Manual for Gratuitous Space Battles. Version 1.1
`
`Introduction
`Gratuitous Space Battles (GSB) is a strategy / management game and space-battle simulator. The game puts you in the
`role of Fleet Commander for large, very large, and gratuitously humungous fleets of spaceships. Your mission is
`simple: Blow up the enemy spacefleet in as total and aesthetically pleasing a way as possible. There is no diplomacy in
`GSB, there is no option to retreat. There is no way to avoid battle, no negotiation, and no sub-plot. There are just zetta
`tons of metal and many exameters of organo-silicon circuitry and other alien technologies exploding gratuitously
`against a background of unfeasibly garish nebulae.
`
`Unlike ‘real-time-strategy’ games, GSB does not give you direct control over each ship in your fleet. Highly competent
`Spacefleet Captains have not sweated blood and strained their tentacles for years at the academy to be nano-managed at
`every step of the battle. Your job as Supreme Commander of the fleet is to design and deploy a balanced battlefleet that
`ensures glorious victory, and to issue orders on exactly how to kick alien ass. You can then hover behind the battlelines
`in your command podule and gleefully observe the gratifying destruction of your enemies on the holoscreen.
`
`“Observe the destruction of your
`“Observe the destruction of your
`“Observe the destruction of your“Observe the destruction of your
`
`
`enemies with glee”enemies with glee”
`
`enemies with glee”enemies with glee”
`
`As Exalted Admiral, your role can best be split into four discrete tasks. Firstly, there is starship design. Thankfully you
`won’t be firing up 4D Starship MAX to actually decide where each girder goes, you can leave that to your minions.
`Your task is merely to decide the selection of key components for each ship, so as to build a balanced armada capable
`of defending itself against alien scum, and also causing galaxy-shattering amounts of destruction and ultimately total
`obliteration of your opponents’ spacefleet.
`
`Your second task is to take those expertly designed ships and assemble them into fleet formations for each battle.
`Because you do not yet rule the galaxy, supplies are limited, and you will be restricted by budget and the availability of
`trained pilots. These limitations will inevitably determine the capabilities of the fleet you can send forth into honorable
`battle.
`
`The third task is one of observation. Post-battle stats are fine, but nothing beats being able to see exactly which piece of
`alien space flotsam managed to breach your shields. Whether you win or lose, watching the battle unfold is a key part
`of your supreme role. By observing enemy fire, you can identify areas where your fleet was weak, or where a different
`combination of ships or specialist hardware might have swung the pendulum of fate towards the wormhole of victory.
`
`Your final task is to undertake the post-battle post-mortem. It’s no good just randomly throwing the few remaining
`Captains out of the airlock when you lose. That’s so last millennium. The post-modern Supreme Space Commander
`takes time to analyze why his/her/its ships and indeed the enemy ships got blown apart and others made it back to base
`with hardly a scratch. Learn from your mistakes. To err is human, but humans have such low standards.
`
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`Ship Design
`Take time to familiarize yourself with the ship design screen. Work here is vital to success, and although it might not
`be as glamorous as pushing fleets of mega-cruisers around on the galactic battle-map, it’s a key part of how you’re
`going to win whatever huge space-war it is you’re fighting these days.
`
`There is no limit to the number of ship designs you can put together, but you do have a limited number of basic hull
`designs to work with. Thankfully, all our hulls have been designed in a modular fashion so you can bolt together almost
`any combination of starship components. A ship is received from the shipyard as a basic empty hull (which may have
`some minimal power production capability, and provide certain bonuses) which you supplement with modules of your
`choosing. The ship hulls come in three distinct sizes, fighters, frigates and cruisers. Modules, which you use to equip a
`ship for battle, include engines, shields, armor, crew accommodation and weaponry beyond your wildest dreams,
`although evidently not beyond the sick and twisted dreams of the weapon designers.
`
`“Fighters are the spitfires of space”
`“Fighters are the spitfires of space”
`“Fighters are the spitfires of space”“Fighters are the spitfires of space”
`
`
`Fighters
`Fighters are the spitfires of space. These tiny one-lifeform crewed vessels are great at zapping at high speed towards the
`enemy and taking out their fighters. They are also the only craft that can easily attack an enemy ship directly from
`within its shield. This manoeuvrability comes at a price, so buyer beware. Firstly, piloting a fighter is a highly
`specialized skill and dispensable (only if you fail miserably at your task) academy-fresh pilot numbers are limited for
`each battle. Secondly, the variety of fighter modules with which to customize your ship is very limited. Thirdly, a lot of
`the larger ships have enough armor or shielding to make the fighter weapons all but useless.
`
`Frigates
`Frigates are the mid-range ships in terms of
`speed, cost and weaponry. Standard space-battle
`doctrine suggests a number of frigates
`accompany each cruiser. These craft are faster
`moving than cruisers, and smaller, both of which
`make them harder to hit by the huge tera-guns.
`Frigate weapons tend to be fast tracking, which
`means they can be good at shooting down
`incoming enemy fighters before they even reach
`the main line of battle.
`
`Cruisers
`Cruisers are the insanely big floating theme
`parks of death and mayhem that we all know and
`love. The most gratuitous weaponry and the
`most impressive gadgets are only available for
`these big boys of the fleet. This comes at a cost. Cruisers weigh a silly amount and often limp along at the speed of a
`Rigelian ultraslug on its way home from a beer festival, making them almost impossible for the enemy to miss.
`
`Modules
`Ship modules are specific to ship type. You can’t put a fighter module on a frigate, and so on. They also come in two
`types, standard, and hardpoint. Standard modules have square icons and slots whilst hardpoint modules are shown by a
`hexagonal icon and slot. The trick is remembering you can put a standard module in a hardpoint slot (a tragic waste of
`destructive potential), but not vice versa. Basically the hardpoint modules are your guns. You will notice that some
`slots on each ship hull have lines to multiple points on the ship. This is purely aesthetic, and means that in battle,
`weapon turrets placed here will be visually duplicated on the ship. It does not make them more powerful. It just looks
`absolute-zero cool.
`
`There are some modules that have diminishing effects when ‘stacked’ on a ship. For example, adding multiple shield
`modules will reduce the efficiency of each shield module. You can see the current efficiency of a module by hovering
`your mouse over its location on the ship.
`
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`Although it is legal to leave empty sockets (maybe to save weight or cost), it’s generally a good idea to pack your ship
`full of hardware. You are paying for the hull, and after all this isn’t ‘Proportional-Response Battles’, what were you
`thinking.
`
`Shields, Armor and Hitpoints
`Two of the most important modules in the game equip your ship with shields and armor. You can give ships either,
`neither or both of these methods of defense. Understanding the way they defend your ships is vital to success.
`Firstly, damaged armor does not regenerate (although it can be repaired if an appropriate module is on-board), so every
`shot that damages it will likely be a permanent reduction in its defensive strength for that battle. This means even a tiny
`amount of armor damage per shot can add up.
`
`On the other hand, shields do regenerate over time, until they are completely knocked out by being reduced to zero.
`Separate shield modules operate independently, so it’s possible for 2 modules to be disabled and the third one can still
`regenerate back to its full strength (albeit giving you one-third the shield strength).
`
`So far, so ordinary, but this is only part of the story. In order to inflict damage to armor, a weapon needs to have
`sufficient armor penetration power. Without armor penetration being higher than the average armor strength for a ship,
`the shot will bounce off, achieving nothing. Think of hitting a watermelon (low to average armor) with a tennis ball
`(low penetration power) where not much happens, compared to firing at the watermelon with a high penetration cruise
`missile which results in impressive cabin splatter Pollock style and finding seeds in your hammock for months to come.
`Average armor is the total armor strength of all the ship’s armor modules, divided by its number of modules. This can
`be viewed in the ship stats window, which (depending on how gratuitous your observation podule is) is either at the
`bottom of the design screen, or launched through the ‘graph’ button at the top right of the ship window.
`
`Shields have a similar capability with their ‘resistance’. Some shields have high strength and low resistance, and vice
`versa. A shot that hits with a shield penetration value less than the shield resistance will have zero effect.
`This is VITAL to understanding the defense of your ships. Some ships could be totally invulnerable to some weapons.
`In some cases, combinations of ships will be required to take down an enemy cruiser. One ship may be firing shield-
`damaging weapons, and once they are down, other ships in the fleet will fire armor-damaging weapons to break
`through to the hull.
`
`Shield Stability
`There is another, sneakier way to overcome enemy shields without just getting big, high-shield-penetration weapons.
`You can ‘destabilize’ shields using special shield-destabilizing weapons, such as the frigate disruptor bomb. These
`devices reduce shield stability, and once it reaches zero, the shield will flicker off entirely for a short period of time,
`leaving the ship defenseless just long enough for a plucky space-gunner to deliver a red-hot beam of high energy
`explodiness.
`
`Close-Range Attacks
`Another tactic is to get fighters in so close to a ship that they actually attack from within the shield bubble. These
`attacks effectively bypass the shields entirely. This sounds attractive, but be aware that the enemies armor will still be
`in full force, and the fighters will be an easy target if the cruiser in question has some dedicated anti-fighter defense
`lasers or missiles. This is also a good reason to not rely 100% on shields for defense against the enemy, especially one
`that is fighter-happy. A cunning Space Admiral might screen his cruisers from fighter attacks with a line of cunning
`anti-fighter frigates to ensure they are turned to space-dust before they even get within range.
`
`Hitpoints
`Every module on a ship has a number of hitpoints, and this represents the physical strength of that piece of equipment.
`Once the shields and armor are destroyed, further hits on your ship will damage the individual modules, reducing their
`hitpoints. When a module’s hitpoint score reaches zero, it is disabled. When all of the modules on a ship are disabled, it
`will explode in a tastefully choreographed ball of flame and you won’t be getting your deposit back.
`
`Ship Capabilities
`Every ship module has a giga-ton of data associated with it. Selecting a module will display details about it. You can
`view the modules in one big group, or by selecting the tab buttons at the top of the ‘module picker’. Depending on
`which modules you select, the final capabilities of your ship will vary.
`
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`The speed of your ship is a measurement of the combined thrust of its engines, against its total weight. Turning speed is
`directly related to speed. Some modules have lighter (and more expensive) variants, which may appeal to you.
`Apart from weight and speed, you will want to keep an eye on crew and power requirements. Basically, you have to
`supply room for all the crew you need, and power for all the energy you use. This means that almost every ship will
`need a crew module (or multiple modules) and some power-plant modules. It’s a bit of a balancing act to get the right
`combination of components so you are not wasting power supply or crew capability. Be thankful you don’t actually
`have to balance on one tentacle whilst deciding. You cannot save a ship design that violates the crew and power
`requirements. The starship design council will slap you in the tentacles if you even try to do this, or more likely, they
`will just disable the ‘save’ button.
`
`Saved Designs
`Once you have re-arranged the components on the selected ship hull, you can save it with whatever design name you
`like. Although infamous Space Admirals gravitate towards names such as ‘Galactic Death Cruiser’ or ‘Glorious Chariot
`of Laser-Fury!’ you might start off with more helpful names such as ‘Long Range Beam Cruiser’ to aid you later
`during fleet composition and analysis.
`
`Unlike most games, GSB does not give you a big pile of ships to play with. The few ships you are given at the start of
`the battle are just examples, and any true Space Admiral would be better off ditching them and designing his/her/its
`own ships from scratch.
`
`Missions
`So you have a vast array of expertly designed floating platforms of giga-death, and you are eager to teach Johnny-Alien
`a lesson. Not so fast. We can’t just hurl spaceships at our enemy like a farmer feeding his space-chickens. Your ships
`will need to be placed into a formation, and given their orders. If you haven’t done so already, you need to select the
`‘battle’ option from the main menu, and pick your fight…
`
`
`“Floating platforms of giga-death”“Floating platforms of giga-death”
`
`“Floating platforms of giga-death”“Floating platforms of giga-death”
`
`Choosing A Mission
`
`At the start, you will only have the option of the first battle.
`The opportunity to fight bigger and more glorious battles
`will come when you have proven yourself with this trivial
`encounter. Different battles will pitch you against various
`enemies (of which we have three). Battles will be fought in
`different locations, and there may well be spatial
`phenomena to deal with. In some cases, a nebula may
`reduce weapon range, or ship speed. This is worth noting
`before you go any further.
`
`The mission selection screen also shows you three boxes
`that indicate if you were previously successful in battle on
`medium, hard or expert difficulty. There is no ‘easy’
`option. If you wanted easy, you should not have signed up
`for the space navy and you are not fit to take command of a fleet of Andromedan space mites.
`
`The two key things to be aware of when selecting a mission are the number of pilots available and the fleet budget. All
`this nonsense about money not being a problem for equipping the space-navy is nonsense. You have to win this war on
`a budget. A gratuitously huge budget, but a strict budget nonetheless. The politicians back on the homeworld have
`better things to spend their money on than endless spacefleets. They need to build mega metropoli, nano-factories (on
`the scale of things, more expensive than you might think) and zero-g swimming pools (vital for party fund-raising).
`
`Survival Mode
`Most of the missions are ‘skirmish’ missions, which involve fighting against a single fixed enemy fleet. There are also
`‘survival’ mode missions, which pit you against endless waves of enemies attacking from all directions. Skirmish
`missions can be uploaded as challenges to other players, whereas survival missions are strictly single-player affairs.
`However, survival mode allows you to upload your high score and pour scorn on the feeble attempts of other, lesser
`
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`admirals to match your heroic success. You can tell which mission is which by the icons on the left of the mission
`names.
`
`The Deployment Screen
`
`“A smorgasbord of devastation”
`“A smorgasbord of devastation”
`
`“A smorgasbord of devastation”“A smorgasbord of devastation”
`
`The deployment screen is where you place the individual ships in battle formation and issue orders on how to engage
`the enemy. This is your last opportunity to influence how the battle will play out for your fleet, so take the time to get
`things right. Don’t forget that cruisers move slowly, and fighters move quickly. Position is as important as orders. Once
`you are happy with a deployment, you can save that for later use. You can have a large number of different saved
`deployments for each mission.
`
`The map in the center of the screen shows
`your fleet as green starship silhouettes,
`and the enemy fleet for this battle as red
`ships. The highlighted area around your
`fleet is your ships’ ‘deployment zone’.
`
`Ship Positions
`To move one of your ships, you can click
`and drag it around the screen with the
`mouse. Don’t drag a ship outside the
`deployment zone, or it will be deleted.
`When you select a ship, a series of
`overlaid circles will display. These are
`the weapon ranges of that ship, and you
`might find this useful in terms of
`positioning the fleet. Right clicking any
`of your ships opens up a menu to delete
`or rename them.
`
`Editing the Fleet
`The first mission comes with a partially-assigned fleet, but you will probably want to edit this, and will need to build up
`fleets from scratch for future missions. The list of available pre-designed ships is shown as icons in a strip to the left of
`the deployment map. These are ship designs, so you can add as many or as few as you like to your fleet (within limits).
`To add a ship of that type, simple drag it onto the highlighted deployment zone of the map. To remove a ship from the
`fleet, either drag it out of the deployment zone, or select it and hit the delete key on the keyboard. Be wary of
`accidentally deleting ships when moving a whole group of them in formation.
`
`There are three factors that limit the number of ships you can add to your fleet. Firstly there is the number of available
`pilots (each ship requires a single pilot, whether it’s a fighter, frigate or a cruiser). Secondly there is the limited budget
`for the fleet. Thirdly there is the amount of ‘honor’ you can earn from the battle. Every credit that you leave in the
`budget without spending is converted to honor if you actually win the battle. If you win a battle by a comfortable
`margin you might well be tempted to go back and have another go with a cheaper fleet in order to rack up more honor.
`Cunningly, the Admiralty honor department will only credit you with your highest level of honor reached for each
`battle. You can’t keep replaying the same battle with the same fleet and accumulate more honor.
`
`Deploy an ARMADA OF DOOM
`For large battles where you may want to deploy a large number of identical ships, there is a faster method of
`deployment. You can right click a ship design and select ‘mass deploy’. This turns your cursor into a compact and
`efficient ship-placing machine, where you deploy a new ship of that type with every mouse click. Fun though this is,
`you can stop doing it by right-clicking or selecting an existing ship. A feint outline of the current ship is drawn behind
`the cursor when this mode is active.
`
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`Renaming Ships
`Right click on a ship on the deployment map and select rename in order to personalize that ship’s name. You can type
`your own, or generate a random name from a number of different moddable lists, shown by buttons on the rename
`window.
`
`Multiple Ship Selection
`There are three ways to select more than one ship at a time. You can draw a box around adjacent ships with the mouse
`(a rectangle will show you where you are selecting, and the selected ship silhouettes turn white), or you might find it
`handy to double click a single ship. That will automatically select all the ships in the fleet that have the same design.
`You can also select multiple ships by holding down the control key as you click ships. With a group of ships selected,
`you can drag and move them together.
`
`Orders
`Every ship in your fleet will need orders so it knows how you want it to fight. Without orders, the ships will still attack
`the enemy, but maybe not in the way you wanted them to. Tragically, they don’t teach much in the way of strategic
`thinking at the academy. You don’t want to let your fleet loose on the enemy without orders, anything could happen.
`With a new deployment, some basic ‘default’ orders are already issued to your ships. Clicking a ship will display
`details of that ship on the left-hand side of the screen, and above that, is the list of different order ‘behaviors’ that are
`assigned to this ship.
`
`A ship may have just one order, or many of them, although as some orders contradict each other you will automatically
`lose any orders that don’t make sense. Some of the most common orders are to engage a certain class of enemy ship,
`such as ‘Attack Fighters’. Some refer to how to select enemy targets (such as ‘co-operative’), others how to position the
`ship in combat (such as ‘formation’).
`
`“Why join the space navy if not to shoot
`“Why join the space navy if not to shoot
`“Why join the space navy if not to shoot“Why join the space navy if not to shoot
`
`
`aliens?”aliens?”
`
`aliens?”aliens?”
`
`Attack Orders
`Your ships will always eagerly attack the enemy, and fire on any enemy ships within range. After all, why join the
`space navy if not to shoot aliens? However, your orders can control how they decide which ship to fire upon when there
`are multiple targets available, and also which ships to head towards if they are currently out of firing range. The most
`common adjustment you will make is to go through the three attack orders for different ship sizes, and change the
`priority and engagement ranges. To edit these, or any order, just click on its name in the list. You can also add new
`orders by clicking the lowest button in the list.
`
`You may want to change the firing ranges and priorities for a number of reasons. Firstly, not all ships have weapons
`capable of inflicting damage on all targets. Firing plasma weapons at fast fighters is normally pointless. Secondly, not
`all weapons have the same firing range, or suit the same purpose. You may only want to move close enough to the
`enemy for your long-range weapons to be able to blast him from kilometers away, whilst your shorter-range defensive
`weapons can wait for the enemy fighters to come to you. Some ships could be dedicated anti-cruiser ships, whilst
`others are anti-fighter.
`
`If you really do not want your ships to engage all three classes of enemy ship, unless those are the only enemy ships left
`in the battle, then you can simply remove the orders giving fire priorities for that class of ship.
`
`Positional orders
`Formation and Escort orders allow you to tell your ship where to position itself during battle. Escorts will follow their
`own desires to engage the enemy, but always stay within range of the parent ship. Fighters are often set up as escorts.
`Formation indicates you want ships to maintain an exact relationship with another ship. They will attempt to maintain
`their initial relative position during the battle. Note that ships will automatically attempt not to overlap during the battle
`itself. When you add certain orders, the ship(s) need to be assigned to a ‘parent ship’. Clicking the ‘set target’ button
`puts you in ‘target assignment mode’ where a line from your ship to your cursor indicates the relationship. Click on the
`ship you wish to escort, or fly in formation with, to assign the current target.
`
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`“Your duty here is to observe and learn”
`“Your duty here is to observe and learn”
`
`“Your duty here is to observe and learn”“Your duty here is to observe and learn”
`
`Assigning Multiple Orders
`When you have big fleets with a giga-ton of ships, you won’t want to be editing orders for each ship individually. Any
`change you make regarding orders is applied to every currently selected ship. So if you want to change the fighter-
`engagement priorities of 4 ships to be the same, select them all and then make that change. This will not change any
`other orders that each ship may have. You can use this system to edit, add or delete orders from single or groups of
`ships.
`
`Default Orders
`Because you will likely have your favorite ship designs, you can also save ‘default orders’ for a ship design from the
`right click menu on a deployed ship. This basically gets the factory droids to stick a note in the starship Captains’ glove
`compartment that tells them what to do without you having to re-assign orders every time you deploy a ship of that
`type.
`
`Viewing Ship Capabilities
`If you select a ship on the map, the lower left-hand window will display details about that ship. The small icons show
`the different modules within that ship. You can click any of these in order to get details on a specific module. Also, if
`you hover the mouse over a weapon module, you will see that its specific range indicator is highlighted on the
`deployment map. This allows you to see weapon ranges on the map and could assist when deciding on formations. You
`can also see this information during the battle.
`
`Editing and Adding Ship Designs
`Right clicking the design icons allows you delete them, but be warned that this deletes the design entirely from your
`PC. Any saved fleets that used this design will be stripped of those ships. There is potential to really screw things up
`here, so make sure you know what you are doing. You can also edit a design from here, which launches the ship editor
`with that ship design ready-loaded. If you wish to add a completely new ship design, you can do so by clicking the very
`top icon with a blueprint and a plus sign. That takes you to the ship design screen. Make sure to save your new design
`with a new and unique name.
`
`The Battle Screen
`Once battle is joined, your duty is not to try and pico-manage your space Captains. Remember everything they taught
`you about delegating back at the academy? Your duty here is to observe and evaluate the execution of your battle
`strategy and orders. Your fleet may glide its way to
`a quick victory, get instantly blown into space dust,
`or have to fight bitterly to the last organism. If you
`lose the battle you haven’t lost the war, this is the
`chance to get to know your enemy.
`
`Score
`The top corners of the battle screen show the
`percentage of each fleet that is operational. Your
`status is on the left, your opponent’s on the right. If
`your indicator is green, that indicates victory, honor,
`lobster, cocktails. Red means failure, defeat, shame,
`spam. Underneath the score, the relative hitpoints of
`the fleet are shown (intact/total). On harder
`difficulty levels, your opponent’s fleet will likely
`have more hitpoints. Remember that hitpoints do not
`equal cost, they are a measure of the physical
`strength of the summed fleet.
`
`Luckily, we don’t wait until the last being is killed, a fleet that drops below 10% on the score indicator automatically
`forfeits the battle. Also, if the battle looks like a stalemate, the fleet with the lowest level of losses is declared the
`victor.
`
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`At the top of the screen is a button to admit defeat, just in case the battle looks like it will go on too long before
`inevitable annihilation and you have to go grab a bowl of space-pasta.
`
`Communications
`Occasionally you may decide it worthy of your time to care about the idle banter of your disposable cannon fodder, and
`for that reason a communications window at the top of the screen will show you a selection of their radio-
`communications.
`
`If you want to see who is talking, clicking the ship name at the left of each comment will focus your viewscreen on
`their ship, and also select their ship for viewing it’s details. The communications window shows all allied radio-chatter,
`unless you have a specific ship selected (either by selecting the ship name here, or by selecting their ship on the main
`screen), in which case you are tuned in to a specific minion, and will only hear their comments.
`
`“Red means spam”
`“Red means spam”
`“Red means spam”“Red means spam”
`
`
`Camera
`You can move around the battle screen using the arrow keys on your command podule keyboard, or left click and drag
`the universe around using the mouse (if you avoid clicking a ship). You can also navigate by clicking on the minimap
`at the bottom left, or clicking and dragging within the minimap. To zoom the view in and out, you can use the mouse
`wheel or, if the wheel hasn’t been invented on your world yet, use the PageUp and PageDown keys. If you move your
`mouse to the edges of the screen, the map will also automatically scroll. Modern technology eh?
`
`Time
`You can’t alter the direction of time but you can slow down and speedup the battle using the buttons to the right of the
`minimap. You can also freeze the battle and then use the zoom or movement controls to see what is going on. This can
`be helpful when you are commanding a gratuitously huge fleet with multiple ships under fire and you need to observe
`the status of them all. You can also use the numberpad +/- keys to control speed or use the ‘P’ key on the keyboard to
`freeze and resume playback.
`
`Ship Inspector
`Clicking on your own ships will bring up a window showing details about them. You can see the current status of the
`ship’s shield strength, shield stability, armour strength and hull type, as well as the integrity of each individual module.
`Some modules are less effective when they are damaged. Red modules are damaged, green ones are currently being
`repaired by auto-repair systems.
`
`Weapon icons, have a white dot in the top left if
`they currently have an active target. The
`progress bar at the bottom of the module shows
`the weapon reload progress. For some weapons,
`this is slower when damaged. It might distress
`you to see that sometimes a missile turret has a
`target locked, and is ready to fire, but doesn’t do so. Don’t get your antennae in a twist though, it probably means that
`the turret still has missiles in flight, and cannot fire until it relinquishes fire-control over the current batch of missiles.
`
`With repair modules, the white progress bar shows how many ‘repair supplies’ that module has left. When you run out
`of supplies, the repair module will effectively deactivate, and is useless.
`
`Something else worth mentioning is the ability to view range overlays on the screen. Just click one of your turret icons
`and it will toggle on or off two large circles on the screen showing the minimum (red) and maximum (white) ranges of
`that turret, with a crosshair showing its location. (You can also bring up this display by accurately clicking the turret on
`the ship itself) Also, if you click the small window showing the ship image on the left of the ship inspector, the camera
`is centered on that ship.
`
`8
`
`Supercell
`Exhibit 1013
`Page 8
`
`

`

`Gratuitous User Interface (GUI)
`The buttons to the right of the minimap allow you to toggle on and off a grid on the screen, if you like that sort of thing.
`There is also a button that takes a screenshot and stores it in your MyDocuments\MyGames\GratuitousSpaceBattles
`folder. You can also just use the print screen key. The U key on the keyboard toggles the GUI on and off entirely, for a
`more cinematic feel. This is great for capturing screenshots of you beating a challengers fleet, so you can email and
`taunt them endlessly about their l4m3 skillz.
`Occasionally you may be engaged in a civil war against a rival faction of your own species (such as Federation vs
`Federation). In these circumstances, in the fury of battle it can be tough identifying friend from foe. There is a button
`next to the minimap that lets you toggle red/green overlays on the ships to distinguish your ships (crewed by brave,
`fearless expert warriors) from your enemies (crewed by craven, cowardly, pathetic amateurs).
`
`Ship Explosions
`It’s always fun when a huge spaceship explodes into plasma, providing you aren’t on the bridge at the time. It is
`however worth noting that those explosions aren’t just picturesque. When a frigate or cruiser goes bang, it hurls
`explosive rubble at high speed that can cause serious damage to nearby ships. The effect of the shock wave is
`proportional to the power output of the exploding ship. Those high-output powerplants really go up in style. Because of
`their smaller size and greater manoeuvrability, fighters are immune to shock w