What would a pirate if he didn't sail?
All pirates start with a Sailing skill of 1 and access to a Light Sloop, once they complete an initial quest for Elizabeth Swann.
Buying Ships
Find the Shipwright. On every main island is a structure made from the bow of a ship. There are shipwrights on Port Royal, Tortuga, Cuba, and Padres del Fuego. Also, a shipwright can be found on the privateer islands, Isla De La Avaricia and Ile D'Etable De Porc
A Light Sloop is yours for the taking, but other vessels are unavailable. Pirates playing Free can only access the Light Sloop or the Light Galleon. But, a Light Frigate as well as medium and war versions of all three classes are available for purchase.
Assemble A Crew
While any pirate can captain a ship alone, it's more fun, effective and profitable to have a crew to set sail with you.
Other pirates can be invited into crew by simply clicking on them and selecting the Crew option. Also, pirates can send an invite to Friends or Guild members.
Also, a pirate can now invite uncrewed pirates to join them aboard ship. Simply click on the Dinghy symbol in the upper-left next your ships name. You will have the option to allow not only your Crew, but also Guild members and Public or anyone.
Any pirate selecting 'Public' at a nearby Dinghy or launch site, can be teleported to your vessel. You will still have add new mates to your crew by clicking on them and selecting the Mug (Invite to Crew).
- Hint - It is also a good idea to indicate your intentions to potential crew, so pirates with similar goals will want to join (Ex. "I am sailing to Cuba" or "Let's go sink some Navy ships").
Deploy and Board
To board a ship, you need to locate a dinghy; typically on a beach or moored at a dock. Walk or swim up next to the dingy. When a green circle appears around it, press Shift.
A ship menu will appear, you can either Launch a ship of your own or Board a ship belonging to a crewmate. A guildmate can set their boarding permission to Guild and allow you to board theirs. Also, any pirate can set the permission to Public.
- Hint - You may need to Crew Chat or Whisper to any inexperienced pirates in your crew to get them on board.
You can also board a ship already at sail by using the Go To option for anybody, captain or otherwise, who is already on board if they are a Friend or Guildmate.
Assign Stations and Set Sail
As captain, it's your job to tell these scallywags what to do! It's best for the captain to direct his crew to which cannons to man, lest they're experienced gunnies.
- Hint - Maximize firepower by concentrating your gunners on one side.
As the captain, you will need to keep in mind how many cannons are manned and on which side. Once everyone is aboard, walk to the helm's wheel and press Shift.
For the helmsman, the perspective will change from the deck to some distance behind the ship. At this point, press the arrow keys or the directional keys (W,A,S, & D) will move the vessel in the desired direction - and you're off.
Combat
At sea, the pirate will be cruising the seas in search of ships to sink or flagships to capture. To sail, use the arrow keys (or the W, A, S, D keys). The up arrow will unfurl the sails and moves your ship forward, the down arrow will furl your ship's sails up and your ship stops moving forward. Continuing to press Down or S, the ship will actually move backwards - but very slowly.
Use the compass in the upper right-hand corner of your screen to keep track of ships. You may want to adjust the zoom level on the compass using the '-' to zoom out as far as possible when looking for enemies (red ships).
For the pirate, there are three kinds of enemy ships: Royal Navy, EITC, and skeleton ships. The Navy and EITC sail a broad variety of ships, while all Skeleton ships are war frigates. Undead French and Spanish vessels are war sloops.
In battle, the broadside guns (the cannons below deck) are controlled by the captain. These weapons are fixed to fire directly port or starboard, and have a limited firing angle. To hit an enemy ship with a broadside, it should be at the 3 o'clock (directly left) or 9 o'clock (directly right) position relative to your ship on the compass.
Firing Broadsides
As the captain while steering the ship, you can use number keys or the mouse to fire your broadsides. These are a separate bank of cannons mounted below the deck; you can use them whether or not you have crew manning any on-deck cannons. Broadside cannons all fire more or less straight out to the side of your ship. Getting very close to another ship increases your chance of hitting it; it also increases the danger to your ship if that ship fires back at you.
It takes a relatively long time for your cannons to reload when used in this manner. The good news is that your left and right sides are on separate cooldowns, so you can fire, turn your ship, and fire again. The bad news is this makes for boring and unrealistic ship combat as you tend to just sit in one spot and turn back and forth unloading over and over. The ugly news is you make it very difficult for any of your crew manning cannons to hit anything if you're constantly spinning in circles!
It takes a long time to sink a ship with just your broadside cannons, but it seems to be the only way to increase your sailing skill.
Sailing Skills
As a pirate earns Reputation points, each completed skill level earns a Skill Point which can be used to increase abilities.
Some abilities will not be available until the Sailing skill reaches a certain level.
Abilities
- Broadside Left: Fire left broadside.
- Broadside Right: Fire right broadside.
- Full Sail: Coaxes a short burst of speed out of the ship!
- Come About: Allows your ship to make a hard sudden turn!
- Open Fire: Increase crew's cannon damage from deck guns and broadsides!
- Ramming Speed: Bear down upon an enemy vessel and ram it into splinters!
- Take Cover: Protects your ship and crew from incoming fire!
Passive Abilities
- Windcatcher: Increases Ship Speed.
- Tacking: Superior knowledge of the rigging allows you to turn more rapidly. Improves ship turning radius!.
- Treasure Sense: Your endeavors always seem to uncover more gold. Increases the quality of cargo drops!
- Taskmaster: A harsh taskmaster can get his crew to reload his cannons faster. Decreases recharge time for Broadsides!
Plunder
Each time you sink a ship you can get one or more pieces of plunder. The higher level of the enemy ship, the more plunder it can potentially give you.
- Hint - Because your own ship holds a limited amount of "cargo", you do not want to fill that space up by sinking a bunch of tiny Level 1 Ferrets, each of which gives you only a little gold.
When a ship's cargo hold is full, no more plunder can be acquired. To collect your booty, sail close to ANY island and a Docking icon (anchor) will appear near the bottom of your screen. Press this button to land yourself and your crew on the island you've reached. The game will tally up all the killing and plundering you did and divy the treasure up amongst the crew. (More crew = more treasure)
Boarding an Enemy Flagship
The Royal Navy, EITC and French or Spanish ghost fleets have capital ships stationed at various points on the map to command their other vessels. They can be identified by the red, grey or skeletal flags over the ship's name.
Flagships carry more and better cargo than normal ships of the same class. These flagships can be assaulted like other ships, but to plunder them - they must be boarded.
First, a flagship must be crippled. This is done by reducing the hull health to zero. At that time, small green circles will appear on broadside of the ship. Cannoneers can switch to grappling hooks (Press 8 or click the Grappling Hook) and fire at those special circles. Once a line is attached, ropes will extend between both ships and the enemy will be pulled in.
The captain (the ship's owner, not the person steering) will get a message requesting to Board ship with your crew? Pressing the "Board" button and the crew will swing across to the enemy decks.
- Hint - Enemies may be walking on deck of the crippled vessel. Have your cannons switch to round shot, chain or grapeshot to dispatch them first.
Once the crew has arrived on the enemy vessel, there still may be more enemies to contend with. Pirates can then use standard melee and voodoo weapons to attack the defenders. Pistols can be used against French and Spanish ghosts.
- Hint - It's a good idea to have a crew before attacking flagships. Even a tough pirate may not be able to contend with a full compliment of enemies alone.
Ship Combat Tips
- Don't shoot at or even sail close to enemy ships you're not ready to take on. Also, watch out for other enemies while fighting another. You may be quickly outnumbered.
- Enemy gunners are often slow to react. If you see incoming fire at your ship, you may be able to suddenly stop or press Full Sail or Ramming Speed ability to maneuver out of the way.
- To get more experience points on Cannon or Sailing, sail with high-level pirates who have warships, since they can take on tougher enemies. To find a crew by hanging around the docks as pirates come and go.
- Beginning pirates should ask their captains for a sailing lesson. Its good experience to practice with large vessels and more experienced pirates are often happy to dispense their wisdom.
- Don't just sail together, Crew up. It will increase reputation for cannon and sailing, notoriety and plunder.
- When fighting high level ships, fire on the ship from as far a distance you can and then sail off at an angle so that the enemy ship is forced to chase you. When your broadsides recharge, either stop the sails and turn sharply and fire, or continue to circle the ship at a distance and keep the ship chasing you. If you do this correctly the AI will never turn their ship and fire on you, they will continue to come at you head-first and you will be able to take on lvl 40 Death Omens without taking a single hit
Ship Strengths and Weaknesses
All ships have their strengths and weaknesses. The trick is to use your ship's strength to overcome the enemy's weakness.
- Galleons back and side armor are stronger, but if you can get in front of them - you do more damage. Galleons also have more broadside guns, but their weapons have a limited firing angle.
- Frigates are strong in the front and sides, because they are built to assault as they charge. But, their aft armor is weaker. Frigates can shoot forward and their aft deck guns can shoot all but directly astern.
- Sloops are weaker in general. They have fewer deck guns and fewer broadsides. Their speed is their biggest advantage.