Battleship Strategy Guide: How to Win Every Sea Battle
Battleship looks like pure luck, but strong players win far more often than chance allows. These are the techniques used by the Hard computer in Fleet Strike — learn them and you will sink fleets in fewer shots.
1. Search with a checkerboard pattern
The smallest ship (the Destroyer) is two squares long, so every ship must cover at least one square of a checkerboard. Only fire at squares of one colour — for example where row + column is even. That halves the squares you need to search before you find every ship.
2. Hunt, then target
When you score a hit, stop searching randomly. Fire at the four squares around the hit. As soon as you have two hits in a line you know the direction: keep firing along that line until the ship sinks, then go back to the checkerboard search.
3. Think in probabilities
Count how many ways each remaining ship could still fit over a square. Squares in open water near the middle fit more ships than squares boxed in by misses, so they are more likely to hold one. After the big ships are gone, gaps that are too small for any remaining ship can be skipped entirely.
4. Place your fleet unpredictably
- Avoid clustering every ship in one area — one lucky hit should not reveal the rest.
- Mix horizontal and vertical ships.
- Edges are not safer: experienced players check them. Vary your layout every game, or use the Random button.
- Ships may touch. Placing two ships side by side can confuse an opponent who thinks they are hunting a single long ship.
5. Track the enemy fleet
The fleet bar under the enemy grid shows which ships are still afloat. If only the Carrier (5 squares) is left, ignore every gap shorter than five squares.
6. Online etiquette
Online turns have a clock. If time runs out a random shot is fired for you, and three timeouts in a row forfeit the match — so stay focused. Use the quick reactions to say good game!