This guide will help you through the PvE elements of the game. I have yet to try PvP myself and will leave that for others to do. I hope this guide will help you get a good running start at the game. If you enjoy pirate movies and games you should like this one as well.

Your starter ship will easily get you through the first few tasks of the Storyline. Since this is covered elsewhere, I will only touch on a few things I initially found confusing.

One of the first things that tripped me up was the way the game auto saves. If you make a mistake and hit restart, the game takes you back to the last port you were in. There is no save button or option. If you are losing a battle you can just click escape and select restart.


Also the cloud storage option is nice because you can save games there and pick them up later on a different device. For example if you are playing on a desktop and save to the cloud you can then pick up the action later on a tablet or smartphone.

The beginning storyline has you learn the basics of navigation. As your first task you are to recover some floating items. They are shown in little green circles. Eventually you will need to navigate around hazards like floating gun powder barrels, rocks etc.

Just sail until you see the larger blue circle then stop.
This will allow you to pick up the cargo. You will know you can when you see this pop up. . Then you can collect your cargo.

TIP 1: The "P" Pause key is your friend. If you need time to think or plan just hit "P".

TIP 2: If you are an avid gamer like me you may run into an issue with the typical A-W-S-D key combo for movement. Going forward in this game is not as simple as tapping the W key. All that does is raises and lowers your forward sail. During my first few fights I found myself tapping the W key or S key by mistake and suddenly my ship would stop! Often in the heat of battle!! The only movement keys you really use are A and D. (Left and Right). Only occasionally will you need to reset your sails.


TIP 3: Sailing into the wind will slow and stop your ship. Pretty much common sense but here is a trick. If you find yourself at a complete stop going into the wind, just lower the main sail ("S") while leaving your forward sail up ("W"). This will make your ship rotate until you can catch the wind again. If you are impatient like me you can speed up the action by using the play arrows at the bottom to fast forward the action.



TIP 4: Hit F1 for a full list of the game controls. If the menu doesn't fully display then left click to drag it up or down.


TIP 5: Pay attention to the arrows displayed on the ocean. The smaller colored arrows indicate mission objectives. In the example below the little green arrow is pointing to where the floating cargo is located. The large blue arrows are showing you the direction of the wind. Red arrows indicate enemy ships and yellow indicate friendly ships (during escort missions). Note: This is very useful in combat or escort missions. My first escort mission I wound up killing both the pirate and the ship I was escorting! Trying to decipher which flag on a ship was which during a battle is difficult. Just watch for the arrows.

Let's face it. Combat. This is probably one of the main reasons you chose this game. For the most part this is pretty self-explanatory but here are a few tips I discovered.

TIP 1: Use "P" as soon as the combat splash screen finishes. This will give you time to set up cannons, prep barrels and plan your attack.

TIP 2: Here is a basic configuration I use for most battles. Load your forward and stern chasers (if your ship has them) with chain shot and leave your sides loaded with regular cannon rounds. This way you can slow the enemy ship down first, then take it out with a broadside of regular cannons. NOTE: Seldom do I use double balls. First they take too long to load. Second You end up going through your ammo twice as fast! This really hurts if you miss or have a protracted battle.



















TIP 3: NEVER try to capture a pirate or enemy warship! They will blow (fire) the ship and you will end up taking damage. If you want to avoid costly damage then keep your distance and just pound them with cannon. Sometimes this can't be helped and you have to melee with the enemy crew. If you do, make sure to set sails quickly afterward so you can sail away from the flames before they damage your ship too far.

TIP 4: Watch your own damage! At the top right is your ship's damage. It begins with green bars for hull, blue in the middle for crew and white bars for sails. As you take damage these will turn red and/or get smaller and eventually disappear. If you lose one side then you sink. If both sails are gone you stop. If your crew is dead you lose. Simple as that.

TIP 5: Learn Trapmaster skill as soon as you can. Since you begin in a small ship you will need a bit of an edge. The ability to toss an exploding barrel of gunpowder in your wake as you are fleeing a larger ship can spell life or death for you. I carry several, especially on my smaller ships. If I need to get away I simply wait until the enemy ship is right behind me then toss one overboard. BOOM! No more enemy ship.(Or at least a very damaged one.) NOTE: Flaming oil is useful also but causes less damage. I typically use flaming oil to either cut off a ships escape or force them to change course. The AI will try to steer enemy ships around the fire.















TIP 6: Use auto fire in the beginning. Your crew will then fire automatically at ships in your firing arc. This way you can focus on steering. NOTE: Your ship will only fire cannons on the side you have selected. Don't expect an AI to help you watch all sides in a multi ship battle. Often you will have to switch sides quickly to make sure each side fires when you want them to.












TIP 7: if all else fails......RUN! As long as you have a faster ship you can get away. All you have to do is wait for the map icon at the bottom to change. Once you have put enough distance between you and the enemy ship it will change. Then you can select a port to sail to.
Means you can't sail.
Means you can.
click on a port to sail there.






TIP 8: This is only for those of you who don't mind spending a little money on the game. I wanted a little extra bankroll at the beginning and noticed that the costs were pretty reasonable. I spent $1.99 for some extra gold and the developers gave me as a bonus a 1st Rate ship! Not a bad cost to benefit ratio in my opinion. (I spend more on a cup of coffee). The 1st Rate ship is a beast. Lots of cannons and is very sturdy. However with a crew of 600 it can be expensive to maintain.



Now let's talk about capturing ships. At some point you will want to capture yourself a free ship. There are however a few things you need to know first.

1=Make sure you have the Captain skill Commodore so you can sail more than 1 ship.


2= Make sure you have the Captain skill Corsair. You will need this skill to be able to board enemy ships. (Without it you will never get the boarding icon shown in the images below.)


3= Make sure your ship has been upgraded with Falconets or Flintlocks. These upgrades are available for your ship only when in a port. (Gives your crew an advantage when boarding). Also if your ship doesn't have them then add bow and stern chasers as well. That way you can chase down targets with chain shot to slow them down enough to board.


4= The Captain skill Cutthroat is also a good idea.


5= Make sure your ship has a lot of crew. You will need more crew than the enemy ship if you hope to win. Ships require a certain amount of crew to sail. The ship below started with over 600 crew but when it came to boarding only 418 were available to me. The rest are busy sailing the ship and manning the cannons.

Once you have the enemy crew defeated you will be able to capture the ship by putting a prize crew from your ship aboard.

Your first ship should do well against single targets (blue ships) on the map. If you plan to take on convoys (Blue/Red) on the map then you will need a good warship. Something with lots of cannons, good hull points and a large crew.

Learning the best way to buy and sell will help you make $$ quickly. There are few things that are unique to this game however that I want to point out.



TIP 1: Green means that the price of that good is cheap. Red means it is expensive. Makes sense but at first it was confusing. I was thinking that green was good so I should sell my goods there. After losing money on my first couple of trades I quickly figured this out. (Tip for the developers. Adding an up or down arrow with the colors would be helpful). Start by picking a port with green goods. Buy as much as your ship can hold then find a red port with the same item listed as expensive and sail there. ('Rinse and repeat'). More ships you have, more space you have the more you can carry and sell.

TIP 2: If you are attacked by pirates in route to the next port, select restart. This has a couple of benefits. 1= the game changes the costs of goods when this happens. Sometimes the goods I just purchased cheap are now expensive in the same port allowing me to make $$ without sailing anywhere! 2= a closer port may open up allowing you sell your goods there. One key to making money quickly is to minimize your travel time. NOTE: Don't forget your expenses. Each week you will have to pay your crew to keep up your reputation. If there is too much travel time between ports you can wind up losing money or rep faster than you can make it. Also you will want to keep an eye on your rep with certain ports. The better your rep, the less your docking fees and the better your prices will be for goods you buy. OPINION: If you want to make money as a trader I recommend picking a small country like the Dutch or the Danish as a victim for your pirate attacks. That way you can keep your rep up with the other countries and keep your expenses down.


TIP 3: Port size matters. Smaller ports have less of the goods you want to buy in stock. This becomes critical as you get more ships with more hold space. In the example below, Barbados has 4 stars **** below it indicating it is a very large port. Saint George on the other hand has no stars and is a small port.


TIP 4: Rather than wasting money on buying ships, try capturing them for free instead. (See Combat section for fighting tips). Select targets that won't lower your rep with big countries like Spain or England. (See TIP 2). You will also want to add the skills (Commodore) for sailing more than 1 ship at a time. IMPORTANT: Make sure you have room in your fleet first to sail another ship before you try capturing it. If you have a warship or two try attacking convoys. You can earn more experience that way and I find they tend to have better cargo hauler ships they are escorting. In the example below I can gain a free galleon by attacking this convoy. OPINION: If you want a good all-around ship I would chose a Galleon. They turn well, have fast movement, decent weapons and okay hull points. They also have good cargo space and make good traders.


TIP 5: Keep your expenses down. If you plan on making money doing trading then you will want to use ships with lots of cargo space and few crew. War Ships like Frigates, and 1st Rates require large crews and a lot of money weekly to support them. OPINION: One of the things I did when I decided to go off trading for a while was reduce the size of my warship crews by parking them at one of my bases. You will need to leave a minimum crew for maintenance or you will lose your ship but you don't have to keep a full crew. To find out the minimum crew required for each ship, just check the crew tab in port and look for the minimum required.


TIP 6: Maintain some good residual income. This is pretty easy to do after you defeat your first Confederacy Pirate in the story line. With his defeat you gain a base called Cabo de la Vela. If you have the money you will want to add some buildings to this base to build it up. Even though it costs money for these buildings initially it will help you in the long run as they begin to generate money and goods for you on a regular weekly basis. Later I will list some steps to help you quickly build up a good weekly income from your base(s). The more bases you have the more regular income you earn. The more weekly income you have the easier it is to support large warships in your quest to rule the High Seas!
Note: You can switch back and forth between your bases by going to the main map. The only drawback is that to do this you will need to keep a ship docked in each base to do this. I typically leave a small captured Sloop or something similar in each one.

HINT: What is really nice about a base is that if you have a Shop in each one you can sell any goods your buildings have been making throughout the week. If you check the News icon while in a port you can even keep an eye out for goods you bases are making that you can sell for a good profit. For example if Cotton is expensive because of some news event and you have farms at your bases making it you can quickly make a tidy sum selling them at the Shop. (And you don’t have to sail anywhere to do it!)

After your defeat of Juan Gartem during the Story line you will get your first base. Below are some suggestions for building it out:


1= Start by building a warehouse. You need it to store goods made by your buildings. You don't have to increase its size right away until you have more than a couple of buildings feeding items to it like a farm, forge or distillery.


2= If you don't have a lot of money to start with you will want to think through your next few buildings. If money is no object then I suggest you build to level 1 each of the following buildings (especially if sinking enemy ships is at the top of your list). These buildings are: Warehouse, Shop, Shipyard, Forge, Farm and Lumber mill in that order. Below is a description of each one of these and why I think they are important along with the rest of the buildings you can build.

Warehouse: You need this building before you can build anything else. It is also where you will house the goods built by your buildings. If you have only 2 or 3 other buildings you can keep this at level 1. As you add more buildings you will find that you will need more space in your warehouse. NOTE: You will run out of space if you don't check back regularly and either take items from it or sell them in your Shop. If you run out of space you wind up wasting money because there is no place to store the goods your other buildings are making. At level 1 the warehouse has a capacity of 3000.


Shop: This is a very important building. This turns your base from being just a spot to repair your ships into a real working Port. You can buy and sell goods from it just like a regular port with the added bonus that at level 1 it generates an extra 5 gold per week. The higher level it is the more money for week you earn.


Shipyard: Another important building. A Shipyard lets you repair and refit your ships just like a regular port. This can be a great revenue generator for you as well if you bring in captured ships to demolish. You can gain valuable material from them like sails, lumber and cannons. (Often you can sell these individual items for more than what you could have sold the whole ship for in a regular port.)


Forge: This building crafts cannon balls for you. 'Nuff said. Sell them or use them yourself.


Lumbermill: As the name implies this building will provide you with planks to repair your ships. You can also sell them in the shop. HINT: Keep an eye on the News. Planks often become expensive after a news event. I have made 1000's of coins just on selling planks from my various bases during a news event where they become expensive.


Farm: Building a Farm grants you Cotton. It also allows you to build A Sailmaker that can craft sails for you. Sails can generate a good amount of money are take up less space on a ship than bundles of straight cotton,



After you have built these first few buildings you should have a decent enough weekly revenue stream to support the crews for a couple of smaller warships. If funds get tight, spend a little $$ to increase the Forge and Lumbermill to level 2 or higher. If you continue to find yourself unable to support the crews of larger warships then I recommend building the following buildings in the order listed.


Distillery: You may not want this right away but it is a useful building for 3 main reasons. 1= It creates Rum which you can use or sell. 2 = Having Rum on your ships helps motivate your crew before combat. Give them a barrel before a fight and you ship will move faster and the crew will fight better for you. 3 = Having a Distillery lets you build a Tavern next which can generate even more weekly coin for you.



Adding these next few buildings will add even more residual income.

Tavern: This is a good building to have when you have ships requiring large crews. Not only do you earn good weekly income but it keeps your crews happier and seems to provide larger amounts of sailors for hire if you need additional crew after a battle.



Sailmaker: This building is self explanatory. Turning some of your cotton into sails allows you to now have sails which you can use or sell. These also appear occasionally in News items as expensive and if you have a good stock pile they can generate you some good $$.


Church: Self explanatory.


Casino: A very good residual income source.


Brothel: Another good regular income source.


This last building is something I have built but I am not sure how useful it is yet. I have only had 1 random attack on a base so far and the game gave me time to sail my warships there to defend it. I will leave it up to you to decide if the cost/benefit makes sense for you. I have 6+ bases so far and less than half have Forts.

Fort: Pretty much says it all.

As you can see by the list of Pirates I have defeated I have only progressed about a third of the way through the story line. I decided to write this guide now because I don't want to forget some of the important lessons I have already learned and thought would be good to pass along. I am open to any further suggestions and will update this guide as I have time or as others offer suggestions. Thanks for listening and enjoy!