**Sea of Dummies** A Fan-Written guide to Rare Ltds Sea Of Thieves. PT 2

  • If you havent read the Sea of Dummies PT1 go there first then come back :)
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    PART 1

    YOUR FIRST VOYAGE;

    In Sea of Thieves, there are 3 main factions with 50 levels each, for you to fulfill by handing in loot, gaining gold and Reputaion (exp).
    The factions consist of; Gold Hoarders, Merchant Alliance and The Order of Souls. It is with any one of these three "Traders" located at each outpost that you will be buying voyages from, and selling off the loot you have recived.

    Each of the tradors are very distinguishable from other shops mostly with the appearance of their buildings.

    The Gold hoarder is located at the green canvas tents with yellow keys painted on the tent walls. The NPC trader stands in the opening of the tent,

    The Oder of Souls is located underneath the stilted building, with the small fenced off plot. Within the purple cloth hanging from under the building you will find the NPC trader.

    The Merchan Alliance Tent is located on the main dock of every outpost, adjacent to the shipwrite. Its identifiable by the triangle shade cloth over a "crude" map of the world and a  flat globe. The NPC trader is easily visible under the shade cloth.

    THE TRADE FACTIONS;

    GOLD HAUDER
    voyages consist of riddles and treasure maps. Once voted in, your voyage will pick one or more random islands, near and far, relative to your location, and provide you with either a riddle or an "X Mark's the spot" treasure map.
    A riddle will consist of 2 - 4 lines of clues. The first will be visible immediately, telling you the name of the island required, while the rest are smudged out, and reveal as the previous clue is solved. You will be asked to locate various landmarks on the island requested, and perform one of 3 actions;

    -Raise lanturn
    -hold up the riddle paper
    -Play an instrument

    This will reveal the next lines untill you reach the final line. This will the ask you to walk "x" number of paces is a compass direction. These paces can be counted when walking while holding up your compass. Dig with your shovel when the required distance is reached, if you followed the clues accurately you will hear a "Clunk" as your shovel buries into the ground. Continue to dig till the chest is available to pick up. There is a chance of up to 5 skeletons spawning once you have found the chest. You must fight them off to continue digging.

    The X Mark's the spot maps will show you a topographical image of the island required without revealing to you the islands name. Find this island on the map table to set your destination.
    Apon arriving to the requested island you must now begin analyzing landmarks like trees, rocks or even the islands beaches and edges to pinpoint the location of the chest.
    Matching visible land forms on the map near the displayed red "X", with what you can see in your surroundings such as an area of grass half way between a large tree and a rock,
    Now that your search field has narrowed, there comes a small element of guessing as you try to pinpoint the exact chest location digging around in between the tree and rock. If you find the chest location your shovel will make a "Clunck" noice as you tap the chest in the ground. Continue to dig till the chest becomes available to pick up.
    There is a chance of up to 5 skeletons spawning once you have found the chest, you must fight them off to continue digging.

    Gold hordes has 5 chest types for you to find, that bring different values of gold and reputaion based on what item you cash in. Gold received ranges between a specific threshold allocated with each chest,
    The Reputation recieved is a fixed value, based only on what chest is handed. It does not differ based on the gold value gained by the item sold. 2 of the same chest type have identical reputation value.

    The value order is as follows, (Reputation is not tracked through a counter and so it's not recorded below)

    -Castaway
    -Seafarers
    -Marauder
    -Captain
    -Cursed
    -Stronghold
    -Skeleton Captain's

    Cursed chests
    There are currently 2 cursed chest types in the sea if thieves. These chests of the highest value, have a unique characteristic that must be overcome or maintained.

    The Chest of a Thousand Grogs will afflict its carrier with drunkenness for a long as it is carried. Your Pirate will be at his most disorderly state as you carry the chest to and from your boat. Playing a groggy "Way-hey up she rises" you will sway left and right as you try to walk with it in possession.
    It can be found through gold hoarder voyages and random spawn locations through out the map.

    The Chest of Sorrows, unlike the Chest of a Thousand Grogs. The Chest of Sorrows does not effect the player. This chest will begin to Cry, filling your boat with water and if you do not maintain the water intake, it will sink your boat.
    The Cry will last for a duration that depends on the size of your boat. They can be found through Gold Hauder voyages or at random spawn locations throughout the map.

    MERCHANT ALLIANCE
    voyages consist of Merchant Contract orders and Cargo Deliveries.

    Contract orders are a scavenger hunt, it requires you to locate the items from the list around the map such as pigs, chickens or powder kegs, and take them to the requested outpost for delivery before the contract expires.
    Once you have voted on the voyage table, a voyage will appear in your Voyage radial. You will be given an order list of powderkegs and various animals to follow.
    For this voyage, a selection of empty crates will become available to collect from the Merchant Alliance vendor. These items are used to catch and contain the animals you have been asked to gather.
    There a three animal types, each with 4  different colours and values. Each animal has a care requirement that must be met for a successful delivery. These are as follows;

    -Chickens: Just Noisy, all you have to do is tolerate the sound of the chicken in the cages. They have no special requirement to keep them alive, besides keeping them safe from attack.

    Colours:
    -White Feathered
    -Red and White Speckled
    -Black Plumed
    -Golden Feathered

    -Pigs: Must be fed a banana when it is hungry. Too long under and the pig will die, you will then have to locate and collect another pig. When the pig needs to be fed, it will sit, with its ears lowered slightly and it will cry quite loudly. Approach the front of the cage with an equipted banana, and hold your "primary interact" button to feed the pick, if successful the pig will stop crying and stand back up inside the cage.

    Colours:
    -Pink Bristled
    -Pink and Black Spotted
    -Black Coated
    -Golden Striped

    -Snakes: Are aggressive and tend to be hard to see. Draw too near and the snake will begin to "Hiss" and face you as it raises it head and flattens its neck, ready to spit poison at you. This will decrease visibility and deal a small impact damage which will continue to do a small amount of damage over time.
    You must play music from your instrument to put the snake into a dancing trance, giving you a window to catch and carry the snake safely untill its trance is broken, where you will need to play music again. Another crew member can play music for you to avoid stopping. Take care for where you store your snakes on the Boat, Do not place them near other caged animals. It will kill them.

    Colours:
    -Blue Dappled
    -Red Striped
    -Black Scale
    -Golden

    -Gunpowder Kegs: These are readily available on all forts and strongholds, and in random spawn locations on all islands of the map. Powder kegs are mostly used as an explosive solution to a pesky pirate vessel, but, from time to time they are asked for in Merchant Order contracts.
    They are very volatile and need to be stored thoughtfully to avoid explosions at sea. The crows nest is usually the most ideal location.

    Animal cages can also be found in various spawn locations around the map. These can be used to catch and deliver animals at any outpost merchant alliance trader, without the need for an order. HOWEVER, you only receive 10% of the values above, powder kegs are likewise.

    Cargo Runs
    With Cargo Deliveries, you are requested to transport delicate goods, safely from one NPC to another. Each item has a care requirement that must be met to maintain its prime condition untill it is delivered to the asked for location, eg. If a Cloth Crate gets wet, it will begin to damage the item, decreasing its overall value from 350g down to a minimum 50g. All cargo items follow the same set price and decrease rate.
    Once voted on the voyage table, an order will appear in your voyage radial. This will tell you how many items to collect, who to collect them from and at what Island they are located.

    Each NPC has been given a name that reflects the shop they operate, with the first letter of every name matching the name of their shop.

    Female names beginning with;

    • M for The Merchant Alliance Trader
    • O for the Order of Souls Trader (Not involved with cargo)
    • S for the ShipWrite Trader
    • T for the Tavern ladies.
    • W for the Weapon Smith.

    Male names beginning with;

    • C for the Clothing shop
    • H for Gold Hauder trader (Not involved with Cargo)
    • T for the Tools or equipment shop

    From these NPCs (GH and OoS not inclusive), you will be asked to pick up and/or deliver 1 or more, of these 3 different types of cargo.

    • Rum Bottles; will break if shaken or your boat takes damages. They can be stored anywhere you see fit
    • Crate of Luxurious Cloth; Must stay dry to keep its value. Shelter the cloth from the rain and away from any water intake of your boat.
    • Plants; are the contrary to Cloth, and must stay wet in order to maintain its value. Putting water in the bottom of your boat, half a barrel high, is plenty to keep your plant healthy.

    ORDER OF SOULS
    voyages consist of Skeleton Pirate Bounty Contracts. This voyage type will require you to locate and kill up to 4 boss skeletons per contract.
    Once you have voted on your voyage table, you will now have 1 or more Contracts in your voyage radial. On these papers you will notice images of the Skeleton Bosses type and the island location they will be.

    When you arrive at the requested island you will have to look around for their location. This could be anywhere from diwn on the beaches to up high on the cliffs, even underground in caves. If you are drawing near, a combat music will fade in, and gradually get louder as you get closer.
    When you find them you will see the first wave, already surfaced and walking around, waiting for a pirate to approach. You will have to begin fighting through waves of various skeleton types, numbers and wields to promote the Bosses to show them selves. They will begin attacking the immediate moment you are in agro range and they see or hear you. Skeletons can get very hard as you progress. so it is vital to be prepared.

    Remember this important guide to Skeletons for your best chances

    The skeleton scourge

    They look alot tamer then their nature, in truth they are savage, mindless, increadably tenacious and cunning.
    Expert swordsman with unlimited bananas and unlimited shots sharper then their cutlass, great in numbers and oblivious to pain, they will cut down the even the most experienced sailors if given the chance and the powder kegs will clean up anything thats left of you.
    Lighting the fuse and running straight for you, best drop anything you are carrying and run for your life or meet a misty end.

    So next time you take on the skeleton scourge, and you do not have the advantage of cannon support, remember these important points that I have comprised through many game years of research gathered over many more encounters during my times as a pirate.

    BEFORE I BEGIN
    The infomation that follows this paragraph is collected from the current skeleton build. This data is susceptible to change, as skeletons tend to get reworked from time to time and may adapt behaviours not currently available to record.
    That in mind I present to you

    THE RULES!

    DO NOT UNDER ESTIMATE THEM.
    Skeleton difficulty varies depending on the voyage level and number of players on the island. Treat all skeletons as an immediate threat untill difficulty is apparent. When in large numbers even the weakest of skeletons will kill you fast. SO...

    KEEP BACK, WAY BACK.
    Staying back is essential. It is the cornerstone to buying time to access the situation, ie skeleton type, location, what they wield and what of your surroundings you can utilize.

    UTILISE YOUR SURROUNDINGS.
    Your environment can be your best friend or your worst enemy. If you are well aware of your surroundings, you are much less likely to find youself being slapped off a cliff by a charged attack or Eye of Reach. So always take in what's around you, look for cover points from Gunmen and bottlenecks to force skeles into tight areas. This will keep them grouped for spreading damage and also help prevent them surrounding you.
    The occasional powderkeg will be available aswell so be sure to look out for them too.

    STAY HEALTHY
    Keep your health up, keep your bananas up. With Rule #3 you will see, supply barrels will be around you to find. when ever possible or you feel it's safe to do so. Check for bananas, ALWAYS.

    FIGHT BESIDE YOUR CREW.
    Two swords are better then one, but all will live with four. Grouping up is a must, the combined damage will cut threw the numbers fast. Unless there is a well planned strategy that requires splitting up. STAY TOGETHER!
    When you die off.. wait to regroup and restock before going back in to the fight.

    FOCUS ATTACKS ON GUNNER SKELES.
    Skeletons with guns deal all the major damage, so it is important that you remove them from the fight as soon as possible.
    The melee skeletons will pursue you to keep your focus on them, so the gunners can burn you down FAST. Ignore the aggression of the melee skeletons, they are not the main threat, direct your focus on what is killing you.

    TIMING IS EVERYTHING.
    Think before you act. Every action you make must be executed with caution. Eating a banana, charging a heavy attack, running for ammo or even your life require the right moment. Any of these moves made at the wrong time will diminish your advantage, your choices MUST be made with commitment. Hesitation or second thoughts leaves you open and vulnerable.

    KEEP YOUR HEADS!
    I saved this one till last, but it is of all the most important. Maintain your composure, skeletons are the most rage inducing AI threat you can currently come across in Sea Of Thieves, they will make you angry, frustrated, even upset. Dying sucks and degrades moral. So try your best to keep calm and collected when heading to the Ferry. It's hard I know, believe me. But if you follow these BASIC rules, you will have a much nicer time cutting the the boney scourge of the seas.

    Skeleton types.

    Ambient/vanilla:
    Resists: N/A
    Weakness: N/A

    this is the default skeleton type that spawn randomly on islands (Ambient), or in colour based outfits ie, BLUE head gear and/or eye patch when for an Order of Souls contracts.
    They have no special traits or prerequisite task to take down. it's just out right bones, so swing, chop and shoot to your hearts content. The color of their clothing signifies difficulty, this table will be covered later.

    Jungle/weeds:
    Resists: explosives, Guns.
    Weakness: Cutlass

    The jungle skeletons are the easiest of the special skeleton types, as they take +50% damage from cutlass, however damage is equaly reduced for guns, cannons and explosives, (though cannons and PKs are still effective).
    They also heal in water. You know this is occurring when the plants that course through their hollow bodies brighten in color and a green twinkling dust will raise above their heads. Using the knock back of your EoR, the 3rd strike or lunge with the cutlass, to guide them out of the water, even running for drier land (tho this may risk losing agro, and they wont follow you)

    Metal/Golden:
    Resists: Cutlass
    Weakness: Water, Guns, explosives.

    The Metal or golden skeletons are heavy and solid. They move slowly and in contrary to the jungle skeletons, they are almost immune to cutlass, taking nearly no damage and preventing combos as your sword will ricochet.
    The have a dire weakness to water, which increases damage taken. Walk them into ponds, the waterfronts or throw buckets of water. If 25% submerged or the bucket hits its target, the skeletons will appear to rust, you will hear creaking metal and flakes of rust will drip from them.
    This means they are weaker and the time to strike is now. This effect will ware off if they dont stay wet.
    Best strategy it's to group them up in a body of water then use cannons or explosives where available to annialate the wave in one action. Otherwise blunderbuss point blank will take them out one by one. If there no water to utilize a well placed powder keg will do the trick, but be sure to keep them together.

    Ghost/Shade
    Resists: immune to damage at night.
    Weakness: The Sun, Lanterns.

    Shade skeletons are potentially the most of a nuisance, as during the night, they wont take damage untill you "Light them up" with your lanturn to make them solid. They remain "Ghost" untill this is done, you will know a success full lanturn shine when the skeleton stops and reacts to the light before pursuing you again.
    For the about the next 15 seconds they will be solid and suseptable to attack, this will ware off before you need to light them up again. They do not have a whole lot of health, you can kill them quickly, just remember to keep your lanturn ready, once the great eyes gain a smoke and their body will leak a black mist. This means they returned to ghost form and need a lanturn again to continue delivering damage. With a larger crew. Have on member keep a lanturn up permanently while you protect him, ensuring that the skeletons in reach are always goin to take damage.
    Their reaction to the light can also be used as a stun to get in close to the gunmen shades.

    Powder keg skelies.
    Resists: Varies
    Weakness: Varies

    Powderkegs skeletons are a type in their own.
    They move slower then most skeletons, unless you draw too near and they light their fuse. When they do this they move faster, and cannot be out run while carrying something like a chest or crate. Only when empty handed can you out run them and if you get away soon enough the skeleton will extinguish his fuse.
    Best to take them out from a far with a flintlock or EoR.
    After taking it out, stay vigilant, as they spawn regularly and in cases, high numbers.
    With a skull fort or OoS the type of skeleton that carry the kegs will vary depending on the wave. This is usually on no factor unless the keg is carried by a Shade Skeleton at night. If a lanturn is not used, the Keg will explode with no effect on the skeleton(s)

    Skeleton Captains.

    Skeleton Captains are the Main Bosses at the final of the skeleton waves, these are the skeletons depicted on the voyage contract, which displays the Captain or Crew (covered next) name and type.
    They are distinguishable by their body items, such as clothes or plants, being fuller and more detailed then others. Ie; more clothing items or leaves and flowers for the plant type.
    They also have their Names displayed in RED above their heads.

    Skeleton Crew members.

    These skeletons are just like skeleton captains they have a RED name above their heads, only they do not contain the word "Captain", they appear on the voyage contracts with the type that they will be.
    They are slightly weaker then captains and do not have the extra outfit items or details. They appear as a regular skeleton body model, corresponding to their type.


    OoS Loot Stats to be added here.


    THE BOATS

    Run down
    Your boat is the largest and most important tool on the Sea Of Thieves. Everything you do to progress through the game is dependent on your boat staying afloat.
    Without it you cannot travel great distances efficiently, nor transport loot securely or retain your supply of resources. It is also your respawn location when returning from the Ferry of the Damned. If your boat has been sunk for what ever reason, it will respawn at an island somewhere on the map, leaving behind any loot or crates on board to float in the sea. It will remain there for a period of time before sinking to despawn, giving you a small window to bring your boat back and retrieve it, although it's unlikely.

    The distance your boat will respawn from where it was sunk, depends on the cause of the sinking. Personal error, environmental involvement, or skeleton cannons, your boat can respawn up to 5 islands away. On the other hand, If your boat was sunk by another crew, or your crew voted to scuttle, your boat can respawn up to 10 islands away.

    operating a vessel requires work and co operation (for larger vessels). There are 4 tasks that need to be performed; (these can be done at any time, on any boat, no matter who owns it)

    -Raising and lowering anchor, to secure your boat to its position, and turning the boat around quickly. Press "Primary interact" at a vacant handle and walk forward to turn the capstan and begin raising the anchor, once a full rotation is complete, your anchor will be raised and your boat will be free to move. Hold "primary interact" button at a raised anchor, to drop it.

    -Raising and lowering sails to govern speed/acceleration. Each boat has it's own set of sails to catch the wind and propel the boat forward, lifting and lowering the sails to different lengths will cause your boat to accelerate or decelerate. eg, The lower the sails the faster you will go, raise the sails completely to slowly come to a stop.

    -Trimming/rotating the sails is used to fill or empty the sails. When sailing, having the sails down will get you moving, but you must also rotate the sails and catch the wind to reach maximum speed at "Full Billow" (this is when the sails have caught the maximum amount of wind) your boat will move as fast as the wind will allow.

    -The helm is where you control the rudder and Steer the boat to avoid obstacles and maintain your course barings. Turning the boat around can take quite a bit of time, esspecially with larger boats. So it's important to slow down or even stop completely, for a tightened turn circle. The anchor can also be used to yank your boat the direction you have the wheel turned to. The further the wheel is turned, the further your boat will swing when the anchor drops, make sure to straighten your wheel and raise anchor immediately to get moving again as soon as possible.

    These are the 4 main tasks that need to be managed in order to sail efficiantly. The larger your crew is, the faster you can perform these tasks, by having 2 or more crew help perform the same task. (This does not include operating the helm as steering is primarily a solo task)
    eg; All four crew members of a galleon will raise a anchor 4× faster then One crew member.

    THE TYPES

    Sea Of Thieves currently has 3 boats of various sizes available for you to use. Each boat type has a crew limit depending on the selected boat type;

    -Sloop (crew: 1-2); this One mast yacht has a 15 Pace, half canopy deck, with elevated helm and rear mount capstan, all on top of inner hull storage.
    Singular port and starboard cannons with two cannonnball barrels on deck.
    Its the smallest and most fragile to impacts of the three boats. But, at the sacrifice of maximum speed it has the greatest maneuvering capabilities, with a 1 rotation helm and the fastest mechanism operation speeds (MOS). It can be sailed alone with little loss to vessel performance. It also has the highest speed when facing directly up wind.

    -Brigantine (crew: 1-3); this two mast yacht has a 20 Pace, bowed deck (set low) and a forward mount capstan with full down deck cabin and storage.
    Twin port and starboard cannons with three cannonball barrels below deck
    It's the middle sized vessel with moderate damage tolerance and moderate maneuvering capabilities, with a 1.5 rotation helm and medium MOS.
    It holds the fastest, maximum sail speed to date. Little speed when facing directly up wind.

    -Galleon (crew: 1-4); This Large 3 mast war-yacht is the largest and most sluggish of the three boats.
    It has a 35 Pace deck with elevated helm and forward mount capstan. A full-cab Captains Quarters and a down deck opperations level with a lower, inner hull storage.
    It holds 4 port and starboard cannons with cannonball barrels on the down deck.
    As the second fastest and most durable vessel it's the hardest to maneuver with a 2 rotation helm and the lowest MOS. It is the strongest and most tolerant vessel available to use, when operating under a full crew of efficiant sailors. Although it has the slowest sailing speeds when facing into the wind.

    These are the three boat types to keep in mind when building a crew. It is important that the number of players you have in your crew corresponds well with the size of boat you choose.
    A boat that is under manned will have a lesser advantage over a vessel with a full crew, this applies to any boat comparison.
    For eg; a sloop will 2 men will be stronger and more capable then a galleon with 3 men, as the galleon only has 75% of its crew strength while the sloop is at 100%. Provided the sloop has adequate crew skill, it can utilize this advantage.


    Infomation continues in into:
    PART 3

    Thank you for reading :)
    I hope this helps you in your journey to legend.

    a little sailing background
    My Name is Nathan. (GT Nayfe pacewell)
    PL achieved: June 25 2018.
    Current total dist sailed(kms): 10,127km

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  • Updated with BOATS breakdowns.

  • Updated.

    Part 3 link.

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