The beginning of combat.
Ship combat is the essence of sailing in the Deadfire. Whether it's slaver scum, the Príncipi, or the Rauataians, you will have to confront enemy ships in battle on the open seas and defeat them - for experience, profit, and satisfaction.
Initiation[ | ]
Ship encounters are started on the world map, once two ships come into contact. If the ship is hostile, you can transition to combat, close to board, or flee.
Patch 5.0.0 introduced a number of changes to the ship engagement UI. Prior to the patch, this occurred in a scripted interaction panel. Now it occurs directly on the map screen, and is extended depending whether you are in pursuit or being pursued, adding the ability to intimidate the enemy.
| Action | Description | Result |
|---|---|---|
 Board
|
Board the enemy ship and engage them in deck-to-deck combat. | Skips ship combat and transitions immediately to close-quarters combat. This simulates ship combat, and will risk hull damage, sail damage and crew casualties (injuries and death). |
 Naval Combat
|
Engage in naval combat. | Begins ship combat |
| Player pursuing enemy only | ||
 Intimidate
|
See Intimidate | |
 Parley
|
Request parley and open trade. | Opens the trade window with the ship (only for merchant and slaver vessels). |
 Leave
|
Peacefully go your separate ways. | Leave the opponent be, exiting the pursuit window. |
| Enemy pursuing player only | ||
| Attempt to Flee
|
Attempt to escape. Failure will result in naval combat. | See Retreat |
 Surrender
|
The enemy allows you to leave, but for a price. | See Surrender |
There are two primary factors to consider when choosing whether to fight to run:
- The size of the enemy ship: You do not want to tangle with a dedicated warship with a dhow. Even if you can deal damage, the cost to repair your own ship and heal up your crew, plus replace resources lost can put you under fast.
- Your own status: Leaving behind a streak of sunk ships is nice, but running into another encounter with damaged hull and sails is far less pleasant. Make sure to keep the ship in good repair and stock up on cannonballs whenever you can.
Retreat[ | ]
Successfully fleeing removes the enemy from the world map for a duration. Failing to flee starts ship combat at a initial duel distance of 300.
- Flee chance
Should you choose to flee from a pursuing ship (either at engagement, or during combat) your chance to flee is calculated using:
- The difference between the combat speed of each ship, clamped to ±75 (player - opponent).
- The difference between the rank of each captain, clamped to ±5 (player - opponent).
- A multiplier based on your current distance from the opponent (only if you flee during combat, fleeing at engagement is not affected by distance), calculated using
Distance / 600(you need a distance of 600m or more to not be negatively affected by the distance).
The formula is then:
(45 + (rankDifference * 3) + (speedDifference * 0.3) * distanceMultiplier) / 100
A roll between 0 and 1 is made, and if the result is <= the chance, the attempt to flee succeeds.
The base chance to flee is 45%. For each rank above the opponent, you get a bonus +3% chance to flee. For each point in speed above the opponent, you get a bonus +0.3% chance to flee. If the difference is negative (the opponent has a higher rank/speed than yours), this effect is inverted. Note that the chance to flee is limited to a range of 5% to 95%.
If your ship is the Rauatai submarine, fleeing is guaranteed (prior to patch 5.0.0, this was not the case).
You cannot flee if your current and maximum sail health is zero.
Surrender[ | ]
To be spared by the enemy, you must pay a portion of your resources (money, food, drink, medicine, ammo, repair). This succeeds regardless of if you actually have the available resources or not. Prior to patch 5.0.0, surrendering was forced if you lacked a crew (regardless of if the opponent was hostile or not) - rejecting surrender immediately triggered a game over. Surrendering will result in:
- -15% of current money
(minimum of 500, rounded up to nearest integer). - -30% of current Food and Drink (minimum of 20, rounded up to nearest integer).
- -30% of current Ammunition, Medicine, and Repair (rounded up to nearest integer).
- Gain 1 sailor tales.
Intimidate[ | ]
Attempt to intimidate the opponent into giving up their goods. If you fail, you enter deck-to-deck combat. If you succeed, you gain a number of their resources (gold, food, and drink):
- Money , calculated with
opponentCaptainCharacterLevel * 50 * opponentCaptainRank - A calculated amount of stacks of Food and Drink , using
opponentCaptainRank * 5- Food stacks - Fresh Fruit (always, between 20 and 40).
- Drink stacks - One of the following: Water (10-15), Ale (3-7), Grog (1-3), Rum (1-3)
- Average negative reputation (-4) with the faction of the intimidated ship.
Intimidate chance
Intimidating a ship in pursuit is not based on random chance, unlike fleeing. It is determined using:
- The difference between the rank of each captain, clamped to ±5 (player - opponent).
- The difference between the number of defenders on each ship. The number of "defenders" on the player ship is essentially all available companions, plus all available crew members. The number of defenders on the enemy ship varies depending on the ship, as well as the current difficulty. The difference is clamped to between -23 and 10.
The formula is then:
5 + (rankDifference * 5) + (defenderDifference * 3)
In order to successfully intimidate, the resulting value must be greater than 0.
Hostility[ | ]
Ships belonging to a faction are generally friendly and can be sailed past without worry. However if you have a poor reputation with said faction (-3 or less) they'll become hostile when you sail past them on the world map. In addition to avoiding them altogether, you also have the option to fool certain factions' ships by flying their colors. Though keep in mind that this can have the opposite effect too, as some ships will actively hunt down ships that fly the colors of an opposing faction.
| Faction | Hostile condition |
|---|---|
 Príncipi sen Patrena
|
Hostile if your rep is -3 or worse, unless you fly Príncipi colors |
 Huana
|
Hostile if your rep is -3 or worse, unless you fly Huana colors |
 Royal Deadfire Company
|
Hostile if you fly Príncipi colors, VTC colors, or the Watcher colors if your rep is -3 or worse |
 Vailian Trading Company
|
Hostile if you fly Príncipi colors, RDC colors, or the Watcher colors if your rep is -3 or worse |
 Crookspur Slavers
|
Hostile if n_FQP_Slavers_Quest_Stage == 0 or n_Crookspur_Kua_Outcome > 0 |
 Rathun
|
Always hostile |
The following captains become hostile given a specific set of conditions. Captains belonging to one of the above factions will be hostile if either condition evaluates as true.
| Captains | Hostile condition |
|---|---|
| Well-Weathered Cormio - The Whirlwind Beggar Wifruth - The Scuttler Ruddy Rabel - The Faelandig |
Hostile if Blow the Man Down is incomplete and you don't have the Príncipi colors |
| Captain Furrante - The Gentleman of Leisure Fyrgist - The Heaving Harlot Ond - The Fortune Rafiq the Red Beard - The Siren's Song Captain Pai - Benevolent Aegis Captain Yuwe - The Stormchaser Captain Hasporo - The Chainbreaker Malnaj - Misery's Delight Widla - The Goshawk |
Always hostile |
| Captain Thaenic - Deck of Many Things | Hostile if you previously attacked him on his ship. |
Execution[ | ]
Unlike regular combat, fights between ships are resolved in a turn based system. Ships start a good distance away from each other (typically a few hundred meters) and the captains decide what action to take.
Both ships have 3 turns each round. At the start of each round, one ship wins the Advantage at random. The roll is modified by each captain's rank and the ship's combat speed. The ship with Advantage acts first for the round, has increased cannon range, and 50% bonus movement speed.
Each turn is divided into a few possible actions. These are:
| Action | Description | Condition | Effects |
|---|---|---|---|
 Full Sail |
"Full speed ahead!" The ship moves at its top combat speed in a single action while receiving a defensive bonus against incoming cannon fire. A ship may only move at its top speed once per round. |
|
|
 Half Sail |
"Half sail!" The ship moves at half its top combat speed in a single action while receiving a marginal defensive bonus against incoming cannon fire. A ship may only move at its top speed once per round. |
|
|
Ram |
"Ramming speed!" Ramming damages your ship and the enemy ship. If both ships survive a ramming, deck-to-deck combat will begin. |
|
|
Board (close) |
"Prepare to board!" Board the enemy ship and engage them in deck-to-deck combat. |
|
|
 Hold |
"Hold position!" The ship maintains its current position and receives an accuracy bonus for the following turn. |
| |
 Turn to Port |
"Turn to port!" The ship turns to the port side, shifting its relation to the enemy vessel by 90 degrees clockwise. |
|
|
 Turn to Starboard |
"Turn to starboard!" The ship turns to the starboard side, shifting its relation to the enemy vessel by 90 degrees counter-clockwise. | ||
 Jibe |
"Prepare to jibe!" Turns the ship's stern through the wind, shifting its relation to the enemy vessel by 180 degrees |
| |
Fire Cannons |
"Fire the port/starboard/forward/aft cannons!" Launch a volley of cannonballs on the enemy position. |
|
|
 Report To... |
"Report to..." Orders the crew to another position on the ship. The Report To... function may also assign particular crew members to deal with critical events or to visit the resting cabin for injury treatment. |
| |
 Brace |
"Brace for impact!" (50% to negate Injuries) Order the crew to brace for impact, giving each crewmember a chance to shrug off injuries for the next turn. |
|
|
 Dive |
""Prepare to dive!" Dive below the ocean's surface to avoid enemy fire. |
|
|
Board (distance) |
"Give no Quarter! Charge!" Board the enemy ship and engage them in deck-to-deck combat. |
|
|
 Retreat |
"Retreat!" Attempt to immediately disengage from naval combat and return to the world map. |
|
|
Surrender |
End naval combat and surrender resources to the opposing ship. |
|
|
- "Brace for impact" was removed in Patch 5.0 (The Ultimate), and was replaced with "Give no Quarter!" and "Retreat!"
Combat resources[ | ]
| Resource | Description | Notes / effects |
|---|---|---|
 Ammunition |
The current stock of cannonballs and gunpowder on the ship. Each cannon uses ammunition with every shot. | Running out of ammo will mean you'll no longer be able to use cannons. |
 Hull Health |
The integrity of the ship's hull. If the hull is damaged beyond repair, the ship will sink. | When the hull health reaches zero, the ship sinks. |
 Sail Health |
The integrity of the ship's sails. If the sails are disabled, the ship's dexterity in combat will be significantly curtailed. | When the sail health reaches zero, the ship can no longer perform maneuvers and can only sail at half speed. |
 Crew |
The motley assortment of mercenaries, miscreants, and ne'er do wells who staff the vessel. | Crewmembers assigned to crew jobs. Split into abovedeck (helmsman and deckhands) and belowdeck (all others).
The number represents the number of uninjured crewmembers. If it reaches zero, your ship is considered unstaffed. |
 Ship Defenders |
Ship defenders will help fend off opponents that attempt to engage in deck to deck combat. These defenders are not part of the active crew and cannot be injured during ship combat. | An enemy-only resource, cannot be changed and is dependent on the ship type. |
On "story time" difficulty, the hull and sail health of the enemy is reduced to 66% of the total (x0.66), and on easy difficulty it is reduced to 80% (x0.8).
Movement[ | ]
Movement and positioning is a crucial part of ship combat. Your position relative to the enemy determines the accuracy of your shots, and the likelihood that you will be hit by incoming shots. Charging full speed at an enemy might seem like a good idea, but opens you up to raking fire - where incoming shots travel across the length of your ship.
You may only move (full sail, half sail, and ramming speed) if you have at least 1 deckhand, and may only perform a turning maneuver (port, starboard, jibe) if you have a helmsman. If a ship's sails are destroyed, the ship cannot perform a turning maneuver, or move at full sail.
Combat speed 
The speed travelled during combat is determined using the following factors:
- The base combat speed of the type of ship. Generally bigger ships will move slower.
- Galleon: 40, Junk: 45, Sloop: 50, Submarine: 50, Dhow: 55, Voyager: 60, Longship: 70
- Any ship upgrades that add to the combat speed.
- If the ship has advantage (see above), this gives a +20 to combat speed.
- If the ship is doing a full sail or half sail movement. Half sail movements will half the base combat speed.
- If the amount of total deckhand ranks is less than the minimum required deckhand ranks of this ship type, the combat speed is halved (applied after upgrade bonuses but before advantage)
Hit chance and accuracy[ | ]
- Hit chance is the chance of being hit (also called defensive hit chance).
- Accuracy determines the chance of hitting the target (also called offensive hit chance).
The chance that a shot will hit is determined with: D100 + otherShipHitChance + thisShipAccuracy. If the resulting value is > 100, the shot hits.
Before combat
- Each type of ship has a different hit chance.
- Each rank in cannoneer increases accuracy by 5.
In combat
- Hit chance is affected by last action.
- Movement (Full Sail / Half Sail):
-(0.2 × distance moved)hit chance. - Maneuver (Turn / Jibe): -5 hit chance.
- Movement (Full Sail / Half Sail):
- Accuracy is affected by last action, the cannons, as well as the relative position of the ships.
- Turn: -10 Accuracy only if the Helmsman does not meet the minimum required ranks for the ship type.
- Jibe: -30 Accuracy, an additional -10 if the Helmsman is incompetent (as above)
- Hold position: +20 Accuracy.
- The target ship is in parallel with your firing line: a raking fire, -10 Accuracy, +50% Sail/Hull Damage, +100% Crew Damage.
- If the distance between the ships is out of the recommended range, accuracy is decreased proportionally but is reduced if you have Advantage in that round.
- If you have advantage, the max ideal range for each cannon increased by 20%.
- If the distance is below the minimum ideal range, accuracy is penalized by
(min - distance) * -0.2) - If the distance is above the maximum ideal range, accuracy is penalized by
(distance - max) * -0.2) - No accuracy bonus or penalty is given if if the distance is within the ideal range
- The enemy ship gets a permanent -15 accuracy if the difficulty is Story Time.
Fire![ | ]
Cannons are fired in groups, based on the side of the ship they occupy (port, starboard, aft and fore). Cannons may only be fired if they are pointing at the enemy, and are manned by a crew member. Each gun requires 1 ammunition to fire per shot, and can be loaded with 3 types of ammunition, with the exception of fire-based weapons which use a special "fire" ammunition:
- Cannonballs nearly always hit an enemy ship's hull and have a low chance of dealing sail damage or belowdeck crew damage.
- Chainshot targets an enemy ship's sail and has a low chance of dealing abovedeck crew damage.
- Grapeshot targets an enemy ship's abovedeck crew and has a low chance of dealing sail damage.
- Fire-based ammunition has a high chance of setting an enemy's ship's sails or deck alight.
Fire-based weapons (such as the Wyrmtongue and Magranite Firethrower) are their own type, and will not change even if you choose another type of shot. They have an equally split chance of dealing damage to the hull and sails, as well as to the above deck and below deck crews.
| Source | Hit chance | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | Sail | Above deck crew | Below deck crew | |
| Cannonball | 80% | 10% | 0% | 10% |
| Chainshot | 0% | 75% | 25% | 0% |
| Grapeshot | 0% | 25% | 75% | 0% |
| Fire weapons | 40% | 40% | 10% | 10% |
If hit, your attack will cause one of these damage types:
- Hull damage: Once hull health reach 0, the ship sinks.
- Sail damage: Once sail health reach 0, the ship can't turn, jibe, or sail at full speed.
- Crew damage:
- Helmsman (abovedeck): The ship can't turn or jibe.
- Deckhand (abovedeck): The ship can't sail at full speed, or can't sail at all, depending on the total rank of deckhands.
- Surgeon (belowdeck): Resting crew won't heal.
- Cannoneer (belowdeck): The cannons they're in charge of can't fire.
- Injured crew can't be assigned to resolve events.
- If you board the enemy ship and switch to deck-to-deck combat, the enemy injured crew will be treated as knocked out.
It is important to note that the cannon damage (shown when hovering over a cannon) only applies when damage is dealt to hull or sails. If damage is dealt to the abovedeck or belowdeck crew, the damage is always 1, i.e. one crew member receives an injury as a result of cannon fire. The exception to this is Haeferic's Nose, which always injures two crew members.
On each successful attack on the enemy ship's hull, there is a 1% chance to hit their powder reserves. Doing so will immediately sink the enemy ship, ending the ship duel.
Report to...[ | ]
This can be used to reassign your crew. Use this action to treat your crew injuries or deal with Ship duel events. Note that assigning ship duel events to your crew makes them unavailable, but their post is unchanged.
After combat ends, your reassignment will still be in effect. At which point:
- Any resting crew gains no experience.
- If a crew member gains a rank, they will gain rank in their last assigned post.
Crew injuries[ | ]
Your crew may be injured as a result of successful attacks from the enemy ship (specifically attacks targeting crew), and even during ship-based scripted interactions outside of combat. Injured crew cannot take any action. For example, if your cannoneer is injured, you won't be able to fire the cannon they're in charge of.
During combat, use the "Report to..." action to move them to resting/reserve area. You'll need a surgeon to treat your crew's injuries. The treatment during combat is only emergency treatment so that they can return to work.
Crew injuries persist after combat and take several days to heal depending on the type of injury. Injured crew will yield a 
-2 Morale loss upon injury, and for every consecutive day they remain working in an injured state. You can heal an injured crew member by moving them to a reserve slot, which will use 
5 Medicine per day. With a more proficient surgeon, the amount of days required to heal crew is reduced.
| Crew injury | Days to heal | |
|---|---|---|
|
Broken Bone | 12-13 |
|
Charred Skin | 9-10 |
|
Cracked Bone | 5-7 |
|
Deep Laceration | 8-9 |
|
Puncture Wound | 6-8 |
|
Torn Muscle | 11-12 |
Ship duel events[ | ]
During ship combat, a number of events can occur as a result of being critically hit by an opposing ships cannon fire. These events often cause immediate (or per turn) sail damage, hull damage, crew damage or resource loss, and can be resolved over a certain amount of turns otherwise your ship will continue to be negatively affected.
Resolving an event simply means transferring available crew away from their stations to the event in order to address the issue. This can be done with the "Report to..." action. The more crew members that are assigned to the event, the faster it will be resolved - though a maximum of 4 crewmembers can be assigned to deal with the event at one time. For each crewmember assigned to the event, amount of progress per turn made towards resolving the event is increased by one. For example for a Deck Fire (which takes 12 turns to resolve) takes one crewmember 12 turns (1 + 1 + 1... and 12 / 1), two crew 6 turns (2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 and 12 / 2), and three crew 4 turns (3 + 3 + 3 + 3 and 12 / 3).
With a skilled boatswain on board, the progress per turn is multiplied. For example, with a novice boatswain and two crew members assigned to the event (2 total, not including the boatswain), the progress per turn is 2 * 1.2, taking 5 turns using the same example (12 / (2 * 1.2)). See Ship crew - Job rank bonuses for an overview of job bonuses. The boatswain does not need to be assigned to the event for this bonus to apply.
Multiple events can be applied to the ship to a maximum of 4 active events at once, and with no duplicate events. Some events will supersede others.
Every cannon hit has a chance of being a critical hit, and therefore triggering an event. The crit chance is solely determined by the rank of the Cannoneer manned to the cannon being fired. See Ship crew - Job rank bonuses for more info.
The events Damaged Hull and Damaged Sails do not occur as a result of critical hits, and are instead applied when the hull health and sail health (respectively) goes below 50%. In addition, some events only occur as a result of certain damage types (currently only hull or sails). Fire-based cannons (Magranite Firethrower and Rathun Fireshot), excluding the Wyrmtongue can only trigger Deck Fire and Sail Fire events, while all other cannons can trigger all events (with the exception of the "Damaged" events).
Enemy ships do not simulate duel events (only the player ship has to deal with them), though they are affected by the damage caused by events, and changes in stats.
| Name | Message | Location | Damage type | Supercedes | Turns to resolve | Effects |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Damaged Hull |
Abovedeck | - | 8 |
| ||
 Damaged Sails |
Abovedeck | - | 8 |
| ||
 Deck Fire |
A fire started on the deck! | Abovedeck | Hull | Repair Hull | 12 |
|
 Sail Fire |
The sails were set on fire! | Abovedeck | Sails | Repair Sails | 12 |
|
 Flooding |
The hold began to flood! | Belowdecks | Hull | 12 |
| |
 Torn Sails |
The sails were severely torn! | Abovedeck | Sails | 12 |
| |
 Sailor Overboard |
A crewmember has fallen overboard! | Abovedeck | Hull | 8 |
| |
 Unsecured Cargo |
Some cargo was knocked loose! | Belowdeck | Hull | 12 |
|
Conclusion[ | ]
Combat can come to a conclusion in a few different ways:
- Retreat: Only available before initiating combat. If the ship is non-hostile, this will not result in negative effects or morale loss.
- Surrender: Can be chosen at any time during combat, though you will have to pay the price. The enemy ship will demand a portion of your supplies to let you free.
- Fled: Occurs if either ship travels more than 600 meters from the other. Enemy ships are only likely to flee if they are inferior, or are merchant ships. If the Defiant flees, your crew loses 10 Morale if the enemy captain is a lower rank than you, or 5 if they're an equal or higher rank.
- Defeat: A ship is defeated if its hull health reaches zero and it sinks, or its captain and crew is killed in deck-to-deck combat.
- If The Defiant is defeated, you and your party are dead and you'll be forced to reload a save (an autosave is created from when you boarded). Note that on "Story Time" difficulty, the player ship cannot be sunk in ship combat.
- If the enemy ship is defeated, you are victorious. This nets you morale, crew experience, crew ranks, and a random set of loot - usually an assortment of food, drink, coin, and ship upgrades. If they were defeated in deck-to-deck combat, the loot from the defeated crew members (including clothing, armor and weapons) will also be among the recovered loot. You gain +10 Morale if the enemy captain was a lower rank, and +15 if they were a higher rank.
Ship loot[ | ]
The loot gained differs between sinking the ship from range, and boarding the ship to engage in deck-to-deck combat. Typically there is some crossover, where the same items will appear in both sets, although boarding the ship almost always grants more and better loot by design. If plunder is your game, boarding ships is your best option to maximize the spoils.
In both cases, most of the ship upgrades actually equipped by the enemy vessel aren't directly included in the loot, only if the designers have chosen to do so. A notable exception are flags, which will always appear in the loot if an enemy ship is boarded, but only have a 5% chance to appear if the ship is sink.
Instead of stashing the coin gained at the end of combat, you can also choose to share it with the crew for a morale bonus, depending on the amount gained (1 morale for every 
50). Move the coin from the "loot recovered" area to your stash to share only a portion of the coin.
Strategies[ | ]
Discounts[ | ]
- The Shipwright's Plight gives you 10% discount at the port shop in Neketaka.
- Splintered Reef has a permanent 10% discount. You can use the port shop without having to fight or complete the associated quests.
- Every point of positive reputation with a faction gives you a -5% discount at any faction store:
- Max reputation with the Vailian Trading Company will give you a 15% discount at the port shop in Port Maje.
- Max reputation with the Príncipi sen Patrena will give you a 15% discount at the port shop in Dunnage.
- Max reputation with the Royal Deadfire Company will give you a 15% discount at the port shop in Sayuka and Uto's Gunsmithy.
Quest rewards[ | ]
At the beginning, you won't have much money, so you'll have to deck out your ship with rewards from quests:
- Completing The Shipwright's Plight gives you the option to buy 4 Iron Thunderers at a significant discount of 1,000 all up (500 if you have Rational 2 disposition).
- A Sinking Feeling and A Bigger Fish gives you Bardatto Hull and Valera Sails respectively. But their concurrent quest Family Pride should also be dealt with immediately.
Builds[ | ]
Beginner build[ | ]
- Buy a Vailian Hullbreaker in Port Maje before and after the digsite for 1,900 each.
- Get Haeferic's Nose for free by visiting Neketaka (only if you bound the souls during The White Forge in The White March - Part I).
- Buy a Royal Bronzer from Uto's Gunsmithy in the Brass Citadel or from Sayuka for 1,800.
- With these four guns you can fire-jibe-hold repeatedly and sink nearly every ship using the starting sloop. It is important that you hold position before firing as this nets you +20 accuracy, which is very big in the beginning.
Flamethrower build[ | ]
This build focuses on minimizing cost while allowing you to complete ship bounties.
It is possible to complete Bounty - Rock-Stomper Rodul with minimum build but you'll want to train your cannoneers by defeating the easier targets first.
Note that this build specializes in taking down bigger ship: Dhow, Galleon, Junk, especially Dhow. It has harder times taking down Voyager and even if you win, the booty is not so good. You'll want to hunt down Dhow for some better booty. The water around Crookspur has a lot of aggressive slaver ships.
- Build
- Ship: Default (Dyrwoodan Sloop).
- Sails: Valera Sails.
- Hull: Bardatto Hull, preferably The Red Dream.
- Port cannons: 2 × Iron Thunderer, preferably Wyrmtongue.
- Starboard cannons: 2 × Magranite Firethrower.
The minimum cost for this build is 6,400:
- Complete The Shipwright's Plight.
- Complete A Sinking Feeling.
- Complete A Bigger Fish.
- Buy 2 × Magranite Firethrower.
Extra costs:
- Buying The Red Dream costs extra 16,000 without discount.
- Buying 2 × Wyrmtongue costs extra 5,400 with discount.
- Combat
- Attack from a distance with port cannons (Iron Thunderer or Wyrmtongue).
- Longship (Rathun) generally has high combat speed and tends to charge right at you. Stop your ship outside the range of your cannons and wait for it to come then fire, aiming at their sails first.
- Voyager, on the other hand, may try to flee when they're at disadvantage. Similarly aim for their sails first, or don't let them get further than 400m.
Versus other ship types.
- Approach the enemy ship and maintain a distance of 75m-150m, optimally 100m. Then bombard it with starboard cannons (Magranite Firethrower).
- The recommended range for Magranite Firethrower is 0m-75m, but if you approach too close, the enemy will try to ram you and bring it to deck-to-deck combat. Of course, if you're sure they won't do that, you should approach as close as you can.
- If you manage to destroy their sail, they'll be incapable of turning, so approach as close to 0m as you can.
- If the enemy turns the bow of their ship to you, be careful and take some distance.
- If the enemy turns the stern of their ship to you, try to take out their sails. If you succeed, your victory is guaranteed (as you as you don't run out of cannonballs).
Versus Fyrgist's ship - The Heaving Harlot. This Junk's decked out with powerful cannons and manned by high level crew. It can be a challenging combat. You'll want your crew at maximum possible rank and some luck.
- The enemy's portside has 3 × Vailian hullbreaker and 2 × Double bronzer. If they turn these cannons at you, run as far as you can. Getting hit by these can sink your puny sloop in one shot.
- The enemy's starboard has 3 × Imperial long gun, 2 × Wyrmtongue. If they turn these cannons at you, approach and duke it out with them. The Imperial long guns have a high chance of missing, but the Wyrmtongues can be a problem. Your Magranite Firethrowers still have the advantage in damage output so you can win with some luck.
- First, let's assume the enemy will use starboard cannons, your chance of winning is slim otherwise.
- Approach the ship, aiming for 75m distance.
- Start the combat by normally aiming at the hull. After a few rounds, if it looks like you can quickly take out their sails, switch your target to the sails, destroy it, then approach as close you can. You'll want to take out their sails or sink them while they're still using starboard cannons.
- You'll probably lose the first few times so remember to save before trying.
- You'll get Kapana Taga if you win.