https://i.postimg.cc/sgzjr1pY/Screenshot-at-2025-06-24-17-36-22.png

There is various aspects of this game I am trying to figure out with the rock paper scisors nature of it, but let's first start with why it says I am "Friendly" in the middle and "Aggressive" off to the right. I think the one in the middle is correct since that fits with "dire" but then what is the aggressive on the right about?

It would appear the game has poorly explained itself such that even looking at the screenshot I cannot ascertain what is status, and what is interactive.

And I see the store page is a dotted outline (good going, GOG.), while the discussion forums last had anyone talking in them 3 years ago.

Does the game have any documentation?

???

From what I remember the game had actually a tutorial or some explanation of sorts.

Anyway... to answer your question - ''battle'' consists of ''Talking'' with your opponents.
There are 3 stances: Friendly, aggressive, devious.

Devious beats Friendly.
Friendly beats Agrressive.
Aggressive beats Devious.
(I Think.)

The trick is juggling your stances. Be friendly to aggressive opponents, only to backstab them for 2x damage. Then turn your stance back...

Your current stance is Agressive. The enemy is ''friendly''. I think you have clicked that you''ll change your stance next round.
Also - just because you are a certain stance does not mean you can only use ''attacks'' of that stance.

EDIT: Better clarification - you are not Friendly; the opponent is. You are agressive.
Being on the right side/part of the UI is somewhat counter-intuitive, I know.

You misread the screen:
- player is friendly in the current battle
- opponent is aggressive in the current battle
- the right side of the screen shows that the player was aggressive in the previous expedition, it has no bearing on the current battle

I went through all the tutorial, before posting this. After playing a bunch it seems the value in upper right is what type you use on average going up as you use it more. Not sure what effect this has if any

I actually reinstalled the game to test this. Game won't start. What the hell...

I vaguely recall it - at the end of a game - showing you how your general playstyle was. Maybe it determines in what stance the opponents begin a round?

Again - can't test because game won't start. :S
But according to vv221 it has no gameplay effect. It's merely ''cosmetic''; an extra.

Are you playing on Linux? That build is very capricious, I’ve already seen it going from working perfectly to no longer starting with no obvious change to the underlying system. As far as I remember, it is indeed only cosmetic. I don’t think it has any influence on the opponents starting stance.

Yes! xD

Did a 3rd reinstall and worked... go figure. :D Since I now managed to get it to run -- completed the beginning, Highlands Expedition and ventured into the Caribbean one - first battle did not seem to be anything different. :S
The guidebook also does not mention why it's there.
My guess is still that it's just serves as a memorium for when a run is over. Pirates were still agressive and I doubt they would have been ''friendly'' otherwise...

Also - I think OP has already figured this out - but attached are 2 screens to explain the ''Attitude'' game mechanics.

BTW in my OP there was suppose to be two images, one I uploaded directly to GOG and the other uploaded on a image host site. Image host site because it would only let me upload one image to GOG, if you try to upload more images it just replaces the previous image.

But the image uploaded to Gog didn't show at all . I have uploaded a new screenshot (actually the old one) see if it appears. Or I want to say but when I went to post that reply it wouldn't post. Trying now without the attachment.

One thing to note in the screenshot is the toolbar info. Not only does the tutorial not explain what is going on in that top right corner, the info window that pops up when you cursor over it Is extremely misleading and flat out false, and identical to the one that shows your actual state, That's not it, I'm using Linux, it installed effortlessly and works no problem. Do you have the game on Gog or Steam?

I also sometimes have that problem. :/

Dunno if these are still banned, but you might want to check:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/banned_words_on_gog_a_tracking_list

Thanks, I figured out the issue. I was using just some of the code when I replied to a message, I deleted some of it. I left in a extra [/.quote]
That was causing my post to hang instead of post. I edited my message with the original content

I also uploaded a image to this post. But it seems Gogs image attachment system is broken? I see someone else attached images to their post and two of them at that. How did you do that? Maybe it's because my screenshots are PNG?

Would have to check, but believe so. JPEG is only supported format; file size cannot exceed 500kb, and upload in complete is limited to 2mb.

EDIT: Just checked your first linked image - yeah, it would exceed the file size of 500kb. :<

The launch bugs are random. I could play for years never getting them, and they started all of a sudden. Before getting them for the first time, I had seen many people reporting them despite never experiencing them myself.