It's About Pirates Manual Aiming: A Practical Guide to Ship Combat

Pirate survivor games live or die on where your cannons point, and It's About Pirates manual aiming puts that decision in your hands instead of the targeting system's. Elderwoof Games lists automatic and manual aiming as core options in the game's press kit, so you can choose between convenience and control on every run. If you have ever watched auto-fire waste a volley on a nearly dead hull while something much larger closes in, It's About Pirates manual aiming is worth understanding before your next voyage.

What the Press Kit Actually Confirms About It's About Pirates Manual Aiming

The published material on this game is thin, and that matters for how you read any guide, including this one. The Elderwoof Games press kit captured on 2026-11-09 describes It's About Pirates as an action-packed pirate roguelike and survivor game: you blast through relentless waves of enemies, collect loot, and upgrade your ship for naval battles. It also notes that you should "time your attacks for devastating impact," which is the closest the source gets to explaining why fire control matters.

The feature list is refreshingly blunt. The very first bullet is "Automatic or manual aiming," sitting above 30 adventures, 10 captains, 6 factions, over 140 items, and more than 150 ship parts. What the press kit does not publish is a control scheme, an aim-assist breakdown, or a list of which weapons behave differently under each mode. So treat the sections below as a framework for testing the game yourself rather than a secret menu of hidden settings.

Automatic vs. Manual Aiming: What Each Option Asks of You

Manual aiming is a trade. You give up the fire-and-forget comfort of automatic targeting and get direct control over what your weapons hit and when. In a survivor-style game, that trade usually shows up in two places: crowd clearing, where you want spread, and priority targets, where you want focus.

Source: Elderwoof Games press kit for It's About Pirates, captured 2026-11-09 (https://impress.games/press-kit/elderwoof-games/its-about-pirates). Counts are the developer's published feature claims, not live game data.

When It's About Pirates Manual Aiming Is Worth the Extra Attention

The honest answer is that it depends on what automatic targeting prioritizes in your build — and that is the first thing to test. A short, deliberate experiment answers most of it: load a run with automatic aiming, watch which enemy your ship shoots at when a fast skirmisher and a slow, heavy target are both in range, then repeat with manual aiming and note the difference.

Use manual aiming when:

• Your damage is concentrated. Mortars and harpoons, two of the weapon types named in the press kit, are the kind of tools where a miss costs real time. Directing them at the threat you actually care about is the point.
• You are fighting something big. Mythical sea monsters are called out as a headline danger. A single large target is the easiest case for manual fire, because there is no ambiguity about what you should be hitting.
• Cannonball storms get dense. The press kit promises exactly that. When the screen fills with incoming fire, deliberate aim lets you keep damaging while you reposition, instead of trusting the system to pick well.

Use automatic aiming when you are learning a new captain, testing an unfamiliar weapon, or simply want to focus on positioning and build choices. There is no penalty for switching your approach as you learn the game.

It's About Pirates Manual Aiming Tips That Transfer to Any Build

Because the ship is the build, aim advice has to start with the loadout. The press kit describes transforming your vessel into a fortress with flamethrowers, harpoons, mortars, and a broad arsenal of upgrades, and it emphasizes combining weapons and items strategically. That combination is what decides whether manual control feels powerful or fiddly.

• Split your weapons by job. Let wide, forgiving weapons handle swarm cleanup and keep your precise weapons for moments that matter. Manual aiming hurts most when every slot demands pinpoint input at once.
• Practice in the early adventures. With 30 adventures to work through, the opening stretch is the cheapest place to build the habit of tracking a target while dodging.
• Use Endless mode as a drill. Endless mode is a skill test by design. Go in with the intent to practice target selection rather than to chase a record, and the pressure becomes useful repetition.
• Match the captain and faction to the playstyle. Ten captains and six factions with unique abilities give you a lot of starting combinations; pick ones whose abilities do not fight your hands-on approach.
• Rebuild after every loss. This is a roguelike. If a run collapses because you could not keep up with aiming demands, change the weapons rather than blaming your hands.

Building a Ship That Rewards a Steady Hand

Over 150 ship parts are discovered across different pirate realms, and quests are how you expand that collection. The official material confirms the collection loop but not combat or aiming effects for the 150+ collectible parts, so those effects are for reference only until verified. For manual-aim testing, base rebuild advice on documented weapons, items, captains, and factions.

For version details, screenshots, and whatever the developer posts next, the official It's About Pirates Steam page is the source to watch. The press kit is a snapshot from 2026-11-09; patch notes and in-game settings can change what any of the above looks like in practice.

FAQ

Is manual aiming required in It's About Pirates? No. The press kit lists "Automatic or manual aiming" as a feature, which means both options exist and you are not locked into either one. Which one performs better is something to test with your own build.

How do I switch between automatic and manual aiming in It's About Pirates? The press kit confirms both modes exist but does not document the toggle. Check the in-game options menu first, and if the setting is not obvious, verify it against the current build rather than relying on secondhand instructions — including this guide.

Does It's About Pirates manual aiming help with leaderboard scores? That is not something the available sources confirm. A leaderboard is listed as a feature, but no scoring rules or mode-specific requirements are published, so treat precision as a preference until you can measure the difference yourself.

Which captains work best with It's About Pirates manual aiming? There is no published breakdown of the 10 captains, so the practical answer is to try several and keep the ones whose abilities support hands-on fire control. Pair that choice with a weapon mix that separates crowd clearing from single-target damage.