Merchant Alliance help

Another fun way to level up the Merchant Alliance is to do the Flameheart event when his flaming head appears in the sky (as pointed out by another community member in a similar post). The ghost storage crates dropped are pretty plentiful and have a good value when turning them in (especially if done while flying an Emissary flag). And the ghost ships are not that hard to take down, 3 shots is about all it takes to dispatch one - just watch your back when you try to recover the floating loot (more advice for solo players than anything else).

@sonicsfartv2
When starting a new session, you can always vote on one cargo run and have the cargo pickup location there at the outpost. Take advantage of this at the beginning of every session. Turning in the cargo will easily get you grade 2 emissary and maybe even 3 if you have a full set of 8 cargo. I can't remember exactly how many pieces it takes.

You can still jump while holding bottles without damaging them, as long as you drop them before you land. Harpooning bottles can damage them but it takes a few hits. Don't be afraid to use the harpoon to load them, even with the devil's rum it's ok.

I like to keep my plants submerged completely, but I suspect what keeps them watered most of the time is actually large waves clipping through the bottom of the ship while sailing. This same thing seems to keep chests of rage cool. I've noticed, even with the water above the plants, they can still start to wilt if I stay docked somewhere too long.

With no storm in the devil's roar, devil's cloth is easy to handle.

With only 5 locations to pickup devils roar cargo, it is much better to run than regular cargo. You generally only have to deliver to the 5 locations in the devil's roar, and the 5 locations that boarder it. Devil's ridge, ancient spire, kraken's fall, three paces east seapost, and galleon's grave.

I continously make pickups, and only start delivering when I have a delivery and pickup on the same island. Anything that goes to the 5 locations outside of the devil's roar gets set aside until later. Once I hit grade 5, I recycle my flag and go deliver the cargo to the other islands, and that's usually enough to get me to grade 5 again.

A couple times, I started a session and voted on a devil's roar cargo voyage at sanctuary and plunder outpost. After sailing to the devils roar to pickup the cargo, the destinations were lone cove and the finest trading post respectively. The final destination of the cargo is determined in location to where you are when you vote on the voyage. Don't vote on a devil's roar cargo voyage until you are in the devil's roar.

I don't really like cargo but it is a change of pace, and DR cargo can be pretty rewarding. One voyage of 8 can earn you 11,200 gold.

You can use animal crates to raise your emissary value even if you don't plan on turning them in. Vote on a few voyages before you leave the outpost to stock up on animal crates. Each crate can be filled and brought back to the ship one time to increase your emissary grade.

If you are legend, you can run thieves haven voyages as a merchant emissary and rank up with the hoard of gems you dig up, while simultaneously earning athena loot without the athena emissary flag painting a target on your back. With the cheapest gem being 1k, a crate of spices would be a little higher than that but an emerald and a ruby would definitely be better than most merchant crates you can find.

I enjoy animal runs but I do them differently. I'll stock up on as many chicken coops and snake baskets as I can. Usually around 30 or so. Then I'll head to smugglers bay, crooked masts, marauders arch, or crooks hollow, and fill every crate. Each time the island runs out of animals, I die and come back to a new population. Once I'm grade 5, I start throwing down voyages to deliver.

As stated by others, meg's and skeleton ships are great too. Also already mentioned is the flameheart event giving out lots of crates of ashes, (I think that's what they are called) and supply crates of the damned that can be sold.

Switch things up so nothing gets too stale. Try something different each session and just have fun with it. Eventually you'll get there, and if you love this game as much as me, you'll end up doing it all anyway.