How to play

Steer with the keyboard, turn your side to the enemy, fire, and stay in the part of the sea that is still open. Last ship afloat wins.

Controls

Key	What it does
`W` or `↑`	Sail forward
`S` or `↓`	Sail astern, more slowly
`A` `D` or `←` `→`	Rudder, left and right
`Space`	Fire both sides. Hold it to fire again each time the guns reload

That is every control. The mouse is not used during a match.

Starting a match

Type a name on the start card. Latin letters and digits are allowed, up to 13 characters. You can also leave it empty.
Keep the suggested server, or choose another one if you want to meet someone there.
Choose PUBLIC for a match with everyone, or FRIENDS for a private room and a link to share.
Press PLAY or Enter.

Your ship waits at its starting point until the countdown at the top of the screen ends. Ships cannot move or fire until then.

Reading the screen

A match seen from above: the zone timer at the top, the ships-alive count and kill feed on the right, the minimap at the bottom left and a chest in a gold circle on the water — The plate at the top counts down to the next zone. Top right shows the ships still afloat and your kills. The minimap is at the bottom left. The gold circle holds a chest, and this view is of a player already sunk and watching another ship.

Over each ship: its name, five hull points, and a bar that fills as the guns reload.
Your ship: marked by a ring on the water in its own colour.
Top centre: the timer for the next zone or the closing circle, with a warning if you are in water that is about to die.
Top right: ships alive, your kills, and a feed of who sank whom.
Bottom left: the minimap, with islands, zones, creep lairs, chests and your position.

Sailing

Your ship needs way on to answer the rudder. It will not turn while drifting at a standstill, but with the engine running the rudder always responds, so if you are pinned against a rock, hold forward and steer off it. Turning costs a little speed. Reversing is slower, but it can get you out of a tight corner.

Firing

Each press fires both sides at once, straight out from the hull. You start with two cannons a side, and the guns take 1.5 seconds to reload. Range is short, so you have to get close. Islands stop cannonballs.

Damage and sinking

A ship has 5 hull points.
Each cannonball that hits takes 1 point, so a broadside where both balls land takes 2.
Being hit empties your guns, and your reload starts over.
A creep's attack takes 1 point.
Closed water, called dead water, takes 1 point every 3 seconds.
Every ship you sink adds one cannon a side, up to four, for the rest of the match.

How a match ends

There is no respawn. When your ship sinks, a card shows who sank you and your place, and you carry on watching the match through another ship (switch with A and D, or the arrows). The last ship afloat gets the VICTORY card, everyone sees the table of places, and a new match starts a few seconds later.

If you press nothing for 90 seconds while afloat, the game returns you to the start card so your seat is free for someone else.

Next: tactics that win fights.

PLAY MYTHSEA