Battleships Forever FAQ

Discuss all things Battleships Forever that aren't Ships and Shipmaker - Missions, Development, etc.!

Moderators: th15, Moderators

Post Reply
th15
Administrator
Posts: 947
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 12:01 am

Battleships Forever FAQ

Post by th15 »

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.
Last edited by th15 on Sun Nov 25, 2007 5:40 pm, edited 6 times in total.
Game_boy
Moderator
Posts: 83
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:20 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Post by Game_boy »

Q: What's the best/most powerful/strongest ship in the game?
A: Battleships Forever is designed so every ship has a tactical purpose and no ship is always the "best" choice. Experiment with different combinations and strategies for each situation and don't dismiss ships as being weak.
[b]Ubuntu. Linux for human beings.[/b]
Captain Trek
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 534
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2007 12:39 pm

Post by Captain Trek »

Q: My custom ship's demeters don't work in sandbox mode!

A: You've most likely forgotten to set the firing arcs of the launchers. All demeter launchers are supposed to have a 360 degree firing arc and will not launch their drones if they have less than this. To fix this, simply select your custom ship's demeters in the ship maker, press insert and type in '180' in the box labeled 'arc range'.

Note: Yes, '180' is correct. In the ship maker, there are two degrees to each unit of 'arc range'. Thus, for example, the default '45' of all weapons is actually 90 out of a possible 360 degrees...
Antimatter
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 12:22 pm
Location: Singapore

Post by Antimatter »

Q: A lot of the game's physics are wrong. Why aren't they corrected?

A: Battleships forever is a game, thus it puts game play and balancing before realism, so many aspects are mot scientifically accurate.

Q: Why do ships have such obvious design flaws screaming at my face?

A: Again, thats because it is a game. Having design flaws balances the game and encourages good use of stratege to cover up your own and exploit the enemies'.

Q: Why are there so many things that could be improved but haven't been done yet?

A: Remember, the game is free. It is also in testing and new versions are released regularly. Game maker is a very limited tool for certain aspects of the game. If you think it can be improved, and as long as it is not too drastic, put them on this forum.
pwhk
Commander
Commander
Posts: 126
Joined: Sun May 20, 2007 2:46 pm

Post by pwhk »

Q: I cannot put a certain weapon/module in the ship maker which appears in game! It just doesn't appear at the weapon/module selection part on top left!

A: Not all weapons/modules in game are in the Ship maker. You have to wait for later releases.

Q: I found a bug!

A: Click here to go to the topic and report it.
!nF|3|RnO
Ensign
Ensign
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2007 4:36 am

Post by !nF|3|RnO »

Q: How do I take a Screenshot, and where does it go?, In ship Maker, and in the game...

A: F9 in both cases, and it goes to the games root directory.
Last edited by !nF|3|RnO on Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
[img]http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r290/BIGfishyBIG/Assassin.gif[/img]
Syngyne
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Posts: 92
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2007 1:04 pm

Post by Syngyne »

F9 in both cases, and it goes in the game's root directory.
Squishy
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 852
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2007 4:32 am

Post by Squishy »

Can anyone be as so kind to explain how to use the FormRank attribute in the shipmaker?

I've been experimenting so that support ships will take positions in the back while spear headers take the fore, but i'm getting random formations.
Da_Higg
Captain
Captain
Posts: 465
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 11:49 pm
Location: Beyond the comprehensions of space and time

Post by Da_Higg »

Squishy wrote:Can anyone be as so kind to explain how to use the FormRank attribute in the shipmaker?

I've been experimenting so that support ships will take positions in the back while spear headers take the fore, but i'm getting random formations.
Higher number = further back in formation
lower number (0) = front of formation
Look Up
upon reading this:
50% of people will have scrolled up
25% will have looked at their ceiling
The last 25% can now feel smug because everyone else has taken orders from a little sig box.
DarkenShroud
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 515
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 6:37 am
Location: Cleveland, Ohio USA

Post by DarkenShroud »

Is there any standard as to how many weapons/devices per ship section can be added, or how many they can support? If so where can this information be accessed? Just started on my first shell custom ship wise, but haven't added any devices thus far, just figured I'd ask if anything needed to be adjusted or taken care of when placing devices/weapons, before they will function?
If it ain't broke, then don't try to fix it

A renegade is only what he makes of himself - Magius to Huma


You have only yourself to blame for failure
Da_Higg
Captain
Captain
Posts: 465
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 11:49 pm
Location: Beyond the comprehensions of space and time

Post by Da_Higg »

DarkenShroud wrote:Is there any standard as to how many weapons/devices per ship section can be added, or how many they can support? If so where can this information be accessed? Just started on my first shell custom ship wise, but haven't added any devices thus far, just figured I'd ask if anything needed to be adjusted or taken care of when placing devices/weapons, before they will function?
There is no limit. Just your imagination/sanity
Look Up
upon reading this:
50% of people will have scrolled up
25% will have looked at their ceiling
The last 25% can now feel smug because everyone else has taken orders from a little sig box.
User avatar
Arcalane
Pseudofeline Overlord
Posts: 4034
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:37 am
Location: UK

Post by Arcalane »

Nope. There are no restrictions save common sense and the desire to build a balanced ship.
  /l、
゙(゚、 。 7
 l、゙ ~ヽ
 じしf_, )ノ
DarkenShroud
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 515
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 6:37 am
Location: Cleveland, Ohio USA

Post by DarkenShroud »

sweet-- thanks
If it ain't broke, then don't try to fix it

A renegade is only what he makes of himself - Magius to Huma


You have only yourself to blame for failure
Dracodan
Ensign
Ensign
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:38 am

Post by Dracodan »

i'm not sufre if it goes here but anway ill give it a shot:

ive downloaded teh game this morning aftetr trying it out at a friend's place, after a couple of battles + editing testing ships i took a break. before restarting teh game i tried o switch the current battle song with one i had thta i liked better so i changed the name of my MP3 made a backup of the original files then switched the music, when i trieed to start the ganme again i recieved a message error telling me the file is corrupted, so i removed my custom music set the default ones back and still it didnt want to work either, after deleting/uninstalling everything redownloading and reinstalling i still recieve teh same error message over and over and can't start the game again, do you know what might cause this?
th15
Administrator
Posts: 947
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 12:01 am

Post by th15 »

Don't run the game after hibernating. For some reason it gets really unhappy if you do that.
Sean 'th15' Chan
[img]http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/6344/bfbanner2vy5.gif[/img]
Post Reply