# The &kbattleship; Handbook

Daniel
Molkentin

    molkentin@kde.org

Nikolas
Zimmermann

    wildfox@kde.org

Frerich
Raabe
Reviewer

    raabe@kde.org

&FDLNotice;
2001
Daniel Molkentin
2001
Nikolas Zimmermann
2001
Kevin Krammer
2002-02-08
1.00.00

&kbattleship; is a network-enabled implementation of the famous Battle Ship game for &kde;.

KDE
kdegames
kbattleship
game
battleship
battle

## Introduction

### Features

- Network Gaming

- Computer Player (AI)

- Sounds

- Chat

- Statistics

- Highscore List

&kbattleship; uses an &XML; based communcation protocol so you can write clients for every platform and in any language. If you want to write one in your favourite programming language or/and environment, contact us. We would really like to hear of it.

## Using &kbattleship;

If you want to play &kbattleship;, you will need two players as it is a network game only. One player has to open the game via Game Start Server or by pressing F3.

A dialog box opens which will ask you for for a Nickname and Port. Normally, &kbattleship; will suggest your login name but you can enter any string you want. The predefined port should be ok. However, if you encounter problems, you can choose any other free ports above 1024.

You need to tell the other player in case you use a port other than the default as both players need to use the same port in order to be able to establish a connection.

The other player has to choose Game Connect to Server, or press F2. Again, a Nickname is suggested, but you can choose any name you like.

An important point is the field Server. Here, you have to enter the host name of the server (the machine of the player that initiated the game).

Another possibility is to play &kbattleship; against your computer. Select Single Player from the Game Menu, or press F4.

When you are done, you can start the game. Simply follow the instructions in the statusbar. It will issue hints and suggest what to do next. When you now look at the screen, you will find two grid fields, the so-called battle areas. The left area belongs to you. This is where you place your ships and where you can follow the military actions of your enemy. The right area is where your enemy's fleet is located. When it's your turn to fire, you need to click on a certain sector (a field of the battle area) where you suppose the ships to be located.

First, you need to place your ships. The game initiator starts. When he/she is done, player two sets his/her ships.

Ship placement is very easy: Simply click on the field where you want to place your ship. The first one will have a length of four squares, the next will be three fields long &etc;. Click on the field where you want to start the placement. If you click with the &LMB; the ship will be placed horizotally, a &Shift;&LMB; click will cause it to be placed vertically. &Shift; itself will flip the ship placement preview.

Now you can blindly fire on the enemy battle area. The statusbar indicates who is about to shoot.

The first player destroying all their opponents ships wins the game!

## The Menus

### The Game menu

F2 Game Connect to server

  Initiate a connection to another player's server.

F3 Game Start server

  Start the server so another player can connect to you.

F4 Game Single player

  Start a game with your computer as the opponent.

F10 Game Highscore

  Show the highest scores so far.

F11 Game Enemy Info...

  Show the enemy's client (might also be &Mac;), the client version, a short description and the protocol version used.

&Ctrl;Q Game Quit

  Exit &kbattleship;

### The Settings menu

Settings Show Statusbar

  Toggle on or off the display of the statusbar. The default is on.

Settings Play Sounds

  Toggle whether sounds (played when shooting) should be played. The default is on.

Settings Show Grid

  Toggle on and off the display of a grid on the playing field. The default is off.

### The Help menu

&help.menu.documentation;

## Questions, Answers, and Tips

### Frequently asked questions

I get the error: Couldn't connect to &arts; Soundserver. Sound deactivated.

&kbattleship; relies on &arts;, &kde;'s soundserver, to play any sound. Enable &arts; in the &kcontrolcenter; by browsing to Sound Sound Server and making sure that the box labelled Starts &arts; soundserver on &kde; startup is checked.

I have a question that is likely to become a &FAQ;. Who should I contact?

Contact the authors. They will most likely add it here.

## Credits and Licenses

&kbattleship; Copyright 2000, 2001

### Authors

- Nikolas Zimmermann wildfox@kde.org

- Daniel Molkentin molkentin@kde.org

- Kevin Krammer kevin.krammer@gmx.at

### Contributors

- Benjamin Adler benadler@bigfoot.de

- Nils Trzebin nils.trzebin@stud.uni-hannover.de

- Elmar Hoefner elmar.hoefner@uibk.ac.at

&underFDL; &underGPL;

## Installation

&install.intro.documentation;

### Requirements

At the time of writing, &kbattleship; requires &kde; 3.x or greater and &Qt; 3.x or greater.

### Compiling

&install.compile.documentation;