Know where to begin

Where to begin as captain?You're new to the game. You've played a few matches as crew members (do not ever jump to captaining immediately).The following is strictly my own opinion and should be treated as such.A word about myself -I'm one of the saddos who had too much time on his hands and got excited for this new Blackwake game thing that was doing the rounds on Kickstarter and Youtube.As such, when Alpha was announced to be impending. I went to the Youtube channels of people like BaronVonGamez, Starsnipe, Bluedrake42, PartiallyRoyal and the like. I watched every video of every battle they fought and I mentally noted what they did right and wrong. How they might've won or lost.By the end, I was an expert on Blackwake without having played a minute of it. I knew loading procedure, boarding, ramming, everything. Thus when I logged in on Alpha 1 it took one game as crew before I signed up as captain. I was voted in, and won it handily. Over the course of Alpha 1, I would go on to see multiple winstreaks of 3 or even higher.At that time, 1v1 Galleons were the only thing out there (1v1 Hoys were played only when the servers were truly empty, and that was extremely rare). It was sudden death, you had no back up and no second chances. It was the ideal testing ground for the great captains. Amongst them Pope, Evanovich, Alboe, Reimer, Sack Jarrow and many others whose names sadly escape me.The arrival of Fleet Battles are a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because the effectiveness of the truly deadly captains are balanced out by them being only part of a formation of 3 ships whose effectiveness may vary wildly. You are now no longer the poor sucker who is target practice for one of the aforementioned great captains. By the same token however, Fleet Battles are a safety net. Using this novel thing called communication, you can call for help, have Galleons and Hoys come to support you if need be with massive broadsides and highly competent crews.It is difficult therefore to learn the fine art of trying know your enemy captain's ship better than they know it themselves. To watch every shot they make, hit or miss and to guess what effect your ship's fire is having in real time. Nor is it as easy to learn the equally fine art of completely out maneuvering a ship that is equal to your own in every way.This may sound elitist, but 1v1 ship combat is the most effective way to learn the game in this writer's opinion, unfortunately, 1v1 ship combat is increasingly being relegated to low population time periods where there isn't enough crew to even fill one Galleon.So, how do we learn to be better captains?We -1. Watch Youtube. Consider every move the captain makes, watch what their crew does. Are the captain's commands being acted upon in time? Is the captain communicating effectively? And most importantly, if you were at the wheel, what would you have done?The Alboe Show is arguably the finest resource for Blackwake gameplay, it is unlikely for there to be any situation that has not appeared upon the programme at some point, nor a single captain currently in Blackwake whose work has not be showcased at some point in the files. It is hardly reasonable to expect anyone to watch all 220 videos, but a look at some of the recurring names should ensure a good overview of some of the better captains.The full playlist maybe found here.I would also recommend viewing the earlier videos of the aforementioned youtubers. Although the version they played is long out of date, their videos are both highly entertaining and instructive for any player who has truly no idea how to play the game. Their long and bitter road to learning the game is both hilarious and illuminating.2. Play as crew. Note how your captain plays, could you do a better job? Do they need to communicate more, or less? Play with the great captains as their crew. Try to think about why they're doing so well. It may seem like they have this unworldly sense of being able to aim broadsides and always ensure their crew is loaded when they turn to fire.How do they marshal the crew and make sure they're coordinated? Listen to how they act when things go wrong. What do they do when the ship is sinking full of holes?3. Play as captain. It is possible to ignore the other two (it will be filled with blood tears and sweat however). It is impossible to ignore this. Be confident, be brave, be aggressive. Take the fight to the enemy. Remember, ultimately, in the words of the immortal Nelson: "No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy."Make a note of your mistakes. Where did things go to hell? Why did that broadside fail? Were the crew distracted? Killed? Did they not know what they were doing? Was there a failure to communicate? Do not be afraid of these great captains I harp on about. They play the same game. Their ships are made of holes, same as you. They will sink with holes just as you will.At the same time, make a note of your opponent's failures. You survived what should've killed you, why? What mistakes was made by them? Do you make that mistake? Can it be capitalized upon? In future too?That's all from me for now. I'd like to write further guides on different subjects, but this shall remain a living document I intend to update as the game progresses and changes (as games do) as well update with as many pictures as possible (it is difficult to get gameplay shots when the alpha isn't actually running). I hope players both old and new have learned something from this and I'd like to welcome the new players come to the game in future alphas and in the coming release. I look forward to commanding and being commanded by you all. If even one player finds they command their craft a little better after reading this guide then its purpose has been fulfilled.Salute.Signed, sealed and black spotted.Kommissar Hedgehog.At Sea.13/12/2016.P.S. Please do not refrain from providing comments and suggestions.