BattleTabs: PvP Ship Battle Friend Matches and Turn Guide

To play BattleTabs: PvP Ship Battle against a friend, install the official extension from the Chrome Web Store, open the extension menu, and create a private invite link. Send that link to your opponent to enter the deployment screen. After placing your fleet on the hidden grid, alternate firing single shots into enemy waters to uncover and sink all opposing vessels.

Installing the Browser Extension

BattleTabs: PvP Ship Battle runs directly as a desktop browser extension on Chromium-based browsers rather than as a standalone website.

Open the Chrome Web Store and navigate to the official BattleTabs extension listing.
Select Add to Chrome and approve the browser installation prompt.
Pin the BattleTabs icon to your browser toolbar so you can access active games and receive turn notifications.
Ensure your browser settings allow popups and background alerts from the extension so incoming match moves display properly.

Clicking the pinned extension icon launches the main menu directly inside your current window without requiring a separate tab.

Creating a Friend Match Lobby

Private duels bypass public matchmaking queues and connect two players through a direct room URL.

Open the BattleTabs extension dashboard.
Select the option to battle a friend.
Copy the unique match invite link generated by the client.
Paste the URL into any messaging app, email, or chat client to send to your opponent.
Have your friend click the link. If they already have the extension installed, their browser automatically joins your lobby; if not, the link directs them to the Chrome Web Store installation page first.

Once both players register as connected in the lobby, the game advances to the fleet placement screen.

Fleet Placement Rules and Positioning

During deployment, you position multiple ship classes on your hidden grid. Opponents cannot see your layout until they land a successful strike on a coordinate your ship occupies.

Apply these defensive positioning guidelines before locking in your board:

Separate adjacent hulls: Never place ships directly touching one another. Maintaining at least one tile of open water between vessels prevents an opponent from hitting a second ship while attempting to sink the first.
Anchor larger ships along edges: Placing long hulls against perimeter tiles reduces the number of surrounding coordinates an opponent can probe once they find an initial hit.
Break symmetrical patterns: Avoid lining ships up in even rows or clean diagonal tracks, as landing a single hit allows experienced players to infer the orientation of the rest of the fleet.
Disperse small craft into dead spaces: Single-tile or two-tile vessels are difficult to hit blindly. Place them away from primary edge clusters to force opponents into late-game guessing.

Confirm your layout when all vessels are validly placed. The match begins immediately once both commanders lock their boards.

Targeting Strategy and Turn Phases

Combat alternates turn by turn. Each strike reveals whether the targeted coordinate contains open water (a miss) or an enemy vessel segment (a hit). Systematic grid clearing finds ships much faster than random firing.

Match Phase	Immediate Objective	Firing Action
Opening	Locate an enemy vessel	Fire every other square across a checkerboard pattern.
First Hit	Identify ship orientation	Probe the four orthogonal tiles (up, down, left, right) directly touching the hit.
Sinking	Eliminate the identified target	Fire along the confirmed axis until the game registers the vessel as destroyed.
Late Game	Find remaining small vessels	Scan remaining unchecked board zones that can physically fit the remaining ship lengths.

The opening checkerboard pattern prevents ships two tiles or longer from hiding between your shots. Once you record a hit, stop broad scanning and focus exclusively on adjacent tiles until that vessel sinks.

Managing Asynchronous Matches

BattleTabs supports both continuous real-time matches and asynchronous play. If both commanders keep their browser windows active, a full duel can finish in several minutes of rapid volleys.

If either player leaves the tab, the extension preserves the board state indefinitely. The extension badge alerts you when an opponent fires, letting you review their strike coordinate and return fire when convenient. This structure allows you to run multiple active battles simultaneously across different friend links without losing match progress.