Naval battle

Ship to ship combat is handled very differently from player/NPC combat and "the bigger, the better" comparison is also lot more stronger.

Engaging combat

There are a few rules of combat that every captain should be aware of.

1. Only a pirate ship may attack navy or merchant navy ships.
2. It is expected that merchant navy ships essentially be considered 'neutral', as such, pirates attacking them receive a penalty to the reputation they earn for sinking ships.
3. Ships which are smaller than the attacker are generally considered poor sport, thus earning a reputation penalty.
4. It is possible to sink a ship and actually lose reputation.
5. Harbors are 'safe zones', no combat may occur in any harbor.
6. A ship which has been anchored/landed for at least 30 seconds is considered non-combatant, and has any damage it takes reduced to 1/3.
7. Any ship which has been anchored/landed for at least 10 minutes is considered idle, and is immune to combat.
8. Once disabled, a ship may be boarded via the gangway. There are approximately 30 minutes during which the ship may be captured/plundered, before it is completely lost and may be salvaged again.
9. During this disabled time, any crew wandering the decks may be attacked at will. A senior crewmember may issue a surrender command, and have everyone abandon ship. This may be a wise way to save the lives of some of your crew.

The most obvious differences are that ship combat can take place over the distance of several rooms and players themselves are not involved. This requires some consistent notion of distance, hence most forms of combat are restricted to the overworld. Depending of the partys involved, rest of the combat features differ dramatly.

vs NPC ship

Players are not directly involved in the fighting; they instead direct the crews of their ships, and it is the crew that handles the ship, orients the weapons, and casts the spells. Only after the target ship is disabled can players themselves take role in combat by assaulting the ship. Bigger ships have more crew members to kill before the vault in captain's cabin can be looted.

There is no point trying to damage anything else on NPC ships expect their hull as they are too basic to do anything else than sit tight and shoot back.

vs another players ship

Bigger class ships wipe the floor with smaller ones, fact that makes attacking bigger ships pointless and suicidal. You need to armada up to have a chance.

The ability to cloak your ship lets you to escape from battle, trick that can be countered with greater sight.

Shooting specific sections at player ship has its uses only if you want to flee from combat, otherwise its just better shoot.

Making damage

The general command structure is combat <ram/blast> <target> <ammo> [<section>].

• ram/blast is straightforward, either make a ramming attack or a magic blast.

Similarly 'ship to attack' is the name of the ship to hit; make sure this is the true-name of the ship, i.e. testship, not Test Ship. 'Type of ammo' is for those attacks, such as the cannons, which can use different types of ammunition. Finally, 'target' refers to which part of a ship you want to hit. Not all attacks allow you to choose a target. Choosing a target does not guarantee that you will hit it, but simply increases the chances that you will. The valid targets are 'hull', 'sails', 'rudder' and 'crew'. Be advised that hits on the crew are very rare, also a golem may count as a crew member for this purpose. The specific attacks your ship has are described below.

Targeting

Some attacks can be targeted, meaning you can try to hit some specific part of the ship. Valid targets are hull, sails, rudder, crew, any, or leaving this part of the command off (which is equivalent to any). Aiming for anything other than 'any' is tougher, hence lowers your chance to hit. The benefit is that you have a significantly higher chance of hitting the part you were aiming for. Note that you are not guaranteed to hit that particular part, the odds are just much better. Also, while the rudder has very few hit points, it is also underwater, so takes significantly less damage. Finally, ship golems may be hit by a 'crew' attack.

Ramming

This ability is available to every ship from the moment it is created. A very short range attack, it requires the target to be in the same room as the ship. Damage is heavily dependent on the attacker's size, but neither ship can escape unscathed on a successful hit. If the attacker is above the victim, this attack becomes a 'crush' attack, which inflicts more damage. This attack is not targettable: in a normal ram attack, the damage is dealt to the hull, in a crush attack, the damage is dealt to the sails.

Cannons

This attack is targetable. Knowledge of alchemy has brought about the discovery of explosive combinations of powders, which could then be harnessed as weapons. However, the process is still rather delicate, especially when being carried out on the rolling decks of a ship. Thus, there is a decent chance of misfires. In order to stay clear of possible explosions, this attack is restricted to medium/long range.

Things to keep in mind with cannons: More cannons is not necessarily better, as the crew's focus is divided amongst more things. However, the 'combat cannons' command can be used to tell the crew to limit themselves to a certain number of the devices. This is useful for keeping extra cannons on board as spares. Also, you may fire the cannons rather quickly, however hurrying the crew increases the chances of misfires. Note! The range rating on a cannonball indicates what range is ideal - thus a cannonball with a range rating of 'below average' will perform better in close combat than one with a range of 'above average'. Three cannoneers per cannon is quite good.