Judgment over reflexes.
SUB WAR is a one-on-one, turn-based game of submarine intelligence. You always know where your own submarine is, but never your opponent’s exact position. Connect sonar readings with the reports of what your opponent has done, then work out where they are most likely to be.
Each turn you choose exactly one of four actions: Move, Wait, Sonar, or Torpedo. Instead of attacking repeatedly, balance turns spent gathering information with turns spent repositioning. A torpedo hit ends the match at once and wins it for the player who fired.
Torpedoes are limited, though. Each player carries 12 per match, and only you can see how many you have left. If your last torpedo misses, you lose on the spot. If neither side has won after 100 turns (50 actions each), the match ends in a draw.
Read the map. Read the record.
The sea is a 20 × 20 grid of 400 cells, divided into 16 sectors of 5 × 5 cells labelled A1 to D4. When the game tells you roughly where your opponent is, it usually does so by sector rather than by cell. Both submarines start at random positions in different sectors, at least 8 and at most 15 cells apart when counting steps along rows and columns. The server also decides at random who moves first.
Islands are generated once at the start of each match and stay fixed. Both players can see them, and the open sea is always connected, so no area is cut off. You cannot move onto an island or beyond the edge of the map. Torpedoes stop at the first island in their path, so check both the likely direction of the enemy and whether you have a clear line of fire. Sonar, however, is not blocked by islands. Terrain affects movement, attacks, and detection in different ways.
Match modes
- CPU matches: Choose from five difficulty levels: Beginner, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Expert. Normal is the default. The CPU plays from the same kind of information a human opponent receives and never sees your exact position.
- Friend matches: Create an invitation and share its link. The first friend who presses the join button becomes your opponent; simply opening the link does not take the seat. Invitations expire after 30 minutes, and there is no spectator mode.
- Random matchmaking: Be paired with the next player who is searching. If no opponent is found within 180 seconds and you have enabled the CPU option, a CPU match starts at the difficulty you chose when you began searching.
Start with the fundamentals.
Understanding the four actions is enough to get started. Our play guide explains each action, the turn timer, and the match limits, while our strategy note explores how to interpret information and how the CPU levels differ.