Gunnery

You don't aim. You steer. Where you put the hull decides what the guns hit; the crew lays and fires them.

Orders

Each side of guns, port and starboard, has three orders. J steps the port guns through them and L the starboard guns; clicking a side on the station bar does the same.

• Stand Down: the side is unmanned and its crew goes to the sails. Guns that are already loaded stay loaded.
• Load: the side is manned, and the crew loads and holds.
• Fire at Will: the side is manned, and each loaded gun fires as it bears.

Manning a side that was stood down is slower, because that is clearing for action: from a few seconds in a cutter to most of twenty in a first-rate. Going between Load and Fire at Will is quick. Guns start a battle empty, so clear for action early.

Crews

The station bar shows the men at each station, the port guns, the sail and the starboard guns, against the men each needs. Below full sail, gun crews are filled first, from men off station and then from the sails, but the sails always keep half a topsails crew, so a sail order starts at once. Full sail is different: it takes its whole crew first, and the guns get what's left. Under full sail a ship can serve one broadside, not both, so shorten sail to fight both sides. With the sails furled, every man but those few goes to the guns.

A side reloads whether it is firing or holding: a frigate's guns in about a minute, a cutter's quicker and a first-rate's slower. It reloads more slowly with fewer men than it needs. While a side loads, a bar under it shows how far along its guns are.

Firing

Under Fire at Will each loaded gun is laid and fired once an enemy is in its arc and in range. Each gun captain takes his own time to lay his gun, up to about three seconds. So a broadside never goes off in unison: it ripples down the side as the target comes into each gun's arc, and even a full broadside rolls out over a few seconds. To fire the whole broadside together, hold it at Load until the enemy is abeam, then go to Fire at Will. Switching back to Load in the middle of a ripple holds the guns that haven't fired yet.

A gun fires at the nearest enemy that hasn't struck, and holds while a friendly ship is in the way. It never fires at a ship hidden behind the island, and a ball that strikes the island, or its trees, ends there and counts as a miss. Enemy captains can't see past the island either.

Long guns reach much further than carronades. A carronade throws a heavy ball at close range and not far beyond it, which is why a brig, armed almost entirely with carronades, wants to close.

Reaching is not hitting. The crew judges the range by eye, and the further off the target, the worse the guess: close in, nearly every ball strikes the hull; at long range most fall short or fly over into the rig. Masts and sails can be worn down from a distance, but to hurt the crew, close.

Ammunition

Each side has its own ammunition order: ball, chain or double. U steps the port guns through them and O the starboard guns; the switch in the corner of each side on the station bar does the same, and turns gold for anything but ball.

• Ball: round shot, at the hull. It reaches furthest.
• Chain: two half-balls on a chain, laid on the enemy's rigging. It tears far more sail than ball and does little to the men, but it reaches only about half as far and scatters wider. Use it to cripple a ship you mean to catch, or one you mean to escape.
• Double: two balls on a reduced charge. Close in, a hull hit kills and wounds far more than ball; further out the balls lose the speed to go through. It reaches about three quarters as far as ball, and takes longer to load.

Enemy captains switch shot too. Every one loads double close in; further out some fire chain at your rig and others ball at your men, so watch your sails as well as your crew.

A gun loads whatever is ordered when it is rammed home. Changing the order draws the shot from guns loaded with something else, and they load again with the new one, so change before you need it, not as the enemy comes abeam. A gun loaded with shorter-ranged shot holds fire until the enemy is within that shot's reach.

Hits

A ball that strikes the hull costs men, not planks: there's no hull damage and no sinking. A ball that goes through kills and wounds along its path inside the ship, so firing down a ship's length from astern, a rake, does the most harm by far. A heavier ball does more: harm goes with its weight, so a 32-pounder does nearly twice an 18-pounder's, and a 4-pounder under a quarter. The bow is a much smaller target: from ahead, only a ball that strikes near the stem goes through, and the bow's heavy timbers turn the rest. A ball that glances off does little. A ball through the rigging holes the sails and takes a little of the ship's speed, for good. Nothing is repaired during a battle.

Every rig hit also wears a mast, and enough of them bring it down. Chain wears masts far faster than ball: a First Rate's chain can bring down a frigate's first mast within a couple of minutes and all three in about five. Masts are not equally strong, so they fall one at a time, and a fallen mast takes its sails with it. That costs speed, and it unbalances her: with the foremast gone she turns up into the wind, and with the mizzen gone she falls off, so you need more rudder to hold a course. A cutter has only one mast; when it goes, she has no sail left. The Rig row on the compass panel shows how much drive your sails still give, and how many masts are down.

The tally at the top of the screen counts your own ship's shot: misses, hull hits and rig hits.