Wind

What is wind?
Wind is an important aspect of the game to consider when sailing. Wind is a mechanic that decides how fast your ship travels when sailing. Your ship travels at its fastest speed downwind, and travels its slowest speed upwind. Some ships have different sails or features that allow them to perform differently against the wind when sailing. Square sail rigged ships travel fast downwind, but are very bad at sailing crosswind or upwind. Lateen rigged sails and Junk rigged sails allow a ship to maneuver better at crosswinds. Pirates tend to use ships that have this sail type, such as the Taipan.

How do I find the direction the wind us going?
The flag on your ship shows which direction the wind is traveling. The flag will always point downwind. You usually want to travel in the same general direction your flag is pointing. If you cannot see your flag, make sure your pvp is set on “All” or “Normal” (your flag disappears when your pvp is on “flag hidden” hence the name). If you choose not to use your flag, you can also memorize the wind route and follow it. Wind travels in a clockwise circle around the map. The center of the map is marked with a landmark popularly called “Windrock.” In many naval battles, fights will happen around wind rock due to the smallest wind circle being located there.

What is wind tilt?
Wind tilt is another feature of the game that is most used in combat. When ships rock back and forth, there’s actually a difference in how far they tilt on each side depending on where the ship is located. Cannons that are located on the broadsides of ships have greater range when that side has the higher tilt. This is another reason why positioning is important in battle. If a ship has low tilt on one side, the cannons on that side will have a lower range. if you lower the sails (stop your ship) you will have neutral tilt.

Trivia

 * Your sails (including the spanker) will automatically angle themselves