How to Play

Scurvy Dogs is a fun game that puts you at the helm of either a Pirate or English frigate.  The objective is to outmaneuver your opponent and sink them.  You do this through maneuvering your ship to fire cannons at the other ship.  You can choose to pit two human opponents against each other, a human versus the computer, or even the computer controlling both ships.  The game includes varying computer skill levels that will provide progressively more challenging games as your skills progress. The registered version also allows Boardings, which is almost a different game in itself.  Although strategically challenging, you should be up and running with the game within a short time using the instructions here.

The following sections give detailed instructions and tips on playing the game:

Starting the Game
Game Options
The Sea Combat Screen
Nautical Terminology and Your Ship
Selecting Movements
Firing Cannons
Sinking a Ship
The Boarding Screen
Moving Men
Hand-to-Hand Combat
Tips for Winning the Game
Using Hard Buttons on Message Prompts
What is a Scurvy Dog?

Starting a New Game

When you start the program, a screen will appear with a button to start a New Game.  If you have a previously saved game, the Previous Game button will also appear.  If you choose to resume your previous game, control will go immediately to where you left off, either on the Sea Combat screen or the Boarding screen.  If you start a new game, the Options screen will appear.  Whenever you exit the program with a game still going on, it will be automatically saved.  It will only save one game at a time.  

You may also start a new game while playing a current game by clicking on the menu silkscreen button and choosing New Game.  This will abort your current game.

Game Options

When you start a new game, there are several options that you can choose from.  They are listed here:

When you have selected your options for the game, click on the Start button to begin.  If you have entered the Options screen via the menu from within an ongoing game, a Cancel button will also appear.  Clicking this will return to your game.  Note that you cannot change any options in the middle of a game.  You must always start a new game when changing options.

The Sea Combat Screen

The game action takes place on the Sea Combat screen, as shown here to the right.  This screen consists of a 10x10 grid (the sea), detailed blowups of the two ships, and the buttons for moving.  

The Black ship always starts out on the left-most edge of the screen, and the White (Brown) ship starts on the right-most edge.  This grid of 10x10 squares is the area in which ships move and maneuver on.  Ships can face in one of the 8 cardinal directions (see Selecting Movements for more details), and move from square to square, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.  Islands block a square, and ships cannot move through these.  Also, the edges of the grid represent the limits for movement.  You cannot move beyond the edge, and if you try, your ship will stay in place and waste a movement.

The detailed blowups of each ship are to the right, with a flag indicating which is which.  If you selected the Black Ship is Pirate option from the Options screen, then the detailed ship with the Pirate flag (skull and crossbones) corresponds to the Black ship on the grid, and the ship with the English flag corresponds to the White (Brown) ship.  If you unchecked the Black Ship is Pirate option, then the Black ship is English and the White (Brown) ship is the Pirate.  Either way, Black is always the upper ship, and White (Brown) is always the lower ship.

The Move, Clear and Movement buttons (shaped like square flags) are detailed in Selecting Movements.   

At any time between rounds, you may click on the Applications silkscreen button and your game will automatically be saved before exiting.  You may resume the game by clicking on Previous Game when you next start it (see Starting a New Game).

Nautical Terminology and Your Ship

Before we get more into game play, you should understand several key nautical concepts and terms.  Directions for a boat are described as Forward, Aft, Port or Starboard.  These are shown in the diagram to the right, and are always relative to the direction of the ship.  Forward is towards the bow, or front, of your ship.  Aft is behind you (towards the rear of the boat) if you're facing Forward.  Port is always to your left if you're facing Forward.  Starboard is always to the right if you're facing Forward.   

In Scurvy Dogs, your ship is laid out into 12 sections, or deck squares, as shown in the figure to the left.  Sections 1 (Forward) and 7 (Aft) cover the entire breadth (width) of the ship and can be hit from either side.  Port sections 2 through 6 run down the port (left) side of the ship, and starboard sections 2 through 6 run down the starboard (right) side.  There are an additional 3 spaces in the middle, but these are used only for Boardings and are not used during Sea Combat, so are not displayed on the Sea Combat screen.  The red arrows shown in the figure here will be explained in more detail in Firing Cannons.  

Your ship also has 3 masts, which are the tall poles with the sheets attached that allow the winds to move your ship.  During the game, you get one movement per mast standing (not shot to pieces).  More on that is covered under Selecting Movements.  Masts are designated on the ship blowups by the circles along the centerline running forward to aft.  The Main (middle) and Aft masts can take two hits before they are destroyed.  The Forward mast (a smaller one) can only take one hit.  A damaged mast will show an x in it.  A destroyed mast will disappear.

Frigates are wooden-hull vessels.  Cannon balls tend to pierce these wooden hulls and let water in.  During the game, if you take 4 or more hull hits, your ship will sink.  Hull damage is indicated by an x within the deck square.  Each deck square, or section, can take up to 2 hits (holes).  Two hits are designated by xx.  Any cannon shots (to the hull) beyond that don't do any more damage, but merely pass through the existing hole.

The various cannons on board your ship may also become damaged or destroyed during combat.  Each cannon can take two hits before being destroyed.  Damage is indicated by an x next to the cannon (on the outside of the ship's outline).  A destroyed cannon will disappear from the detail of your ship.  You can still effectively fire a damaged cannon, with a reduced chance of hitting your target, but you cannot fire from a destroyed cannon, nor can you move cannons around during combat.

Your ship has men on board (23 to start with including the Captain).  Men are represented by a symbol on the deck of your ship.  Sections 1 and 7 only have 1 man, while 2 through 6 on both sides have 2 each.  Men are only used during the Boarding section of the game.  However, men can be hit and killed by cannon fire during Sea Combat (except for the Captain).  

Selecting Movements

Game play is divided into an unlimited number of Rounds.  Each round allows up to 3 Movements by each ship.  Each round, both players give orders for up to 3 movements in advance.  Once given, these orders cannot be rescinded.  You will just have to let them play out.  A movement can be one of the following:

Of course, ships don't have reverse.  And they can't turn on a dime either.  Maneuvering a ship requires forethought.  If you want to "turn around", you need to rotate in either direction 4 times.  Old wooden frigates were relatively slow and not quick to respond.  

Because you give the orders in advance for up to 3 movements, a wrong move can put your ship in jeopardy and subject you to heavy cannon fire.  If you are a savvy Captain and have anticipated your opponent's movements, you can position your ship to take advantage of a better firing angle than they have (see Firing Cannons for more details).  The game boils down to getting more shots in at your opponent than they get in on you.  Luck does play a role, but Captains with poor strategy will find themselves on the bottom of the sea more often than not.

Movements are selected through various means, and you can use any of them simultaneously.  The preferred method, if you are playing against the computer, is to click on the Movement buttons on the Sea Combat screen.  Before a player has specified their moves, these will display the flag of the player whose turn it is to enter movements --- either a skull and crossbones flag for the Pirate, or the Union Jack for the English.  Clicking once on any of these will display a .  Clicking again will display , then , then .  Click again and it goes back to and continues in a cycle.  You select each of the 3 movements in this manner, by clicking until the movement is what you desire.  You can use any combination of moves (with and exception noted below regarding destroyed masts).  Moves are played out in order from the left-most button to the right-most.  When you have entered all of your desired moves, click on the Move button.  You can also click on the Clear button to reset all your moves in order to enter them again. 

Another method of designating movements is through graffiti.  If you are playing in two player mode (two humans), this is one of the preferred methods.  The strokes are fairly intuitive, although the Forward movement might take a little while to get used to.  Unfortunately, the opposite stroke (down to up stroke), which would be more intuitive, is the SHIFT stroke, and this cannot be captured by the Palm O/S as a separate keystroke.  So the "i" is used instead.

The final method for entering movements is through the hard buttons on the device itself.  Various devices are laid out differently, but they should correspond somewhat to the figure shown here.  Each button takes on the appropriate movement as indicated in the figure.  In addition, you can "click" on the Cancel or Move buttons from here, which correspond to the same ones on the screen.  The only trick to using the buttons is to use quick, short button presses.  These buttons can repeat easily, and you may inadvertently set the same move for more than one movement.

After both players have selected their movements, the round is played out.  Each ship, simultaneously, moves 1 movement at a time, starting with the first movement and playing out until the last movement in the round.  Between movements, if the ships are in adjacent sea squares, and their angle is such that they can fire cannons, they go through a melee, then proceed to the next movement (see Firing Cannons for more details on this).  When the final movement has been played out, a new round starts and the players again choose their movements.

If both ships land in the same sea square at the end of a movement, then a collision has occurred and a Boarding will ensue.  Boardings are allowed only in the registered game.  In the unregistered game, if the ships collide, any forward movements from the previous movement will be cancelled.

Initially, each ship gets 3 movements during a round --- one for each intact mast.  However, when a ship loses a mast, it loses one of these movements every round.  A player missing a mast MUST play a STOP () movement for each mast missing.  If two masts are missing, then they must play two STOP's each round.  Where these are played is up to the player (during the first, second or third movement).  Also, you still get to fire your cannons after the STOP movement is played.  Sometimes, you can tactically use STOP's, but for the most part ships that lose a mast are at a significant disadvantage because they are less maneuverable.  Losing two masts can be devastating because a completely mobile opponent can slip in behind you and fire quicker than you can turn around.  Lose all 3 masts and you're dead in the water, which means that you can't even rotate.  Essentially, you become a sitting duck.  The Main (middle) and Aft masts can each take two hits before they are destroyed.  The Forward mast is destroyed with one hit because it is smaller.  A damaged mast is still completely functional, with no loss of movement, until destroyed. 

Firing Cannons

In between movements, ships that are in adjacent squares (horizontally, vertically or diagonally) will fire their cannons at each other (a melee) --- if they have cannons that face in the appropriate direction.  In the beginning, ships have 10 cannons.  Each of these cannons is fixed in a given direction and can only fire if the opponent is in that relative direction from your ship.  Refer to the figure to the right.  There is one cannon in each section 2 through 6 on both the port and starboard sides.  The cannons in sections 3, 4 and 5 point directly abeam (perpendicular to the centerline of the ship).  These cannons can only fire broadsides, when a ship is bearing 90 degrees from forward.  The cannon in port section 2 (Port #2) can only fire 45 degrees from forward, on the port side.  Starboard #2 can only fire 45 degrees from forward, on the starboard side.  Port #6 and Starboard #6 are similar, each firing 45 degrees from aft, on their respective side.

For an example, refer to the figure of the two ships on the left.  The Brown ship is facing SSE.  Its bow sprit indicates which way is forward for it.  The Black ship is facing West.  In this case, Black is 90 degrees off Brown's port side.  So Brown could fire Port cannons in deck #3, #4, and #5.  Black, on the other hand, can only fire Port #2, because Brown is 45 degrees off his port.  Obviously, its better to face your opponent broadsides, because you can fire 3 cannons, whereas when ships are off your quarter (any of the 45 degree angles), you can only fire 1 cannon at them.  You can't fire at ships dead ahead (forward of you) or astern (aft of you) because you have no cannons facing those directions.  In our example here, Brown definitely has the advantage over Black. 

Damage is done to decks or masts that are in line with the shot and on the side of the shooter.  For example, in the previous figure, all 3 of Brown's shots could hit Black in Forward #1, Port #2 or the Forward Mast.   Black, on the other hand might hit Brown in Port #3, #4 or #5, or the Main Mast.  Firing from directly astern of another ship, you could hit either Port #6, Starboard #6, Aft #7 or the Aft Mast.  From dead ahead, you could hit Port #2, Starboard #2, Forward #1 or the Forward Mast.  Hitting any of these sections could mean hitting the hull, hitting the deck (killing a man) or hitting a cannon there.  
  
After each cannon shot a message will indicate what damage (if any) was done.  This message will appear on the bottom of the display over where the movement buttons are.  These messages will display for as long as the Message Delay option is set for (see Game Options), or if you selected the "Click Off" option then you will need to click on the "X" box to close each message.  Basically, a cannon shot can either miss (Splash), hit the hull, hit the deck (killing a man), hit a mast or hit a cannon.  Even though these messages describing cannon shots are displayed one by one, all shots from both ships during a melee are considered to be simultaneous, so it is possible for both of the ships to sink if they sustain enough damage.  It also means that if a cannon is destroyed during a particular melee, that does not prevent it from firing during that melee.  However, once the melee is over, the cannon is gone and may not fire again.

Remember also that damaged cannons are not as accurate, and are less likely to cause damage to the opponent.
 

Sinking a Ship

When a ship has taken four or more hull hits, they sink and lose the game.  It is possible for both ships to sink simultaneously if both sustain enough damage.  The player left standing, despite any damage, is the winner.  

The Boarding Screen

If both ships collide (move to the same sea square at the same time), their rigging gets entangled and the ships interlock, then the planks go over between sections 3,4 and 5 and a Boarding commences.  The object is to take out the opponent's Captain.  

Note that Boardings are allowed only in the registered version of the game.  In the unregistered version, ships that collide are backed off of each other and Sea Combat continues.

Depending on the angles of the ships when they collide, each of the ships may be facing with the bow up or bow down.  Neither has any advantage in itself.  However, if you intentionally ram an opponent to board them, you may wish to position it so that more of your surviving men are on the side nearest their ship and can defend it easier.  There are only three ways onto (and off of) your ship, and that is across the planks in the 3 middle sections.  

Unlike Sea Combat, where both ships move simultaneously, Boardings are played out turn by turn.  One player moves until there are no more moves left to make (or they don't wish to move anyone else), then combat ensues, then the other player moves, then combat, then back to the other player.  The red arrow pointing towards a flag indicates which player's turn it is.  This cycle continues until one player's Captain is killed.  It is also possible for both player's Captains to die at the same time if they are in the same deck square (see Moving Men).    

During Boarding, clicking on the Applications silkscreen button will automatically save your game before exiting and you may resume the game by clicking on Previous Game when you next start it (see Starting a New Game).

Moving Men

Initially, you have 23 men (including your Captain) on board.  However, due to cannon hits on your decks, you may lose some men along the way.  This can greatly influence the outcome of a Boarding.  

Pirates are always the Black (or solid in B&W mode) men near the bottom half of each deck square.  English are the Red (or black with a white dot in B&W mode).  In version 1.1, Captains are slightly larger and have yellow epaulettes in the color game.  In Version 2.0, you can tell which is the Captain by their full coat, belt and beard.  The dotted lines on the ship decks represent the bounds of deck squares.  Each square can accommodate up to 3 of each player's men, including Captains.  During your turn, each of your men may make one move to an adjacent square, or across one of the planks horizontally to the other ship.  The planks themselves do not count as a square.  Men may not move diagonally.  However, you will notice that the second-most forward and second-most aft squares consist of two squares across the breadth of the ship, whereas the squares closer to the center of the ship are three across.  You can move from one of these three to either of the two that are touching, or vice-versa.  This is not a diagonal move.  For example, as shown in the figure to the right, the man has 5 possible moves that he could make. 

There is no particular order that you must move your men in.  However, each man only gets one move per turn.  To move a man, tap on him with the stylus to select him.  A highlight circle will appear around him.  To move him, tap anywhere near the middle of an adjacent deck square and he will be moved there.  This man may not move again this turn.  

If you select a man, then decide not to move him (or wait until later to move him), just click on him again to unselect him.  You may then select another man.  You can click on the button to automatically move to the next man that has not moved.  Using this, you can cycle through all men that can move.

It would be confusing to keep track of exactly which men have moved during any given turn.  For this reason, the game uses a flexible system of movement.  You will notice while you play that blank deck squares are always filled in by men starting with the center position, then the spot to the right of center, then the spot to the left of center.  If a deck square already has one of your men in it, and you move another in, they will appear in the center and right positions.  If this first man had not moved yet this turn, you may click on either man in the square and move them.  This may seem confusing at first, but it is essentially the same thing for one man to move in and then out of an occupied square as it is to move one man in, then the existing man out.  They result in the same thing.  So the game allows you to click on any man within a square to move them, as long as there is ANY man within that square that has not moved yet.  It is just simpler to play this way without having to worry about exactly which man has already moved.  The exception to this is the Captain.  The Captain is always moved to the center position of a square, and you cannot move him more than once.  You must click on one of the other men within the square to move them.  This is also true for squares containing your Captain in which no men have moved yet.  If you want to move the Captain, you must specifically click on him.  If you want to move either of the other men, click on either of them.  Crewmen are basically interchangeable, but the Captain is not.

When you are done moving your men, click on the END button.  This will move to the hand-to-hand combat melee.  If you have moved all of your men, the computer will automatically move to the melee and you do not need to click on END.  After each player moves his men, a hand-to-hand combat melee follows.  Note that this is after EACH player moves, not after BOTH players move.  This enables you to do such things as swoop three men in on one and attack him (obviously with a great advantage).  The disadvantage is that the other player can then move and and attack during their turn --- returning the favor.  This usually makes for interesting and challenging boardings.  See the following section, Hand-to-Hand Combat, for a description of how combat is resolved.  There are also additional rules for movement that are covered in that section.  

As well as tapping on the screen, you can use the hard buttons to move men around.  This takes a little more practice to get used to, but is available for when you'd prefer not to use the stylus to tap the screen.  The picture on the right shows the hard buttons and their functions (depending on your device yours may vary but should be similar).  

Your first step is to move the cursor (it looks like this ) to the deck square that contains the man that you wish to move.  The cursor does not appear by default, but it will if you click either Up, Down, Left or Right.  These buttons will move the cursor around between adjacent squares.  When you have the cursor in the correct deck square, press the Select/Move button.  The first available man within the deck square will be selected (circled).  If you wish to select another man in this square, press Select/Move again.  You can cycle through all available men in this way.  After it cycles through the last available man, the selection circle will disappear, then start over with the first man again.  If you select a man, but then decide you don't want to move them, just press Select/Move until the selection circle disappears, then you can move the cursor to another square.

Once you have a man selected (circled), use the Up, Down, Left or Right buttons to move the cursor to an adjacent square.  Once there, press the Select/Move button to actually move the man.  After the man moves, the cursor will return to the original square that the man was in.  You can then press the Select/Move to select the next man, or move the cursor to another square.

The End Turn button has the same effect as the END button on the screen.

Hand-to-Hand Combat

At the end of either player's turn during a Boarding, any opposing men in the same deck square will become involved in hand-to-hand combat with each other.  Hand-to-hand combat can result in either player, both, or neither losing men.  Each man gets one attack, so the more men you throw against an opponent, the more likely you are to come out of the melee alive.  In addition, Captains are stronger fighters than normal crewmen.  If playing against the computer, there is a slight modification in favor of the human player in the easier levels and in favor of the computer in the harder levels, to make the game more challenging and force the human player to rely more on strategy when the odds are against them, or to give inexperienced players more of a chance.  

Without getting into a deep discussion on probability and statistics, the end results is that the more men you have going into combat... the better.  If you send three men against one, it is highly unlikely that the one man will come out alive.  It is possible that all three of your men can miss.  But the odds are that he will go down.  But he can also take one of your men with him.  He could also take a man and survive, and take another one during the next melee.  Its even possible for him to survive three melees and take out all three of your men!  But not likely.  The point is that the more men you send against an opponent, the more likely you will emerge from the square and he will not.  3-to-1 is almost a sure win.  3-to-2 is favorable, but not certain.  2-to-1 is pretty favorable.  3-to-3 could go either way, with 1-2 men on each side likely dying.  1-to-3 is pretty much a kamikaze mission --- but hey, maybe you really need to weed his 3 men down to 2 men...  

If, at this point, you think that Boardings are just a matter of rolling the dice and hoping you get lucky... you'd be wrong.  There is another key rule to moving men during a boarding.  You may not move one of your men from an enemy-occupied deck square to another enemy-occupied deck square.  This may seem minor, but it is a pivotal element to Boardings.  Look at the figure to the right.  Although the Red men significantly outnumber the Black men, none of the Red men are in a position to attack the Black Captain.  Both the groups of 3 Red men above and to the right have at least 1 Black man in their square.  They may not move from an enemy-occupied square to another enemy-occupied square.  They can move to an unoccupied square, or one that only contains some of their own men, but obviously that takes more moves.  This "blocking" move gives the Black player time to position other men, or to fill in defensive gaps to hold the enemy back.  It is possible to hold a defensive line through many melees, filling in the gaps with men from the rear.  Back to our example... if the 3 Red men to the right kill the single Black man in their square, and it is their turn to move, they can then move into the Captain's square and engage him.  But if this combat occurred at the end of Red's turn and they killed the sole Black man, Black could move the extra man from the Captain's deck square into that square and possibly hold them off longer.  The Captain could also retreat a square, further delaying their attack and giving a chance for reinforcements to arrive.   Do not underestimate the necessity for an organized strategy during Boarding, especially if you're outnumbered to start with.

Tips for Winning the Game

There are two ways to win: sink the other player's ship on the Sea Combat screen or kill their Captain on the Boarding screen.  Not all games will end with a Boarding.  Most actually don't, unless you're particularly prone to ramming your opponent.  The computer players will tend to try to avoid collisions, unless it is strategically to their advantage.  However, they can and will still occur --- even if by "accident".

When first starting out with the game, its recommended that you play against the Landlubber computer skill level.  Computer skill levels do two things: they affect how a computerized opponent's ship will move on the Sea Combat screen, and it fine tunes strategies for men on Boardings.  The only affect the computer's skill level will have directly on your ship during the game is to give you a slight hand-to-hand combat bonus in the lower two levels, Landlubber and Puddle Jumper, and give the computer a slight bonus for Scurvy Dog, but the computer's overall strategy (and its difficulty to beat) is determined by the computer skill level..

Landlubber is fine to play against while you learn the game, but their tactics are very sporadic and not thought through.  Puddle Jumpers are a little better and more thoughtful in their actions.  Bos'ns Mate and Scurvy Dog are definitely more challenging, as they take many factors into consideration when plotting their movements.  But they're also far from predictable, which make them formidable opponents.

On Boardings, don't expect the computerized player to always use the same moves against you.  There are several overall strategies that they may take, some more defensive and some more aggressive than others.  It is not always better to play defensively than offensively, or vice-versa.  You may pick up some tactics from the computer along the way.  Remember "blocking" maneuvers.  They can play a crucial role in defending your Captain.

Using Hard Buttons on Message Prompts

One thing that is worth mentioning is that on any message prompt, you can select and press any button using the device's hard buttons.  On the prompt, you will notice that one button is highlighted.  By default, this is always the right-most button on the prompt.  Pressing the Up or Down scroll buttons will move the highlight to another button.  Pressing any other hard button will "press" the highlighted button.

What is a Scurvy Dog?

A sailor's life in the early centuries of ocean travel was bad enough, with long voyages at sea in a rickety, rat-infested boat, living in unsanitary and often overcrowded conditions.  However, one of the largest killers of sailors was a disease called Scurvy.  Unrecognized as a disease until the 20th century, the symptoms of Scurvy were often thought to be many different diseases.  A serious deficiency of Vitamin C, Scurvy could cause severe sores, the loss of teeth, bleeding gums, exhaustion, and often a sailor would suddenly collapse and die.  It was baffling to doctors and captains how men could suddenly show such improvement in their condition after going ashore.  Some accredited it towards laziness on the part of sailors, who looked forward to shore leave.  Some captains caught on to the fact that providing fruits, such as lemons and limes, could prevent Scurvy.  But even into the late 18th century, many attributed the symptoms of Scurvy to "general idleness".  

The term "Scurvy Dog" has come down through the ages to refer to an experienced sailor.  Sailors lead a hard life, and the mere fact of surviving a sailor's life plagued by Scurvy for any length of time in the early days was remarkable.  Nowadays, it is often used in sailor's lingo to not only refer to an experienced sailor, but to one whose "moral fabric" may be a little off in the eyes of landlubbers --- much in the tradition of piracy and the careless disregard for other's rights.  It is the sailor's equivalent of "streetwise".