Game Mechanics
Ship Movement
Speed — Ships maintain a constant speed until actively decelerated or accelerated by the player. The maximum speed of the ship can be increased if wind catches a ship's sails: the ship's speed is increased by X% for the sail closest to the bow and X% for the sail closest to the stern.
Turning — Ships also turn at the same rate until the wheel is actively moved by the player.
Drifting — When a player presses and holds the left shift key on desktop or the drift button on mobile, the ship's direction of travel will be locked to the direction the bow of the ship was facing when the drift was initiated. This feature allows a ship to turn without changing its direction of travel. A ship suffers a movement speed penalty of 20% while the drift key is pressed, however, a drift can be used to catch wind in the sails of the ship while moving in a direction in which this would not be possible, potentially limiting the penalty. In addition, when a drift is canceled, the ship will move at its current speed in the direction of the bow when the drift is canceled, allowing for sharp changes in direction.
Projectiles
There are four different types of cannons—damage of these cannons is tuned on a regular basis. All cannons need to be crewed by a player to be used, except the Captain's cannon, which can be fired by the Captain while steering the ship.
Captain's cannon — maximum 1 shot per second - 1 projectile out of each side of the ship
Regular Cannon — maximum 1 shot every 1.2 seconds, and range only limited by gravity
Gatling Gun — maximum 1 shot per second, and a range equivalent to the cannon
Scatter Gun — maximum 1 shot per 1.2 seconds, with a shorter range. 5 projectiles are shot in a spread fashion
Projectiles maintain the speed and direction of the ship when they are fired.
Ship mechanics
A ship is composed of the following damageable components:
Shield — Ships begin with a shield, which absorbs damage before the hull and can be repaired.
Hull — Once a ship's shield has been depleted, the hull takes damage. Hull damage cannot be repaired. When the hull is depleted, the ship sinks.
Sails — Sails have hit points. When the sail's hit points reach zero, they start to smoke, and the ship loses 50% of its speed and turning ability. They can be repaired.
Cannons — Deck cannons have hit points. When a deck cannon's hit points reach zero, it will start to smoke and be on fire. They can be repaired.
Collisions — Ramming into another ship will cause damage to both ships.
When a sail or deck cannon is hit, the damage is also applied to the shield or hull.
