Battleships Forever FAQ
Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 3:15 pm
Q: I'm having trouble registering on the forum, it says I need a code!
A: You need to enter a code as part of the registration process. This code is given to you but you may have missed it, the code is battleshipsforever.
Q: Is Battleships Forever free?
A: Yes, no charges, nothing, completely freeware. Battleships Forever is my portfolio project and my only objective with this game is to spread it to as many people as possible.
Q: Why is the career mission broken?
A: It's not complete yet. The current versions are Beta releases meant for testing only. Not all of the content has been completed for the game.
Q: When will Battleships Forever be complete?
A: It'll be done when it's done. That said though, I'm currently serving in the local Navy (all men serve two years of "National Service" over here in Singapore) which limits the amount of time I can spend on this project. However, my period of service ends in September so you can expect development to pick up from there. My target is to finish it by October for submission to the Independent Games Festival.
Q: How do I add custom ships into the game?
A: Currently the only way to use custom ships is in the Sandbox. From the main menu, click "Skirmish" then click "Sandbox". In this game mode you're free to spawn any ships you wish as either enemies or friendlies. Just follow the instructions in the top right of the screen.
Q: Where's the multiplayer?
A: Sadly, Battleships Forever will not include a multiplayer component. I sorely wish I could add multi play but I simply lack the experience to do decent net code. That said though, I fully intend to do a sequel that is multiplayer centric once I've learnt what I need to know.
Q: Custom campaign/mission maker?
A: Working on it, not sure if I can pull it off though.
Q: Where can I find detail weapon statistics?
A: Look here: http://www.wyrdysm.com/battleshipsforev ... alance.xls
Q: How the hell does armor work?
A: Thanks for asking! I explained this elsewhere, so instead of typing it all over again, I'll just copy and past my brilliance here with a few additions thrown in.
I get it now, the first stat is constant (hit points), the second stat is purely distance as described by the extreme forward and rear end of the ship, and the third is based on how many degrees the section is from 0 degrees (0 degrees is straight ahead).
So, if your ship is an even 200 pixels long, with 100 forward, 100 aft, if you had a section at 50,0 (x,y) pixels forward, it would get a 1/4 max HP bonus, if it were -50,0, it would still get the same bonus. If it were 1 pixel forward from the middle of the ship (1,0), or maybe 0,0, as in no pixels forward or back, it would get a full 1/2 max HP bonus. A section at 100,0 would get no distance bonus. This means it pays to have a small section just forward or rearward of any section that would otherwise be at the extreme aft or bow ends of the ship.
For the third stat, if you placed a hull part at 0,10 (x,y), that means the section gets the full distance bonus and half the angle bonus, 1/4, because the part is 90 degrees to the hull. At 10,0, it would be at 0 degrees and get the full angle bonus of 1/2. At -100,1, lets pretend that puts the hull piece at 179 degrees, so the bonus 0.6% of 1/2 your total HP. This means it pays to have sections as close to the center-line of the ship as possible, while still forward of the ship's command section's center.
Q: How the hell do deflectors work.
A: It turns out deflectors work by replacing the HP lost to weapons fire, not by stopping the damage in the first place. If your ship's total HP are lower than the strongest weapon to hit you, the deflectors can't cure the damage completely, so you'll take damage. As a bad example, they work a bit like very fast NanoMatrixes.
Q: When is the next version coming out?
A: I aim to release new versions roughly every Friday, subject to my schedule and various other factors. I'm on GMT +8 though so you've got a chance of seeing it while it's still Thursday over there.
Q: Can I adjust the firing arcs on flak guns or particle guns?
A: In short; No. Due to the way point defense weapons are coded/handled, they fire before checking their arc of fire. This is to reduce the amount of thinking the game has to do.
----------------------------------------------------------
It occurred to me that this has been absent from this site until now. I realise that as more new players pick up the game there's bound to be a lot of unanswered questions and confused moments. So, let's have a list of frequently asked questions here. Please feel free to add whatever questions you want and I'll combine them into this post.
A: You need to enter a code as part of the registration process. This code is given to you but you may have missed it, the code is battleshipsforever.
Q: Is Battleships Forever free?
A: Yes, no charges, nothing, completely freeware. Battleships Forever is my portfolio project and my only objective with this game is to spread it to as many people as possible.
Q: Why is the career mission broken?
A: It's not complete yet. The current versions are Beta releases meant for testing only. Not all of the content has been completed for the game.
Q: When will Battleships Forever be complete?
A: It'll be done when it's done. That said though, I'm currently serving in the local Navy (all men serve two years of "National Service" over here in Singapore) which limits the amount of time I can spend on this project. However, my period of service ends in September so you can expect development to pick up from there. My target is to finish it by October for submission to the Independent Games Festival.
Q: How do I add custom ships into the game?
A: Currently the only way to use custom ships is in the Sandbox. From the main menu, click "Skirmish" then click "Sandbox". In this game mode you're free to spawn any ships you wish as either enemies or friendlies. Just follow the instructions in the top right of the screen.
Q: Where's the multiplayer?
A: Sadly, Battleships Forever will not include a multiplayer component. I sorely wish I could add multi play but I simply lack the experience to do decent net code. That said though, I fully intend to do a sequel that is multiplayer centric once I've learnt what I need to know.
Q: Custom campaign/mission maker?
A: Working on it, not sure if I can pull it off though.
Q: Where can I find detail weapon statistics?
A: Look here: http://www.wyrdysm.com/battleshipsforev ... alance.xls
Q: How the hell does armor work?
A: Thanks for asking! I explained this elsewhere, so instead of typing it all over again, I'll just copy and past my brilliance here with a few additions thrown in.
I get it now, the first stat is constant (hit points), the second stat is purely distance as described by the extreme forward and rear end of the ship, and the third is based on how many degrees the section is from 0 degrees (0 degrees is straight ahead).
So, if your ship is an even 200 pixels long, with 100 forward, 100 aft, if you had a section at 50,0 (x,y) pixels forward, it would get a 1/4 max HP bonus, if it were -50,0, it would still get the same bonus. If it were 1 pixel forward from the middle of the ship (1,0), or maybe 0,0, as in no pixels forward or back, it would get a full 1/2 max HP bonus. A section at 100,0 would get no distance bonus. This means it pays to have a small section just forward or rearward of any section that would otherwise be at the extreme aft or bow ends of the ship.
For the third stat, if you placed a hull part at 0,10 (x,y), that means the section gets the full distance bonus and half the angle bonus, 1/4, because the part is 90 degrees to the hull. At 10,0, it would be at 0 degrees and get the full angle bonus of 1/2. At -100,1, lets pretend that puts the hull piece at 179 degrees, so the bonus 0.6% of 1/2 your total HP. This means it pays to have sections as close to the center-line of the ship as possible, while still forward of the ship's command section's center.
Q: How the hell do deflectors work.
A: It turns out deflectors work by replacing the HP lost to weapons fire, not by stopping the damage in the first place. If your ship's total HP are lower than the strongest weapon to hit you, the deflectors can't cure the damage completely, so you'll take damage. As a bad example, they work a bit like very fast NanoMatrixes.
Q: When is the next version coming out?
A: I aim to release new versions roughly every Friday, subject to my schedule and various other factors. I'm on GMT +8 though so you've got a chance of seeing it while it's still Thursday over there.
Q: Can I adjust the firing arcs on flak guns or particle guns?
A: In short; No. Due to the way point defense weapons are coded/handled, they fire before checking their arc of fire. This is to reduce the amount of thinking the game has to do.
----------------------------------------------------------
It occurred to me that this has been absent from this site until now. I realise that as more new players pick up the game there's bound to be a lot of unanswered questions and confused moments. So, let's have a list of frequently asked questions here. Please feel free to add whatever questions you want and I'll combine them into this post.