The gameplay consists of a number of Acts, which are divided into Rounds. Each Round consists of a Player Phase followed by an Enemy Phase and then repeats until an End of Act condition is reached, at which point certain End of Act events are handled. Then, unless the players have won or lost the game, the next Round begins.
The game can be played in two modes: the simple mode with the basic rules, and an advanced mode using "optional advanced mechanics", which adds two minigames related to Boarding (attacking enemy ships) and Exhaustive Expeditions (exploring normal islands on the world map).
Player Phase
The Player Phase is part of a Round where most of the player actions happen. During that phase, the following things happen, in this order:
1. Remove all Fatigue tokens from all Crew members for all players.
2. Refresh Order tokens for all players. Each player chooses three Order tokens in the Issued Orders area of their Ship Boards, and moves them to the Fresh Orders area. Some Traits and other effects may alter the number of Order tokens a player may refresh.
3. The players each take their Turn, beginning with the player with the First Player token, and then proceeding in clockwise order. During a player's Turn, that player takes any number of actions they have the resources for, then there is some End of Turn checks, and then the next player takes a Turn until all players have taken one Turn each.
When all players have taken their turns, the Player Phase ends and the Enemy Phase begins.