A Coal War Tactics Guide

- Instructions -

Coal War Tactics is actually a very fun game, but achieving a score high enough for a trophy can be tricky. If you don’t like math don’t worry, I will do the entire math for you. Your final objective in the game is to explode all of your opponent’s minecarts before they destroy yours. Piece of cake? Maybe.

In the beginning you will have to select your game difficult – I always choose “easy” – and the character you will be playing, which doesn’t affect anything in the game, honestly. Then, you will be able to decide whether there will be booby traps in the game or not, but if you are aiming for the trophy, you got to have booby traps in the game, so check the box.

Next, you need to place your minecarts on the board. Choose wisely. You can rotate the minecarts if you want to by pressing the spacebar. Try not to place two minecarts next to each other, neither on the edges. Then, place the booby traps. I like to put them next to the minecarts - I don’t think this strategy is the best one, but it is the one I like. If you are too lazy to place the minecarts by your own, just like myself, keep clicking on “random” until you are satisfied with the result. If you like the overall board but there is a minecart bugging you, you can always just move that one. Now let the game start!

- Playing the game -

Now that your game has started, you will have to click on your opponent’s board trying to find theirs minecarts. If you click on a square and you see a dynamite stick, it means you have missed. But if a flame appears, it is because you have hit a section of a minecart, yey! As you may have already noticed when placing your own minecarts, there are five – one of two sections; two of three sections; one of four sections; and one of five sections. Thus being said, if you have missed don’t click on the square next to it – try to have at least one square between your guesses.

Since your opponent’s minecarts are randomly place on the board, there is no strategy here. Use the technic that best fits you. I, for example, start by clicking on the board diagonally, from an edge to another, until there is an X on the board. Then I keep filling it just like a chess board. But again, you may want to experiment with other tactics.

Unfortunately, since there are booby traps on the game, you may hit them accidentally. If you do, your opponent will receive 50 points from you. I know, I know, it is sad, and you may be asking yourself why I recommend you to play with them in the first place. Well, it is because it works in the opposite direction, too! If your opponent hits your booby traps, you will receive 50 points from them – and for the trophy, it is very important; if your opponent hit every booby trap you have placed on the board, you will gain 250 points, woah!

Additionally, you may find some surprises while playing. If you are lucky enough, you can find a chunk of bronze, silver, and gold, which are worth 25, 50, and 100 points, respectively. They are put on the board by the game itself, and neither you nor your opponent can choose where they are placed on. And if you successfully hit on minecrafts consecutively, you may also win some bonuses! You can only have three different bonuses simultaneously – so, if you already have three, it would be wiser to use one so you can have a free space. If you are in doubt of what are their functions, here it goes:

Row Bonus: Surprisingly, you will clear an entire row of your opponent’s board.

Column Bonus: Pretty much like the previous bonus, except that this time you will clear an entire column.

Box Bonus: You will be able to clear a box of 3 by 3 squares of your opponent’s board. Funny enough, you will clear 9 squares at once, which is a square less than a column or row of the board.

Free Bonus: When used you will be able to play twice in a row.

Move Bonus: If you want to, with this bonus you can move one of your minecarts. Note that you can’t move minecarts that have been hit – and yes, I have tried.

Spyglass Bonus: You will be able to see 4 squares of your opponent’s board with this.

Dustcloud Bonus: Lastly, with this bonus you can protect one of your minecrafts of your opponent’s Spyglass Bonus. Don’t use this if you opponent doesn’t have a Spyglass Bonus because, well, why would you?

- Scoring -

On the left side of your screen you will notice that there is a “hit bonus”. When your turn begins, the hit bonus will quickly decrease from 10 to 0. In the meantime, if you successfully hit a minecart, you will win the number of points that the hit bonus has marked. So, if you want to win the maximum number of points possible, you should always know which square you want to select next and then, as soon as your turn starts, click on it. To do this, while it is your opponent’s turn, place your mouse pointer on the square you want to click when it is your turn. This way, when it is your time to play, your cursor will be directly over the square you want, and - if you hit a minecart - it is most likely you will receive 10 points of hit bonus. If we add every section of the five minecarts, we will find that there are 17 sections in the total. So, if we gain 10 points every time, you will have 170 points.

By destructing a whole minecart, you will win 500 points. It doesn’t matter if it is a 5-sections minecart or a 2-sections minecart. In the end you will have 2500 only by destructing the minecarts.

The booby traps are, once again, the tricky part. To win the maximum number of points possible you must not hit any booby trap, and your opponent must hit all the five (having, at least, 50 points in hand; if they have less, you will receive only 10 points, and if they have none, you won’t receive any points). Best case scenario, you will gain 250 points, which is pretty, pretty difficult. And let’s not forget about the metals – 175 points by finding them all.

- Conclusion -

If we add up all the values we have found, we will discover that the maximum number of points possible for this game is 3095 points. But let’s be honest here, it is practically impossible.

So breath, take a sip of your favorite drink and play the game. You will need patience and lots of luck. I try to play the game three times a day, this way I don’t get over-stressed or fed up fast. But if you want to win the golden trophy, be prepared to lose your sanity. Best of luck, and see you on the next game guide! ;)