Whether you are out on a trade route, performing a mission for someone, or actually out looking for it, the one thing that never changes is the fact that every ship you meet on the vast seas isn’t exactly friendly and combat is almost a guarantee, happening rarely or multiple times a trip depending on how many enemies you have. Sea combat is just as daring, bold, and thrilling as anyone would expect from a gung-ho seafaring game and is one of the high points of PotC. Every ship is armed with a number of guns, either culverines or cannons, and is broken down further by weights such as 12lb, 18lb and 24lb varieties. On top of that, there are four types of shells you can fire, cannonballs, grapeshot, knippels, and bombs. Cannonballs are your standard all-purpose shell, affecting a ships hull, sails, and crew equally and also have the longest range. Bombs have a slightly smaller range but wreak havoc on a ships hull, essentially exploding on impact. Knippels are a freakish array of cannonball and chain, specifically made to be flung at an enemy’s sails to cause extreme damage to an enemy’s mobility. Finally, grapeshot is to be used when the two ships are in spitting distance from one another, flinging a large number of small bearings into the enemy’s direction that has an extremely adverse effect on a ships crew.