Ship combat can only take place if one of the ships involved is a pirate ship. Becoming a pirate ship is an irreversible action. A pirate ship can be identified by its battle flag visible on survey. To get a better view when you spot a sail on the horizon head to the crow's nest and survey your surroundings.

Two points abaft the Starboard Beam, at a range of 43.91 you see the The Crystal Spike. She's heading North by Northeast, and is Anchored. The Crystal Spike is undamaged.Her battle flag is flying.

To raise the battle flag, ship battle raise remember this cannot be undone.

A pirate ship can attack ANY other ship in PK water.

ANY ship can attack a ship with a raised flag in PK water.

A ship with no battle flag cannot attack a ship with no battle flag raised.

If you have decided to become a pirate, you will no longer be able to call a seadragon!

Firing on your enemy is much like firing on a serpent. Your enemy, in this case will do their best to avoid being hit. They will be actively repairing your damage and, most importantly, will be trying to sink you first!

The way you handle an enemy ship is subjective. Everyone will have their own method. Some might try to spread the damage around, some might destroy the rigging so you can't run away and others might go straight for your hull trying to flood your ship enough to sink it. Others will use a combination of all three, trying to keep your deckhands busy, and you focused on repairs. In the end, ship combat will come down to experience and figuring out what works best.

A refresher on firing commands and target locations

• Hull - targets the hull
• Rigging - targets the sails
• Crew - targets the guns
• Only targeting the ship will hit randomly

Shout ship fire lb <ship name> <location>
E.g shout fire lb jokar crew

Once you have entered ship combat, there are a few things you can do to give yourself an advantage.

When your opponent fires at your ship, try not to be where you were when they shot at you. Turn your ship and try to get a wind advantage and move. At the very least try not to get hit on the broadside. It's always better to face towards or away from your opponent when their volley reaches you if you can manage this.

You have the option of lowering your sails to battle, setting deckhands to the sails and type ship lower battle.Battle sails allow you to make faster turns to avoid incoming shots, but you will move slower.

Cast harm's on your opponent. If successful, they will find it harder to turn away from your shots and be an easier target for your guns.

You can also cast devil's bargain but take into account, you will be easier to hit, but not as easy as a ship with harm's cast on it. The golden lining is you will hit your opponent more consistently.

You can take a few approaches on how to handle your opponent. You can try to take out their sails so they can't chase you, or you can try to catch them. You can try to destroy their guns so they cannot fire on you. You can try to damage their hull so they take on water and sink.

All scenarios will require workers being moved to repair and possibly douse and pump. A flooding ship will only sink when it has taken on around 255 tonnes of water.

Pirates will attempt to come alongside you and grapple your ship. If successful, you will be notified, and must now be ready for PVP combat. A pirate cannot be planked; the only way to get rid of them is to PK them and ungrapple their ship. You will also be able to board their ship.

The goal of a pirate will be to sink you or to steal your ship. To capture a ship, you must be in the crows nest and use the command "ship capture" twice. The first time to remove the owning clans flag when their clan flag is down, you must now raise your own by using the "ship capture" command a second time.

When capture is initiated, everyone on board will be notified with a large yellow zone echo. It takes time for the flags to be lowered and raised, so there is plenty of time to prevent this if there are players still alive on the ship.

Remember ships are GNPK so you will be a corpse for a time before heading to Davy Jones's locker.

The process can be prevented by forcing the person performing the action to move or by interrupting them. Prepare to be attacked if you are performing these actions.

NOTE: In order to prevent abuse, a ship's approved player list will be cleared when a capture is initiated. The captain can then plank you to instantly remove you from the ship. "Ship deny <player name>"