.\" $OpenBSD: bs.6,v 1.13 2008/05/20 14:42:09 jmc Exp $ .\" .\" Copyright (c) 1997, Jason Downs. All rights reserved. .\" .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR(S) ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS .\" OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED .\" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE .\" DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR(S) BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, .\" INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES .\" (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR .\" SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER .\" CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .Dd $Mdocdate: May 20 2008 $ .Dt BS 6 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm bs .Nd battleships game .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm bs .Op Fl b | s .Op Fl c .Sh DESCRIPTION This program allows you to play the familiar Battleships game against the computer on a 10x10 board. The interface is visual and largely self-explanatory; you place your ships and pick your shots by moving the cursor around the .Sq sea with the .Xr hack 6 motion keys .Em hjklyubn . .Pp Note that when selecting a ship to place, you must type the capital letter (these are, after all, capital ships). During ship placement, the .Sq r command may be used to ignore the current position and randomly place your currently selected ship. The .Sq R command will place all remaining ships randomly. The ^L command .Pq form feed, ASCII 12 will force a screen redraw. .Pp The command-line arguments control game modes: .Bl -tag -width XxXXX .It Fl b Selects a .Sq blitz variant. This allows a side to shoot for as long as it continues to score hits. .It Fl c Permits ships to be placed adjacently. Normally, ships must be separated by at least one square of open water. This disables that check and allows them to close-pack. .It Fl s Selects a .Sq salvo variant. This allows a player one shot per turn for each of his/her ships still afloat. This puts a premium on scoring hits early and knocking out some ships and also makes it much harder, for example, when you face a superior force with only your PT-boat. .El .Sh AUTHORS Originally written by one Bruce Holloway in 1986. Salvo mode added by Chuck A. DeGaul (cbosgd!cad). Visual user interface, .Sq closepack option, code rewrite and manual page by .An Eric S. Raymond Aq esr@snark.thyrsus.com , August 1989. .Sh NOTES The algorithm the computer uses once it has found a ship to sink is provably optimal. The dispersion criterion for the random-fire algorithm may not be.