In multiplayer games the victory conditions are disabled so no battle ends until every ship on one side has been beaten. And so on. Designer Justin Przedwojewski has been very responsive to the player community and a patch is expected soon to address these and other issues, as well as adding some new requested features. In short, the simulator aspect of the game is quite complete. Boarding actions are rather Spartan affairs, consisting mostly of watching numbers ebb and flow while you decide when to press the attack or fall back.
Explosions trigger a frantic search of the map.
At Division or Admiral level, more of your time will be spend on the 2D map of the battle. At these levels you can still control your own ship, or you can turn control over to your second in command. Boarding lets you take ships that are relatively undamaged, such as these two One great disappointment that fans of the genre are becoming hardened to is the lack of land. Someday, maybe, we'll be able to run for the cover of shore batteries when we're outgunned. Multiplayer is easy to get started, and can support up to 32 players.