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In the existing game of Battleships, your ability to strike at your enemy is unrelated to the size and location of your surviving fleet.
Suppose instead that you could only strike at a square which was in range of one of your own ships - say, within one square of your submarine, or within five squares
of your aircraft carrier.
This would create a positive feedback loop, so that whoever started to win would be more likely to continue winning. Hence, shorter games. It would also reduce the element of randomness, and increase the element of skill, because it would be important to remember or record where your opponent had struck.
If this rule change were made, one other change would be necessary. Mobility would have to be introduced, so as to prevent stalemates in which neither player's surviving submarine could reach the other's.
This mobility might mean being allowed to move one ship one square each turn. I'm not sure what you'd want to do about the turning circle of a large ship.
So, we're talking about that form of the game where little plastic models are moved on peg-boards, and not the pure pencil-and-paper game (unless you have good, soft erasers, soft pencils and good, strong paper that can survive a lot of rubbing out).
There would be an increased temptation to cheat. This could be reduced by computerising the whole game.
Red Storm Rising
http://en.wikipedia...ing_(computer_game)
Computer game loosely ased on the Tom Clancy novel. You were a submarine captain and the game was based on avoiding enemy ships' sonar etc. Had some battleship-esque elements to it. I loved it. [Jinbish, Nov 22 2009]
Battle of Leyte Gulf
http://en.wikipedia...attle_of_Leyte_Gulf
[normzone, Nov 23 2009]
"Flat Top"
http://www.boardgam....com/boardgame/2529
I include this link to show the high-complexity end of the continuum, where conventional Battleships is the low end. This idea is nearer the low end, but the high end is good too. [pertinax, Nov 24 2009]
7th Fleet
http://www.boardgam....com/boardgame/4854
More naval boardgames (2nd Fleet and 6th Fleet are also available) covering hypothetical scenarios during the Cold War period. [DrBob, Nov 24 2009]
Battleship
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1440129/
Movie to be based on the 'Battleship' game. That will be thrilling then won't it! [DrBob, Nov 24 2009]
[link]
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I was always frustrated in playing this with a childhood friend for much the same reasons. |
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Excellent. Even in the classic game ships should be able to move one space forward every turn. |
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If we introduce motion, can we also have mines? Although that would only work in electronic versions of the game |
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Reminds me of the 8-bit submarine 'simulation' games "Silent Service" & "Red Storm Rising". |
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.......(+).....
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Best computerised battleships I've played was on a Virgin Atlantic aeroplane - you can sit in your seat and use the video screen in front of you to challenge passengers in other seats to games of battleships. |
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But wouldn't this rule mean you'd have to declare collisions? |
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Not if you were registered in Panama, I think... unless you were going to make an insurance claim. |
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Next -- Social Solitaire, because Solitaire is so much more fun together! |
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Google has 17,700 hits for "multiplayer solitaire" |
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//Google has 17,700 hits for "multiplayer solitaire"//
Yes but they were all posted by you though, weren't they! |
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Maybe you can stick to a pencil-and-paper only game if you just add a rule like this: "on your turn you can fire one time wherever you want, and (optionally) a second time in a square that's N squares away from one of your active ships, where N is the size of the ship".
So, you can shoot almost everywhere if you have a big ship in the middle of the sea, but that would be pretty obvious to spot, so it's dangerous to put the ship there. Each time you use your second shot your enemy can record a different symbol for it, so he can gather additional info about your placement. The more you shoot the more you uncover yourself. Nice! |
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