I finally got the AI algorithm working!
It's not too bright at this point, but it's bug free. I also managed to fixed all the input filters so if the wrong or too many characters are entered it doesn't crash or infinite loop. I still need to write some sensible search patterns and link them to a play difficulty prompt, AND, I need to somehow program in a way to save hits on nearby ships that get hit while the prmary target is being cluster-bombed. I need the program to remeber to go back and bomb those ships too, once done with the first ship.
Once I get those two logic routines working, the challenging technical aspect of this game will be done. I sure hope I eventually get to take a class that teaches me a better way to do this AI stuff because it has been especially diffcult.