Sailing Guide (Basic)
Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2021 7:03 pm
Sailing is an effective way to acquire gold, experience, and get unique items found nowhere else in the game. The only reason why only a small group of people are currently acquiring this right now is that it's not a game you play alone but with a small group of people you can acquire the riches of the sea yourself.
While the sailing system may seem daunting at first, it is very quick to pick up in-game if you have someone to show you the ropes. Some characters are focused on including inexperienced sailors in their voyages to teach them how the system works. It is usually a process of 15-20 minutes until these are familiar and well versed with all they need to sail alone.
But in lieu of that, you first need to know what you're doing when you're on the boat. Teamwork is the difference between an easy time or one person doing all the work because nobody knows what they're doing. Understanding one role is easier than understanding all the roles at once and trying to become a super sailor.
Some basic leveling strategies are at the very bottom. If you want the number crunching bits be sure to type -ship and pull up the stats for your specific ship.
Introduction:
Before anything else, give everyone you're sailing with a key if you're on a rental (a temporary ship) to make this as simple as possible for you.
This enables:
1. Access to your boat.
2. Access to navigation.
If you're on a permanent ship this also can give them access to your storage so most ship captains take on the inconvenience to make sure their storage's safe. You can replace the "locks" on your boat later by clicking on "manage lock' if you're feeling a bit brave.
The Ship:
Now you're on the ship. In this example, we'll use the pirate warship currently stationed in Sencliff.
There are a couple of roles that need to be divided up amongst the crew you have assembled. If the crew is new to sailing, it is typically best to just give each person one role until they understand what they're doing.
The Rigging (red)
Some ships have one or two rigging spots. If there are two, have one person with high skill stand by one point and have another initiate the dialogue.
While the initiator will see,
Think rigging as stances for the ships to take.
Full sails: Travel and additional AC for your ship. (Combat will be explained later.)
Half-sails: Middling, less travel speed but no penalty against attack or AC for the ship.
Lowered sails: The defaulted stance of the ship, +AB and -AC. You're also moving extremely slow.
Navigation (Blue)
The navigator role is an advanced role and usually the captain will take this role if no one else is available. Doing so effectively requires you to know Arelith's seas on the map.
Click on this to bring up the map:
The map is a series of squares that you navigate along the way which goes faster depending on a plethora of factors but the two primary ones are: ship and total sail skill. (Explained later in "crew")
The islands in red are permanent spots you can visit and will always be there as reliable spots.
Every square contains an RNG-based encounter that anyone can encounter. These encounters are all basically mini-dungeons with a few really massive dungeons interspersed in the edge of the map.
A general rule of thumb is: the further away from Arelith it is the more deadly the encounter and higher the sail requirements to navigate successfully.
Encounters are typically unique to certain regions of the map so an especially savvy navigator knows where to sail if they want a certain outcome.
Next up is the ship's wheel:
Clicking on it will reveal:
-Return to Arelith
-Change Heading
-Vicinity
-Abilities
Navigation is done via cardinal directions.
You want to go up the map, you go north. Go down is south. Left is west. Right is east.
When you find an encounter you want to fight with, you click on "vicinity" and then anchor close/sail close to [x] to engage with it.
Guns (Green):
Every crew must craft their own forms of defense which can range from a smokepowder mortar to the humble light ballista. Each weapon have it's own pros and cons but the role remains the same:
A good captain will directly ask one (or more depending on the amount of weapons) of the crew to take on the role of the gunner. The gunner's role is to carry the correct ammunition for the weapon and employ it when needed.
Shooting a weapon is as simple as clicking reload, picking the right ammo, finding the right target, and firing.
In the case of ballistae their primary advantage is volley fire when three sailors are coordinated together. Some weapons like the smokepowder mortar only needs one person on the job.
This is a simple role but an extremely important role when your ship is in danger from nasty pirates.
The Crew/Combat
The type of crew determines your experience at sea. A good crew could board with the a less than average ship and still be a terror on the sea while a mediocre crew will not be able to do much on the Dreadnought. In combat, this is no different as well.
Ships themselves will be talked in the final section.
Everything you do from sailing. to shooting, to boarding, and to find things in the map is determined by your total sail score. The sail score is the top [minimal number of sailors needed total score] divided by [minimal occupancy needed]
E.G. A cog that needs two people is manned by two 90 sail skill sailors. (90 + 90)/2 = 90
A galleon that needs five people is manned by a disparate number of sailors and pulls up the best sailors from the lot (20 + 50 + 33 + 9 + 10) / 5 = 24
Someone is sailing by themselves on a galleon: (33 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0)/5 = 6
Being undermanned does not mean you can't sail. It just means you will not do as well at sail.
Furthermore, there are a few bit of strategies that will not be mentioned for the sake of brevity but the system in place encourages team work. An experienced, tight-knit group of sailors will absolutely thrive and profit in Arelith's sea content.
The bare minimal sailor looks like this:
- Sail equipment from dweomer enchantment
The good sailor looks like this:
- 33 points invested in sail
- May/may not have equipment.
The dedicated sailor:
-33 points
- Equipment
- May have feats/may not.
All three sailors are useful and is better than the alternative of being undermanned. To participate, a group of 1 - 6 bare minimal sailors could still experience all the sea content Arelith has to offer. None of the previously mentioned roles beyond rigging needs a good sail score.
Ship types
Ship types are the following in a very basic way:
1 crew - Trawler (Penny Rose)
2 crew - Cog (Troubadour/Timberfleet)
3 crew - Galley (Iron Throne Courier First, Second, Longships, Constant Companion/Longboats)
4 crew - Brigantine (Pirate Ships, Sea Leopard)
5 crew - Galleon (Permanent Pirate Ship, First and Second Sisters)
6 crew - Settlement Galleons (Leviathian, Dreadnought, etc.)
Dreadnought specifically is the strongest ship in the game but is a biddable, settlement property. Advanced levels of teamwork and multi-district cooperation are needed for maximum effect/profitability. Good luck.
You can find the true stats by typing -ship while on board.
Repair permits repairs at sea. This goes off of your carpentry and sail skill.
Ship stats let you see the ship's stats if you're into number crunching.
Abandon ship is how you jump overboard.
Settings --> flag settings is how you deal with the flags on a ship and communicate with other ships.
To see other ship's flags you need a spyglass that can be bought from a player merchant shop or a trade ship at sea.
Flags are the following:
White - Surrender/Distress
Red (No Quarter will be given)
Black (Surrender and quarter may be given)
Blue (Surrender and be detained.)
Green (ceasing hostilities)
Purple (Do not approach)
Merchant (Parley/Trade)
Nation (Pirates can raise a false flag!)
Custom: Want to show off your house colors and be a target for all the pirates? Go for it.
Bonus: Leveling strategies
Odds are in this current iteration you'll be sailing in Sencliff and have a mixture of high levels that can handle all waters but if you're a small band of lowbies trying something new here is the bare basic jist of how leveling at sea goes:
Bring a shovel.
If you are by yourself: Take the penny rose.
If you are with two other people: Take the Iron Throne Couriers in Guldorand.
The risk is layered out like a jawbreaker on the map.
Arelith itself is the safe zone. Nobody's boarding you there and DCs for sail is minimal.
Depending on your character's alignment - MERCHANT VESSELS, CORDORIAN VESSELS are real good and you can blossom/adventure from there to see what you can and can't handle.
The very ends of the map is 30 content without a question. If you aren't ready for it you will die.
The seas are relatively dangerous compared to the safe and beaten paths that is our leveling circuit today so don't expect anything optimized 1 - 30 sailing guiide. Truth be told, the author is also a filthy pirate that just got the Sencliff treatment but to reiterate the following encounters are fairly safe pre-30:
Naval Fortress
Sand Banks
Mercantile Vessel
Cordorian Vessel
Islets
Trade Ship
And finally, if you are new simply rely on a rental until you get your feet wet because those are basically meant to be sunk. Permanent boats, while high octaine and powerful, can get sunk like anything else if everyone sailing with you is inexperienced.
The seas are a bit more uncertain than our leveling circuits of today but this is the kind of content that pulled me in 100k+ after a whole day of sailing. There are treasure chests with unique items and there is underwater content that isn't even able to be fully mapped out.
If you want boarding enabled for your ship you can enable it to get the monsters on board although avoiding monsters give you a fair bit of exp it doesn't give you any gold obviously. You can pull up specific encounters with a spyglass and a decent sailing skill. A spyglass can be found in player stores and at sea as well.
If you want to enable boarding for your ship turn it on via the navigator/ship wheel and vicinity.
I'd like to keep that foig but let me give you a little taste of what we've found sailing,
BRING A SHOVEL.
While the sailing system may seem daunting at first, it is very quick to pick up in-game if you have someone to show you the ropes. Some characters are focused on including inexperienced sailors in their voyages to teach them how the system works. It is usually a process of 15-20 minutes until these are familiar and well versed with all they need to sail alone.
But in lieu of that, you first need to know what you're doing when you're on the boat. Teamwork is the difference between an easy time or one person doing all the work because nobody knows what they're doing. Understanding one role is easier than understanding all the roles at once and trying to become a super sailor.
Some basic leveling strategies are at the very bottom. If you want the number crunching bits be sure to type -ship and pull up the stats for your specific ship.
Introduction:
Before anything else, give everyone you're sailing with a key if you're on a rental (a temporary ship) to make this as simple as possible for you.
This enables:
1. Access to your boat.
2. Access to navigation.
If you're on a permanent ship this also can give them access to your storage so most ship captains take on the inconvenience to make sure their storage's safe. You can replace the "locks" on your boat later by clicking on "manage lock' if you're feeling a bit brave.
The Ship:
Now you're on the ship. In this example, we'll use the pirate warship currently stationed in Sencliff.
There are a couple of roles that need to be divided up amongst the crew you have assembled. If the crew is new to sailing, it is typically best to just give each person one role until they understand what they're doing.
The Rigging (red)
Some ships have one or two rigging spots. If there are two, have one person with high skill stand by one point and have another initiate the dialogue.
While the initiator will see,
Think rigging as stances for the ships to take.
Full sails: Travel and additional AC for your ship. (Combat will be explained later.)
Half-sails: Middling, less travel speed but no penalty against attack or AC for the ship.
Lowered sails: The defaulted stance of the ship, +AB and -AC. You're also moving extremely slow.
Navigation (Blue)
The navigator role is an advanced role and usually the captain will take this role if no one else is available. Doing so effectively requires you to know Arelith's seas on the map.
Click on this to bring up the map:
The map is a series of squares that you navigate along the way which goes faster depending on a plethora of factors but the two primary ones are: ship and total sail skill. (Explained later in "crew")
The islands in red are permanent spots you can visit and will always be there as reliable spots.
Every square contains an RNG-based encounter that anyone can encounter. These encounters are all basically mini-dungeons with a few really massive dungeons interspersed in the edge of the map.
A general rule of thumb is: the further away from Arelith it is the more deadly the encounter and higher the sail requirements to navigate successfully.
Encounters are typically unique to certain regions of the map so an especially savvy navigator knows where to sail if they want a certain outcome.
Next up is the ship's wheel:
Clicking on it will reveal:
-Return to Arelith
-Change Heading
-Vicinity
-Abilities
Navigation is done via cardinal directions.
You want to go up the map, you go north. Go down is south. Left is west. Right is east.
When you find an encounter you want to fight with, you click on "vicinity" and then anchor close/sail close to [x] to engage with it.
Guns (Green):
Every crew must craft their own forms of defense which can range from a smokepowder mortar to the humble light ballista. Each weapon have it's own pros and cons but the role remains the same:
A good captain will directly ask one (or more depending on the amount of weapons) of the crew to take on the role of the gunner. The gunner's role is to carry the correct ammunition for the weapon and employ it when needed.
Shooting a weapon is as simple as clicking reload, picking the right ammo, finding the right target, and firing.
In the case of ballistae their primary advantage is volley fire when three sailors are coordinated together. Some weapons like the smokepowder mortar only needs one person on the job.
This is a simple role but an extremely important role when your ship is in danger from nasty pirates.
The Crew/Combat
The type of crew determines your experience at sea. A good crew could board with the a less than average ship and still be a terror on the sea while a mediocre crew will not be able to do much on the Dreadnought. In combat, this is no different as well.
Ships themselves will be talked in the final section.
Everything you do from sailing. to shooting, to boarding, and to find things in the map is determined by your total sail score. The sail score is the top [minimal number of sailors needed total score] divided by [minimal occupancy needed]
E.G. A cog that needs two people is manned by two 90 sail skill sailors. (90 + 90)/2 = 90
A galleon that needs five people is manned by a disparate number of sailors and pulls up the best sailors from the lot (20 + 50 + 33 + 9 + 10) / 5 = 24
Someone is sailing by themselves on a galleon: (33 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0)/5 = 6
Being undermanned does not mean you can't sail. It just means you will not do as well at sail.
Furthermore, there are a few bit of strategies that will not be mentioned for the sake of brevity but the system in place encourages team work. An experienced, tight-knit group of sailors will absolutely thrive and profit in Arelith's sea content.
The bare minimal sailor looks like this:
- Sail equipment from dweomer enchantment
The good sailor looks like this:
- 33 points invested in sail
- May/may not have equipment.
The dedicated sailor:
-33 points
- Equipment
- May have feats/may not.
All three sailors are useful and is better than the alternative of being undermanned. To participate, a group of 1 - 6 bare minimal sailors could still experience all the sea content Arelith has to offer. None of the previously mentioned roles beyond rigging needs a good sail score.
Ship types
Ship types are the following in a very basic way:
1 crew - Trawler (Penny Rose)
2 crew - Cog (Troubadour/Timberfleet)
3 crew - Galley (Iron Throne Courier First, Second, Longships, Constant Companion/Longboats)
4 crew - Brigantine (Pirate Ships, Sea Leopard)
5 crew - Galleon (Permanent Pirate Ship, First and Second Sisters)
6 crew - Settlement Galleons (Leviathian, Dreadnought, etc.)
Dreadnought specifically is the strongest ship in the game but is a biddable, settlement property. Advanced levels of teamwork and multi-district cooperation are needed for maximum effect/profitability. Good luck.
You can find the true stats by typing -ship while on board.
Repair permits repairs at sea. This goes off of your carpentry and sail skill.
Ship stats let you see the ship's stats if you're into number crunching.
Abandon ship is how you jump overboard.
Settings --> flag settings is how you deal with the flags on a ship and communicate with other ships.
To see other ship's flags you need a spyglass that can be bought from a player merchant shop or a trade ship at sea.
Flags are the following:
White - Surrender/Distress
Red (No Quarter will be given)
Black (Surrender and quarter may be given)
Blue (Surrender and be detained.)
Green (ceasing hostilities)
Purple (Do not approach)
Merchant (Parley/Trade)
Nation (Pirates can raise a false flag!)
Custom: Want to show off your house colors and be a target for all the pirates? Go for it.
Bonus: Leveling strategies
Odds are in this current iteration you'll be sailing in Sencliff and have a mixture of high levels that can handle all waters but if you're a small band of lowbies trying something new here is the bare basic jist of how leveling at sea goes:
Bring a shovel.
If you are by yourself: Take the penny rose.
If you are with two other people: Take the Iron Throne Couriers in Guldorand.
The risk is layered out like a jawbreaker on the map.
Arelith itself is the safe zone. Nobody's boarding you there and DCs for sail is minimal.
Depending on your character's alignment - MERCHANT VESSELS, CORDORIAN VESSELS are real good and you can blossom/adventure from there to see what you can and can't handle.
The very ends of the map is 30 content without a question. If you aren't ready for it you will die.
The seas are relatively dangerous compared to the safe and beaten paths that is our leveling circuit today so don't expect anything optimized 1 - 30 sailing guiide. Truth be told, the author is also a filthy pirate that just got the Sencliff treatment but to reiterate the following encounters are fairly safe pre-30:
Naval Fortress
Sand Banks
Mercantile Vessel
Cordorian Vessel
Islets
Trade Ship
And finally, if you are new simply rely on a rental until you get your feet wet because those are basically meant to be sunk. Permanent boats, while high octaine and powerful, can get sunk like anything else if everyone sailing with you is inexperienced.
The seas are a bit more uncertain than our leveling circuits of today but this is the kind of content that pulled me in 100k+ after a whole day of sailing. There are treasure chests with unique items and there is underwater content that isn't even able to be fully mapped out.
If you want boarding enabled for your ship you can enable it to get the monsters on board although avoiding monsters give you a fair bit of exp it doesn't give you any gold obviously. You can pull up specific encounters with a spyglass and a decent sailing skill. A spyglass can be found in player stores and at sea as well.
If you want to enable boarding for your ship turn it on via the navigator/ship wheel and vicinity.
I'd like to keep that foig but let me give you a little taste of what we've found sailing,
BRING A SHOVEL.