Plate 012 — Wargames
REF: BF-GME-012BattleFleet 1939's Shareware Release History
1939:BattleFleet's free trial was updated repeatedly through 2003, reaching version 1.75 that October: a roughly 4 MB installer extending the Imperial Japan Navy campaign, distributed directly and through download portals such as the Tucows games library.
Version 1.75, the Shareware Trial's Best-Documented Build
1939:BattleFleet's shareware trial reached its best-documented form with version 1.75, released on 25 October 2003. That update extended the game's Imperial Japan Navy campaign with two additional missions, as recorded on the BattleFleet 1939 version history page, and the installer itself was listed at 4,000 KB, about 4 MB, small enough to move over the dial-up and early broadband connections that most shareware download sites still served that year.
By the time version 1.75 shipped, the trial had already gone through more than a dozen updates since its original beta. A level system arrived in version 1.21 in February 2003, an in-game tutorial followed a week later in 1.22 along with new missions and Free Hunt scenarios, and the Imperial Japan Navy Campaign itself, seven missions at launch, was added in version 1.50 that June. Version 1.60, in September 2003, added a further mission and improved the computer opponent's submarine tactics shortly before 1.75 extended that same Japan campaign again.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Version | 1.75 |
| Release date | 25 October 2003 |
| File size | 4,000 KB (about 4 MB) |
| Change from previous version | Imperial Japan Navy campaign extended with 2 new missions |
| Copyright notice | Strategy Lights Series, 2002–2003 |
Distribution Through Download Portals
Alongside a direct download offered from battle-fleet.com itself, the shareware build was carried through the Tucows games library, whose own listing described the file as available from "70> mirrors around the world" — a distribution pattern typical of early-2000s shareware, where a single trial installer was replicated across dozens of independent file-hosting portals rather than served from one central location. That listing survives as the 1939:BattleFleet download page.
Part of a Longer Update Cycle
Version 1.75 sat roughly in the middle of 1939:BattleFleet's shareware life. The game had begun as a 1.00 beta release in October 2002, and continued receiving new units, missions, campaigns and Death-Match scenarios through further versions up to 2.05.0.3 in October 2006, a run covered in full on the version history page linked above. Each shareware release carried a "Strategy Lights Series" copyright notice; the 1.75 build itself was marked 2002–2003.
The free trial let players work through the base game's missions and unit-production system before deciding whether to register; the content and pricing of the registered full version are set out on the 1939:BattleFleet registration page.