Sea Battles

Arrr! The foremost way of looting and plundering is done by some old-fashioned sea battles.

Upon investigating a ship, the first option to 'Close for battle' takes you to the sea battle screen.

Battling at sea becomes second nature after just a few minutes into your first skirmish.

Pressing up and down raises or lowers sails from battle to full. Lowering to battle sails makes inflicting damage to the sails less likely. Rising to full sails speeds up your ship.

To fire off cannons, press A.

Tip: Aligning enemy ships with cannons takes precision and timing. The closer you are to the other ship, the bester the chance of an exact impact.

Tip: Keep an eye on the gray information bar to see how badly damaged the enemy and you are currently.

Tip: If things get too heated for you, sail as far away from the enemy ship as possible. This either let's you retreat or take up enough time until sunset to call off the battle.

There are a couple of ways that you can come out victorious...

After enough hits to a ship, the enemy may raise a white flag in defeat. This is one of the two events that allow for plundering.

If the enemy ship just doesn't know when to give up, you may just destroy it completely. When this happens there shan't be any looting!

Looting and pillaging is the best prize of sea battles. Sometimes to prevent a ship from escaping or exploding, the best way is to ram your vessel into theirs.

This will let you do battle with the enemy captain in a typical fencing match. Defeat him and you get the ship and riches with little to no trouble!

The spoils of battle...

Ahh! After defeating the enemy, it's time to enjoy the splendors of their cargo and an additional ship.

The plunder window is similar to that of the merchant's screen in towns. You'll automatically sweep up all of the gold, but other items like cannons can be picked up all the ton-full.

Remember that more ships mean more crew. If you don't have enough help, or captured crew from other ships become runaways, you'll be forced to leave behind a vessel. 'Tis a real shame.

The more loot and gold you get, the more the crew wants their fair share of it! Ignore the warning signs and you may just have a mutiny on your hands.

Defeat the mutineer in a fencing match to hush up the others and show whose boss pirate.