Battleboats

GOAL: In battleboats, you get 5 different boats. The goal is to sink your opponent's boats before all your boats are sunk. The first thing that needs to be done is to set up your board.

Set up your board

First click on the boat you want to place. Second, click on the board where you want to place your boat. Where you click will be the LEFT/TOP side of where the boat is placed. So if you select the 5-space horizontal boat, and click on C6, the boat will cover C6, D6, E6, F6, G6. If you select the 5-space vertical boat, and click on C6, the boat will cover C6, C5, C4, C3, C2.

You can also load previous set up boards, or save boards that you like. NOTE: Expert battleboat players suggest that you do not use the same board very often (if at all). If you use the same board over and over, other players may learn your board setup making it easier for them to sink your boats.

To play the game

When the game starts, what you will see is your opponent's board along with the number of ships left, and below that you will see your board with the boats that you places, along with your opponent's shots. You will continue to take one shot each turn until either you sink all your opponents boats, or all your boats are sunk.

Strategies (written by BIG BAD WOLF)

Battleboats is a game of chance, and depending on who you talk to will depend on how much of a "chance" game it is. There are many strategies and tips that can help you with the game of battleboats.

Board Setup

• Use a different board every game. All past games show up, and it is easy for your opponent to look at your past games to see if the same board is being used over and over. (And if you played them before, they may remember it)
• Be carefully not to use a "pattern" - for example, if I find 2 boats around the outside edges, the first place I will start to look for the rest are around the remaining edges. Another example is if I find 4 boats near one corner, or edge, I will then look for the 5th boat on the opposite corner/edge.
• If you place boats next to each other, it may be easier for the other player to accidentally "hit" the second boat while trying to sink the first boat. (Giving your opponent 2 boat locations instead of 1 boat) BUT then again, if I know my opponent does not every place boats next to each other, when I'm looking for the last boat, I will not even waste shots looking next to the other boats. (So it is good to mix it up sometimes)
• So to sum up the tips for board setup, DO NOT BE PREDICTABLE!

Searching for boats

• There are some things you can do while searching for boats to minimize the amount of shots that are wasted.
• Something I like to do is shot in the pattern of lines, diagonal, 6 spaces away. (As shown in image below)

• If at this point you are luck enough to find the "2" ship, this will allow you to skip searching many squares, and leave 2 spaces away from the first "lines" that you made. (As shown below)

• If you don't find the "2" ship right away, you can then make your lines leaving just 1 space away from the first "lines" that you made. (As shown below)

• BUT the most important tip here also is do NOT be predictable. Do NOT use the same "lines" every game, because it would be easy to set up boats if I know where the other person is going to start looking.