Rum

Besides being tasty, rum keeps a pirate ship running smoothly. Getting into a swordfight without any rum aboard will cause two lines of rum jugs to appear on the swordfighting screen, making the fight harder for the crew. Also, in rumble, a lack of rum will cause the precision of aiming to be reduced. This continues until the ship is able to reach port and purchase more rum.

The amount of rum consumed is dependent on the rank of the pirate, and the amount of time spent at sea. An officer will consume more rum than a cabin person, for instance. If a voyage is to be predominantly staffed by existing crew members, it will also consume more rum than if the staff were jobbing pirates.

Types of rum
There are three grades of rum: Fine rum, Grog, and Swill. Fine rum is the highest quality rum and is rated at 100 proof. Grog is a mid-quality rum rated at 60 proof. Swill is the lowest quality rum and is 40 proof. Consumption time is directly proportional to the grade of rum; for instance grog will last 1.5 times as long as swill due to their 60:40 ratio. If multiple qualities of rum are on board, pirates will always consume the lowest possible grade of rum they can: swill first, then grog, then fine rum.

Other than taking up slightly more storage space, fifteen barrels of swill are the equivalent of either ten barrels of grog or six barrels of rum. In most cases, the extra storage space needed to carry swill or grog will be negligible (even a sloop can hold 13,500 barrels). In trade runs involving bulky commodities (such as Wood or Hemp), the type of rum chosen may make a slight difference in how much of the commodity will fit.

To find out which is the cheapest to buy per unit, multiply the swill price by 15, the grog by 10, and the fine rum by 6. Or another way to consider it is that for every five PoE that fine rum costs, swill should cost 2 PoE and grog should cost 3 PoE. For example, if rum is selling for 50 PoE, then the equivalent price for swill is 20 PoE and grog is 30 PoE. If rum is selling for 60 PoE, then the equivalent prices for swill and grog are 24 and 36, respectively.

Whatever price ends up being lowest is the one that offers the best deal. (Or, if yer math skills are still stuck in the pirate ages, see this handy Rum Calculator.)

For restocking a ship remember 5 Swill = 2 fine rums and 5 Grog = 3 fine rum so 5 swill and 5 grog will last as long as 5 fine rum.

Rum can be bought dockside from various distillery shoppes or stalls. It can also be ordered in advance in person from those same shoppes and stalls and delivered to the ship while it is docked. Sometimes ordering ahead of time will save a pirate some PoE, while at other times dockside prices are cheaper. Orders will always take time to fill, so if rum is needed immediately it must be bought dockside. Prices for rum fluctuate over time and prices generally differ from island to island, so remember to check around for the best price.

Running out of rum will result in rum sickness, which causes a gradual drop in the efficiency of the carpentry, patching, bilging, sailing and rigging puzzles. In addition, it affects the melee battles as follows: the outer two columns of the swordfight puzzle are filled with indestructible rum jugs during the swordfight, and during a rumble match, causes the targeting hands to shake, making it a little harder to aim.

Rum is made at distillery shoppes and stalls on inhabited islands. If venturing far from civilization, stock enough rum for the return to an inhabited island.

Rum Recipes
Each order produces 10 units.

Swill

 * Iron: 1 unit
 * Sugar cane: 7 units
 * Wood: 4 units
 * 2 hours basic distilling labor

Grog

 * Iron: 1 unit
 * Sugar cane: 10 units
 * Wood: 5 units
 * 2 hours basic distilling labor
 * 2 hours skilled distilling labor

Fine rum

 * Iron: 1 unit
 * Sugar cane: 15 units
 * Wood: 8 units
 * 2 hours basic distilling labor
 * 2 hours skilled distilling labor
 * 2 hours expert distilling labor

Secondary Use
Swill and grog can also be used as refined commodities. Swill is needed for the production of:

Grog is needed for the production of: