They exist as NPC captains that spawn their own ships, crew, cannons, and hold supplies.

In the naval code, the encounter “system” is primarily driven by:

• NPC captains like:
  1. Corsair Captain
  2. Ghost Captain
  3. Viking Captain
• Crew types (example: Corsair Crew; plus other crew classes used by the captain logic)

This means: when the captain spawns (usually via a spawner/zone system), the captain then builds the encounter ship.

When an encounter captain initializes without an existing ship:

1. The captain spawns a ship at its location (if it can fit).
2. The ship becomes owned by the captain.
3. The ship is given a random ship name.
4. The ship is painted (ghost ships use a specific hue; others random in a range).
5. The ship's cannon capacity is set between StartingMaxCannons and MaxCannons.
6. The ship automatically adds cannons (AutoAddCannons).
7. A crew is spawned onto the ship.

If the ship cannot fit, the ship and captain delete (failed spawn).

Encounter captains spawn a crew of about 3–5 members onto the deck.

Encounter captains scale their cannon cadence based on crew:

• more crew = faster firing
• bounded so it never becomes extreme

(Internally it’s a seconds value that bottoms out at 2 seconds and tops out at 10 seconds.)

Encounter ships typically spawn with hold supplies like:

• Swab, Ramrod, Torch (ship gear)
• Cannonballs, Grapeshot, Powder Charges, Fuse Cords
• Sometimes elemental cannonballs (fire/frost)
• Gold and Copper amounts (configured ranges)