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6.0 Boarding |
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Whenever ships sail into each other boarding will occur. This entails the use of hand-to-hand combat in an attempt to capture the enemy ship.6.1 EXPLANATION OF BOARDING
GRAPPLING. Boarding continues as long as at least one grappling line keeps the two ships together (see explanation of boarding screen). Shortly after all 6 grappling lines have been cut and no longer show on the screen, the game will transfer back to the sailing screen with one hour of time elapsed, or if playing the Boarding Only game, the game will end in a draw. One grapple will be cut for every 12 rounds of swordfighting in which no one drops dead (while at least one of the swordfighters is behind his own grating). One grapple will also be cut whenever a swordfighter behind his own grating causes the other swordfighter to drop dead (see explanation of boarding screen). For example, if the ship 1 swordfighter is to the left of the grating on ship 1 when the ship 2 swordfighter drops dead, then one of the grapples will be cut. Whenever a swordfighter fighting offensively causes the other swordflghter to drop dead, a grapple will be replaced (if at least one has been cut).OFFENSIVE VS DEFENSIVE. Each player is either on the offensive or defensive. If you are engaged in offensive boarding then you are trying to get as many men on the enemy's deck as possible to take over his ship. In addition to this you are trying to tie the ships together with grappling lines, so the enemy can't escape. If you are fighting defensively you have commanded your men to repel boarders and cut the grappling lines holding the ships together. Whether or not you are fighting defensively or offensively is determined by where your swordfighter is. Refer to section 4.0, Boarding Screen, for a complete explanation; especially explanations of letters 'D', 'E', 'F', 'C', and 'H'.
DROPPING DEAD. The swordfighter dropping dead will occur whenever a total of ten crew members are killed. Each time a sniper hits, ten enemy crew are killed and a figure will drop dead. Whenever accumulated casualties due to swordfighting amount to ten, a swordfighter will drop dead.
SWORDFIGHTING ROUNDS. Swordfighting is played in rounds. A round consists of a swordfighting movement of a thrust, counter-thrust or hack The thrust, if it kills, kills 4 men, the counterthrust 2 men, and the hack 6 men, if boarding casualties is set to 1 times standard (see section 2.5, Variables Page 3). After 15 rounds of swordfighting, each sniper is allowed to fire.
CASUALTY RATES. The counter-thrust beats the thrust and kills 2 men. The thrust beats the hack and kills 4 men. The hack beats the counter-thrust and kills 6 men. The counter-thrust kills 0 men against the counter-thrust. The thrust kills 4 men against the thrust. The hack kills 6 men against the hack The number of men killed by these movements is altered if your swordfighter is advancing or retreating during the round. An advancing swordfighter (ship 1 swordfighter moving right or ship 2 swordfighter moving left) loses twice as many men if he is killed. A retreating swordfighter (ship 1 swordfighter moving left or ship 2 swordfighter moving right) kills only half as many men, and loses only half as many men if he is killed.
EXAMPLES. These examples are given so you will understand how casualties are calculated. You do not have to calculate these results yourself. The computer does all of that for you and will also display the new crew total at the end of each round. In fact, it is easy to tell who wOn a particular round because you will see the loser's crew total decrease. All these examples assume that the swordfighters are adjacent after any movement.
Example 1: Player 1 chooses to hack and stands still. Player 2 chooses to counterthrust and advances.
Results: Player 2 will lose 12 men because Player 2 will suffer 2 times the normal losses in a round in which he advances.
6 (normal losses) X 2 = 12
Example 2: Player 1 chooses to thrust and advances. Player 2 chooses to counter-thrust and retreats.
Results: Player 1 will lose 2 men. The normal amount of losses (2 men) is first multiplied by 2 because you lose twice as many men when you advance and lose a round, but in addition to this Player 2 retreated so the number of losses is divided by 2 because you only kill 1/2 as many men in a round in which you retreat.
2 (normal losses) X 2 X 1/2 2
Example 3: Player 1 chooses to hack and stands still. Player 2 chooses to hack and stands still.
Results: Each player will lose 6 men.
Example 4: Player 1 chooses to hack and advances. Player 2 chooses to hack and stands still.
Results: Player 1 loses 12 men (double losses due to advancing). Player 2 loses 6 men.
BOARDING STRATEGY. To win the game through boarding you must play an aggressive game. Your swordfighter must advance to engage the other swordfighter. If you play a defensive game, you will lose less men during boarding, and you will end the boarding (disengage) earlier.
6.2 BOARDING COMMANDS
The boarding phase always uses the keyboard for inputting commands. It is necessary to time when you hit the key on this screen to make sure the command 'takes'. Sniper commands (to make the sniper shoot at other snipers, enemy on other deck, or enemy on own deck) must be given right before that sniper shoots. Swordfighter attack movements (counter-thrust, thrust, and hack) must be given right before the swordfighter attacks.SWORDFIGHTER MOVE LEFT
Move the ship 1 swordfighter to the right to make him more offensive, or move the ship 2 swordfighter to the right to make him more defensive. The keys to hit to cause this action are:APPLE |
IIe | ATARI | |
| SHIP 1 (Violet/dark) | F | F | F |
| SHIP 2 (Green/light) | -> | ' | -> |
SWORDFIGHTER MOVE LEFT
Move the ship 1 swordfighter to the left to make him more defensive, or move the ship 2 swordfighter to the left to make him more offensive. The keys to use are:APPLE |
IIe | ATARI | |
| SHIP 1 (Violet/dark) | D | D | D |
| SHIP 2 (Green/light) | <- | ; | <- |
SWORDFIGHTER COUNTER-THRUST
The counter-thrust is a short thrust and is the most defensive of the sword actions. It results in the least number of enemy crew being killed. The counter-thrust beats the thrust and kills 2 men. If both players choose to counter-thrust, then they will kill 0 men. Keys to use are:APPLE |
IIe | ATARI | |
| SHIP 1 (Violet/dark) | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| SHIP 2 (Green/light) | 0 | 0 | 8 |
SWORDFIGHTER THRUST
This sword movement is not as defensive as the counter-thrust and not as offensive as the hack It results in more enemy crew being killed than the counter-thrust when the movement kills the enemy. The thrust beats the hack and kills 4 men. If both players choose to thrust, then they will each lose 4 men. The correct keys are:APPLE |
IIe | ATARI | |
| SHIP 1 (Violet/dark) | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| SHIP 2 (Green/light) | : | - | 9 |
SWORDFIGHTER HACK
This is the most offensive of the three sword movements. If successful, it will kill the most enemy crew. The hack beats the counter-thrust and kills 6 men. If both players choose to hack, then they will each kill 6 men. To execute this command, use keys:APPLE |
IIe | ATARI | |
| SHIP 1 (Violet/dark) | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| SHIP 2 (Green/light) | - | = | 0 |
SNIPER AIM AND FIRE AT OTHER SNIPERS
Use this command to make the sniper aim at the other ship's snipers. For each sniper, you must hit the appropriate key right before the sniper fires. Then you will see the sniper's musket aim at the other snipers. Due to the difficulty of hitting enemy snipers, the percentage chance to hit an enemy sniper is 25% of the normal hit percentage. The keys to use are:APPLE |
IIe | ATARI | |
| SHIP 1 (Violet/dark) | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| SHIP 2 (Green/light) | 0 | 0 | 8 |
SNIPER AIM AND FIRE AT ENEMY ON OTHER DECK
This command will make the sniper fire at the enemy crew on the enemy's ship. The keys to use are:APPLE |
IIe | ATARI | |
| SHIP 1 (Violet/dark) | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| SHIP 2 (Green/light) | : | - | 9 |
SNIPER AIM AND FIRE AT ENEMY ON OWN DECK
We recommend that you use this command only when there is a significant number of enemy crew on your own deck, as there is always a chance that your sniper will miss and hit a man on his own side. This chance increases as the number of enemy on the ship decreases. If the sniper hits while aimed at his own deck, he will kill a man in one of the positions 1 through 10 (see boarding picture) whether he is yours or an enemy's crew member. It is much easier to pick out a clear enemy target on the enemys deck or rigging (other snipers) than on your own deck where the enemy is engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The keys to use for this command are:APPLE |
IIe | ATARI | |
| SHIP 1 (Violet/dark) | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| SHIP 2 (Green/light) | - | = | 0 |
6.3 SURRENDER
A ship will surrender whenever its total crew remaining is reduced below one fourth of its original crew size as long as the other crew is greater than a fourth of its original size, or whenever 11 enemy crew members have boarded the ship. For example, if both crews start with 480 men, the first ship will lose if its crew drops below 120. If both crews drop below 120 men, the game is a draw.|
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7.0 Ending the Game and
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The game ends if either ship wins or loses, or at 6 P.M., whichever comes first. If both ships lose,
or if the time reaches 6 P.M. before one ship can win, the game is a draw. You will win if you sink the enemy ship. You will also win if your ship can accumulate enough points to force the enemy ship to surrender; this will happen if your score less the score of your opponent is greater than 10 times the original number of guns on the enemy ship's broadside. Under these conditions it is assumed that the enemy's morale has broken and he has struck his colors. You will lose if your crew size goes below a fourth of its original size. If the crews of both ships go below a fourth of their original size at the same instant, the game will be a draw. You will also lose if 11 enemy crew members manage to board your ship during boarding and you have no standing friendly crew members occupying any of the first ten boarding positions. If both ships sink. the game will be a draw. Points are awarded for damaging enemy ships (see sections 7.1 to 7.4). If a ship surrenders during boarding (see section 6.3), the victorious player will receive points as if he had killed the entire surrendering crew.7.1 POINTS FOR DESTROYING SAILS AND MASTS
There are 500 points possible for knocking out all of your opponent's sails. If you knock out one-half of your opponent's sails, you will have earned 250 points for sail damage; if threequarters, you will have earned 375 points. Cumulative bonuses awarded for knocking out masts are 5 points for each mast top section, 5 points for each mast middle section, and 10 points for each mast bottom section. Thus if you knock out one of your opponent's masts with one or more broadsides, you will have earned 20 points for mast damage. Players will find that it is easier to destroy top mast sections, as well as the middle section of the rear mast.7.2 POINTS FOR DESTROYING HULL
You will tam two points for each hull point that your opponent loses. In addition, non-cumulative bonuses are awarded if 30 or more hull points are destroyed. Bonus points for hull points are as follows:HULL POINTS DESTROYED | POINTS AWARDED | |
| 30-59 | 30 | |
| 60-89 | 100 | |
| 90-119 | 200 | |
| 120-149 | 400 | |
| 150-179 | 800 | |
| 180+ | 1600 |
For example, if you have destroyed 66 enemy hull points, you will earn 132 regular points, plus 100 bonus points, fora total of 232 points for hull damage. If your opponent loses all of his hull points, he will sink and you will win.
7.3 POINTS FOR KILLING CREW
For each enemy crew member killed, you will accumulate one-half of a victory point. In addition, non-cumulative bonuses are awarded as follows:NUMBER OF CREW KILLED | POINTS AWARDED | |
| 100-199 | 50 | |
| 200-299 | 125 | |
| 300-399 | 225 | |
| 400-499 | 350 | |
| 500-599 | 500 | |
| 600-699 | 700 | |
| 700-799 | 925 | |
| 800-899 | 1175 | |
| 900-999 | 1450 | |
| 1000+ | 1850 |
For example, if your opponent started with 1,000 men and now has only 650, you have earned 175 regular points plus 225 bonus points, for a total of 400 points due to enemy crew losses.
7.4 POINTS FOR DESTROYING GUNS
You will earn 4 points for each of your opponent's guns that you destroy. In addition, cumulative bonuses are available if a large number of guns on an enemy broadside are destroyed, as follows:NUMBER OF GUNS DESTROYED | NUMBER OF | |
| 10-19 | 100 | |
| 20-29 | 200 | |
| 30-39 | 300 | |
| 40-49 | 425 | |
| 50-59 | 675 | |
| 60-69 | 925 | |
| 70-79 | 1175 | |
| 80-89 | 1425 |
For example, if you destroy 21 of your opponent's guns on his port broadside, you will gain 84 regular points plus 200 bonus points, for a total of 284 gun damage points gained.
7.5 BONUS POINTS FOR THE VICTOR
The victorious player will receive a bonus equal to: 720 - number of minutes elapsed. Example: Player 1 sinks Player 2 at 8:30:00 and thus receives a bonus of 570 (720-150) points.7.6 FINAL VICTORY POINT DETERMINATION
In the tactical game (and in the arcade game against a human opponent) the final number of points awarded to the victorious player is equal to:- POINTS OF LOSER
In the solitaire arcade game the final number of points awarded to the victorious player is equal to the points accumulated by the victorious ship (no time bonus or subtraction of loser's points). Furthermore, the points scored against multiple ships will be added together at the end (i.e., if you manage to sink three ships, you will be given the points you received for the damage done to all three ships).
In the "boarding only" game, the final number of points awarded is calculated in the same manner as in the tactical game; however, no time bonus is awarded:
- POINTS OF LOSER
html-ized by Dan Vernon -- May 2002