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BattleShip v1.3 for PalmPilot 
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(c) 1997-1998 by H.R.Graf 


Play BattleShip against your Pilot! 

The well-known game of seeking and destroying ships in a battlefield now 
available on Pilot. Provides an easy and fast user interface, flexible board 
size, free number and length of ships, improved computer opponent, optional 
acoustic feedback, game statistics, free and full functional program! 


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Introduction 
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Welcome to the third release of BattleShip! This is the adaptation of a well-
known 2 player game, usually played on paper. Now you may play it against your 
Pilot.


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General Game Description 
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After both players have placed a certain number of ships on their battlefields 
(actually a grid), they try to find and destroy the opponent's ships. To do 
so, they alternate by shooting to fields. As long as one hits a target, he is 
allowed to continue. The one, who first destroys all of the other's ships, 
wins.

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BattleShip Setup 
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First, the player is asked to set up the game options:

The "board size" defines the width and height of the battlefield. 

The "game level" option allows you to specify, how strong Pilot is playing. 
Select "medium" for standard play (pretty clever now!), while "easy" is for 
beginners only. If you still need a harder challenge, select "hard", which 
enables the very special artificial intelligence algorithm for Pilot...
(i.e. this enables a small probability of cheating - are you still able to 
beat the computer?!) 

With "display switching", you set the behavior of display alerts and the 
automatic battlefield switching. Start with "slow" and change it eventually 
in your next game. (In "fast" mode, everything goes faster and editor 
warnings are not shown anymore. Select "manual", if you do not like 
automatic display switching at all.) 

The "sound" option enables additional, simple acoustic feedback. 

Press "done" to continue with the battlefield editor.


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BattleShip Field Editor 
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Now it is time to initialize your battlefield. You may place as many ships in 
the grid as you like. Anyway, do not put too many ships, since the game play 
gets boring. Afterwards, Pilot will place the same number and length of ships 
as you define now. 

A ship is either a horizontal or vertical line, respective a single dot. You 
place it by tapping to the start position in the battlefield, and drag (while 
still holding the pen down) to the end position, where you release the pen. If 
the orientation and position is okay, the ship is then drawn. Otherwise, an 
appropriate warning alert is shown (if not in "fast" mode). 

There are some restrictions to place a ship: Ships may not be placed side by 
side. There has to remain at least one single, empty field between two ship's 
edges. But it is okay, if two ships touch each other just over corners. Think 
of it as if you always should be able to distinguish two ships from each other 
clearly, not forming a bigger ship nor a indictable conglomerate. 

Anyway, Pilot only allows you to place ships according to these rules and 
shows a warning otherwise. Since placing ships works that easily and fast, 
there is no way to undo or remove a single ship. If you have really messed up 
your strategic ship placement, you may select the "reset" button to remove all 
the ships from the battlefield and restart again. 

Alternatively, you may select the "random" button, to generate a battlefield 
even more easily. Repeat pressing this button until you are happy with the 
computer generated configuration. 

Tap on "done" if you feel content with the actual battlefield design. Pilot 
then creates its own battlefield, according to your configuration, and 
switches to the main game view, where it is always your turn to start.


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BattleShip (Game View) 
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During the game, there is always one battlefield shown. You may switch between 
your own battlefield ("player") or Pilot's battlefield ("pilot") by tapping on 
the appropriate selector button at the bottom. Logically, you will shoot into 
Pilot's battlefield, which is initially drawn empty, since you do not know, 
where it placed the ships. To find out, how many and how long ships you have 
to find, switch to your battlefield definition, since Pilot used the same 
configuration. 

As you shoot by tapping on the desired position in the battlefield, a display 
pops up and informs you about the success. If you just hit water, Pilot will 
shoot next. Otherwise it is still your turn and you are allowed to continue to 
shoot. A not yet completely destroyed ship is drawn gray, where as a destroyed 
ship is marked black. Missed shots are displayed with a small point in that 
field to avoid shooting to the same field twice.


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Menu 
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To start a new game, access the menu and select "new game" (or write "n"). 
This command is available even during a running game and enables you to abort 
it. (In case you cannot stand loosing against Pilot!) 
Change the game options with command "options" (or write "o"), without 
aborting the currently active game. 

Additional, you may view the copyright disclaimer by choosing the "about" 
command from the menu (or write "a") or the auto-recorded game statistics 
("statistics" or write "s").


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Game Options 
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Allows you to change the game setup options even during a game, i.e. computer 
opponent skill, display switching or optional sound. But it is not possible to 
change the board size anymore - this requires a new game.


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Game Statistics 
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Keeps track how you play! There are 3 sections, providing information about 
winning games, shoot statistics and the time spent playing BattleShip so far! 
You may even reset the first two sections by selecting "reset" instead of 
"done".


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Copyright Disclaimer (Postcard-Ware) 
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I call this program "Postcard-Ware" which means:

You may copy this program free of any charge together with this 
documentation. Since I do program the Pilot as a hobby, I do not need to 
get money for it. But it is not released into public domain, i.e. I still 
own the copyright for it. 

However, if you like this program, please contribute by sending a postcard to:

   Hans-Rudolf Graf 
   Kosakenweg 8 
   8052 Zurich 
   Switzerland 

See, I like to get old-fashioned mail! Don't you think this program is great 
and is worth this little favor? Furthermore, a good feedback motivates me to 
improve this program or to create additional programs for the Pilot. 

I built this program with gcc for Pilot. I like the idea, that Pilot users 
help each other in making Pilot an even better system, by providing free 
software for everyone. Even I spent some time in creating this program, it was 
fun and I do not ask for money. If everybody does the same, we will enjoy 
Pilot even more. I do not like shareware so much, for which you should pay for 
even little use or get serious limitations in functionality. Postcard-Ware 
also means: There are no disturbing copyright messages, nor annoying delays, 
and no limitations in functionality neither.

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Standard Legal Disclaimer 
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BattleShip is provided as-is with no warranties expressed or implied. You use 
this software at your own risk. 

This release of BattleShip has been tested, and is stable and functional, on a 
PalmPilot Professional running PalmOS 2.0.4 Pro.


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History 
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v1.3: third public release, 1/26/1998
    * random battlefield generator for lazy players 

v1.2: skipped version, due to name conflicts with another battleship app. 

v1.1: second public release, 1/19/1998
    * improved computer opponent 
    * user interface enhancements 
    * game statistics 
    * optional sound 

v1.0: first public release, 12/18/1997
    * computer opponent (3 levels) 
    * easy graphical user interface 
    * configurable boardsize, number and length of ships 


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Future Enhancements 
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I am pretty happy with the current version, but think of the following 
improvements:
 - better graphics display of the battlefields 
 - even better computer player who "learns" opponents strategy of placing 
   ships (by recording hit statistics to generate a probability map of the 
   battlefield) 

What is your opinion? Feel free to contact me for any suggestions or any error 
reports.  Also, tell me your strategy to win agains the Pilot, if you are able
to do so! 


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Enjoy! 
