lo mate
dont know if its the same problem i had ...but i was ordering my watch officer to "fire at will" upon a merchant at say 800m...and nothing was happening, but if i took control of the deck gun myself there was no problem....then i noticed the menu at the side of the watch officer when you click on him-then deck gun- the range was medium...as soon as i set this to close range the guns fired.....i dont know exactly when close range goes to medium then long range but i assume close range to be 1-1000m...so anything over set the menu to medium then long
hope this helps