# Windrose is an excellent new pirate game, now in Early Access on Steam
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windrose-is-an-excellent-new-pirate-game-now-in-early-access-on-steam/1029300
**Category:** The Game Room
**Tags:** video-games-e-games
**Created:** [April 16, 2026, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windrose-is-an-excellent-new-pirate-game-now-in-early-access-on-steam/1029300 "2026-04-16T00:51:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2026, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windrose-is-an-excellent-new-pirate-game-now-in-early-access-on-steam/1029300/61 "2026-04-24T18:22:26Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> _breathe for a couple seconds then run back_
This has been my strategy as well. Using the Rapier of a Thousand Cuts, I was often surprised that I would come back to a pile of meat. But the strategy is breaking down for me on the ship boarding where quarters are tight so I am slowing down and working on guarding with the easier enemies.
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> I’m still absolute garbage at ship-to-ship combat, and need to learn how to take on a couple of ships at the same time without burning through three or four combat repair kits.
You pick up a lot of repair kits at sea so I treat them as part and parcel of sea warfare.
A couple of tips if you haven’t discovered them yet:
- You can upgrade ship gear (cannons, boarding gear, hull) at the ship crafting station, but you need to have the gear in your player inventory to get the option.
- Find a faction with the ship upgrade you want (e.g. steadfast hull), and level the relationship up to get access to the upgrades.
- Your wharf unlocks new ship types. When going against higher-level enemy ships, you might want a vessel with more HP.
- Aim cannons low along the waterline.
- This is probably obvious. In a multi-ship batter, once a ship is incapacitated, it is safe to ignore while fighting the others.
* * *
BTW, I enjoyed the story of Sleepy Mary. It is a tale as old as time or at least April 14, 2026.
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### Author:  [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2026, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windrose-is-an-excellent-new-pirate-game-now-in-early-access-on-steam/1029300/62 "2026-04-24T18:26:13Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> only to realize that my meals had run out during the battle and I was hungry and useless and died almost instantly. GAH!
I haven’t played this game yet, but now I’m wondering if the writers were Patrick O’Brian fans. Jack Aubrey always knew the importance of a good meal before combat, or at any other time.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2026, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windrose-is-an-excellent-new-pirate-game-now-in-early-access-on-steam/1029300/63 "2026-05-01T05:24:24Z")
Josh of Let’s Play It Out on YouTube did a Let’s Play of Windrose that people here might find interesting or amusing. [This Is What Happens When a Psychopath Is Unleashed on Piracy - Windrose](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpejN5lBKSQ&t=4s)
For those unfamiliar with him, his thing is playing games “wrong” and trying to break them, with funny commentary along the way. He’s also good enough at it that game devs give him copies of their games to break and patch it later (the “conveyor belt tornado” on the Steam store page for Satisfactory is his). So it’s quite possible that his video will lead to changes in future Windrose patches.
Windrose I note comes out of it better than a fair number of other games he’s tried out; he only managed to crash the game once.
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### Author:  [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2026, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windrose-is-an-excellent-new-pirate-game-now-in-early-access-on-steam/1029300/64 "2026-05-01T18:06:59Z")
The weaponized dock was the best. He sank a ship by trapping it in platforms he was quickly building then kept building until the ship was basically forced to capsize and sink.
He then proceeds to build woven grass platforms that hover unsupported in the air and travels above enemies, like Iceman from the X-Men, except not using ice.
[ ](https://cdn.dribbble.com/userupload/11560914/file/original-fe7e0405a66689599deff98db6939393.jpg?resize=752x&vertical=center)
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### Author:  [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2026, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windrose-is-an-excellent-new-pirate-game-now-in-early-access-on-steam/1029300/65 "2026-05-30T17:38:16Z")
I want to apologize to everyone that my server hasn’t been online in a while. I was navigating a crisis at home and had stopped playing for a time.
I am back at it and the server is once again up and running if you want to pop in. I’m going to try and keep it running, but if it’s absent just drop me a DM.
Invite Code: sdmbwindrose
PW: Cecil
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