In combat, a lot of the work is done by your ships: if there is an enemy within the firing arc of its weapons, it will automatically shoot at them. Repairs, firefighting, and resisting boarding are all taken care of. As the commander, your job is to position your ships optimally and give them priorities - as well as ordering more drastic things like ramming and boarding.

COMMANDS
Select your ships by clicking on them. A set of buttons will appear below indicating the commands you can give. After each command, there are a few seconds of cooldown - more the bigger the ship is relative to its bridge(s) or cockpit(s).

MOVEMENT AND FIRING ARCS
Different weapons have different firing arcs, and can only shoot at targets within them Weapons become less accurate over distance - some much more than others. A gatling gun or flamethrower at anything but close range is useless, while a heavy cannon or Suspendium cannon can score accurate hits from afar.

Place your ships so that its weapons can accurately strike at the enemy while being safe from the enemy guns. If you find yourself close to your enemy, consider switching to rapid fire to deal more damage. If your shots keep on missing, switch your ship to aimed fire.

RAMMING
With a normal move command, movement is cancelled if a collision is imminent. To actively ram an enemy, choose the "Ram" command. Ramming will damage both ships at the site of impact, so ideally, you have a ramming prow, but sending otherwise useless ships to ram and tangle with the enemy is a valid tactic.

This is how to ram an enemy effectively: first, move your ship to the same height. A straight horizontal ram is much more effective and predictable than a diagonal movement. Then, choose "Ram" and pick a spot well behind the target: aim to fly through the enemy. Once you give the order, your ship will move to its destination, ignoring all collision warnings. Take care, and smash them good.

BOARDING
You can board enemy ships and buildings to disrupt or take them over, if you have marines or air grenadiers on your ship. To board an enemy construction, choose Board and select your target. Your marines will exit the ship and hang on to the outside. Once you are close enough they will make the leap across. If they're hanging on and not jumping, try to get very close and slightly above your target. Air grenadiers can use grappling hooks, which have a greater range and are more reliable.

Once inside the enemy ship or building, your troops will seek out and disrupt weapon systems, and then converge on the command centers. Once all command centers are under the control of your boarders, the ship or building is yours! But note that crew will only do basic work, so bring enough marines to man the guns.

WHEN HAS A SHIP LOST?
A ship is counted as disarmed when it has no more functioning weapons, no more ammo, or no more people. Note that rams don't count for this, as a ship with a ram could sit around indefinitely, causing a stalemate.
