How to Play Guide for Abandon Ship

Abandon Ship features a treacherous world that will require cunning and guile to survive in... And this guide aims to provide you with just that!

Controls

 * All control takes place using the mouse. On the world map, clicking and holding the LMB will cause the ship to follow the cursor. The other important key is the Spacebar, which pauses the game and allows you to take a moment to assess the combat situation.

The Ship

 * The ship is your life, allowing you to traverse the world map, pick fights, and retreat from them if possible.
 * The ship is divided into Sections. In the bottom-right the Sections and their individual health are displayed. Section Health influences the performance of everything in that Section.
 * Yellow health means it is 50% effective.
 * Red health means it won't function at all!
 * In the bottom-left of the screen is a bar that shows the general Hull Health. If this bar is emptied then the ship will sink. You will be reduced to either a lifeboat or surviving on a piece of wreckage.
 * The ship comes with weapons and upgrades. Weapons require crew and affect either the enemy ship or her crew. Figuring out which aspect you want to focus on is the best way to survive on the high seas, as jacks of all trades don't last long.

The Crew

 * The crew is required to effectively pilot your vessel. Each crew member has a different specialty, which you should take into account while assigning battle stations.
 * The Navigator grants a bonus to performing ship manoeuvres.
 * The Gunner is an expert at reloading weapons.
 * The Marine is a trained melee fighter, useful for boarding actions.
 * The Surgeon can heal Crew outside of the Sick Bay.
 * The Sailor repairs the ship at a faster rate.
 * Each crew member has a health bar. A crew member reduced to zero health will be knocked unconscious. When this happens, you have a short time to stabilize them. When a crew member is stabilised, they will remain unconscious throughout the battle but will survive. If you do not stabilise them in time, they will die. Crew members can heal on their own at the sick bay in front of the ship or by a Surgeon in the field.
 * Crew members get better at whatever position they're assigned to over time. Their specialty advances the fastest, but it's worth periodically reshuffling your crew to make sure they're competent at more than one station.
 * Crew can be found at points of interest or hired in ports. The latter option is generally only preferable if you run into a really, really good crew member, as the ones you pick at the beginning of the campaign tend to naturally grow into the most competent crewmen in the world.

Tactics

 * When fighting other ships, the goal is to either sink the enemy or kill the crew. As long as you make it to the end of the engagement with your crew, you win (and all sections and crewmen are repaired and healed; only hull health is retained between engagements).
 * As such, it's useful to test out a variety of tactics early on to find out what works best for you:
 * Sinking is best accomplished by high hull damage weapons and staying at long range, where the enemy's weapons are less accurate or can't outright reach you.
 * Decrewing the enemy can be accomplished by either getting in close and boarding them (the Ram maneuver is excellent for even briefly maintaining contact) with several of your own crew or fighting at long range using mortars (especially in conjunction with acid bombs) and sniper rifle swivel guns.
 * In both cases, fire-based or hull-cracking are useful to distract the enemy crew, as the AI will generally prioritize fixing cracks and putting out fires over actually attacking you.