A few questions from a newcomer

Sea of Thieves is about as open-world as it gets. Do whatever you want to do, or do nothing and just sail around (or sit) enjoying the beauty of the world.

If you’re paralyzed by the apparent lack of structure, here’s some of my “Days in a Pirate Life”:

• Sometimes I raise an Emissary flag to multiply loot value and grind out gold or faction levels
• Sometimes I sail towards one of the big markers in the sky and go do a world event like an Ashen Lord (fire tornado) or skelly fleet (ship-shaped cloud)
• Sometimes I hunt down skeleton sloops
• Sometimes I buy a voyage from one of the NPCs at an outpost and do that
• Sometimes I do a Tall Tale
• Sometimes I pick one of the commendations (like finding all of Umbra’s Journals) and work on that
• Sometimes I park at a shipwreck or one of the areas of purple haze (Siren Shrine/Treasury) and dive down to explore
• Sometimes I just get my dog or cat out of the crate, start sailing in a random direction, and just see what happens
• sometimes I fish

Some things are a lot easier with a crew, but you can do just about anything solo if you have the skill, patience, and luck. Other players may be PvP’ing and if you cross them you’ll get sucked into their experience whether you want to or not (at which point you may have to change your plans to running or fighting).

Progression is functionally meaningless, you can do almost everything @wolfmanbush with 11k hours in the game can do except open the Pirate Legend hideout (or buy PL voyages, I guess; never tried it before I hit PL); it only matters if it matters to you.

Oh, and nope, you can only carry a single item at a time. If you find the openable treasure chests you can put 3 smaller items inside, but otherwise it’s one skull/trinket/chest/trident/whatever in the hand.

Makes loot logistics a little tedious at times but that’s part of the experience.

Oh, and don’t forget to try Sea Forts. I very much enjoy Sea Forts myself. Great for a newcomer: decent loot, good action, not too hard, not too long.

There is no way to carry another item if you are holding say a skull or a trinket, but some chests open and allow you to store 3 small items. As for what you should do, you can do what ever sounds fun, any quests or adventures that seem interesting are good, if you want to fight some one, go for it! but the biggest tip in this entire game, never get attached to the loot, because in this game, you will get sunk, and it will happen when you have a lot on you, if you get attached to the loot, losing it will only upset you, treasure is only the bonus, the adventure is the content!

@whiteboytattood said in A few questions from a newcomer:

Hey everyone:

Ahoy!

I am curious about a few things that i hope you can help me out with.

Happy to help with any advice.

1: When i kill an NPC and they drop something, sometimes all i can do with it is hold it, drop it, or carry it to my ship. Seems like I am missing a way to carry it and still grab a chest or something.

Anything that is Loot (Trinkets, Skulls, Gems, Chests) can only be carried one at a time. The exception to this is Small Loot (stuff that looks like you carry it in one hand), as these can be put in the Chests that you are able to actually open. Those can hold 3 Small Loot in them (you will get a Place Loot prompt to put it in when it is open). Then you can pick up the Chest and carry those 3 Small Loot items all at once.

When you find them out on an Island while doing stuff, bring them back to the shoreline by your Ship. Then you can use your Harpoon to reel in all of your stuff when you are ready to depart from the island if you don't have a Chest handy (which will be most situations).

2: As a soloist learning the game should i just be grinding it out looking for treasure and exploring or should I be doing some form of quests etc. That or joining one of trading companies. There is a lot more to this game than expected and just want to head in the right direction.

You should be doing whatever you like, but that means you need to try things out. There are an assortment of Companies you can do things for: Gold Hoarders, Order of Souls, Merchant Alliance, Hunters Call, and Reapers Bones. There are also Tall Tales and the Bilge Rats who have a bunch of stuff on offer. Eventually you'll have access to the Athena's Fortune option. Plus the Server Events are available in rotation. Then all of the Emergent Events that will happen as you play. And of course there are other players on the server with you who you could engage with in various ways.

Those first 3 Companies are all found on the Outposts. They are based around Fetch Quests respectively, each with their own twists. You can pick up Voyages from any of them at the Reps on the Outpost and review details about the in your Reputation Menu (each of them have Commendations you can work towards on top of doing their Voyages). These will all essentially lead you to various tasks that will generate Loot that is geared toward that Company that you can sell them for Gold. This will get you Titles and Cosmetics from the Faction you can use if you like them. Eventually you will have the option to do Emissary work for them which provides a high risk/high reward style of gameplay as the Flag you raise and rank up in your session is something other players could sink you for to sell as Loot themselves, all for the benefit on Multipliers when selling your Loot to the Company in question based on Rank.

Hunters Call are found on the Sea Posts, and they are mostly based around Cooking and selling that cooked food as well as Fishing. For most people they tend to be a side option since they are low excitement for the most part and don't have any Voyages that you can undertake. They are otherwise a full Company you can do work for if that is your jam, complete with Ranks, Titles, Cosmetics, and Commendations. No Voyages or Emissary though.

Reapers have a single place that they can sell things at, the Reaper's Hideout near the center of the Map. They give better prices for Stolen Loot and Emissary Flags that you get from taking out other Emissary players in combat. This means they are most efficient with PvP tactics and put risk on the rest of the Emissaries for their bonuses. They also buy everything and offer an Emissary option, but they can still engage in PvE and move the progress forward with that Loot too.

Tall Tales are plotline based Quests you can do that dive in to the Lore of the game. I recommend doing them in the order they were released (starting with Shores of Gold which you start in any Tavern by the Mysterious Stranger and ending with Pirate's Life). You still do these on servers with other players, so don't be surprised if you get attacked sometimes while on these adventures. But they can be a fun change of pace from time to time.

Bilge Rats are strictly Commendation based, as well as the frequent source for the new Adventures that are time limited storyline things. So lots of random things to do with them, you'll need to check them out in the Reputation Menu cause there are far too many random things to point out, but you can pick a random task and try to get it done (many can be done alongside doing other stuff).

Athena's Fortune is the Pirate Legend stuff, your "end game" Company that you unlock access to after you get to Rank 50 in 3 of the other Companies. They have some special Voyages and Cosmetics available to them. You can do their Voyages if you have a Pirate Legend in your Crew though, so you have potential to try them out.

Server Events are when you see things like Clouds and Beacons on the horizon. These can be seen by everyone on the Server and offer a wave based PvE challenge with the strong threat of PvP competition (or cooperation of you are lucky, but this will be rare). They tend to have some pretty good Loot if you manage to complete them and collect it.

Emergent Events are things like Megs and Skelly Ships that will RNG spawn on you, they are pretty random mostly so they will just happen as you are doing other things to spice it all up as you go with some unexpected situations. Just consider them little bonus bits of content on top of whatever else you're doing.

Player interaction is the heart of the game. Passive or hostile, aggressive or cooperative, you're always online with other player crews out there and PvP is always on the table. Fight or flee is up to you, but know Loot can be lost at any time (sometimes in the blink of an eye). If you are overwhelmed and caught in a deathloop don't be afraid to throw in the towel and Scuttle your Ship so you can spawn somewhere else away from that crew on the server. If you really need to, the game is session based so you can back out and start back up on a different server with different players. Alliances can be profitable, but they can also be betrayed on a whim. The only pirates you should ever fully trust are your own crew, but don't let it shy you away from interaction. As with all online games, some people might be unpleasant, if they break the rules you can report them (recommend capturing a clip for this to include with the report), and remember you have tools to get away from them in those cases.

thank you very much

Aye! You're welcome! May the wind be in your sails.

I'm also a fairly new pirate, and find this all helpful. Are there specific tips to try to lessen the chances of being messed with? I'm normally solo and don't have much loot, so it's disheartening when a much larger ship destroys mine for what i can't imagine isuch profit or challenge.

And related, is there an accepted way that i can present myself as not a threat? I'm a friendly pirate and people honestly don't need to run from me or my lil sloop. I imagine some folks are still going to pick on me, but I'd like other friendly pirates to know.

I got ambushed at an outpost today by someone whoust have scuttled their ship (there was a mermaid nearby), and i hope they enjoyed selling the single seafarer's chest before I respawned and claimed my first life.

And for the TC, one thing I've started doing that seems to me like a good idea when I have multiple chests is to bury them nearby each other (and not by my sloop!) and only load them all onto my boat when I'm ready to go. I got hosed by a galleon yesterday for my measly hall when I was off on the island. I don't know how good a strategy this is though.

Thanks!

@trogool said in A few questions from a newcomer:

I'm also a fairly new pirate, and find this all helpful. Are there specific tips to try to lessen the chances of being messed with? I'm normally solo and don't have much loot, so it's disheartening when a much larger ship destroys mine for what i can't imagine isuch profit or challenge.

Communication is key here, but know that it isn't some magical "get out of conflict free" card that you can play. Sometimes game chat just doesn't work that great and the other Crew can't hear you (or see your types messages). Xbox Crews who are in a Party also can't hear game chat. Some players also elect to use the setting option to mute all other Crews too, so there is also that.

For doing Communication, the earlier the better. You have a Speaking Trumpet, if you hold the Primary Use Button and then speak it will cause your voice to be heard from greater distances (Secondary Use will allow you to reduce the radius of your voice to be sneaky). You also want to take a non-aggressive stance, keep your broadside away from their Ship and don't go barreling in towards them, try to be slow and cautious. But also make sure you can either get moving quickly if it goes south, or be the first one who can get into firing position.

And don't be surprised if you get attacked still. Sometimes other players just want some PvP for the sake of PvP. Maybe they don't want to risk you being a threat (potentially) where they need to be. Maybe they sense weakness.

Also keep in mind, that if you put up a fight and you stay positive and fun about it, some crews will respect that it the encounter will go from hostile to passive over time, and may even lead to making some new friends.

Bottom line, don't fear conflict - it is going to happen as it is a core part of the game. Best thing you can do is control how you respond to it.

And related, is there an accepted way that i can present myself as not a threat? I'm a friendly pirate and people honestly don't need to run from me or my lil sloop. I imagine some folks are still going to pick on me, but I'd like other friendly pirates to know.

Covered this in the above bit. Like I said there, no sure fire ways but there are things you can do to seem less aggressive. Just know that any player interaction can go the way of a fight and be prepared for it to do so. Make sure guns are loaded, health is full, food in inventory is stocked as are munitions and planks. Just be ready, and know you have the tools to escape (without your Loot) if you need to.

I got ambushed at an outpost today by someone whoust have scuttled their ship (there was a mermaid nearby), and i hope they enjoyed selling the single seafarer's chest before I respawned and claimed my first life.

Outposts are a place where it is easy for things to go hostile. Usually Loot is on the line here for at least one Crew. If you see a Mermaid, I suggest not docking. Either move on or take your Ship out a ways from the island, set it in a spin, and Cannon over to the Outpost to try and chat (you die you respawn at your Ship, otherwise you can Mermaid back). That way you can assess.

And for the TC, one thing I've started doing that seems to me like a good idea when I have multiple chests is to bury them nearby each other (and not by my sloop!) and only load them all onto my boat when I'm ready to go. I got hosed by a galleon yesterday for my measly hall when I was off on the island. I don't know how good a strategy this is though.

This can work, but other Pirates who are observant can see where your Loot is buried by walking around and looking, or by Stealing your Map Bundle. So it can work, but it is not an assurance is all. No harm in trying to mitigate your losses though.

Thanks!

Hope the advice helps!