Sail

Sail is a multiplayer terminal naval combat game, initially based on the Fighting Sail board game. The objective is to destroy or capture all enemy ships among a variety of scenarios. Scenarios are divided between historic naval battles (e.g. ‘The Battle of Lake Erie’), fictional battles (‘Hornblower and the battle of Rosas bay’), and some slightly absurd ones (‘Curse of the Flying Dutchman’ and ‘Star Trek’).

The game plays in a pseudo turn-based fashion: commands are entered for a turn, then synchronized among all other players. Commands are entered as a sequence of numbers and letters. For example, ‘3r’ would result in moving forward three spaces, then turning right once. The turn will automatically time out and advance after a short delay, so there is not much time for strategizing. The game attempts to account for the effects of wind, ship orientation when receiving a broadside, damage and repairs, and differences in ship/crew capabilities. Like any good naval combat game, it also allows boarding parties.