Beginner's Guide

If you've read the Getting Started page, your game should be ready to go. Now here's a rundown on how to become the greatest sailor on the seven seas.

Objective
There are two teams, the Pirates or the Royal Navy. These teams fight each other across three different game modes with different ways of winning.

In Team Deathmatch, the team with the most Reinforcements left when time runs out wins.

In Capture the Booty, the first team to take the Booty back to their Island two times will win. If neither team can capture twice then the last capture will win.

In Siege game mode, Attackers must destroy the Fortress defenses, then lower the Flag inside. Defenders must protect their Fortress and Flag.

All modes have a common path to victory: Kill the enemy and sink their ships.

Controls
The basic controls are:
 * W, A, S, D to move. Mouse to look around.
 * E to hold objects.
 * M1 to fire your weapon or use a held object. M2 to aim down the sights of your weapon.
 * 1: Access your Main Weapon. 2: Secondary Weapon. 3: Melee Weapon. 4: Special Item. 5: Repair Hammer.
 * U for crew chat.
 * Space to jump. You can jump multiple times, but each jump will get smaller until you rest.
 * Shift to sprint.
 * Esc for menu.
 * Tab for scoreboard. This can also be used for voting to kick players.
 * Q to access your "HUD" or "Q menu". This is an important tool: it shows you the location of allied players and ships, how far away enemy ships are, how many reinforcements your team has left, and the location of supplies.

Loadout
Press M to open the loadout screen, and pick your weapons. The default loadout is recommended for beginners as it's easy to use, but any loadout will do. Hit "done".

First Spawn
You will either spawn on a ship, or on your Docks waiting for your team to choose a Captain. It's best not to nominate yourself for captain until you've gotten some experience as a crew member. Once your captain is elected, they will build your first ship. Its name will be highlighted in blue. Press Q to see where it is, get into the water, and climb up the ropes on the side to board your new ship.

Basic Cannon Loading
Cannons are your main anti-ship weapon in Blackwake. They begin the game unloaded.

Loading cannons is a four-step process, which must be done in order. TIP: If you are unsure which cannons to load, hold Q to see the different states of the cannons. An icon will appear above each cannon to show what step is needed before it can fire.
 * 1) Load Powder: Select Gunpowder from a nearby supply crate with E. Load it in the cannon with M1.
 * 2) Load Shot: Select a Cannon Ball with E, load it with M1. You can load other shot types, but unless your captain says otherwise, a cannonball is usually the best option.
 * 3) Prime the shot: Face the cannon, press E to equip your Ramrod, and hold M1 to ram until the bar is full.
 * 4) Push the cannon: Press E again to make it roll forward. Once in position, it's ready to fire!

FIRING Cannons
Blackwake's cannons are aimed like grenade launchers; cannonballs drop down over distance, and must be adjusted for distance to hit their target. Cannons also have limited range, and can't hit anything outside 700 meters. To aim and fire a cannon, follow these steps.
 * 1) Press E to look down a cannon's sights. (Press S to leave a cannon).
 * 2) Moving the mouse up and down makes the cannon shoot further, and A and D move the cannon from left to right.
 * 3) When you have a ship in your sights, press Q to check if they are an enemy. Enemy ships will either have no name, or their name will be red and they will have a range number.
 * 4) Use A and D to aim your sights at the enemy ship, then adjust for distance by moving your mouse up and down to match the range number with the number on your sights. (For example, if they are 500 meters away, you want to move your sights to "5"). If they do not have a range number, you will need to guess the range. You can get a range number for yourself by equipping a Spyglass.
 * 5) If the enemy ship is closer than 300 meters, you don't need to worry about aiming- just fire away!

When you hit an enemy ship, you will put Holes in it, and maybe hit a player and get a kill! Your team's cannon ammunition is limited, so make your shots count.

There are also small Swivel Guns which can be found on the ship: "Anti-Sail" Swivels will only damage enemy ship sails, and should be used to slow down enemy ships. "Normal" swivels can damage enemy players, but only have a small range, so should only be used when enemy ships are close.

Repairing Damage
When the enemy hits your ship, different types of damage can happen which either slows down the ship or lets water into it. When too much water enters the ship, it will sink, so fix it fast!

The top of the screen will tell you the status of your ship. When you see your ship is damaged, press 5 to equip your Repair Hammer. If, on the other hand, you get hit by a cannon shot, your screen will begin to turn red at the edges, and you will Bleed until you die.
 * Holes: These will let water into your ship and eventually sink it unless they are fixed. Holes which are glowing red need to be fixed; walk up to them with your Hammer and hold down M1 to fix the damage. Green holes are ones your team is already repairing, so don't worry about those.
 * Sinking- When all the red Holes are gone, go to the Pump and press E. This will pump out the water the holes let in. Pumping removes water slower than holes bring it in, so you need to fix the holes before you begin pumping.
 * Broken Nose- Stops your ship until it is fixed. Use your Hammer at the front of the ship three times to fix the damage and get the ship going again.
 * Broken Mast- Stops your ship until it is fixed. Go to the Mast and hit it with your Hammer.
 * Torn Sail- Slows your ship down until they are fixed. Sails can be fixed with your Hammer also: climb the rigging and hit away.
 * Broken Cannon- When a cannon is damaged it cannot fire. Repairing it with your Hammer can take a while, and unlike other things a damaged cannon won't make you sink, so fix other damage first.
 * Fire- Fire can burn the ship's sails as well as players, and is highly lethal. Go and find a Bucket of water, which should be near the middle or end of most ships, and throw it on the fire to put it out. Avoid standing in the fire. You can put out burning allies by throwing water on them.

To save yourself from bleeding out, press 4 to equip your Tea or Rum if you have any. Pressing M1 to drink Tea/Rum will stop bleeding, and heal you back to full health. You can also press M2 to share Tea/Rum with an injured friend (marked by a red cross).

Grappling
Sometimes your Captain may order you to load grapple shot so you can board an enemy ship. The process for loading grapple shot is the same as regularly loading a cannon, but with grapples instead of cannonballs. Grapples are only effective within 50m, so wait until the enemy ship is very close before firing.

Once your ship has Grappled (or been grappled by) an enemy ship, a Grapple Combat will begin! The first team to clear the enemy crew from both ships wins a bunch of ammunition and reinforcements and instantly sinks their ship, so make sure not to die or fall into the water!

Player combat
1, 2, and 3 equip your primary, secondary, and melee weapons. 4 equips your Special, which can either be a weapon, a Tea/Rum, or a Spyglass. You can read more about these on their individual pages.

Player combat in Blackwake is normal for a first person shooter, except for two things: Reload times are very long, so melee weapons are important; and melee attacks can be blocked with M2. Otherwise, if you've played a first person shooter before, you know what to do.

Beware though, player weapons do not operate outside a distance of 100 metres, so shooting from a long distance is useless. Stick to using your cannons if the enemy isn't close enough that you can see enemy players clearly.

Combat between players takes place on land or on ship decks; weapons are useless while swimming. A common mistake for new players is to try and swim to enemy ships. The only way onto an enemy ship is to jump from your ship, or to climb up the ropes which appear during a grapple; when not grappled, enemy ships cannot be accessed from the water.