STEKIUS
Battleship online at STEKIUS: sink the fleet first
Play nowBattleship is the game we used to play on squared paper, hiding the notebook from the person next to us: each player sets up a fleet in a sea and guesses where the other player’s ships are hidden. It takes logic, a little luck and a good memory for where you have already fired.
At STEKIUS you play Battleship online for free, with realistic ships on a moving sea, against a friend or an AI player on three levels. Below you will find all the rules: how you set up the fleet, how you fire and how you win.
The sea and the fleet
Two players play, each with their own fleet in a sea of ten by ten squares. You see your own ships, while the opponent’s are hidden until you find them.
Before the start, the table chooses the fleet, with five or four ships, and whether the ships may touch each other.
Setting up the ships
First both players set up their ships. You drag them from your fleet into the sea, or you tap a ship and then a square. Every ship goes horizontally or vertically; to turn it, you tap it in the sea.
If you do not want to think, you tap At random and the fleet sets itself up. When all the ships are in, you tap Ready. If the set-up time runs out, the ships that are not in yet go into the sea at random.
Firing
Then you fire in turns. You choose a square in the opponent’s sea and fire with one click or, on a phone, with one tap.
A miss leaves a ring on the water, while a hit lights a fire on the ship. When every part of a ship has been hit, the ship sinks and is shown whole. If your time runs out, one shot is fired for you.
Do you fire again after a hit?
The table decides this before the start. If it chose so, whoever hits a ship fires again at once, and the game becomes faster and less predictable. If not, the shots always alternate, whatever you hit.
Who wins
Whoever first sinks the opponent’s whole fleet wins. It is not enough to hit every ship; they must all sink, part by part.
Chips and leaving
The winner wins virtual chips and the loser loses the same. The chips are shared by all the games of the site. After the first shots, whoever leaves pays a leave penalty. When there is a winner, you leave freely.
With friends or with the AI
You open a table and choose whether your opponent will be a person or the AI. For a friend you get a room code and an invitation link: you send them over and your friend joins from their own device with their own account. If you want a new opponent, you open a public table and wait for someone to ask to sit down.
The AI has three levels, easy, medium and hard, and plays by the same rules as you. It is ideal for a quick game of Battleship whenever nobody is available.
On a phone and a computer
Battleship plays comfortably on a phone screen too: you drag the ships with your finger, and you fire with one tap on the square. On a computer everything is done with the mouse.
Tips
- As soon as you hit a ship, fire around it to find which way it continues.
- At the start, fire in a chessboard pattern: that way you cover the sea with fewer shots.
- Do not put all your ships along the edges; the opponent will notice quickly.
- Remember which ships have already sunk so you know which sizes are left.
Questions
How big is the sea?
Ten by ten squares for each player.
How many ships does the fleet have?
Five or four, as the table chooses before the start.
Can the ships touch?
The table decides this before the game starts.
What happens if I do not finish setting up in time?
The ships that are not in yet go into the sea at random when the time runs out.
