Battleship

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
[i]After the ships have been positioned, the game proceeds in a series of rounds. In each round, each player has a turn. During a turn, the player announces a list of target squares in the opponents' grid which are to be shot at. If a ship occupies one of the squares, then it takes a hit. When all of the squares of a ship have been hit, the ship is su Other than that, you can see that the defending player says "you hit my X" after each hit.

[/i]interesting! i had always thought the ship getting hit was only revealed as it was sinking - i've been playing by a non-standard convention it seems haha

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
[i]After the ships have been positioned, the game proceeds in a series of rounds. In each round, each player has a turn. During a turn, the player announces a list of target squares in the opponents' grid which are to be shot at. If a ship occupies one of the squares, then it takes a hit. When all of the squares of a ship have been hit, the ship is su ...[text shortened]... Other than that, you can see that the defending player says "you hit my X" after each hit.

This changes things a bit now. I think it can be said that you proceed in making guesses in such a fashion that you are skipping n-1 squares from you first guess, but randomly, unless you have psychological information about your opponent that would lead you to believe a certain spot is more likely. n is the number of hits it takes to sink the smallest ship still afloat. Once any ship is hit, proceed to sink it by finding its direction by using the same process as above, unless the ship you hit is n, in which case search to sink it skipping n-2 squares from your first hit.

The way we play over here:

One shot per turn. You get an extra shot for hitting a ship. Opponent MUST declare either of the following three: Miss, Hit or Hit & Sunk. The opponent does NOT have to tell you WHAT ship you sank.

We have two really different strategies going on;

1) Aim for the 4-ships, then zoom in and fill up the possible position for the 2-ship.

2) Shoot for the 2-ship then spread out once you've found it.

I don't know how to show wich of these is better.

The first has the advantage of luck. There is a chance you will find the 2-ship with the wide spread. Only after you sank the 4-ship and the 5-ship you need to start shooting every other square.

The second one doesn't seem to have that advantage. It seems to me that the second method costs you a lot of unneeded shots if you don't find the 2-ship fast.

Is anyone good at programming? He or she might simulate around a 1000 games to see wich method works better.

Originally posted by TheMaster37
The way we play over here:

One shot per turn. You get an extra shot for hitting a ship. Opponent MUST declare either of the following three: Miss, Hit or Hit & Sunk. The opponent does NOT have to tell you WHAT ship you sank.

We have two really different strategies going on;

1) Aim for the 4-ships, then zoom in and fill up the possible position f ...[text shortened]... t programming? He or she might simulate around a 1000 games to see wich method works better.

advantage of luck? I didn't know there was such a thing.

Originally posted by brobluto
advantage of luck? I didn't know there was such a thing.

It exists.

Suppose you plan to do the checkerboard. First you play E5. Then you consider your second shot. You consider these two possibilities: E7 and C7.

C7 is a better choice than E7 because you already KNOW there is no ship in E5. Therefore there will not be a ship oriented E5-E6-E7 and maybe beyond. However there still can be a ship going from C5-C6-C7. This means that C7 is more likely going to have a ship in it than E7 precisely because it's farther away. The wider spread shots "have the advantage of luck" - or rather are simply better choices for logical reasons.

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
It exists.

Suppose you plan to do the checkerboard. First you play E5. Then you consider your second shot. You consider these two possibilities: E7 and C7.

C7 is a better choice than E7 because you already KNOW there is no ship in E5. Therefore there will not be a ship oriented E5-E6-E7 and maybe beyond. However there still can be a ship go ...[text shortened]... shots "have the advantage of luck" - or rather are simply better choices for logical reasons.

LOL. better for logical reasons is called probability, not advantage of luck. Luck is having a 50/50 chance of something and getting it right. Luck is what happens AFTER the chances are decided.