Naval Tactics for a Moving Battlefield

Build a fleet position that keeps options open

Deployment is the first strategic turn even though no commands have resolved. Spread useful headings across the 20 × 20 grid so every ship does not depend on the same escape corridor. Hulls may touch by a side or corner, but they cannot overlap or cross the ocean edge. Legal contact can hide the outline of a formation; it can also create congestion once both ships need to maneuver.

Give large ships space to turn because they move one cell and can leave longer wakes. Keep at least one fast Destroyer or Patrol Boat positioned to exploit open water. The full fleet reference lists all eleven ships, their lengths, speed and wake duration. There is no universally safe formation: choose one that supports the kind of first turn you intend to play.

Choose an opening purpose

A useful opening answers one question. Scan a high-value area, reposition a predictable large hull, or fire at a coordinate supported by evidence. Randomly distributing three shots covers little of a 400-cell board and produces misses without a clear next step.

Budget AP around the fixed resolution order

Fire, Move and Turn cost one AP each. Sonar costs two; Pass costs none. You may queue up to 3 actions, but the engine groups them by phase rather than resolving the queue as a private sequence. Both players' rotations happen first, then movement, sonar and fire. Your opponent is planning during the same command window, so speed at the interface provides no turn advantage.

A balanced three-AP plan might move, then fire twice. A search turn might spend two AP on sonar and keep one for movement or a speculative shot. Because commands are locked before results appear, a scan and shot in the same queue cannot behave like “scan, see the answer, then aim.” Read the sonar and wakes guide to design scans whose different possible reports are all useful later.

Turn every result into the next decision

Keep a short evidence ledger: confirmed misses, damaged segments, visible wrecks, sonar contact categories and wakes that have not yet expired. Separate current information from history. A sonar result describes the post-movement board for that turn; a wake marks a cell already vacated. Combine them with class speed and obstacles to shrink the set of possible locations.

When you score a hit, remember that the damage travels with the hull. Repeatedly firing around the old coordinate is only sensible if the target is constrained, slowed or immobile. Use the moving-ships briefing to recognize those conditions. Protect your own damaged ships by varying their route before an obvious line becomes a firing solution.

Destroying every enemy ship wins if your fleet still has a survivor; simultaneous destruction produces a draw. The battle continues until a fleet is fully destroyed or a captain surrenders. Damage is progress, but there is no score tiebreak: every surviving enemy ship still has to be found and sunk. Late in the game, preserve reliable contact and close escape routes instead of trading evidence for a dramatic but unsupported chase.