This is a basic introduction and theory for captaining during matches. There are three sections:
Captain Overview:
-What a captain is, what they do, and how to do it
Pre-Game:
-Setting up the ship, organizing your crew, and preparing for the match in the lobby.
Playing the Match:
-What captain's should be doing in the match.
Captain Overview
Captains or Commanders are those members in a crew who are in the topmost slot on a ship. Being in this position gives that player control over what ship and loadout will be used, being able to use the Captain chat, and being able to set the AI priorities. Generally this player will be playing as the pilot, giving them a better position to monitor the field and their crew.
The main responsibility as a captain is to keep your crew organized and focused. Captain's are not just simple pilots, they are the strategists and the first line of communication. This guide will not focus on piloting techniques.
Basic Controls:
X : Crew voice chat, used to talk with your ship. (All chat in the lobby)
C : Captain voice chat, used to talk with your ally captain(s). (Team chat in the lobby)
L : Crew text chat
K : Team text chat
J : Match text chat
F1 : AI, Default Priority (Engineers will repair if there's damage, Gunners will stick to the guns)
F2 : AI, All Attack (Engineers and Gunners will try to use the guns)
F3 : AI, All Repair (Engineers and Gunners will ignore the guns and focus on repairing)
V : Signal Menu (Use w, a, s, d, r, f to navigate to the desired signal)
B : Captain Spot (Special mark on an enemy ship, only one can be marked by the captain at a time)
M : Map, holding M will open the map
Basic Strategy:
The first step is communication. Generally you want to use voice chat when possible to communicate with your crew and ally captains to ensure that things are organized. Having your crew trying to run around and do everything generally ends with something important being neglected, while failing to communicate with your ally can put one of both of you in a bad situation (such as one of you assuming that you'll both charge the enemy when they're spotted, while the other believes that you'll pull back and peck at them until they're close).
Without using voice chat, a fast way to communicate with your crew is with the voice commands (Signalling). This can give them key information without you needing to type it all out, and also helps if there is a language barrier. You can follow this up with using the Captain Spot to identify the target you wish them to fire upon. The only downside is having no rapid way of communicating with your ally except the text chat.
Pre-Game
Much of the strategy happens well before the match even starts. Ship choices and crew loadouts can win or lose a match.
Setting Up:
The first thing you need to decide is what ship to bring, what weapons to have, and how to organize your crew. Your ship choice should be made to compliment your ally, and work well against your enemy. If your enemy is all Pyramidions, you will likely have a hard time trying to use carronades. If you ally is bring a ship and a mindset to charge in all the time, you may have trouble trying to use a stealthy or long range support build.
Your ship should also compliment the map. If you bring a mobula to Paritan Rumble, it's going to be tricky to turn around and you're more likely to bump into buildings.
Once you've chosen your ship and playstyle, you need to inform your crew of their roles aboard the ship. This generally falls into a main gunner, a main engineer, and a 'gungineer'. The main gunner doesn't have to be a gunner, but the gungineer should almost always be an engineer. The main gunner has the role of being on a gun and ready to fire at all times, while the main engineer should always be ready to repair the hull and other nearby critical components. The gungineer needs to be flexible between shooting and repairing.
Once they have their roles, ensure they have equipment appropriate for where they're going to be. Remember to inform them of where they should be on the ship. You don't want your main gunner on a galleon running upstairs all the time to try and use the rear gun just as much as you don't want your main engineer running downstairs to try and fix the guns. Give them certain tasks and areas to stick to for 'most of the time', but remember to be flexible and give them orders to go elsewhere as needed (You might actually need the gunner on the back gun of a galleon if some squid keeps popping your balloon and is hanging out behind you).
Playing the Match
This is what all the buildup is for, the match itself. As a captain, you have to remember that you're more that just a pilot. You need to be thinking ahead and planning instead of blindly reacting to every situation.
Match Start:
As the match begins, make sure you're crew is loaded up and where they should be, remember to communicate with them, and they'll be more likely to communicate with you. Talk with your ally, at this point you should already be planning on how the match is going to start. Should you try approaching the enemy, or let them come to you? Try baiting them with one ship and sneaking around with the other? Sticking together, or splitting up?
There's no best strategy, but knowing your ships, the enemy ships, and the map, you should have a good idea of what is more likely to work; or at the very least a good idea of what isn't going to work.
Match Progression:
As the match continues, remember to be flexible and be continually planning and paying attention. Check your map as needed, remind your crew to focus on what needs to be focused on. You need to keep your head on a swivel and be aware of what's happening all around you. Where is your ally, what are they doing? What is your crew doing? Where is the enemy, what are they doing? If you don't know where your enemy is, try to predict what they'll be doing. Are they going to rush back in after you killed them to save their ally, or are they going to hold back and wait for their ally to go down and respawn as well? What direction are they most likely to come from?
This should be happening in combat as well. Is your ally going to live? Are you both splitting too far apart? Is it safe to leave one ship disable as you return to your ally for a secure kill? As you're backing away and firing at the enemy, is there some terrain behind you that's going to make things go terrible?
Overall Message:
Like I've mentioned a few times, being a captain is way more than just piloting. Use your head, think and plan, and definitely communicate. Even if your plans and predictions don't work out, don't worry. Most players would rather go down in a ball of fire with a captain that's communicating than with someone who doesn't say a word. With time and experience you'll gain the knowledge you need to make better and better judgement calls depending upon the situation. Stay flexible, and keep aware of what's happening aboard your ship as well as on the map.
