No Quarter

No Quarter puts the player in command of one captain and one brig on an open Caribbean map dotted with rival ports. Income comes from sinking ships, completing cargo contracts and plundering coastal forts, with any prizes needing to be brought back to port. Each port has a market, a shipwright, a tavern and a contract board offering jobs such as hunting vessels of a particular flag in set waters, moving cargo between two points or trading goods along profitable routes.

Sailing takes wind direction into account, and the player sets the sails to furled, quarter, half or full depending on conditions. Combat uses broadside cannon fire. Enemy sloops, brigs and galleons each behave differently and are faster than the player’s ship, while coastal batteries stay in place but hit harder. Cargo, including crates, planks, fabric and signed contracts, must be arranged in a grid-based hold, so looting a wreck can turn up more than the ship is able to carry.

There are three factions, the Navy, the Brethren and the Spanish, and reputation with each rises or falls with every ship handed in. Jobs carry consequences: sinking a Navy frigate, for example, earns favour with the Brethren but makes the navy hostile and can close previously friendly harbours to the player. The rigging, hull, cannons and hold each have separate upgrade paths, and the shipwright requires both gold and materials that must fit onto his workbench, which becomes harder at higher ranks. The game also features a full day and night cycle, periods of fog and fully rebindable keyboard and mouse controls.