Deep Sea Voyage

In this Death Match, place walls and lengthen the path of your opponent's ships without blocking them in.

Designer(s): uriquack	Match Type: DM (for 2 players)
Featured in: The Genius: House of Larks

Deep Sea Voyage

In this game, players construct longer tracks for their opponent’s ships while ensuring shorter tracks for their own ships.

General and Setup

This game will be played on three square boards (between 13x13 and 18x18) labeled 18-1 (chessboard notation) vertically and A-R horizontally.

Each player controls two ships per board: either a set of red and white Empire ships and a set of blue and black Maurauder ships. The starting spaces of Empire and Marauder ships are predetermined and will be symmetric.

Each board will have a starting configuration of empty tiles, walls, channels, and dropoff spaces. The starting configurations of each board will not be revealed until the Pregame phase.

The starting configuration will always be either (1) symmetric over a horizontal axis at the center of the board, or (2) symmetric over a vertical axis at the center of the board, or (3) fourfold symmetric.

Pentominoes may not be placed over starting ship spaces.

Ships may pass through empty tiles. You may place pentominoes over empty tiles.

A wall is colored solid black and is a tile that a ship cannot pass through. A pentomino cannot be placed over an existing wall. Once a pentomino is placed, it functions as a wall.

A channel (cyan blue, labeled with the letter C) is a tile that a ship may pass through. A pentomino cannot be placed over a channel tile.

A dropoff (bright green, labeled with the letter D) space is the destination your ships must reach; pentominoes cannot be placed over dropoff spaces.

The following is an example of what a board’s starting configuration may look like:

Pregame Phase

The Pregame Phase will last 90 seconds. During the Pregame Phase, all three boards' starting configurations are shown.

Also during this time, the Death Match Opponent chooses to be either the Empire or the Marauder.

Gameplay

The game is played on three boards with simultaneous private submissions; however, the two players will play on different boards at any given time.

Each round, either the Empire or the Marauder will hold the priority. The Empire holds the priority on odd-numbered rounds; the Marauder holds the priority on even-numbered rounds.

At the beginning of each round, the player with the priority will have 45 seconds to choose which board they play on for that round. Then, the player without the priority will have 45 seconds to choose, of the two boards that were not selected by the player with priority, which board to play on.

After the boards are selected, players have 90 seconds to take their action.

In each round, you may take one of two actions: (1) place a pentomino piece on their chosen board for that round or (2) pass (no action).

For each board, there will be a communal bank of 12 pentominoes that can be played. The following is an image of such a pentomino bank:

Each communal pentomino bank will have all 12 possible pentomino shapes. They are the T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, F, I, L, P, and N pentominoes, as pictured above.

When playing a pentomino shape, you may rotate and/or flip the piece according to your discretion. When a pentomino shape from the communal bank for that board is played, it may not be played again (for that board) and will be removed from the bank.

If you play a pentomino such that it would be impossible for you or your opponent’s ship to reach a dropoff point, you automatically lose on that board.

You may also pass your turn.

If there is only one board remaining to play on, the game is played in alternating turns, starting from the player holding priority. These actions are played publicly (and thus the first valid action will be taken).

Endgame Phase

The game is played until

(1) all pieces for all three boards are used up,

(2) both players pass in the same round

If a player automatically loses on a board, all pieces on that board are considered used up and that board cannot be selected by the priority player.

Then, we reach the Endgame Phase.

In the Endgame phase, players have 4 minutes to track the shortest possible route for their ships on each board.

A ship may only move orthogonally.

For each board, the player with the lower number of combined spaces it takes for their ships to reach a dropoff is the winner. If this number is tied, neither player wins the board.

The player who wins on a greater number of boards wins the Death Match. If the number of boards won is tied, the DMO wins the Death Match.

Notation and Time Controls

The pregame phase lasts 90 seconds; board selections last 45 seconds. As both the pregame selection and the board selections are public, the first valid decision made will be taken. If a player exceeds the 45 second period for their board selection, their board selection will be randomized.

Players have 90 seconds to take their actions (which are made simultaneously). As these are simultaneous private submissions, the latest valid submission will be taken.

If a player fails to make a valid submission within this period, it will be considered that they passed (and thus took no action).

When notating pentominoes, players should state the letter label of the pentomino and the cells (in LETTERNUMBER format) the pentomino will take up. As an example, a submission would read: T on A13, A12, A11, B12, C12. Players may also submit an image update of the action they want to take.

Amendment:

The starting configuration will always be either (1) symmetric over a horizontal axis at the center of the board, or (2) symmetric over a vertical axis at the center of the board, or (3) fourfold symmetric.

Boards being a combination of both (1) and (2) are also within the realm of possibility.

Deep Sea Voyage

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