Otherwhen

Petty Officer Lesson 2: Battle Nav Basics

This will be yer first experience in Battle Nav. If the Mission Board offers ye a Brigand Hunting mission, then please take advantage of that chance. If ye don't see Brigand Hunting missions yet, then this lesson requires multiple crew online at once, so it can be hard to schedule. Arranging it ahead of time is helpful.

Before the lesson, read the Sea Battle Tutorial. Ye don't have to remember everything it says. Ye be encouraged to ask permission to either observe other battles from the crows nest or while sitting on loaded guns waiting fer them to be fired.

If ye be on a Brigand Hunting mission, then just try to catch and grapple the brigands afore they grapple ye. If ye manage to do this two or three times, then just mention it to Lord Kalvan and he will mark ye as passed.

If ye be using Otherwhen ships, then two sloops will leave the same port at about the same time, with guns unloaded and very little in the hold. Ye will be ordered to nav one sloop, with a Training Officer aboard who will give advice. One sloop will attack the other sloop (this must be done by an officer). Ye will take the battle nav.

During this first battle nav experience, ye will learn to move about without worrying about yer ship being shot to doll rags, or losing a lot of expensive rum and such. The ship ye be fighting against will run off a few squares if it be too close at the start, then just sit fer the rest of the battle. It be yer job to move yer ship close and then grapple it. Then we melee, and return to port.

Details:
Unless ye were the last one to do the navigation puzzle, when yer ship gets attacked ye will need to take the helm. Ye will have two left turns, two right turns, and four straight movement tokens. With two bots on sails, ye will get one or two more tokens each turn of the hourglass, if yer ship be not damaged. Each token dies after 5 turns of the hourglass.

To use a token or a grapple, ye can either drag it to the diagram of the ship, or just click on the spot on the diagram. The four different spots on the diagram mark the four different time ticks in a single hourglass.

Use one or two sail tokens in each hourglass. If ye predict that ye will be broadside to the other ship, with no more than two empty squares between ye, then load a grapple and then say "Bang" when it fires (to simulate shooting a gun). It be yer job to move next to the other ship, and then grapple it.

The other ship will also try to shoot ye (using grapple simulations).

During the melee, ye will need to remember that the bots on yer side don't team, and that they switch targets rather frequently. Watch yer teaming, and try to keep a team of 3 together.

After the battle, both ships will usually return to port to restock.

If ye have demonstrated ability to use the movement tokens and the grapple well enough to catch a ship that sits still, then ye will have passed Petty Officer Lesson 2. Congratulations!

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