Ship overview

Your ship is the way to cross the Caribbean. Here are the basics of mastering ships:

Damage model
The Naval Action damage model simulates the behavior of a sailship fairly accurately. The panel above shows the basic damage taken by your ship:


 * The bars within the silhouette show the state of your armor: Starboard (right), portside (left), bow (front), and stern (back). Armor takes damage as enemy weapons impact it and protects the systems of the ship from damage by absorbing the energy of the shot or causing them to ricochet.
 * However, since the ship is divided into individual components, a lucky or simply well aimed shot can cause damage to individual systems. The three systems listed above are the ship's rudder (steering), water pump (self-explanatory), and magazine. Each of these can be damaged and confer various status effects, from impaired steering (bad) to being unable to remove water from the ship (very bad).
 * The Leaks display shows how many leaks there are on board the ship. Leaks cause it to take on water and can be deadly. The pair of numbers above the divider denotes leaks above the water line, which cause the ship to take water if they wind up below, such as while turning. Leaks in red are below the waterline and constantly affect the ship, filling it with water.

This panel, located in the lower left, shows your ships' heading, sails, and wind direction. For damage- minded captains, it also shows two crucial damage indicators:


 * Crew number, which is essentially the hit points of your ship and determines how effective it is while sailing. A full crew performs at standard capacity, with anything lower than that directly impairing reloading, changing sails, and so on and so forth. Obviously, boarding is right out.
 * Sails health. As you take damage in combat, the sails will deteriorate, affecting your speed and maneuverability.

Of course, the same applies to enemy ships. Destroy the rudder and they'll find it difficult to maneuver. Damage the sails to catch up with them. Kill the crew to capture the ship, either by decrewing it completely or boarding it.

Dealing with damage

 * The usual way of dealing with damage is to use ship repair kits. In combat, the water pump crew works automatically, unless the ship is put in Survival mode, where they focus on pumping water out from the hull and patch up leaks.

Ship modes

 * ''Main article: Ship modes

The ship can be set into four separate modes in combat, including:
 * Sailing: The default mode, adds to speed and maneuverability.
 * Gunnery: Increases reload speed on cannons.
 * Survival: Fixes leaks and removes water, significantly slows reload time.
 * Boarding: Prepares the crew for boarding.