About

The Battleship Target Generator is a dual-purpose tactical tool designed to elevate your gameplay from random guessing to statistical precision. It functions both as a Board Generator - creating valid, randomized ship layouts for setup - and a Target Solver that calculates the mathematically optimal coordinate to fire at next.

Unlike simple random generators, the Target Solver uses a Probability Density Function (PDF) approach via Monte Carlo simulation. By analyzing your current board state (Hits, Misses, and Sunk ships), the tool simulates thousands of possible valid ship arrangements that fit the evidence. The result is a Heatmap revealing where the enemy ships are most likely hiding.

Whether you are setting up a physical board and need a non-predictable layout, or you are in the heat of a game analyzing a cluster of hits, this tool provides the raw data needed to maximize your hit rate.

Formulas

The probability P of a specific cell c_i,j containing a ship is calculated by summing the occurrences of that cell being occupied across all valid permutations S.

P(c_i,j) ≈ N∑k=1 Occupied(c_i,j | S_k)N

Where S_k represents a valid board configuration k that satisfies all current HIT and MISS constraints, and N is the total number of simulated iterations (typically 10,000+). The function Occupied returns 1 if the cell is part of a ship in configuration k, and 0 otherwise.

Reference Data

Ship Class	Size (Grid Cells)	Strategic Value	Selection Probability
Carrier	5	Highest Priority	High (Easier to find)
Battleship	4	High Firepower	Mod
Destroyer	3	Standard Target	Low
Submarine	3	Stealth Unit	Low
Patrol Boat	2	Hardest to Locate	Lowest (Parity breaker)

Frequently Asked Questions

It uses a probabilistic algorithm called Monte Carlo simulation. It virtually places the remaining ships on the board in thousands of random but legal ways that match your current hits and misses. It then counts which cells are occupied most frequently across these simulations. The cell with the highest overlap is the statistically best target.

Parity refers to a checkerboard pattern. Since the smallest ship (Patrol Boat) is 2 cells long, you only need to fire at every other square (like the black squares on a chessboard) to guarantee hitting every ship at least once. This reduces the search space by 50%.

Yes. Use the "Generate Board" button to create a fully randomized, valid fleet layout. This is useful for avoiding unconscious patterns that human players often create, such as avoiding edges or clustering ships.

Currently, this tool is optimized for the standard Hasbro ruleset (1 shot per turn). However, the probability heatmap remains valid for Salvo games as it indicates ship location likelihood regardless of firing rate.