Pillaging the Monk Way

Introduction
Pillaging the Monk Way was thought up and practiced by Monkmiroku who is currently sailing on the Hunter Ocean. The idea came to him shortly after he had finished gunning for one pillage, and moved onto carping for the next. Seeing as when he was lazing inbetween battles while gunning, it was an easy break, however once he switched to carping, it was constant puzzling, out of battle and during. Seeing as how this was normal Monkmiroku usually never pillaged unless he was gunning. One day Monk decided there must be a better way of pillaging, something no one has tried before, something unique, something that was beneficial. Thinking of a way was what lead to the idea of, Pillaging the Monk Way. First I will explain how this works, and what you need inorder for it to work successfully.


 * Note: Only been tested on elite sloop pillages, without the use of rigging

What You Need

 * 6 Pirates, including youself
 * 2 Sailors, or riggers - Who are GM+ required
 * 1 Gunner - Who is GM+
 * 2 Bilgers - Who are Leg+
 * 1 Bnaver - Usually yourself


 * One of your bilgers will need to be able to carp at a renowned+ level and be willing to switch between stations, more will be explained later.

Theory Behind the Idea
In the many years Monkmiroku has been pillaging, he has picked up a few common and a few not so common myths and facts about pillaging.
 * Myth: Booty payout is based on Duty Report before the battle.
 * Fact: Duty Report has nothing to do with payout.
 * Myth: Duty Navigation helps increase the booty payout
 * Fact: The Duty Report does not increase booty payout, therefore Dnav does not. Dnav helpes improve the outputs of each individual station.
 * Myth: Kill the bot with hat last earns more booty.
 * Fact: Killing the bot with the hat last does nothing for the booty payout.
 * Myth: Shooting the bot's ship less results in more booty and getting shot less results in more booty.
 * Fact: If the damage is max - max or 0 - 0 it does not matter, booty payout will be the same.

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, I'll explain how the booty payout is devised. For the first battle the server spawns a ship that is slightly above the stats of all the members aboard the ship. After you fight the ships, if you win then it spawns a ship according on how well ye defeated the bots during swordfight/rumble. ie. If you don't lose a single person then the next ship will be much tougher, if you lose and they have two left, the strength will be slightly lower. Therefore only the strength of the bots of the first battle are based upon on the pirates onboard, all other times it just keeps going up until a loss.

The key thing to acknowledge when using this strategy, is that the DR(Duty Report) does not matter in the booty payout.

How It Works
All right, now to actually how the pillaging works! Seeing as we know the DR doesn't effect the booty payout, it is reasonable to suggest that if you have one or two pirates who are lazing ye will not be effected, if we take this to the next step, if everyone onboard is lazing the booty payout will not be effected.

This was first tested on Hunter Ocean by Monkmiroku and five other pirates on April 20, 2009. It was even more successful then when pirates were doing their respected stations. There were four battles done, and one expedition although two expeditions were obtained. No Kraken Blood was obtained. All battles were our spawn.


 * 1st) 900+ PoE divided to each pirate, and expedition. (Max - 0)
 * 2nd) 950+ PoE divided to each pirate.(Max - 2.5)
 * 3rd) 980+ PoE divided to each pirate, and expedition.
 * Expedition - 94 little chests, 44 regular chests, 4 treasure chests.
 * 4th) 1000+ PoE divided to each pirate.(0 - 0)
 * Total Booty ~ 60 000
 * Total Booty per pirate ~ 7000
 * Total PoE gained by leading officer ~ 27 000

The pillage took less than 90 minutes, and the ship was sailing on the Hunter Ocean from Quetzal - Saiph. The first battle took place before one league was met. Others were ~ 1.5 leagues away, and after going 3 leagues, decided to turn about and get the expedition and port. So a total of 6 leagues were sailed, 4 battles and an expedition took place.

What To Do
Only station that should appear on DR is gunning, as first 4 guns will be loaded before the first battle. Everyone else lazes until battle, then takes their respective stations. This makes it much more enjoyable for everyone, as the pirates onboard laze until battle similar to the gunner and Bnaver of a regular sloop pillage.

Strategy
There are a few things to take into account when using this method of pillaging.


 * Bilge and carp will slowly creep up, therefore having 2 bilgers is necessary as at the start of battle ye will want to get that down first providing carp is not too high.
 * Once bilge is low, move one of the bilgers to carp to get carp down, both bilge and carp will go down extremely fast since they are "natural" tear and wear.
 * Move tokens will be low at first, as it takes time for sailors to build up their combos, suggestions is telling sailors to take stations when you see an incoming ship.
 * As move tokens will be low and bilge will be high at the beginning of battle, it is suggested that you avoid the enemy ship until the third turn or when you start receiving move tokens.
 * If you do not run from the enemy ship, you will be stranded and grappled early, if you are not grappled then you will be shot at and have almost no hope in winning.
 * If you are finding move tokens are not readily available at the start of battle, then simply move your gunner onto sails or rigging. If he is even master at either then it will help. Once tokens are consistant, then have him start gunning agin.

Drawbacks
Nothing in this world is perfect, so this method does have some drawbacks.
 * As having no sailors, ye will not move fast and if ye need to get to a destination such as an expedition far away, it will take a lot longer.
 * Difficult running from the enemy as ye are short on moves and the battle has just begun.
 * If ye do not have leg bilgers than this will be a horrible experience, I cannot stress enough the fact that you need to have amazing bilgers.
 * Sailors have a lot of pressure on them as they are the key to success, if moves are not coming as fast then you could have 3 sailors, and you could gun and bnav. I have tried this and since nearly all of my shots hit, it is very effective, for those who are not experienced at gunning and fire a lot during Bnav, this stragety is not for you, I suggest you just get 3 sailors until move tokens are being gained quickly, then get your gunner back on guns and continue.
 * As you will have to run a few turns at the beginning the sea battle will take longer than usually, 14 - 20 rounds is expected. However long the battle will be, your mates onboard will thank you for being able to laze when they are not in battle.
 * Unless ye have plenty of hearties or crewmates with the skills necessary to run this pillage, it will be difficult to find jobbers. Best to get a good 5 pirates who are reliable thoughtout the whole pillage, as if one pirate leaves and another comes on, the booty suffers.

Final Thoughts
This strategy works amazingly and although there are some drawback, overall the majority would say it is easier, a more profitable, and a more enjoyable way of pillaging for everyone than the traditional way of pillaging. Everyone is welcomed to try out this strategy, but if someone asks where you got this from, just remember to give credit where credit is due. Best of luck all you fellow pillagers!