Some minor questions

[smrtwhkd]

I am trying to figure out what each officer position does and their abilities. Is there a list? Namely:
1. Boatswain: boarding? so need boarding skill?
2. Navigator: what does it do? what skills are important here?
3. First mate?
If an officer has special ability, can I use it as well? such as emergency repair, quick reload.

To unlock some of the abilities, I need do quest. For instance that advanced gunman, need do a quest for a gunsmith. But there is only one gunsmith which is in Sao Jorge. But I went there, there is no quest. Also to get long range boarding, I need deal with an enemy captain in a friendly way. How do I do that?

 

[Kara Korsan]

I'm not 100% sure, but what it looks like is that there are two benefits to officer specializations. First, every job seems to have two relevant attributes. Accuracy and Cannons for a gunner, for example. So, if you have an officer who has a better Accuracy and/or Cannons score than your main character, for example, assigning him as a gunner allows you to take advantage of his high scores while firing and reloading your cannons. And second, perks. You can give your officers any perk you want, but you can't make use of the ones irrelevant to their position. Using an officer with First Aid as a surgeon will let you take advantage of the perk without putting points in it yourself, but using him as a navigator will not.

As for the friendly dealings, there are dialogue lines where you can ask the surrendering captains what they have to offer for the safe passage for their men, and they can offer to teach you tricks.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I am trying to figure out what each officer position does and their abilities. Is there a list? Namely:
1. Boatswain: boarding? so need boarding skill?
2. Navigator: what does it do? what skills are important here?
3. First mate?

See PROGRAM\Characters\officertypes\init_officertypes.c (open with Notepad).

If an officer has special ability, can I use it as well? such as emergency repair, quick reload.

In most cases, I do believe that indeed works.

To unlock some of the abilities, I need do quest. For instance that advanced gunman, need do a quest for a gunsmith. But there is only one gunsmith which is in Sao Jorge. But I went there, there is no quest.

You have to wait for the quest to randomly appear.
Keep an eye on the Tavern News.

Also to get long range boarding, I need deal with an enemy captain in a friendly way. How do I do that?

It depends on how the dialog with the surrendered captain goes.
Choose the "Let's be civilised about this" option.

But looks like you pretty much already figured both of those out.