Contents
Dreadnought - Contents

Introduction

Offense

Defense

Play Modes

Automatic Mode

Strategy

Printing

Enhancements

Demo version

History


Introduction

The year is 1941.

You are Captain of a convoy crossing the North Atlantic (a grid of 10 rows by 10 columns) to deliver desperately needed supplies.

In the icy fog lurks the Kriegsmarine Wolfpack, prowling with deadly stealth. You must elude and destroy them.

Your convoy consists of a Dreadnought (4 squares), a Destroyer (3), a Corvette (2) and a Submarine (3 cells in a diagonal). You are armed with 10 torpedoes.

Kapitan Bismarck heads a similar fleet.

Be vigilant. Bismarck is relentless...


Offense

When the backround is blue, you're on the attack. Point and click at the cells you want to hit. You can change your mind by toggling the cell. The number of shots left is displayed at the top. When your guns are armed, the FIRE button goes red. Click on the FIRE button, and the Dreadnought will tell you what you hit (but not where). Then click on CONTINUE, and Dreadnought will take its turn.

Your initial armament of 10 torpedoes will be decremented by one every time you strike your opponent, with a minimum of one torpedo.

 To highlight all locations hit during a specific volley, hold the left mouse button down while pointing to a ship's square that contains the volley number.

If you lose, Dreadnought will show where its ships were concealed.


Defense

When the backround is green, you are in defense mode. Dreadnought will either tell you what it hit if in Automatic mode, or ask you for feedback in Manual mode.

When you have told Dreadnought everything it has struck, click on DONE.

All ships must be placed vertically or horizontally, except the submarine which is always diagonal.

Ships cannot overlap (vg. occupy the same position). Ships can't move around after the game has started.

You start the first game. Thereafter, the loser goes first.


Play modes
Modes of play

There are three modes of play:

- Manual

- Automatic	(Menu: Options / Automatic)

- Offense	(	  Options / Offense)

In Manual mode, you must make note (at the beginning of the game) of where you placed your ships. When Dreadnought fires a volley, it will interrogate you as to what it hit. Click on each ship that Dreadnought hit, as many times as your ship was hit.

In Automatic mode, you tell Dreadnought where your ships are at the beginning of the game. Dreadnought will determine for itself if it has hit you. Dreadnought does not take unfair advantage of this information when it is plotting its offensive strategy. Automatic mode avoids the tedium of telling Dreadnought what it hit at each volley.

In Offense mode, you fire shots at Dreadnought, but it does not attack you. Offense mode is favored mainly by wusses.


Automatic
Automatic Mode

When the background is yellow, Dreadnought is asking you for your ship locations.

To place your ships in Automatic mode, do the following:

1. Choose a ship by clicking on it; it will turn red.

2. Click on a square in the sea; the ship will appear.

3. Click on the right mouse button to rotate the ship.

4. Click elsewhere in the sea to move the ship.

5. Repeat 1-4 for all ships.

6. You can also select a ship by clicking on its silhouette in the sea.

7. Click on Scatter and let Dreadnought choose a random pattern for you.

  You can fine-tune it by moving individual ships.

Note that the program is "schizophrenic" inasmuch as when it is planning its offensive move, it is totally unaware that a corner of its mind actually knows where your ships are. If you're skeptical, jot down your ship locations on a blank grid (see: Printing),  and play Manual mode.


Strategy

[1.] If you hit one or more ships in the early part of a game, don't go in for the kill. Since you lose torpedoes every time you strike, save your shots for locating the ships about which you know the least.

Then, when you've got the opponent cornered, pounce!

[2.] Don't cluster your ships together: when the opponent is taking potshots around the last known vicinity of a ship, he'll stumble on the other ships by accident.

[3.] If you put your ships in the corners, that leaves fewer cells to fire at when Dreadnought is circling for the kill. On the other hand, it's a good place to be if you think your opponent will think you're avoiding corners...


Printing

To print a copy of the screen, click on File / Print.

You can print a blank copy of the Sea grid at the beginningof the game. If you choose to play in Manual mode, you can sketch your ship positions, and use it to tell Dreadnought what it hit.

You can also print a copy of the game in progress at any stage, (Offense and Defense),  to analyze the situation.


Enhancements

The following enhancements are in the works:

- Variable size grid

- User defined ships (size & shape)

- Sonar

- Save & Restart game


Demo version
The Demo Version

The Demo version plays five different game patterns, after which the cycle repeats.

For an infinite number of games, and access to the challenging "Advanced"  version, register now by sending $19 (cheque or money order) to:

Progeny Software

115 Hamilton Rd.

Berwick, NS   B0P 1E0

CANADA

You will automatically receive the next revision as soon as it becomes available.

Thanks.


History
A little history...

War at sea had unique hardships. During WW I and II, service aboard the Unterseeboote, or U-Boats, meant exposure to "... Atlantic storms where the water  would break over the bridge as solid as wet cement. The force and weight of the seas were so great that  men were swept overboard. In such weather the view from the bridge was petrifying -  a vast wilderness of mountainous waves whipped white by the roaring wind.

Belowdecks, the violent rolling and pitching, the brutal jolt as the bow hit the wave, made it impossible to rest.

Whether the U-Boat was on the surface or submerged, the interior lights burned around the clock, blurring the distinction between day and night. On long patrols especially, crews lived in increasing squalor. The heat was oppressive, the air stale and foul and reeking of bilge water, wet oilskins, rubber boots, sweat, and diesel fumes so thick a man's hair became a pitchy mire.

The U-Boat grew steadily damper from the intense condensation and the frequent leakage of water through the hatch of the conning tower. Bunks smelled moldy and charts began to rot. A gray-green film of mildew coated shoes and shirts. Food got covered with mold overnight.

In this environment a man could easily grow irritable and morose, even paranoiac and violent - Bletchkoller it was called, tin-can neurosis."

 (Douglas Botting, The U-BOATS, Time-Life Books)


Torpedo
Torpedo: the deadly dart of the sea

With a snout packed full of explosive, the self-propelled torpedo that came of age during WW I could blast a gaping hole in even the heaviest of hulls. And it could deliver its subsurface wallop through turbulent seas from a distance of three miles - although U-Boat men usually launched their seagoing missiles from a much shorter range for deadly accuracy.

The torpedo's reciprocating engine, automatically activated on firing, was driven by compressed air stored in a large tank just aft the warhead. A burner heated the air, increasing its pressure and adding about 30% more power to the system.

A shaft transmitted the power to the gearbox at the stern of the porpedo. The gears turned two propellers - one rotating clockwise and the other counterclockwise, ensuring that the torpedo did not pick up a spin that would cause it to stray.  The tandem propellers sent the torpedo streaking through the water at a speed of about 40 knots.

Two sets of tail fins guided the missile. Rudders on a vertical pair of fins, controlled by a gyroscope sensitive to the slightest change in direction, kept the torpedo on course. Proper depth was maintained by rudders on a horizontal pair of tail fins, which were in turn regulated by a pressure-sensing diaphragm in the hull casing.

Upon striking the target, the warhead was detonated by a simple trigger device protruding from its nose and leading inside to a highly volatile detonating charge. The trigger mechanism included an ingenious safeguard against the terrifying possibility of an inadvertent detonation: It was capped by a safety lock in the form of a tiny propeller that spun itself off a threaded shaft and fell away after the torpedo had run about 30 yards on its course.

D. Botting, op. cit


Dreadnought
The Battle Ship

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