTION This program allows you to play the familiar Battleships game against the computer on a 10x10 board. The interface is visual and largely self-explanatory; you place your ships and pick your shots by moving the cursor around the `sea' with the rogue/hack motion keys hjklyubn. .PP Note that when selecting a ship to place, you must type the capital letter (these are, after all, capital ships). During ship placement, the `r' command may be used to ignore the current position and randomly place your currently selected ship. The `R' command will place all remaining ships randomly. The ^L command (form feed, ASCII 12) will force a screen redraw). .PP The command-line arguments control game modes. .nf -b selects a `blitz' variant -s selects a `salvo' variant -c permits ships to be placed adjacently .fi The `blitz' variant allows a side to shoot for as long as it continues to score hits. .PP The `salvo' game allows a player one shot per turn for each of his/her ships still afloat. This puts a premium scoring hits early and knocking out some ships and also makes much harder the situation where you face a superior force with only your PT-boat. .PP Normally, ships must be separated by at least one square of open water. The -c option disables this check and allows them to close-pack. .PP The algorithm the computer uses once it has found a ship to sink is provably optimal. The dispersion criterion for the random-fire algorithm may not be. .SH AUTHORS Originally written by one Bruce Holloway in 1986. Salvo mode added by Chuck A. DeGaul (cbosgd!cad). Visual user interface, `closepack' option, code rewrite and manual page by Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com> August 1989.