Basic:Combat

In Pirate101, there are two types of combat your Pirate will participate in, Battleboard Combat and Broadside Combat.

Battleboard Combat

Battleboard Combat is turn-based tactical combat that takes place in an area with an overlain square-grid, the shape and size of which is determined by the world and area of the enemies. It involves your Pirate, Companions and possibly a Pet in a battle against your enemies, or Creatures. This form of combat can take place on land and on the deck of ships, but is completely different from ship-to-ship Nautical or Broadside Combat (see Broadside Combat below).

Obstacles can be both objects and gaps. All Obstacles block movement of a character, but some objects can also interfere with line-of-sight for ranged attacks. Some objects can be targeted and destroyed, restoring line of sight and allowing movement, but other objects, and all gaps, cannot be destroyed, but must be bypassed. Barrels of explosive material (labeled with a red exclamation point) can be ignited to cause damage to everyone and everything adjacent to them, including other barrels in a chain reaction. Other obstacles, such as geysers or flames will cause damage each and every turn a unit stays adjacent to them.

When participating in Battleboard Combat, a Pirate will have a number of Units to fight on their team. These will always include the Pirate, however, there are three Settings for Companions (in the Options Menu, 2nd Joystick, "Combat Unit Selection") These are: In Order, meaning the Companions will join the Pirate in the order they are found in the Companion Interface (Hotkey - U); First Mate meaning the First Mate will always appear, followed by a random selection of remaining available crew; and Random, meaning completely random selection of available crew. Companions who are busy on tasks cannot be selected, but if they have completed their task, they can join combat. If you have a Pet equipped, there is a 20%-50% chance it will join you, depending on the pet's Loyalty stat.

With the exception of certain Boss battles and certain Epic battles, the number of Creatures (Enemies) you will fight is always equal to or one more than the number of Units you have (not including Pets). So if you have your Pirate and 2 Companions, the number of enemies will be 3 or 4. With one more Companion, the number of enemies will be 4 or 5. Additional pirates joining a Battleboard fight will bring fewer companions than the first pirate, and only one additional enemy. Should a late-joining pirate flee the fight, the additional enemy will be removed from the Battleboard.

Battleboard Combat takes place on ship decks in two ways. The first is when the ship encounters flying creatures as it is sailing in the Skyways and Combat takes place aboard the ship. The second way is upon being boarded by, or choosing to board, an Enemy Ship during Broadside Combat. The boarding action brings the two ships together, with two gangplanks laid down between them to form the Battleboard.

Winning Battleboard Combat yields rewards! In each place where an enemy was defeated, there will be a chest which can contain gold and sometimes equipment for your Pirate. If multiple enemies fall in one place, their rewards will be combined into one chest. Battleboard Combat also rewards a small amount of Experience for your Pirate. Special chests, called Group Plunder, with either two or four locks on them, may appear after land-based Battleboard Combat, and must be opened by all of the pirates in the group in a limited amount of time. Any chests that are not opened within the allotted time will disappear and all rewards will be lost.

FAST COMBAT: In the Options menu, 2nd Joystick, the option to toggle on or off Fast Combat can be selected, which will speed up Battleboard fights by approximately 50%, and will eliminate most slow-motion Epic attacks.

Fighting in a group with other pirates is limited to a maximum of FOUR pirates per Battleboard.

AUTOMATE COMPANIONS: In September, 2017, an option to allow companions to make their own combat decisions was added, default setting is ON, in the Options menu, 2nd Joystick. This feature will allow Companions that have been given no combat orders on the battleboard to make their own action decisions, if the player runs out of time while choosing, or forgets to assign a move to any companion.
The option can be toggled on or off as a whole, but not individually for each companion.

Broadside Combat

Broadside Combat is Ship to Ship combat in the Skyways of the Spiral. Unlike Battleboard Combat, Broadside Combat is real-time combat, where ships fire cannons and use powers derived from Ship Equipment to do more damage, avoid damage, and heal themselves, using the Number keys 1, 2, 3, and 4. Arrow keys are used to change the ship's speed and direction.

A ship can get involved in Broadside Combat by leaving the Windlane and approaching an enemy ship. Using the bracket keys "[ or ]" allows the player to search for and select enemy ships that are within combat range. This is helpful when looking for a particular type of enemy ship or the free roaming Boss ships in the various skyways. Range from enemy ships is shown by different colored crosshairs on the ship selected -- Grey means out of combat range, Orange means Long-range combat, and Red means Short-range combat. If the ship is not within view of the ship's direction, and arrow will appear near the bottom or side of the screen, indicating direction and distance using the same color codes.

One unlucky pirate ship can find itself engaged with multiple enemies, so be careful! Each enemy ship has a limited patrol area, and will stay within that range. Maneuvering a ship within the patrol area and around the enemy ship will take practice, and during Broadside Combat, the ship is actually able to move backwards by pressing the down arrow. If the ship moves too far back from the enemy ship, or if the pirate's ship enters the Windlane, the combat will stop and both ships will be able to heal. The enemy ship will then show a yellow barred-circle indicating it is no longer able to be damaged until it has healed.

If any ship involved in combat is reduced to 50% hull integrity (health) or less, it can be Boarded. (Some ships are Unsinkable and must be Boarded.) Boarding a ship this way initiates a Battleboard Combat on the decks (see above).

Winning Broadside Combat rewards your Pirate with Nautical Experience, and results in sinking of the enemy ship and flotsam (broken crates) appearing in the skyway. Flying through the flotsam will gain additional rewards such as Gold, Scrip and sometimes Ship Equipment, which can be used or sold for Gold. If Battleboard Combat is initiated through the boarding of a ship, winning will provide the normal Battleboard Combat rewards as well as Nautical Experience. Boarding of an enemy ship nullifies any chance to get Ship Equipment or Scrip from the combat, except in certain special areas, such as the Pirate's Regatta. The amount of any rewards will depend upon the World and the level of the enemy ships encountered.

Defeating ships that are about the same Nautical Level as the pirate will result in less Nautical Experience than defeating a ship that is a much higher level than the pirate. Fighting ships in "packs" alongside other ships is a faster, much more effective, way to gain rewards and Nautical Experience, as there is no limit to the number of ships that can engage an enemy ship. Certain enemy ships, especially the ones called Turrets, are best fought by groups due to their difficulty.