2.4 Battle HUD

The battle interface turns a moving naval engagement into information you can act upon. Its essential jobs are to show the condition of your ship, the state of its sails and weapons, the selected target, the progress of the battle, and whether an action such as firing, looting, or leaving is available.

2.4.1 Read the fight in layers

Do not try to watch every display continuously. Read the HUD in layers:

1. Keep the ship, target, nearby traffic, and wind in view.
2. Glance at sail and helm state while manoeuvring.
3. Check gun readiness, ammunition, and convergence before firing.
4. Review damage and battle progress whenever the immediate danger eases.

The sea remains the primary display. A captain staring at a status panel can miss a collision, a crossing broadside, or a change in the target’s turn.

2.4.2 Your ship’s status

The ship-status readout summarizes the active vessel’s condition. Use it to judge hull protection and damage, flooding or leaks, sail and rig condition, and the systems that determine whether the ship can continue fighting effectively. A ship may remain afloat while becoming tactically helpless, so do not reduce the panel to a single health value.

After taking a broadside, look first for the kind of damage that demands an immediate response: rapid flooding, loss of steering, severe rig damage, fire, or a sharply weakened side. Then decide whether to continue the exchange, turn a healthier side toward the enemy, reduce sail, or disengage.

Treat any unfamiliar warning icon as a reason to create distance and inspect the status display more closely. The live readout is the best available authority for damage and recovery information.

Damage you read here is not necessarily permanent. The HUD carries a Repairs control that lets you restore hull or rig during the battle, and it reports both the time a repair has left to run and the cooldown before another is allowed. Read the status panel and the repair cooldown together — what matters is not only how hurt you are but whether you can do anything about it yet. See Repairs.

2.4.3 Wind, helm, and sails

The battle display provides the information needed to relate the ship to the wind. Read the wind direction together with heading and sail state: the same rudder command can produce a very different turn when the ship is fast, slow, heeled, or close to the wind.

Confirm whether automatic yards or manual yard control is active. With automatic yards, the game manages sail rotation as the heading changes. With manual control, the yard position shown by the ship and interface is part of your steering solution. If the vessel unexpectedly loses drive, check wind angle, sail amount, yard state, and whether staysails have been toggled before assuming the helm has failed.

2.4.4 Gun status and ammunition

Before entering the aiming view, identify which battery is selected, what ammunition it is loading, and whether enough guns are ready to justify the shot. A displayed reload state is a promise about the weapon, not the target: you still need a clear arc, suitable range, and stable moment to fire.

When changing ammunition, make sure the intended cannons are selected before choosing the new type. This is especially important on controller, where cannon selection and ammunition choice share a directional-pad sequence. Avoid rapid menu inputs without checking the result; loading the wrong battery can waste the best firing opportunity of the fight.

2.4.5 Aiming view and convergence

The aiming view aligns the camera with the selected battery and exposes the information used to place a shot. The aiming system corrects the difference between camera and gun position according to the chosen convergence, but it does not solve the ballistics. You remain responsible for elevation, lead, heel, wave motion, and timing.

In manual convergence mode, set the distance with R or the mouse wheel. In water mode, convergence follows the point at which you aim on the water. Check the displayed mode or aiming behavior before correcting a miss, because the same camera movement can interact differently with the two methods.

Use a ranging shot when the solution is uncertain, watch its flight and splash, then correct before releasing more of the battery. See Gunnery & Aiming for the full method.

2.4.6 Target information

The target portion of the HUD identifies the ship currently selected or under observation and provides the combat information the game makes available about it. Verify the name and allegiance before firing, especially in a group engagement where ships cross one another’s lines.

Use target information as supporting evidence rather than perfect knowledge. The opponent’s heading, heel, sail damage, visible reload, and behavior often matter more than a single displayed number. If several ships are present, recheck which target the panel is following whenever the camera passes across another hull.

2.4.7 Scoreboard and battle rating

The scoreboard provides a wider view of the engagement than the immediate target panel. Use it to see the participants and their current battle state, identify ships that have sunk or left, and judge whether the balance of the fight has changed while your attention was elsewhere.

Battle Rating, or BR, expresses the combat value used to organize or limit some encounters. Fleet BR is visible before certain fights, and convoy battles can impose BR limits. Inside battle, use the roster and BR information to understand the scale of each side, not as a guarantee of victory: positioning, damage, wind, and coordination determine how much of that nominal strength can actually be used.

2.4.8 Objectives and end conditions

A battle can end because time expires, every enemy ship is defeated, or the scenario’s objectives are completed. Read any objective text when entering the instance and check it again when the tactical situation changes. In an objective battle, sinking the nearest opponent may be less important than protecting a ship, reaching an area, securing cargo, or preventing the other side from leaving.

Some activity types discussed by the developer remain proposed rather than released. Only the objective and progress indicators displayed in the current battle should guide your decision.

2.4.9 Leaving the battle

Leaving is governed by a timer that can be reset when you are hit. Watch the leave status while disengaging and do not assume that distance alone makes exit immediate. A last long-range hit can keep a ship in the instance and give the pursuer time to close again.

If the battle has already ended, the interface may permit actions that were impractical under fire, including long-range looting. Read the prompt and confirm that the battle state is secure before opening a panel that obscures the sea.

2.4.10 Surrender and looting

Trade ships can surrender and expose a portion of their cargo for looting. When loot becomes available, the battle interface indicates the eligible ship or goods and whether you are close enough to interact. Transfer only what the receiving ship can carry and leave enough attention on the battle to avoid becoming an easy target while managing inventory.

Looting rules and the fraction of cargo made available are balance-sensitive. The current prompt and inventory display are authoritative. A defeated military ship, a surrendered trader, and a completed objective may not produce the same recovery options.

2.4.11 Battle HUD checklist

• Before manoeuvring: wind, sail state, yards, helm, and nearby ships.
• Before firing: target, battery, ammunition, reload, convergence, and firing arc.
• After being hit: flooding, steering, sails, fire, and the side that received the damage.
• After the fight changes: scoreboard, BR, objectives, and leave status.
• Before opening loot: battle end state, nearby threats, and available cargo space.