Video Game / Treasure Planet: Battle at Procyon

Pirate spotted, Sir!

It is the golden age of exploration, solar-powered light ships fly the Etherium of deep space, bringing colonists and trade to every corner of the galaxy. But even a golden age has its dangers, some natural and some decidedly less so. Where there are traders there are also pirates, always ready to prey on the unwary. Within the Empire, such crimes do not go unpunished, those who would disturb the peace must face the Royal Navy, the Queen's Royal light ships have protected the Empire for over two centuries. Whether fighting pirates or Procyon invaders, the Navy has always been victorious, until now. Just as the Empire and the Procyons are on the verge of peace, a new menace has appeared on the frontier, a menace that cloaks itself in mystery, and leaves no clue, except destruction. A menace, that may be too powerful for anyone to defeat.

— Introduction

Treasure Planet: Battle at Procyon is a Naval Combat game and sequel to Disney's Treasure Planet film. It was released on October 31, 2002.

The game takes place 5 years after the events of the aforementioned film. An Older and Wiser Jim Hawkins is about to graduate from the Royal Navy Academy as a Naval Officer in the Terran Empire's Royal Navy after completing one final exam, which is being invigilated by Amelia, who has been promoted to the rank of Admiral. While all this is happening the Terran Empire and the Procyon Expanse are negotiating a peace treaty after 10 years of war, as part of a 75 year old conflict. While this is happening, several ships have been disappearing and strange, highly advanced ships with steel armour and no sails (all the other ships in the game are made of wood and powered by solar sails) have been sighted, these mysterious ships are known as 'Ironclads'.

The player can set navigation courses, fire the weapons, grapple and tow ships, and board enemy ships. In addition to the main ship, which the player has full control over, the player sometimes has other AI controlled ships in their fleet they can give orders to; successfully boarding an enemy ship will add it to the player's fleet. Ships can be customised, such as modifying the weapon banks or choosing the crew. Weapon banks are sorted into 4 categories, light, medium, heavy and special, customisable weapon banks allow weapons to be swapped as long as they are the same weight or lighter, although special weapons cannot be swapped.

The campaign consists of 12 missions, and follows the story of Jim Hawkins' career as an officer in the Terran Empire's Royal Navy, fighting the Pirates and investigating the Ironclad menace while the peace agreement between the Empire and the Procyons is underway. During the campaign, Jim Hawkins is supported by his first mate, Mr. Onyx.

In addition to the campaign, the game also has a 'skirmish' mode, which allows the player to play as either the Royal Navy, Pirates, Procyons or Ironclads in either 'historical' or 'open maps. 'Historical' maps take place either during the Terran-Procyon War, or recount various Pirate raids or Ironclad sightings. These maps do not allow the player to customise the fleet, but they do allow the player to play as any side. 'Open' maps allow much greater freedom in customising the scenario, as the player is allowed to choose what ships are in their fleet, as well as how many 'players' participate in the scenario.

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Battle at Procyon provides examples of:

• Aliens of London: The Procyons speak with a Russo-German accent.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The final mission takes place during an attack on the Royal Parliament by the Procyons, who had managed to reach the Parliament with no resistance due to most of the Royal Navy being sent to the frontier to defend against the Ironclads.
• Alpha Strike: The player has the option to command all ships in their fleet to fire at the same target.
• Ambadassador: The Procyon Ambassador, Evar, was an Admiral in the Procyon Navy during the Terran-Procyon War before becoming the Procyon Ambassador. The "bad" part becomes evident when it's revealed that he's the leader of a secret plot by the Procyons to exploit the Peace Treaty to assassinate the Queen and claim absolute victory for their side.
• Arbitrary Equipment Restriction: The player is not able to buy Heavy Plasma Cannons in the campaign when the difficulty is set to hard, despite the Royal Navy normally having access to Heavy Plasma Cannons. This is most noticeable when the player is given a Fast Frigate, which comes with a Heavy Plasma Cannon by default, but if the player switches the Heavy Plasma Cannon for a different weapon on hard mode, they cannot get it back.
• Arbitrary Headcount Limit: Zigzagged. The maximum fleet size for each player in open skirmishes can be set between 1 and 10. If the maximum number of ships is reached in the fleet customisation screen, the player cannot purchase any more, even if they still have enough Victory Points to buy more ships. However, the fleet size limit may be exceeded if enemy ships are successfully boarded.
• Arrow Cam: Pressing 'B' will cause the camera to focus on and follow the nearest projectile, until it hits something.
• Asteroid Thicket: Unrealistically dense asteroid belts appear on some maps as hazards, some of these asteroids are slow moving, but others can move quickly. Asteroids will break apart into smaller asteroids if they take enough damage.
• Artifact Title: Treasure Planet is only mentioned in Jim's logs between missions. One of the logs mentions a mapping device similar to the one in the movie, but the other mentions of Treasure Planet aren't really relevant except as backstory.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Star Mortar broadsides. One Star Mortar already does a lot of damage and has a massive blast radius, and an entire broadside of them is one of the most devastating weapon batteries in the game. However they still come with the same disadvantages of a single Star Mortar (astonishingly low velocity projectiles and a very long reload time) as well as being the most expensive weapon refit in the game. A single Star Mortar is already an expensive weapon costing 40 Victory Points, but an entire broadside of them can cost up to 160 Victory Points, more than the cost of an Imperial Frigate (131 Victory Points). Star Mortars also reload very slowly, when all of the broadside heavy guns are Star Mortars, it can leave the ship with drastically lower firepower while they are being reloaded, and the massive blast radius makes it likely that firing it at close range will damage their own ship. Not to mention that simply buying a ship equipped with the Nova Mortar is a much more cost efficient option.
• Back from the Dead: Curiously enough, despite his death in the film, Turnbuckle returns alive as a crew member of the pirate ship you fight against in the first mission. Though this might be more of a Continuity Snarl than anything, especially given that has a lot of differences design-wise. Scroop also appears as a selectable crew member for the Pirates in the skirmish mode.
• Batman Gambit: The purpose of the Ironclads is to attack civilian ships, causing the Royal Navy to send most of their ships to the frontier, leaving the Royal Parliament undefended, allowing the Procyon diplomatic fleet able to destroy the Royal Parliament and assassinate the Queen with little to no resistance.
• BFG: The Nova Mortar is a gun that is so large that the only ships that can use it are Men of War with their entire bow section cleared to make space and reinforced to be able to survive the recoil. The Nova Mortar fires a cluster of 5 Mortar bombs, each slightly more powerful than the Star Mortar, making it over 5 times more powerful than the second most powerful gun in the game (the Star Mortar), with a longer range as well.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: Mr. Onyx and Jim Hawkins.
• Boarding Party: The game allows both the player and the AI to board enemy ships. Boarding an enemy ship becomes an option if the target ship is grappled; a successful boarding will cause the target ship to become part of your fleet. The success chance of boarding depends on the number of crew in each ships boarding party and the skill of the boarding crew. At the fleet customisation screen, the player can assign crew members to be part of the boarding party, to increase the chance of successfully boarding ships.
• Bomb Disposal:
  • Underside-mounted Light Lancers are used for firing at incoming torpedoes and mines.
  • The Minelayer, in addition to being used to plant mines, is also useful for disposing of enemy mines and torpedoes, as they have the largest number of underside-mounted Light Lancers out of any ship.
• Boring, but Practical:
  • Laser Cannons are not the most powerful weapons in the game, nor are they the flashiest, but they are the most cost effective, and the cheapest for their respective weight class (heavier versions being more expensive), with the Light Laser Cannon being the cheapest weapon in the game. Although they are not as powerful as the Plasma Cannons or Carronades, a broadside from a Ship of the Line armed with Laser Cannons (especially if they are the heavy variant) is still devastating, easily capable of destroying most lighter ships in a single volley and dealing serious damage to even the strongest of ships, all while being cheaper than the Plasma Cannons, Carronades and Lancers, as well as being more accurate and having greater range than the Carronades and dealing far greater damage per shot than the Lancers. The lower cost of the Laser Cannons also saves Victory Points to spend on other things such as crew, or additional ships in open skirmish maps, as the cost of more expensive weapons quickly adds up when buying them for several weapon banks, especially weapon banks with larger gun batteries.
  • Tenders are not heavily armed (except for the Procyon Tender), nor are they particularly heavily armoured or fast, but they are the only ship that allows allied ships to dock next to them for repairs, making them extremely useful for recovering after a battle, especially if there are no nearby docks.
• Breakable Weapons: Weapon banks can be destroyed if they sustain enough damage. They can also be specifically targeted for the purpose of disarming the enemy.
• Break Out the Museum Piece: The Royal Navy's Heavy Scout class of ships are obsolete Discovery-class frigates that have been refitted with more modern weaponry.
• Bullying a Dragon: In Mission 5, Jim's squadron is heading to the island of Alzrand to sort out a local dispute that escalated into a blockade of the neighboring island Alamein's fishing trade. But the way is blocked by local fishing vessels. When Jim demands they make way, the local in charge merely responds with "Or what?" One warning shot later, the fishermen wisely clear off.
• Close-Range Combatant:
  • Any ship that is equipped primarily with close ranged weapons, such as Carronades or Lancers. In Open Skirmishes it is possible to make most ships into this by refitting them with these weapons, although even outside of Open Skirmishes, some ships come with mainly close ranged weapons by default, such as the Pirate Assault Cutter and Fast Attack, as well as the Imperial Assault Cutter to a lesser extent.
  • Pirate ships in general, as Pirates do not have access to several long ranged weapons (Plasma Cannons, Torpedoes and Nova Mortars) and often have a larger number of lighter guns (which have less range than heavier guns) compared to heavier guns than Imperial and Procyon ships. This means Pirates often tend to fight at closer ranges; this also encourages boarding, which the Pirates specialise in.
• Collision Damage: Ramming will deal damage to both ships, although the ship being rammed will usually receive more damage. Ramming damage is based on the weight, speed and material of the ship, a larger ship travelling faster will deal more damage than a smaller one travelling slower and Ironclads will deal more and receive less ramming damage than wooden ships of equivalent weight and speed. The Dreadnought is the best ship in the game at ramming, as it is the largest Ironclad in the game.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience:
  • Imperial ships have brown hulls, yellow sails and blue accents.
  • Pirate ships have dark brown hulls, red sails and red and yellow accents.
  • Procyon ships have brown and white hulls, white sails and green accents.
  • Civilian ships have brown hulls, white sails and yellow accents.
  • Ironclads, due to their steel hulls and lack of sails, are entirely grey.
• Combat Medic: The Procyon Tender is fairly heavily armed, making it effective at both combat and support roles.
• Continuity Snarl: Despite being set 5 years after the film, it's very clear that due to the game being in development and releasing before the film that it might have been based on an earlier draft, since there are some differences. This includes:
  • Turnbuckle somehow still being alive despite having died from falling into boiling metal in Treasure Planet's core when it was blowing up.
  • Dr. Doppler is referred to as Jim Hawkins' mentor, despite the fact that in the movie he was only an old family friend and financier of the Treasure Planet expedition, and spent more time doing navigation work for Amelia, while Jim was mentored by John Silver.
• Critical Existence Failure: Averted. Ships that take enough damage can have their sails, engines, rudders, weapon banks and even sections of the hull destroyed, depending on what part receives enough damage.
• Damage Control: Riggers can repair the ship, albeit slowly, and put out fires. Using more skilled riggers can speed these processes up.
• Damage Over Time:
  • Fires will deal damage to ships as long as they are active.
  • The Arcturian Fire Launcher is a heavy weapon that allows the player to reliably set enemy ships on fire for the purpose of dealing damage over time.
• Decapitated Army: If the command ship is sunk in the campaign, the mission fails, even if the remaining fleet has enough strength to complete the mission without the command ship. Averted in the skirmish mode, however; if your command ship sinks, you will be given command of the next ship in your fleet.
• Defog of War: Using a spotter with a high 'spotting' rating will increase the maximum distance ships can be spotted from.
• Design-It-Yourself Equipment: Ships can have their weapon configuration and crew customised. Weapons may be refitted as long as they are the same weight class or lighter than their weapon mount, although certain weapon banks cannot be refitted, such as hull mounted guns and any special weapon. The ship's crew can also be selected to improve the ship's handling in certain areas, such as speed, manoeuvrability, repair rate, weapon accuracy and boarding strength. Refitting weapons or selecting crew costs Victory Points, with better crew and more powerful weapons costing more Victory Points.
• The Dreaded: The appropriately named 'Dreadnought'. The Dreadnought is the largest Ironclad and is the most technologically advanced and powerful ship class in the game. Their armour is so thick, lighter projectiles will almost always bounce off harmlessly and even heavier projectiles have their damage reduced. It's also one of the most heavily armed ships in the game. The manual states that almost nothing is known about the Dreadnought, as no ship has ever survived a close encounter with one; the fact that they tend to have names like Terror, Devastation and Obliteration doesn't help either.
• Drone of Dread: The theme of "The Ironclads" uses low-pitched, long sustained sounds.
• Easter Egg: In Mission 6, on the south-east side of the map, there are a few message rockets scattered around. Presumably, they were fired by the crew of the abandoned Cutter hidden on the north-east of the map.
• Epic Ship-on-Ship Action: The game's combat resembles late 18th to mid 19th century naval combat (only IN SPACE!) and allows for very large naval battles, especially in certain open maps.
• Establishing Shot: Every mission in the campaign begins with an establishing shot showing the surrounding area, before zooming in on the command ship.
• Exclusive Enemy Equipment: Certain weapons are not available to each faction, preventing them from being outfitted on their ships. However, they can still be used if an enemy ship that has them is successfully boarded.
• Fantastic Ship Prefix: Imperial ships use the prefix 'RLS' (Royal Light Ship; 'RLS' is also Robert Louis Stevenson's initials), where as Procyon ships use 'PSR' (Procyon Star Runner). Pirate ships and Ironclads do not use prefixes.
• Fantastic Slurs: Procyons are sometimes referred to as 'Procs' or 'Raccoons' by Royal Navy personnel.
• Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon: Procyon ships usually have most of their guns as bow chase guns (guns mounted on the front of the ship), as opposed to the Imperial ships, which usually have the majority of their guns as broadside guns (guns mounted on the side of the ship).
• Fragile Speedster:
  • Torpedo Boats are the most fragile ship in the game, with only 350 HP. However, they have a top speed of 40 kilometres per hour, and are very well armed for a small ship, as they have two Torpedo Tubes, making them Glass Cannons at the same time.
  • All versions of the Sloop are relatively fast and lightly armoured, with the Procyon Sloop being the fastest, the Pirate Sloop being the best armoured, and the Imperial Warsloop being the worst in both aspects.
  • Gunboats, both the Procyon and Pirate versions, with the Procyon Gunboat being slightly faster at 45 kilometres per hour compared to the Pirate Gunboat at 43 kilometres per hour, making the Procyon Gunboat the fastest ship in the game. However, they are both very fragile, with the Procyon version only having 510 HP and the Pirate version having 580 HP.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: It is possible to board and capture an Ironclad before The Reveal that the Ironclads are Procyon creations.
• Gatling Good: The Laser Gatling Gun is a light weapon that rapidly fires a large number of bullets in a burst. Although these bullets only deal minimal damage to wooden hulls and ricochet harmlessly off of steel armour, they shred sails faster than any other weapon in the game, allowing them to cripple the power of ships, leaving them a sitting duck for a broadside or boarding. Gatling Guns also reload faster than any other weapon, allowing them to quickly fire at another undamaged sail after destroying one.
• Glass Cannon:
  • Torpedo Boats are the least heavily armoured ship available to the player in the game (350 HP), and although they are only equipped with a single light gun, they make up for it with their speed and 2 Torpedo Tubes, giving them excellent firepower for a ship of its size, with the Torpedo Boat's speed compensating for the long reload time of the Torpedo Tubes. The Torpedo Boat is also the cheapest ship available to the Royal Navy, only costing 19 Victory Points, making them a very cost effective option for long range firepower.
  • Both of the Assault Cutters are medium-small ships that sacrifice armour for firepower. The Imperial version has only 1,260 HP, but it is armed with 7 medium guns and 2 light guns, while the Pirate version sacrifices the large number of medium guns for slightly better armour (1,320 HP) and a much larger number of light guns (1 medium gun and 12 light guns).
  • Silver's Flagship, the Argentum, is a glass cannon compared to the other Ships of the Line, as it has the lowest HP count of all of the Ships of the Line (2,760 HP; in comparison, the Imperial Man of War has 4,940 HP), but it's also the fastest Ship of the Line and has the largest number of heavy guns out of all the ships in the game (13 heavy guns and 12 medium guns).
• Hero Must Survive: Applies to the campaign as the mission fails if Jim Hawkins' ship is sunk. Does not apply to skirmishes, however, as if the command ship is sunk, the second ship in the fleet will become the new command ship.
• Homing Projectile: Torpedoes and Mines. Torpedoes follow their target until they either hit something, run out of time and detonate, or are shot down by Point Defence Lancers. Mines act the same way except they don't start moving until an enemy moves close enough to activate them.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: The first fight with an Ironclad in Mission 8. None of your weapons, even the Heavy Plasma Cannon, will more than scratch it, while its lancers and torpedos will have your Fast Frigate aflame in minutes. Mr. Onyx points out that they have figured out very quickly that the Ironclads are considerably tougher than them. The final objective of the mission is to flee back to base, where the heavier armaments chase the Ironclad off. An element of Contractual Boss Immunity figures in as well.
• Humanoid Aliens: The Procyons are Humanoid Aliens with raccoon-like features.
• Husky Russkie: The Procyons come from the frozen planet Laar, speak with a Russian accent and are stronger than humans, despite being shorter on average.
• Impeded Communication: In Mission 5, the RLS Valiant sends an SOS rocket after being attacked by pirates, but by the time Jim finds it, the rocket was damaged by weapon fire, meaning all Mr. Onyx can make out is “Under attack…Silver…pirates…the Procyons are…”. It’s heavily implied that the Valiant was trying to warn about the robot Silver and that the planned Procyon peace treaty is a trap, leading to the Procyon ambassador shooting the rocket to prevent the information from getting out.
• Injured Player Character Stage: During Mission 3, a solar storm occurs, damaging both of the player's ships and nearly disabling their engines, crippling both ship's mobility. The rest of the mission involves trying to hide from pirates until the engines are repaired, and then escaping from the pursuing pirates.
• Interface Spoiler:
  • Playing as the Ironclads in the skirmish mode reveals that the Ironclads are Procyon ships.
  • When you happen across the dark matter mining operation in the nebula, your spotter can identify the mining barge as a Procyon vessel, giving an early hint to their true affiliation.
  • If you couldn't figure out which Silver was the impostor and which was the real Silver based on their dialog, just check which Argentum has the same color name banner as the one you encountered earlier in the mission.
• Ironic Name: Jim's Warsloop, RLS Endurance, has the second-worst health of the ships in his fleet and lacks the Comet's speed and maneuverability to make up for it, making it the ship with the worst endurance.
• Jack of All Stats: The Fast Frigate, which is a mid-priced ship available to the Royal Navy that is fast and decently armoured, with mediocre firepower for a ship of its size, being armed with 1 heavy, 6 medium and 2 light guns.
• Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: The cannon type weapons: Carronades, Laser Cannons and Plasma Cannons (which despite their names, function like and appear to be kinetic weapons) all deal much higher damage per shot than the game's true energy weapons (Lancers) when they are of the equivalent weight class, as well as being cheaper (with the exception of Plasma Cannons), making kinetic weapons a more cost effective option. Averted with Heavy Lancers, however, which as as effective (if not quite as powerful) as their kinetic counterparts. The Royal Navy in particular only get Light Lancers, which are one of the weakest weapons in the game, which makes kinetic weapons preferable on a Royal Navy ship.
• Lava Pot Volcano: The volcanic islands exaggerate this as all contain multiple craters, each with lava seething just below the rim of the vent. Some islands even have tiny side vents sticking out in seemingly random directions with a surface of glowing lava visible just barely inside. There's a particularly spectacular example at the Dorlinor Isle disaster site, where a meteor impact punctured the local volcano's magma chamber and caused the impact crater to overflow with lava.
• Lead the Target:
  • Leading the target is often required to hit when using Mortars and Grav Charges, especially when firing Mortars at long range, due to their low velocity projectiles.
  • Gunners will do this automatically when ordered to fire. More skilled gunners will lead their shots more accurately, while less skilled gunners may fire directly at moving targets.
• Long-Range Fighter:
  • Any ship that is equipped primarily with long ranged weapons, such as Plasma Cannons, Torpedeos and Mortars. In Open Skirmishes it is possible to make most ships into this by refitting them with either Plasma Cannons and/or Mortars, although even outside of Open Skirmishes there are several ships that come with long ranged weapons by default. For example: the Imperial Fast Frigate and all Ironclads come with Plasma Cannons by default, while both the Imperial and Procyon Man of War come with Star Mortars.
  • The Imperial StarHammer and Procyon Ice Fist, as they are equipped with the Nova Mortar, the longest ranged and most powerful weapon in the game.
  • Procyon ships in general, as not only do they have access to all long ranged weapons in the game, their ships often come with Torpedoes, making them well suited to longer range, especially when combined with the other long range weapons they have in their arsenal.
• Lost in Transmission: In the last part of Mission 5, you find an S.O.S. sent by the Royal Navy vessel RLS Valiant that's escorting the Procyon diplomatic fleet to the peace treaty signing. With the message rocket badly damaged by weapons fire, all Mr. Onyx is able to make out is "under attack… Silver… pirates… the Procyons are…". You won't find out what the entire message says because the Valiant is destroyed and its entire crew killed by pirates who're led by Silver's flagship when you arrive. Ambassador Evans says that the cease-fire agreement prevented the diplomatic fleet from fighting the pirates themselves, but while visiting his flagship, Mr. Onyx notices that one of the Star Mortars has clearly been fired recently, implying that the Procs attacked the Valiant to cover their true intentions, a theory Admiral Amelia is convinced of, and the reveal of the Procyons being the ultimate villains who are using Silver's robotic duplicate to control the pirates confirms it to be true.
• Made of Iron: The Ironclads, both literally and in the sense of this trope, as their armour not only reduces damage, but causes some projectiles (especially smaller ones) to glance off harmlessly.
• The Medic: The Tender class of ships, which are poorly armed (except for the Procyon Tender) but have the ability to repair allied ships if they dock next to them for repairs.
• Named After Their Planet: The Procyons are named after 'Procyon', the nearest star to their homeworld, Laar.
• Never Trust a Title: Despite the game being titled 'Battle at Procyon', no battle takes place at Procyon.
• No Campaign for the Wicked: The campaign only allows you to play as the Royal Navy, although you can play as other factions in the skirmish mode.
• Non-Indicative Name:
  • The actual Procyon star does not appear in the game, let alone any battles taking place at Procyon. The end credits even say 'No battle actually takes place at Procyon'.
  • None of the weapons designated as 'lasers' or 'plasma' are actual lasers or plasma. Instead, they function like and appear to be conventional kinetic projectiles.
• Non-Standard Game Over: In Mission 11, if you attack the real Silver, Robot Silver tells you that you have been delayed too long and there's no way to save the Queen from the Procyon ambush. You are then penalized with a Game Over.
• Oddball in the Series: Who expected a naval combat sim from Disney Interactive!?
• Painfully Slow Projectile: Star Mortar bombs move incredibly slowly, to the point where they can take nearly a minute to land when fired at maximum range, however, they make up for this with their massive range, blast radius and damage.
• Painting the Medium: In skirmish mode, the UI changes depending on what faction you are playing as.
• Permadeath: In the campaign, any allied ships sunk - other than the command ship - will be lost for the remainder of the campaign.
• Pintsized Powerhouse:
  • Torpedo Boats are one of the smallest ships in the game and are the least armoured, but they are equipped with two Torpedo Tubes, giving them excellent firepower for a ship of their size and cost.
  • The Procyons themselves also qualify, as they are on average shorter than most humans but stronger, due to having a 20% higher muscle to bone ratio.
• Planar Shockwave:
  • Explosions large enough to hit multiple objects have this effect.
  • Mortar bombs from Star and Nova Mortars explode in this fashion.
  • Happens in Mission 9 when the Ironclad refueling base is destroyed.
• Plasma Cannon: The Plasma Cannon is the best of the cannon type weapons, as it has the greatest range, damage, velocity and accuracy, although they are expensive and not available to pirates. Similar to the 'Laser Cannon', the Plasma Cannon does not appear to actually fire plasma; instead it acts like a conventional kinetic weapon, and resembles a rifled cannon.
• Powerful, but Inaccurate:
  • Carronades are more powerful than Laser Cannons of the equivalent weight class, but are less accurate and shorter ranged.
  • Mortars fired at long range could arguably qualify, despite them technically being accurate as they always hit where they are aimed, as their projectiles move incredibly slowly, making hitting the intended target directly nearly impossible at long range.
• Power Up Letdown:
  • The Mortars. The bullet travels really slowly, so it's very easy to dodge, and to top it off a partial hit will cause less damage than standard heavy weapons. Fortunately, it can be fixed with mods.
  • In the campaign, the Warsloop replaces the Torpedo Boat as the player's command ship for Missions 3 and 4. Despite being a more expensive ship with more guns (1 light gun and 4 medium guns compared to the Torpedo Boat's 1 light gun and 2 Torpedo Tubes), it is actually a downgrade, as the 2 extra guns it has do not make up for the loss of the Torpedo Tubes in firepower. The Warsloop isn't even much tougher than the Torpedo Boat and is slightly slower and a larger target.
• Ramming Always Works:
  • Ramming can be a useful tactic depending on what ship is being used, with heavier ships being better at ramming than lighter ones; the best, of course, is the Ironclad Dreadnought. Ramming is also useful as a last-ditch attack if all weapons are destroyed, and is the best tactic for dealing with submerged Submersibles.
  • At the end of the campaign, Admiral Evar tries to ram Jim Hawkins' Ship of the Line, RLS Victory, with his Dreadnought, Wailing Wind, as a last-ditch attack when he realises that he has lost the battle. However, Silver's ship, Argentum, intercepts and rams the Wailing Wind first, causing it to explode (presumably from hitting the fuel tank and/or ammunition magazine) and destroying both ships in the process.
• The Reveal: The ending of Mission 10 reveals that the Ironclads are Procyon ships and that the Procyons were Evil All Along and are using the Ironclads to attack civilian ships to divert the bulk of the Royal Navy to the frontier, leaving the Royal Parliament undefended, allowing the Procyon diplomatic fleet to easily destroy the Royal Parliament and assassinate the Queen.
• Secret Character: In Mission 6, there's a secret Cutter, the RLS Summerside, tucked away in the north-east corner of the map. You can salvage it and add it to your fleet if you find it.
• Shows Damage: Smoke will emit from ships when they take enough damage. The models of ships can also change to reflect how they have been damaged, for example, a ship with damaged engines will show sections of the engines missing or if the engines are completely destroyed that entire section of the ship will be missing, sails and weapons can also be damaged and completely destroyed, with the ships model changing to reflect this.
• Slow Laser:
  • Lancers act this way, as they fire multiple, slower than light projectiles (although faster than other projectiles), which travel beyond their firing range indefinitely.
  • Several other weapons are referred to as 'Lasers' such as the Laser Cannon and Laser Gatling Gun, but none of them resemble lasers in the slightest. Instead, they act like conventional kinetic weapons as their projectiles travel slower than light and do not have a perfectly straight trajectory.
• Solar Flare Disaster: Solar Flares happen periodically on maps with nearby stars in them. Ships caught in the solar flare will receive damage and be set on fire.
• Solar Sail: Most of the ships are powered by solar sails, with the exception being the Ironclads, which are powered by dark matter. The sails on ships that have them can be targeted to cripple the ship's mobility. Ships with sails will also lose power if the ship moves into a Nebula, as it obstructs light from nearby stars.
• So Long, and Thanks for All the Gear: Unlike every other ship given to the player in the campaign, the Fast Frigate RLS Lightning does not stay in the player's fleet after it is replaced by the Frigate as the player's command ship in Mission 9. All of the weapon upgrades, crew and Victory Points the player spent on the Fast Frigate are lost with it.
• Something Only They Would Say: Jim figures out which Silver is the real one when the fake Silver just shouts orders at Jim to kill the real one, but the real Silver recalls what he said about catching the light from Jim's "sails". It can also count that as with any authority figure, Silver is trying to butter Jim up. That's Silver all right!
• Sorting Algorithm of Weapon Effectiveness: Laser Cannons, Carronades, Plasma Cannons and Lancers have Light, Medium and Heavy variants, with heavier versions being more powerful and possessing greater range, but naturally being more expensive.
• Space Clouds: Nebulae appear as large blue clouds. Entering a nebula will cause the ship to lose power, although Ironclads are immune to this as they do not use solar sails for power, so they can travel through nebulae without losing power.
• Space Is an Ocean: A literal example, as space in this game contains: islands, currents, whales, fish, pirates and submarines capable of hiding under the 'surface'.
• Space Mines: The Minelayer class of ships can deploy mines, when a hostile ship comes close enough the mines will travel towards the ship and explode. Some maps start with mines on them, and in some cases they are hostile to all ships.
• Space Pirates: Pirates are the most common enemies in the campaign and are one of the playable factions in the skirmish mode.
• Space Sailing: The solar-sail powered ships resemble 18th to early 19th century ships, while Ironclads resemble mid 19th century Ironclads and late 19th century Cruisers and Battleships.
• Space Whale: Space Whales appear on some maps, most notably the first campaign mission, when they are spotted the spotter will say 'Whales spotted'.
  Jim Hawkins: Look, Mr. Onyx! Orcus Galacticus! Spotting them is supposed to bring good luck!
  Mr. Onyx: I wouldn't know, sir. But they are certainly magnificent!
• Spot the Imposter: In Mission 11 the player encounters two pirate ships claiming to be commanded by John Silver, and must work out which is the real one and shoot the imposter.
• Stone Wall:
  • The Tug is the toughest sloop-sized ship in the game by far, as it has 1,110 HP, over twice as much as a Warsloop (550 HP) and over 3 times as much as the Torpedo Boat (350 HP). However, the Tug is also the poorest armed ship available to the Royal Navy, as it is only equipped with 1 medium gun and 2 light guns (which is even less than the Warsloop's 1 light and 4 medium guns). The Tug is also very slow for such a small ship, moving at only half the speed of a Torpedo Boat. Although the Tug lacks firepower and speed, it makes up for it in being the second cheapest ship available to the Royal Navy, costing only 30 Victory Points compared to their third cheapest ship, the Warsloop (which costs 40 Victory Points) and by the fact that the Tug's engines are powerful enough to tow a Weapon Barge without much trouble, which can compensate for the Tug's lack of firepower.
  • The Imperial and Pirate Tenders both have a high HP count of 2,800 HP and 2,845 HP respectively, but are very poorly armed for a ship of their size, with the Imperial Tender only being equipped with 4 medium guns and the Pirate Tender with 4 medium guns and 1 light gun.
• Subsystem Damage: Various parts of the ship can be damaged or destroyed. Destroying sails, engines and rudders can cripple mobility, where as destroying sections of the hull can disable weapon banks.
• Target Spotter: The spotter is a crew member that spots ships and other objects. The higher the spotter's skill, the further away things can be seen.
• Themed Cursor: The cursor used depends on what faction the player is playing as.
• This Is My Name on Foreign: Silver’s ship is named Argentum, which is Latin for silver.
• Trap Master: The Minelayer's main use is deploying mines for enemies to run into, as they are not very good in a straight up fight.
• Unique Enemy:
  • Pirate Gunboats appear in only one section of the entire game, when approaching the Pirate base in Mission 11.
  • Only one Pirate Galleon appears in the entire game, right at the end of Mission 11. Fighting the Galleon is optional, as the player can only fight the Galleon if they shoot the real Argentum.
  • The Ironclad Cruisers and Submersibles only appear in Mission 12. In the case of the Submersibles, they only appear during the second half of the mission.
• Unrealistic Black Hole: Black holes appear on several maps as hazards, usually in the centre of the map. Black Holes will pull any nearby object into its event horizon, destroying anything that reaches the event horizon.
• Unusable Enemy Equipment:
  • John Silver's flagship, the Argentum, is only available to the AI in the campaign and is unusable to the player, even in the skirmish mode, although there are modifications that enable its use.
  • Depending on what side you are playing on, certain weapons will be unavailable. The Royal Navy does not have access to Medium and Heavy Lancers, the Pirates do not have access to Mines, Torpedoes, Nova Mortars and Plasma Cannons, and the Procyons cannot equip their ships with Carronades.
• Utility Weapon:
  • Grav Charges are a medium weapon that don't do any damage. Instead, they create a small field with its own gravitational pull, which can be useful for stopping ships (especially fast ships) for boarding or making them an easy target for a broadside. Grav Charges also reveal hidden submarines.
  • The Energy Net, similar to the Grav Charge, is a medium weapon that doesn't deal any damage, but can temporarily disable sails, slowing them down the ship to make it an easy targets for broadsides or boarding. Unlike the Grav Charge, however, the Energy Net also reduces the rate of fire of ships it hits.
  • The Harpoon Gun is a light weapon that fires a grappling hook, which does a random amount of damage (ranging from very low to very high for a light gun) and has a relatively low rate of fire. Its main use is enabling the player to grapple enemy ships, which can be used for manipulating the movement of hostile ships and is a prerequisite to boarding. Grappling hooks can even tear ships apart if two ships grapple one and move in the opposite direction.
  • The underside-mounted Light Lancers cannot be used to target enemy ships, but will automatically fire upon incoming torpedoes and mines.
• Vehicular Turnabout: Successfully boarding an enemy ship will transfer the target ship to your fleet. If enemy ships are captured in the campaign, they will stay in the player's fleet for the remainder of the campaign, unless they are sunk.
• We Cannot Go On Without You: The command ship sinking in the campaign will result in mission failure, even if the rest of the fleet could still complete the mission. Does not apply to the skirmish mode however, as if the command ship sinks, the next ship in the fleet will become the command ship.
• Wham Line: The ending of mission 10, after Jim manages to disable and board an Ironclad ship.
  Mr. Onyx: Captain, we've done it! They're surrendering!
  Jim: Great Neptune! They're... Procyons!
• Wooden Ships and Iron Men: IN SPACE! In the case of the Ironclads, it's Iron Ships and Iron Men - IN SPACE!
• You Are in Command Now: In skirmish mode, if your flagship is destroyed, the next ship in the fleet will assume command. You can also manually take command of a specific ally ship by pressing P when it is selected.
• Zerg Rush: Purchasing a large number of small, cheap ships (preferably ones with powerful weapons, such as Torpedo Boats and Gunboats) and using them to overwhelm a smaller number of more powerful ships can be a viable strategy in the skirmish mode. The is often done by the AI on open skirmish maps if the Victory Point limit is set to a low amount and the maximum fleet size is set high.
• Zero-Effort Boss: Robot Silver turns out to be this. As soon as Jim lands a shot on the fake Argentum, the real Silver delivers a massive broadside towards his robot doppelgänger, and will almost certainly eliminate him without needing any further help.

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'NOTE: No battle actually takes place at Procyon.'

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