Contents
Melee at Sea Help Contents

The Contents lists all Melee at Sea Help topics.

How to Play

Overview

Playing the Game

Rules of the Game

Strategy and Hints

Commands

Game Menu Commands

Options Menu Commands

Registration and Limited Warranty

Registration

Limited Warranty

Order Form

Trademarks

Troubleshooting and De-installation

System Requirements

Video Display

Sound

Suggestions and Bug Reports

De-Installation


How to Play

Overview

Playing the Game

Rules of the Game

Strategy and Hints


Overview

From the building of the first man of war, the Great Harry, in England in 1514 and lasting until after the first steam battleships were built in England in the early 1810's, the age of fighting sail lasted over three hundred years.  Ruling the seas of the world meant ruling the trade of the world, and trading all over the world created the wealth of the sailing nations.

Battles between sailing ships were brutal.  In the wars between the English and the Dutch, ships would fight all day long.  At night when the captains couldn't see to fight each other each side would frantically repair its ships to fight again the next day.  175 years later the English style of battle was to pummel a ship along the waterline with cannon shot where a ship's oak sides were weakest until the sides gave way and the ship sank.  The French preferred to fire above the deck, where cannon loads of chains and metal scraps would kill sailors on the decks and tear apart a ship's rigging.  The Americans relied on the speed of their frigates and the shrewd heroism of their captains.

A naval battle between sailing ships was more chaotic than ordered.  Admirals made strict plans for their fleets.  A captain breaking formation against the plans of his admiral faced dishonor, jail or even execution.  But as fate and the conditions of the sea and winds changed in the course of a battle the carefully planned formations of each side would decay into a wild scramble of ships.  Crippled and confused, ships would fire broadsides on each other and try desperately to "cross the tee" hoping to fire a killing broadside across their enemy's bow in the "Melee at Sea".

See Also

Playing the Game

Rules of the Game

Strategy and Hints


Playing the Game

The Object of Melee

The object of Melee at Sea is to sink all the ships of your opponent without having all of your ships sunk.

Sinking Ships

At the start of a game a ship has one, two, three or four sails.  When a ship loses all its sails, it sinks.  You sink ships by firing cannon from your ships.  You fire your cannon by moving your ship beside an opponent ship.  A ship hit by cannonfire loses one sail.

To start a new game

Press the New Game button or choose New Game from the Game menu.

To move a ship

Select a ship by placing the cursor over it and pressing the left mouse button.  Holding the button down drag the ship to a new position.

A ship can move up, down, left or right but cannot move off the playing area or through another ship.

To change in the middle of a move, drag the selected ship back to its starting position, then select another move or ship.

To fire cannon

A ship fires its cannon when it is side by side with an opponent ship.

See Also

Overview

Rules of the Game

Strategy and Hints


Rules of the Game

The rules for Melee at Sea:

Winning

You win when your opponent's fleet is completely sunk.

Starting

Melee at Sea is started by pressing the New Game Button or by selecting New Game under the Game menu.

The blue fleet, to the bottom of the playing area, always moves first.

Meleeat Sea (if registered) may be played between two human players or between a human player and the computer.

When playing between a human and the computer, the human always plays with the blue fleet.

Turns

Melee at Sea is played in single turns alternating between the blue fleet and the red fleet.

A turn is taken by moving a ship.

A player must move a ship, and may not pass.

Moves

A ship can be moved up, down, left or right.  It may not be moved through a position occupied by another ship, to a position occupied by another ship or off the playing area.

If no ship in a fleet can be moved, that fleet is defeated and the game is over.

Cannonfire

A ship that is moved is the attacking ship.

An attacking ship fires its cannon if an opponent is to either side at its new position.

Attacked ships fire their cannon to the side also.

Ships fire in the following order:

1)	An attacked ship fires to its side onto the bow of an attacker.

2)	An attacker fires to its left.

3)	An attacked ship returns fire from the left if it is not sunk.

4)	An attacker fires to its right.

5)	An attacked ship returns fire from the right if it is not sunk.

A sunk ship cannot return fire.

End of Game

A game ends in one of three ways:

when all the ships of one side are sunk,

when one side cannot move because all its ships are sunk or unable to move or

when a draw is declared because no ship has fired cannon in twelve moves.

See Also

Overview

Strategy and Hints

Playing the Game


Strategy and Hints

Melee is won by steadily destroying the sails and sinking the ships of your opponent without losing as many sails and ships yourself.

Avoid positions where your opponent can cross the tee on your ships.

Cross the tee on your opponent's ships.

Use your ships with one sail left before they are sunk.

Try to take more than one of your opponent's sails with each attack.

Try to escape for a standoff if you are losing at the end of a game.

See Also

Overview

Playing the Game

Rules of the Game


Commands

This section contains information about commands in Melee.

Game Menu Commands

Options Menu Commands


Game Menu Commands

New Game

Starts a new game.

Demostration

The computer plays against itself.

High Scores

Displays the highest scores you have recorded.

Exit

Quits Melee at Sea.


Options Menu Commands

Computer Opponent

Use this option to activate the computer opponent.

Fleet Selection

Opens a box to select a  fleet pattern for the two fleets.

Sound

Opens a box to select sound options.

You must have  Windows 3.1 compatible sound for Melee at Sea to play cannon fire sounds.


Registration

 To play with different fleets, to keep your high scores, to play against yourself or other human opponents, and to get the latest version of Melee at Sea, register Melee at Sea today for $15.00(US).

You may register by mail using the Order Form.

See Also

Order Form

Limited Warranty


Limited Warranty

For the Shareware Version of Melee at Sea the author makes no warranty either express or implied with this software, its quality or performance.  It is distributed AS IS and in no event shall the author be liable for any damages resulting from any defect in this software.

If you have registered Melee at Sea and the registered version fails for any reason, your exclusive remedies shall be either your money back or replacement of your copy of Melee at Sea at the option of the author.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY OTHER DAMAGES REAL OR IMAGINED RESULTING FROM ANY DEFECT IN THIS SOFTWARE.

This Limited Warranty is void if Melee at Sea has been modified in any way intentionally or accidentally.

This is the entire Limited Warranty for Melee at Sea and no other warranty, either expressed or implied, is agreed to by the author.


Order Form

Melee at Sea Registration

Name	_____________________________

Address	_____________________________

City/State/ZIP     	_____________________________

Country	_____________________________

Circle disk size:     	(3.5")   (5.25"	)	Circle density:  (HD)  (DD)

If you do not request differently, Melee at Sea is shipped on a 3.5" HD disk.

Circle shipping option: 	Normal:(U.S.Mail)  	Special: (overseas air mail)

Handling and shipping  by U.S Mail are included in the price.

Special Shipment:  For Overseas Air Mail shipments please add $5.00(U.S.) to the price.

Registration Fee  $15.00(U.S.)

Make checks or money orders payable to Bill Bergmann.

Please pay in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank.

Payment	Melee at Sea 	___Copy(ies) 	x $15.00 	_________

Overseas Air Mail	+   $5.00	_________

Total	_________

Mail to:

Bill Bergmann

P.O. Box 164122

Austin,  TX    78716-4122


System Requirements

Melee at Sea is disigned to work correctly on any Windows 3.1 system that meet the following requirements:

CPU: 386 sx 25 or faster.

RAM: 2 megabytes or more (preferably 4 megabytes).

Display: Windows 3.1 VGA(640x480, 16 colors) or better.  Not monochrome(black and white).

Sound(Optional):any sound system that works with Windows 3.1.

See Also

Sound

Display

Suggestions and Bug Reports


Display

Melee at Sea is designed to work correctly for displays using the Windows 3.1 VGA and SVGA standards.  On larger screen resolutions Melee at Sea  is displayed in a fixed 640 x 480 window.

See Also

System Requirements

Suggestions and Bug Reports


Sound

If your computer sound system plays .wav files in Windows 3.1, Melee at Sea will play the sound of cannon fire.  If Cannon Fire is selected in the Melee at Sea Sound option box but Melee at Sea is playing no sound :

Check that your Windows sound system is working properly by testing a sound in the Sound option box in the Control Panel Box.

If your system plays sounds but is not playing the Cannon Fire sound another program may be interfering with Windows sound playing, even after you have closed it.  Exit Windows, reboot and try Melee at Sea before using other programs.

If you are sure no other program is causing a problem and you are sure your computer meets the system requirements for Melee at Sea, your system may not have enough memory to load the Cannon Fire sound.  Melee at Sea will automatically change the setting from Cannon Fire to Beeps if it cannot load the Cannon Fire .wav file.

If you are playing Melee at Sea from a floppy disk you may find that sound quality is poor.  To improve sound performance move Melee at Sea to your hard disk.

See Also

System Requirements

Suggestions and Bug Reports


De-Installation

To remove Melee at Sea from your system:

1)  Delete meleesea.exe from the directory in which it is installed.

2)  Delete meleesea.hlp from the directory in which it is installed.

3)  Delete meleesea.ini from your Windows directory (C:\windows or D:\windows).

4)  For the registered version of Melee at Sea, delete meleesea.dat from your Windows directory.

5)  Delete the icon from your desktop.

6)  Delete the group window titled "Melee at Sea"

To delete the group window, minimize the group window and highlight the group icon by clicking on it once.  When highlighted while minimized, the group window icon will show the control box menu.  Ignore the group control menu and select File Delete from the main menu of Program Manager.


Suggestions

Melee at Sea has been carefully tested, but if you discover a bug or would like to make a suggestion, please contact me at 74554,263 on CompuServe or by mail:

Bill Bergmann

P.O. Box 164122

Austin,  TX    78716-4122

Version and Bug History:

Version 1: First release.

Version 1.01: Corrected bug in use of transparent bitblitting using NewTransparent background mode.

Corrected fonts to work when Large Fonts are selected with some video drivers.

Other minor corrections.


Trademarks

Windows, Windows 3.1 and Microsoft are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corportation.