Captaining Guide

So, you want to be Captain for the first time, and nominated yourself.

Or maybe the job was passed to you in the middle of a battle, in which case how are you reading this guide?

''By this stage you should have read the Beginner's Guide, or watched a tutorial video, or gained some experience as a crew member. It is recommended to try out a Small Ship first to gain experience, before you captain a Large Ship.''

Here's some basic steps until someone makes a better guide:


 * 1) If captaincy was passed to you during a round, skip to Step 4. If you were elected captain at the beginning of a round, go to the Shipbuilder (the NPC standing at the dock corner) and talk to him with E. This will allow you to choose your first Ship from a menu. Click Build to construct your choice. Next, the game will ask you to name and colour your ship (optional). Click to confirm.
 * 2) Your ship will start building. Jump in the water and climb up the boarding ropes at the back to get aboard. Hold Q to make sure you're on the right ship. You can now load cannons until you hear the bell ring.
 * 3) When you hear the bell ring and scaffold disappear, your ship will be ready to go. Make sure your crew (6 or 12 other players) is all aboard, then go over to the Ship's Wheel at the rear of the ship.
 * 4) Step up to the Ship's Wheel and press E to begin sailing the ship. M1 and M2 make the ship speed up or slow down, while A and D steer it left and right. Since you're a first-time captain, you may want to wait for the other captains to take off, and follow behind them to see what they do.
 * 5) Say hello to your new crew! If you have a mic, hold down V to communicate over voice chat. Hold down C to inspect your Captain Command menu: this is used for communication without a mic, and ordering special shots to be loaded. You can also communicate with your whole team with B.
 * 6) Use Q to make sure your cannons are all loaded with normal shot-- if not, order your crew to do so using V or C. Also ask if anyone has a Spyglass and can spot the enemy ship ranges for you. If not, you may need to do it yourself.
 * 7) Hopefully you now have ranges on the enemy ships. Once you're within a 600 metre range or closer, you can now use cannons. Turn so your ship's side is facing an enemy ship, tell your crew the range they need to be aiming for, and give the order to fire. It is very important that you keep the ship steady so your crew can get a clear shot; turning at the last second can throw off your gunners' aim. Slowing down to Medium speed can help.
 * 8) Observe the killfeed in the top right, the hole counter at the top, and the "broadside hit" messages at the bottom. Together, these will let you know how many enemy crew you killed, and how many crew you lost. If your ship killed more crew, go to Step 9. If your ship lost more crew, has lost its mast, or is taking on a lot of water, go to Step 10.
 * 9) Tell your crew to move to the other side of the ship, turn your ship so its opposite side is facing the enemy, and fire again. Repeat Step 8.
 * 10) Time to repair. Order the crew with V "Holes and pumps, please" or C "Repair this ship!", and turn the ship out of enemy cannon range. Don't move your ship too far away from your allies. Once your ship has no holes, fixed sails, and the water is pumped out, you can come back to the fight.  If both teams have an equal number of healthy ships, go to Step 7. If your team has lost ships, go to Step 11. If the enemy's ships are sunk or damaged, go to Step 12.
 * 11) If your team has lost more ships than the enemy, now is a good time to retreat towards your team's Dock and wait for your allied ships to respawn. Never try and fight superior forces unless they're extremely damaged, or you will sink too. When your allies respawn, go to Step 7.
 * 12) If the enemy's ships are damaged or sunk while yours are healthy, you can bring your ship in close for a Ramming attack, Grappling attack, or general boarding action to finish them off. Check Tab first and look at ranks-- sometimes a sinking enemy ship has highly experienced players who can slaughter your crew if you try to board.

Note: Strategies vary based on the ship you are captaining. For example, the Schooner is a light, easily sank ship designed for sniping from 600 metres, and it is not a good idea to try and board with it. The same goes for the Bomb Ketch. However, smaller ships like the Cutter and Gunboat may actually want to be in close range, where they can ram and grapple. The Junk can't deal any damage in a ram, but you can still grapple and board with the forward cannon. The Carrack turns and moves very slowly, so stay on the same side for a broadside rather than turning. Try to play the game to your ship's strengths.

Alternate combat strategies

When your team is low on Tickets or Ammunition, Grappling an enemy ship can allow you to steal some of theirs. To do this, you must order the crew to load the cannons with Grapple Shot using the C menu. Then, sail your ship to within 50m range of an enemy ship with the cannons facing them, and give the "Fire!" order. Grappling is a risky strategy: losing will give the enemy some of your supplies and tickets, and enemy ships can interfere and make you lose the grapple, so make sure no enemy ships are nearby, and your crew is likely to win the fight, before you begin a grapple.

Similar rules apply to Ramming. While it is good for finishing off weakened ships, it leaves your ship very vulnerable to incoming attacks, as a Broken Nose will make your ship unable to move until fixed. Make sure your target is weak, and enemy ships cannot gang up on you, before you decide to Ram.

An alternate strategy to the standard Cannonball volley is to use Chain Shot or Bar Shot. Chain works at the same range cannonballs do, and deals sail damage which slows enemy ships, leaving them prime targets for boarding or mortars. Bar, which has a range of 400 metres, deals damage to the enemy's Mast, and hitting the Mast 5 times will destroy it, causing total immobility.

Grapeshot is another interesting shot type. It has severely limited effective range, and deals no ship damage, but does high crew damage over a wide area. If you are expecting to board or be boarded, then loading Grapeshot can be a good idea to wipe the enemy's crew out.

Siege Mode Assault

In Siege Mode, rather than trying to sink all the enemy ships, the captain's goal is now to capture the Flag inside the enemy Fortress as quickly as possible. Both teams take a turn to attack the enemy Flag and defend their Flag, and the quickest team to capture a Flag wins.

Press Q to see if you are defending or attacking. If you are Large Ship captain who is defending, then follow Steps 1-10 in the Guide. Your ship doesn't respawn in Siege Mode, so make it count.

If you are an attacking Captain, then after Step 6 of the guide, sail close to the enemy Fortress and attack the Fort's large round Mortar Towers until they are destroyed, while avoiding the bombs the Mortars will fire at you, since they are incredibly deadly. Once the Towers are destroyed, park close to the enemy Dock and get your crew on it. There will be an Explosive Cart packed with Gunpowder; with 33% of your team present, this can be pushed along the dock, up the stairs, to the enemy Gate to destroy it. Keep pushing through the gate and up the ramps until you reach the enemy Flag; standing near it long enough uncontested will win your team the round.