💡Guide, Tips & Advanced mechanics

Beyond the core mechanics of the game lies a range of more advanced systems designed to enrich the gameplay experience. These features add greater strategic depth, open up new ways to play, and allow players to develop their own approach to sailing, fighting and ruling the Caribbean.

In this new post, we’ll be taking a closer look at several of these advanced gameplay mechanics, which expand upon the core experience and offer even greater freedom in how you forge your career as a corsair.

Espionage

Espionage, while a core gameplay mechanic, remains crucial throughout all stages of the game.

It allows you to locate enemy ships and gather valuable information about their cargo, crew and even whether or not there’s a corsair on board. Used wisely, this information can make all the difference before engaging the enemy.

When hiring a spy, you decide which nation you want to monitor, but the vessel targeted is selected at random. You’ll sometimes need to hire more than one spy to monitor the same faction – or even spread them across different trading posts – to get the information you’re after.

Used early in a game, espionage can also help you figure out how your opponents like to play. But above all, it’s a highly effective tool for spotting and tracking down a ship carrying an enemy corsair.

Fleets

Fleets let you group several ships together so you can give quick, coordinated orders, while also making use of handy selection shortcuts.

To create a fleet, simply select the ships you want and press Ctrl + 1, Ctrl + 2, and so on (on a QWERTY keyboard). This shortcut assigns a fleet number to the selected ships.

You can then instantly select the whole fleet by pressing the relevant key number or clicking its frame in the interface. Pressing the shortcut twice will also centre the camera on those ships.

This system makes it easy to manage several specialised groups: merchant fleets, combat fleets or even versatile groups ready to deal with pirate or rival forces.

Waypoints

Waypoints let you set an entire navigation route, which the ship will then follow automatically.

This feature is especially useful for sending a scout to explore the map, spot towns, hunt down pirates or keep an eye on the other factions’ movements. It can also be used to draw your opponents’ attention away while you prepare another move elsewhere.

Formation Sailing

Formation sailing lets several nearby ships – whether they’re part of a fleet or not – stay together and automatically match one another’s speed.

This option is enabled by default, but you can switch it off at any time via the interface. It only applies to currently selected ships.

Sailing in formation has several advantages: vulnerable ships can be protected by combat vessels, transports can be properly escorted, and moving groups around becomes much easier to manage.

When you’re chasing an enemy, however, it can be a smart move to turn formation off. Your fastest ships will then no longer be held back by slower or cargo-laden vessels, making it much easier to catch up with your target.

Attack on Sight and Attack Movement

Just like formation sailing, the attack on sight option can be toggled on or off for selected ships.

Once enabled, the selected ships will automatically attack any enemy vessel within firing range (with the exception of merchants). This lets you, for example, leave a fleet to patrol the seas and take out any pirates they run into along the way.

If you’d rather keep this option off, you can use the attack movement instead: just hold down Ctrl while issuing a move order. The ship will then automatically engage any enemies it encounters along the way.

This command can also be combined with waypoints, so you can set up routes where your ships only behave aggressively on certain stretches of their journey.

Priority Targeting

Priority targeting is a sometimes-overlooked mechanic, but it’s especially useful in battles involving large numbers of ships.

Under normal circumstances, right-clicking an enemy ship orders your units to pursue and attack it. However, left-clicking allows you to select it as a priority target, while still leaving you free to move your ships wherever you like.

By combining this with the attack movement, you can focus your efforts on a single ship, such as one carrying an enemy corsair, even if it’s being protected in the middle of an entire fleet.

New Patch coming

We would like to take this opportunity to share with you that we are preparing a new patch coming in the next days to Corsairs – Battle of the Caribbean.

This patch will complete the correction brought in the "Balancing Patch".

The whole team would like to thank you for your interest and support for the game.

Until then, fair winds… and happy sailing, Corsairs! ⚓