Burgesse's Guide to Quick Captaincy

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Burgesse's Guide to Quick Captaincy

As a new player, it can be confusing to know what to do, or where to put or do with all those shiny pieces of eight. This is but one suggestion. There are many fun, profitable ways to play.

The Guide

After creating a new pirate on Emerald...

1. Go on regular pillages. Aim for 90% Jobber's Delight or above when possible. Jobber's Delight is the best pay rate for you. Set an easy goal of 1k per day. You may make much more than this a day, depending on how much time you have to play.

2. Do not play poker.

3. Keep track of your earnings, and be smart about it! Don't buy unnecessary items, like swords, clothes, pets, and other furniture. You must prioritize spending in order to maximize it. There will be time for excess spending later.

4. Optional: buy a "little chest" furniture item which you can put your pieces of eight in after placing it in your shack, so you can have a clear sense of what you earn. The fee is 3 doubloons (roughly 10,000 PoE) plus the cost in the Furnisher (around 1,000 or less). You will attain your goal slower this way, but it may help you avoid those poker tables.

5. Once having gained roughly 70,000-80,000 pieces of eight (sometimes more will be needed, be prepared), go to Sho Girls on Admiral, the inn there. Ask for a sloop (by typing "buying sloop" or "buying sloop ported here"). Alternatively, you may use “Trade Chat” to ask for your new vessel. This will be the reward of all your hard work, and will be a key part of your goal. Make sure that the ship is ported at the island you wish it to be. In order to find out where the vessel is ported, ask the seller to offer you a job aboard their ship. You may also use the “/vw” command to check the vessel’s location. Simply type “/vw” followed by the vessel’s exact name. Make sure that the ship is in a location that you can easily access from your home. Do not sell this item.

6. In order to create a crew, you need a "narrow" Experience standing in certain puzzles. Read the Crew (link) page for more information. As you pillage with other crews via the notice board, your experience in these certain puzzles will go up, along with your stack of pieces of eight.

7. After you have a sloop, it is time to start looking around for crews to join where you will be able to sail it. Several things need to be kept in mind:

a) You need an officer Badge in order to sail your ship. You can be promoted to the rank of officer and still will not be able to sail your ship. These are quite expensive considering your current budget, at 8 doubloons. When purchasing, buy a wrapped badge so you can use it when the right time approaches.

b) The crew you join must have a way for you to be promoted to officer. Ask the captain or a high-ranking pirate in the crew what these requirements are. Be smart about this! Begging for the position will get you nowhere. Typically, a certain type of stat ranking is needed in order to attain officer. However, this is secondary to your main objective: officer standing in a crew.

c) Sometimes crews will be in flags at-war with other flags, in which case you can lose your new prize in a sinking battle. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND joining a peaceful crew to begin your career. You can check to see if you are joining a crew at-war by looking at their Flag Page (link). If they have no flag, then you need not worry.

8. Once in a crew at officer ranking and holding a sloop deed, you can begin to practice the two puzzles essential for you: duty navigation and battle navigation. You can also practice these through the navy, although I don't recommend doing that because it is not as fun. I suggest running a solo pillage the first few times if you are nervous.

9. Optional: With having to stock your ship, you may look for several other forms of income aside from your own pillages and other players' pillages (which you can and should still go on). One option is to buy a Bravery Badge (5 doubloons) and to go on sea monster hunts. These can be much more profitable than pillages, but they take a lot of time. Another option is to buy a Labor Badge (5 doubloons) and seek employment at any tailor, shipyard, weavery, distillery, iron monger, or furnisher (depending what puzzle suits you). The pay will be less but you don't have to puzzle as much. You can work up to 3 jobs at once and puzzle only once a week (except at a furnisher or tailor, which do not require puzzling). At any rate, both options will be better than no options.

10. Optional: A more recent development in the game is something called a Greedy Brigand (or Barbarian). You will encounter these opponents on occasion while on a regular pillage—they can be distinguished by their excessive jewelry and a color associated with the box beside them in which their combat progress shows. By leveraging a certain strength of attack against them, they will drop treasure. You may win a “Greedy Trinket” based on how many of these enemies are defeated. You have two options: You can sell the trinkets directly on the open market (typically for 3k-4k apiece) or you can find a Trading Post and trade 3 Greedy Trinkets for a “Greedy Purse,” which contains additional pieces of eight. Often, the Greedy Purse item will give you a good amount of pieces of eight, although the exact amount varies. There is at the time of this writing a Trading Post on the Isle of Kent. You can read more about Greedy Brigands and Barbarians here (link).

11. If your intent is indeed to create a crew, note that you need a Captain Badge (20 doubloons) as well as an additional 10 doubloons to start one, plus Narrow in all the adequate puzzles. You will already have your ship deed.

12. When you decide to make the move to create a crew, thank your current captain, leave their crew and make it. Now you can do whatever you want in terms of your own crew.

The Cons

Creating your own crew by yourself without any support from anyone else can be difficult when you start out, and probably henceforth. You will have to get enough jobbers for each of your pillages from the notice board posting. Getting members to stay in your crew is also difficult. Also, you will not be a part of a lively, talkative crew or flag. You must be comfortable with loneliness, lots and lots of loneliness.

The Pros

You have complete control over what you want to do in terms of your crew. You're now the captain. You can: join a flag, make a flag, have no flag, recruit members, have no members, and set your booty division to your heart's content. You do not answer to anyone else, unless you join someone else's flag. You do not have to log in at certain times for certain things, like blockades. You do not have to pay dues to anyone. You can be gone for a months on end (although a doubloon purchase is necessary to keep your pirate from getting erased) without worrying about disappointing anyone. If the mood strikes you, you can PvP whenever you want. Fair winds!

Disclaimer: There is no set way to play this game, and this is just a suggestion; neither is it a comprehensive guide. None of the above is game-playing truth--it is based on my experiences only. I am the sole author of this particular page.