Games are auto-simulated basketball matches: 4 quarters of 10 minutes each with 2-minute breaks between quarters. You set the lineup and tactic beforehand, then watch the action unfold through play-by-play commentary.

Starting a Game

• Challenge teams from the Teams panel (local or network)
• Accept incoming challenges manually or enable auto-accept from your Own Team panel
• You need at least 5 pirates to play
• Games can be played against local AI teams and network (P2P) teams

Positions

Assign pirates to positions that match their strengths using the team panel or auto-assign.

On top of raw skills, each pirate has a position fitness for every spot on the court. Their effective rating in a position is their skill there scaled by how fit they are for it, so a pirate played out of position underperforms until they settle in. Fitness rises the more a pirate plays a position and slowly fades for positions they don't use. The game position fluidity setting decides how strictly the game respects it.

Tactics

Each tactic changes the probability of different plays being called and gives bonuses/penalties to different action types.

Set your tactic from the team panel with the t hotkey.

Team Settings

Besides the tactic, the team panel lets you tune three more settings that shape how your crew behaves during games. Like the tactic, they're set beforehand and can only be changed while you're not mid-game.

Substitution tendency (s)

Controls how readily tired starters are swapped out for rested bench players.

A higher tendency keeps fresh legs on the court at the cost of giving your starters fewer minutes; a lower tendency rides your best five harder. See Tiredness and Substitutions below for how fatigue works.

Game position fluidity (g)

Controls how strictly the game keeps pirates in the positions they're most fit for, both when setting the lineup and when substituting.

Low fluidity leans hard on each pirate's fittest positions to get the most out of them right now. High fluidity is more willing to field pirates out of position: that performs worse immediately, but it lets them build fitness in new spots over time.

In-game drinking (r)

Decides how much rum your crew brings to a game and how freely benched pirates drink it during the match.

The rum is set aside from your stock when the game starts, and whatever isn't drunk is returned afterwards, so you only lose the bottles actually downed. When a pirate is substituted out, they may take a swig on the bench: low-morale pirates drink most readily, and each drink follows the usual rules - a morale boost, but a chance of getting wasted (tiredness maxed, knocking them out of the game). A pirate drinks at most once per game on Normal and twice on High. More rum flowing also means more drunkenness on the floor, which raises the brawl chance.

How Plays Work

• Isolation: Ball handler vs perimeter defender. Uses Ball Handling, Quickness, Aggression vs Perimeter Defense, Quickness, Steal. If the defender snuffs out the drive, a ball handler with enough Vision and Passing can kick the ball out to an open teammate rather than force a bad shot or cough up the ball.
• Pick and Roll: Playmaker + screener combo. Uses Ball Handling, Passing vs Perimeter Defense.
• Off the Screen: Off-ball movement into a shooting opportunity.
• Post: Big man backs down defender. Uses Post Moves, Strength vs Interior Defense, Strength, Steal.
• Fastbreak: Quick transition. Uses Quickness, Ball Handling, Aggression vs Quickness, Aggression, Intuition, Steal.

Each play can result in an attacking advantage (open shot), neutral contest, defensive stop, or steal/turnover. The outcome leads to a shot attempt or change of possession.

Shooting

• Close shots (layups/dunks): 2 points, easiest to make. Uses Close Range skill. Dunks are possible with high Vertical + height (Showpirate doubles dunk probability).
• Medium shots (mid-range): 2 points, moderate difficulty. Uses Medium Range skill.
• Long shots (3-pointers): 3 points, hardest to make. Uses Long Range skill.
• Block skill from the defender affects all shot types.
• Shots taken with an attacking advantage are much more likely to go in.

Rebounds

After a missed shot, a rebound battle happens. Uses Vertical, height, and Rebounds skill. Centers and power forwards get a position bonus.

Brawls

Physical confrontations that can break out during play (~4.5% base chance per action, modified by tactic). Uses Brawl, Strength, Aggression. Winner gains morale, loser loses morale and takes tiredness damage. Killer trait pirates add their reputation to brawl rolls and are twice as likely to be selected for brawls.

Drunk pirates on the court also raise the brawl chance: the drunker your lineup, the more likely a fight breaks out (see Drinking and drunkenness).

Settling a Draw

If regulation ends with the score level, there's no coin flip to break the tie - the crews settle it the pirate way. A Total Brawl erupts: one last all-out fight between the two teams, and whoever comes out holding the ball when the dust clears takes the win. A crew built on strong, aggressive, high-Brawl pirates (especially Killers) has a real edge when a game comes down to fists.

Tiredness and Substitutions

• Players accumulate tiredness during play. Stamina reduces how quickly tiredness builds.
• Performance starts declining once tiredness exceeds 50% (skill rolls get worse).
• At max tiredness a player is knocked out and can't play.
• Bench players (up to 2 extra beyond the starting 5) rest and recover tiredness.
• Substitutions happen automatically when a starter gets too tired and a rested bench player is available. Your substitution tendency setting (see Team Settings above) nudges how eagerly this happens.
• Relentless trait caps tiredness at 80%, preventing knockouts.
• Tactic choice affects tiredness rate: Balanced is gentlest, Arrembaggio is most draining.

Morale in Games

• Higher morale = higher floor on performance rolls (players with good morale won't have bad rolls).
• Morale changes during games from brawl outcomes, scoring runs, etc.
• High Charisma reduces morale penalties by up to 50%.
• Team momentum: scoring without reply builds momentum that adds a morale bonus to your shots. The longer the unanswered run, the bigger the boost, and a high-Reputation Captain amplifies it. Conceding a basket resets the run.

Special Traits in Games

See Pirates and traits for full details.

• Killer: Reputation bonus to brawl attacks, more likely to be in brawls
• Showpirate: More likely to dunk, increases game attendance
• Relentless: Can't be fully exhausted (tiredness caps at 80%)
• Spugna: No direct game effect (morale/pilot benefits outside games)

Tips

• More than 5 pirates means bench players who can sub in - this matters in long or tiring games
• Match your tactic to your roster: Shooters if you have Long Range specialists, Big Pirates if your crew is strong and tall
• Balanced is the safest default - it's the gentlest on stamina
• Arrembaggio can win games through brawling but will exhaust your crew fast
• Keep morale high before games (Rum helps) - morale sets the floor on player performance
• Assign crew roles before games: Doctor's Recovery bonus affects tiredness recovery rate