The age of sail is an unprecedented time in which the ocean has become the paramount route to riches, trade, warfare, and colonization.
As a seafaring Captain you have the opportunity to take advantage of this adventurous time and discover if you have the knack, skill, or tenacity to reach riches and fame on the high seas.
Starting your Career
As a new captain, you must determine your starting point, profession, and difficulty at which you will ply the seas. Once selected, these attributes cannot be changed.
You will need to pick your captain’s seafaring name and title.
Select your starting faction, such as Cadari Republic. This will grant you a modicum of Reputation with this faction and start you near one of their cities. It does not permanently link you to this faction in any way as a captain, and you choose your own fate as you deal with other factions, pirates, and buckaneers.
Your First Days at Sea
In your first days at sea, you should reach a nearby port and plan your next move as a seafaring captain. If you are a Merchant captain, evaluate the local economy type to buy a cheap good that you can sell at another nearby port. Other captain types may choose to take Commissions at the local Castle or Tavern. If your plan is to be a pirate, ply the waters looking for easy targets.
Be sure to always stock up on enough Ships Rations to feed the crew and Shot and Powder to fire your cannons should you run into trouble on the high seas.
Surviving as a Seafaring Captain
After you have completed a few commissions and made enough coins to keep the crew fed, you will need to take more commissions to make money. Hire more sailors and crew at the taverns, and try to stay on the good side of at least one nation. Always listen to rumors as they are full of good advice for any captain who wants to get ahead.
Economies and Trading
“The life blood of humanity is trading. And seafaring captains keep the blood flowing. Without captains and brave crew to face the terrors of the deep — war, disease, weather, shipwrecks and the unknown monsters that lurk — we would all likely starve .” – Baroness Gwendoline of Goldhaven
With sea travel and transport of goods as paramount, cities produce, mine, and grow what they can and bring it to port. Cities with good farmland become agricultural centers, while those near mountains and hills rich in gold and minerals cultivate mining. Some cities survive only by being a haven for rest along the route of a great trade triangle, while others are rich, opulent population centers consuming the goods of the world. Those places with security and buoyant population build factories and workhouses to process the raw goods and materials pouring in from other lands.
The cities of the world are classified into the following economies:
- Survival
- Wealthy Population Center
- Gold and Silver Mining
- Agricultural District
- Pirate Trading Hub
- Naval Fort
- Backwater Port
- National Trading Hub
- Population Center
- Fishing Center
The Captain
Attributes
A Captain’s Attributes will dictate the maximum levels of his or her Skills. For example, to increase Fencing, the Captain must raise the Strength Attribute.
Charm
The Charm attribute is critical to skills that keep prices low. A Captain with high Charm will reduce Morale loss even when Negotiation fails and things are grim. When dealing with the World Powers at Court, Charm sometimes matters more than Negotiation, especially when Rumors have upset the normal order of things.
Intelligence
The Intelligence attribute is critical for avoiding Naval Patrols, picking the correct time to gather resources and knowing when to take advantage. A Captain with high Intelligence will be more likely to spot ships which can be avoided or intercepted, depending on the situation.
Dexterity
The Dexterity attribute is critical for moving quickly about the Ship during battle. Command in close quarter’s cannon combat relies heavily on the ability to be in the right place at the right time. Dexterity plays some role in most close quarter combat operations in Fencing and naval battle.
Strength
The Strength attribute is critical for avoiding personal damage to the Captain’s Health during battle. The Strength Skill has only one Skill (Fencing) tied to it, but it is also used as the Captain’s resistance vs. Health loss. Any time the Captain is at risk of being injured (Mutiny, Battle, Fencing) this attribute plays a part.
Skills and Abilities
A Captain’s Skills are used in most tests within the game to determine success or failure in combat, exploration, sailing and navigation. In some cases the test is not to determine success or failure, but cost or time consumed (in the case of Haggling or Navigating.)
Sailing
The Sailing Skill determines the Captain’s ability to maneuver the ship in rapidly changing conditions and to control the Crew, direct the placement of the canvas and ensure safe operation of the ship under pressure. Sailing skills are critical when navigating Harbors, docking the ship in Coves, avoiding reefs and during combat.
The Navigating skill determines the Captain’s mastery of reading and writing charts and maps. This Skill provides the Captain and advantage in any long distance travels and aids in avoiding other ships by plotting a course with fewer chances for encounters.
Intimidating
The Intimidate Skill is used by the Captain for making an entrance in a Tavern, when Conscripting Enemy Crews and when being Searched, Boarded and Looted. The Intimidate Skill is very important for keeping the Crew from loosing morale while sailing in dangerous waters. A high intimidate skill will reduce mutinies.
Commanding
The Commanding Skill is used by the Captain to direct Crew to perform their duties in martial situations. Command is critical for ship to ship combat, both at range and during Boarding.
Gathering
The Gathering Skill is used by the Captain to direct Crew to gather supplies and rations during sailing and landing. A high Gathering skill will dramatically reduce the rate of Ration consumption during movement on the map. Shallow waters (light blue) give the Captain the very best chance to use his or her Gathering skill to provide healthy, fresh food for the Crew.
Haggling
The Haggling Skill is used by the Captain to get what he or she wants from the Factions’ Taverns, Markets, Castles and Docks. Without a good Haggling score a Captain can expect to pay top dollar for goods, services and supplies.
Fencing
The Fencing Skill is critical for avoiding personal damage to the Captain’s Health during close quarters battle. Any time the Captain is personally attempting to deliver attacks (vs. a Kraken, enemy Crew or Captain) the Fencing Skill is used to determine if he or she is able to wound the enemy.
The Ship
Attributes
Hull
Keel
Sail
Mast
Crew
Hold
Long Guns
Guns (Carronade)
Cargo
Ship Rations
Ship Rations are simple foods such as pilot bread, hard tack, salted fish, coffee and leathered meats.
Luxury Provisions
Any foodstuff that isn’t compressed, triple baked and preserved with salt qualifies as a Luxury Provision when sailing the deep.
Journals
Valuable Journals must be carefully written onto water-proof paper with special inks if it is to be traded or sold. Therefore the ship carries bulky bry boxes to store the Ship’s books and scrolls. Sometimes the sale of Journals will increase Reputation.
Maps
When informed by an experienced Captain, cartographers can produce documents of very high value. Maps provide a skill bonus when sailing close to shore or patrolling unknown waters. Trading in Maps sometimes increases Reputation.
Shot and Powder
Shot and Powder is the ammunition for a cannon. It consists of standard sized stone balls and a finely ground mixture of gunpowder and fire rock. The powder provides the firing charge for cannons. At long range, large amounts of gunpowder are needed to fire stone balls several hundred yards.
Gold
Gold is a widely traded commodity and provides a critical component in most Magical works. The current wave of progress from magicians has been powered by the expansion and acquisition of gold. Too valuable to be used as currency, the price and risk of the gold trade fluctuates regularly.
Molasses
Molasses is a viscous by-product of the refining of sugarcane, grapes, or sugar beets into sugar. To make molasses, the cane of a sugar plant is harvested and stripped of its leaves. Its juice is extracted usually by crushing or mashing, but also by cutting. The result is boiled down to be placed in empty rum casks, which is how it is often transported and traded.
Rum
Rum is an alcoholic drink made from molasses by a process of fermentation and distillation, often assisted by magic. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in timber casks. Rum is critical for National Navies (where it is mixed with spice to make grog) and Buccaneers (where is mixed with citrus and nutmeg, a drink called bumbo.)
Silks
Silks are produced by several large insects and at least one type of enchanted crab. Generally only the silk of moth caterpillars had been used for textile manufacturing, but a recent increase in silk production options has generated an explosion in the Silk trade.
Hemp
Hemp is a common term for a family of easily cultivated plants that can be refined into high value products such as food, oil, wax, resin, rope, cloth, pulp, and fuel. Hemp is used in a wide variety of industries including the manufacture of durable clothing, preserved nutritional products, and naval cordage of varying tensile strengths.
Spices
Spices are dried seed, fruit, roots, bark and are used to flavor, color and preserve food and drink. Many spices have other uses including medicinal, ritual and magical. The trade of Spice is critical to the economy of many world powers and the monopoly of a spice can produce great riches.
Canvas
Canvas is an extremely heavy-duty woven fabric used for sails, cargo bags, tents and shoes. Canvas is woven from rendered hemp fibers. Canvas can be produced in a wide variety of weights, from a sturdy cloth suitable for clothing to board stiff enough to fashion boxes.
Timber
Timber is a raw material, unfinished but cut into rough sections of lumber. Across the world, lumber is available from many species with various properties but the basic commodity is a softwood from pines, cedars and hemlocks.
The World Powers
In this age, the ocean has become the central theater for the powers of the world to vie against each other in trade, colonization, control, and war. No other mode of transport — not even with the aid of magic — can compare the speed of a ship in terms of speed and carrying capacity. Because of its immense impact on the economies of the nations and trading companies, the ocean is a battleground as well.
The following are the nations of the world, known to your captain when you start your career. Other distant and exotic nations will become known at a later date.
The Nations
Federation of Kaihmer
One of the most powerful Nations, the Kaihmer leadership controls the federation and the religion practiced by the citizens. The Federation is sprawling. Its caste of sorcerers employ fire magic in the service of its nation’s industry.
Ruesland
Ruesland is a Nation of islands tied together by a shared history and trade. Pragmatic and stoic, the men and women of Ruesland are often underestimated. The caste of sorcerers within Ruesland employ a unique variety of stone magic.
Cadari Republic
The Cadari Nation is composed of militant city-states bound together by a common government and elected Council of the Republic. The Cadari are the sworn enemies of the Kaihmer. The magician caste of the Cadari employ wood magic.
Gao Empire
The Gao Empire is a distant empire, collapsed in the last decade from the death of a great king and the resulting civil war.
The Trading Companies
Octopon Trading Company
A once-powerful trade guild, the Octopon Trading Company has begun to decline following involvement with the politics of the distant Gao Empire.
East Acadia Company
A rising power, this trade guild has expanded to meet demand as the Octopon Trading Company has faded.
League of Hansa
This independent network of traders is mysterious and secretive.
Common Questions
The following questions and answers have come in from Captains sailing under the many the nations of the world. Each Captain and career is different. These answers are not the only way to do it, they are one option.
Crew Management
My Crew always Mutinies
Improve your Intimidate skill. Carry some luxury rations and rum. One unit of each for every 10 Crew is a good rule of thumb. Having Luxury and Rum on board will reduce the erosion of Ship Morale during difficult times. Your sailors will not be happy to hear the Ship has run out of hard tack, but they will be downright miserable if the ship is out of Rum and Salted Pork as well.
If you are a low level character, you may not have the ability to control a very large crew — sell the ship and buy something that is smaller and requires fewer people to man.
Supplies and Rations
I keep exhausting my supply of Rations
First of all, stop trying to sail directly, or even close to the wind. Your ship is not an automobile, and the fastest distance between 2 points is not necessarily in a straight line. If you want to go somewhere directly NW of you, but the wind is coming from the NW, you will be much better off if you sail North the whole distance you need to go north and then turn West and sail the whole distance you need to sail west. Sailing due NW will take longer, use your rations up at a ferocious rate, and rip your sails to pieces. Finally, if you purchase Cargo Lockers or a Ship’s Galley, you get a larger cargo capacity, which you can use to hold food or the ability to more rapidly replenish your Rations in the shallow (light blue) seas.
How do I bury treasure and supplies?
You can bury Treasure on any Cove or Island that is not under a Treasure Hunter rumor. Stop at the island or cove and click the “Treasure Box” icon. You can stash any supplies you’d like, even Silver, in a cache.
Sea Monsters and Ice Demons
I was killed by the Kraken. How do I avoid them?
Be sure to stop in Taverns and collect Rumors. Review them in your Status page, under the Rumours section. To avoid Kraken don’t visit seas where they are rumored to be found. Kraken are attracted to Gold, so don’t carry it if you are trying to avoid them. Even a small amount of Gold can set them off as they can smell the metal from hundreds of leagues away.
I was killed by the Kraken. How do I fight them?
You need great Commanding and Fencing skills. (How great? Some players suggest using 2.0x the Captain’s level.) Use your cannons to shoot at the boat, slowing it down so it cannot sail fast enough to escape you. Kill plenty of the demon crew to make boarding easier. You can sink ice demon ships this way but you will need to duel with the kraken. Kraken are mostly immune to Chain Shot and Grape Shot. Stick to full sized cannon barratges. In a duel with the Kraken, you should arm your Crew with weapons such as axes and muskets. The Kraken will try to eat your Sailors so be sure they are able to defend themselves.
I am hunting the Kraken. How do I find them?
Be sure to stop in Taverns and collect Rumors. Review them in your Status page, under the Rumours section. To find Kraken sail the deep seas where they are rumored to be found. Kraken are attracted to Gold, so carry lots of it if you are hunting them. Even a small amount of Gold will work as bait.
