Any good captain needs to get her intentions across to the crew so that she may take advantage of any situation as best as possible. Orders are based on a captains leadership skill. It also covers how well a crew are able to accomplish what they think the captain will want them to do if the crew were in command radius.
Any crewmen within the captains command radius is expected to be aware of her desires. Whether or not the orders are actually carried out is handled under the morale section.
The captain has a number of senior officers under her command each of whom also have a smaller command radius. Rather than get bogged down in detail, it is assumed that each of these women is also aware of the captains desires and can pass that on to sailors within their command radius. Consider this knowledge part of their pre combat discussions or general fighting procedures. To restrict this in some way, consider any senior officer over three times the captains command radius away, to be out of command control. In other words, she cannot be issued orders except via trumpeter. Out of command men will use their own initiative.
The orders as issued by the captain/officer may be as complex as needed for the turn. In boarding actions, all orders are restricted to any three words. I hope this gives the captain alot less control once action is joined. However, the two nearest women may be given as detailed orders as the captain may desire. As an example - A captain and her 10 boarders jump onto a merchant ship. The general order the captain gives may be 'advance to forecastle'. Specific orders may be given to the nearest two boarders. She may say to one - 'go up the main crows nest and kill that sniper with your wooden spoon', and to another 'go to the sterncastle and guard the stairway down to the hold'. Of course, if a bosun happened to come along, she too may issue specific orders to another 2 sailors.
Music
Simple orders may also be passed outside the command radius by the ships trumpeter. This method is alot less detailed and prone to misinterpretation, but it's better than the crew doing as they please. While it may be helpful, the captain also needs to remember to use this method as the trumpeter may be otherwise engaged. A trumpeter issuing commands via music may perform no other tasks but normal movement.
These orders are restricted in this game to:
For specific scenarios, or captains, these 8 may be modified to any 8 other simple signals. For example, in land raids, it may be wheel right, wheel left, open fire with muskets, or whatever other signal may be relevant.