# The &knavalbattle; Handbook

## Introduction

### Gametype:

Strategy, Board

### Number of possible players:

Two

&knavalbattle; Game Board

&knavalbattle; is a ship sinking game by &kde;. Ships are placed on a board which represents the sea. Players try to hit each others ships in turns without knowing where they are placed. The first player to destroy all ships wins the game.

## How to Play

### Objective:

Sink all of the opponent’s ships before the opponent sink all the ships of your own.

If you want to play &knavalbattle;, you will need two players, either play against the computer or in a network against another player. To play against your computer, first select the difficulty level on the right of the status bar, and then select Single Player on the welcome screen, or directly on the Game menu.

To start a network game, one player has to host the game by selecting Host Network Game on the welcome screen, or choosing Game Host Game.... A dialog box opens which asks for a Nickname: and Port:. Normally, &knavalbattle; will suggest your full 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 port 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 Connect to Network Game, or click Game Connect to Game.... Again, a Nickname: is suggested, but you can choose any name you like. In the field Hostname: you have to enter the host name of the server (the machine of the player that initiated the game).

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 ships. You have four ships to place: the first one will have a length of one square, the next will be two squares long &etc; Click on the field where you want to start the placement. By default, ships will be placed horizontally; to rotate them 90 degrees, click the &RMB; before the placement.

When a ship is hit, fire will break out on it. To sink it, hit all the squares it occupies. A sunk ship will appear faded.

Now you can use the &LMB; to fire on the battle area of your enemy. The status bar indicates who is about to shoot.

You can restart the game by choosing Game Restart Game, or by pressing F5.

The first player to destroy all their opponents ships wins the game.

## Game Rules, Strategies and Tips

### Rules

- A player can only fire one shot per turn.

- Players must place all their ships.

- Ships cannot be moved once placed.

- A ship is sunk when all the squares it occupies are hit.

### Strategies and Tips

- Never place ships next to one another.

- Once you hit a ship, try shooting around the place you hit.

- Try to place ships away from the edges of the board.

- Small ships are harder to hit, make sure you place them where they are hard to find.

- Think before you shoot. Hits on water gives less points.

## The Menus

### Menu Items

&Ctrl;N Game New

- Exit the current game and reload the welcome screen.

F5 Game Restart Game

- Restart the game.

&Ctrl;H Game Show High Scores

- Show the highest scores so far.

Game Single Player

- Start a game with your computer as the opponent.

Game Host Game...

- Start the server so another player can connect to you.

Game Connect to Game...

- Connect to a server to start a game.

&Ctrl;Q Game Quit

- Exit &knavalbattle;

Settings Change Nickname...

- Change the default nickname.

Settings Play Sounds

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

Settings Adjacent Ships

- Toggle whether the ships can be put on a desk without one empty space between them. The default is on. This setting should be defined on a host when playing &knavalbattle; via network.

Settings Show End-of-Game Message

- If you won the game and have a new highscore, the highscore dialog will be shown. Otherwise the result is displayed in the statusbar or, if this option is enabled, additionally in a dialog.

Settings Show Left Grid Settings Show Right Grid

- Using the grids makes it easier to place a shot with the mouse pointer.

Settings Difficulty

- The game difficulty setting (Easy, Medium, Hard) has effect only in single player games against the computer. In higher levels the AI uses a smarter strategy for shooting and placing ships.

Additionally &knavalbattle; has the common &kde; Settings and Help menu items, for more information read the sections about the Settings Menu and Help Menu of the &kde; Fundamentals.

## Frequently Asked Questions

I'm not sure where to shoot, can I get a hint?

No, there is no hint system in &knavalbattle;.

How can I rotate a ship?

Move the ship where you want to place it, then press the &RMB;

Can I change how the game looks?

No, the theme is not changeable.

## Credits and License

&knavalbattle; Copyright 2000-2007

## Authors

- Paolo Capriotti p.capriotti@gmail.com

- &Nikolas.Zimmermann; &Nikolas.Zimmermann.mail;

- &Daniel.Molkentin; &Daniel.Molkentin.mail;

- Kevin Krammer kevin.krammer@gmx.at

## Contributors

- Johann Ollivier Lapeyre johann.ollivierlapeyre@gmail.com

- Eugene Trounev irs_me@hotmail.com

- &Robert.Wadley; rob@robntina.fastmail.us

- Riccardo Iaconelli ruphy@fsfe.org

- Benjamin Adler benadler@bigfoot.de

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

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

Documentation updated for &kde; 3.4 by Brian Beck brian.beck@mchsi.com

Documentation updated for &kde; 4 by Elisa Tonello elisa.tonello@gmail.com

&underFDL; &underGPL;
&documentation.index;