When the basic rules of Trax have been learnt, players will start to try making lines as well as loops. Lines may be much harder to defend than loops, or it may simply cost extra moves doing so that will lose the game elsewhere. Usually, lines are easy to spot but as a loop threat may be used to extend a line, three or four such attacks can essentially form a line from nothing.

Making your first line attack

Your first line attack will probably look something like this. A line of length 6 is extended to length 7 and there is nothing the opponent can do! This is what happends in the following example!
While white can turn the line away, it is just for black to straight it out to 8 long next move. However, line attacks must not always be so easy. Suppose that black had instead made his line attack to the other side. Then we would have a position as shown below instead! White can play the move shown to the left of the board and thus link back the line!

A small puzzle before we move on to the more advanced stuff. Where should black play to win in the situation below?

Attacking to create a line

The most common way to create a line without the opponent being able to stop it is creating attacks or threats on the way of the line. It is hard to give good and simple examples of this, but it is very common in real games. Here is an attempt to show what it may look like:
Black makes an attack with move 1 shown to the left. White needs to defend this attack, shown in 2. In move 3 on the right, black stretches the line out to length 7. It will be completed next turn no matter what white does on his next move!

Defending a line attack

Many times, the lines are defended so early that they never become a danger. When they start to get long it is, however, very importan to set in an early defence.

1. Turning a line back. In the example below, black's line has grown very strong. The only way to defend it is turning it back on a parallel path. This is often possible, but the opponent will surely not create the parallel path for you!

2. There is no way for white to turn the line back. Otherwise, the best way to defend a line is usually using your own corners to turn the line into, as seen below to the left. This means that if black tries to straighten the line at that side next turn, he will give black a loop threat.

Another way to defend a line is as shown at right. Here, white creates an L of his own, making it impossible for black to extend the line next turn. Also, he creates something to turn the black line with.