Rob's Guide to Material Runs

Hello, fellow pirates. I am writing this guide because one of my favorite parts about this game is sailing. Now, gathering materials, and enough materials, can make you one of the masters of sea. Not just for looting, but also for SVS and ship ranking. If you don't quite understand ship customization, you should probably take a look at the page by typing in ship customization on the search bar.

Ok, now for the juicy stuff.

What you need-

A good crew with good aim

An experienced captain who knows how to steer well

Usually people prefer a ship with a lot of cargo

And the following you will learn.

Starting off: Launch a ship, and try not to start with the sailing until you have a measurable amount of pirates on your ship. Make sure that your ship is not set on public, because probably many basic access pirates will come, and they will not wield Fury. You need Pirates who use good ammo, and who also have the Revenant Ram (Gives you unlimited Fury). After you have those pirates, you can start.

I usually start at Padres Del Fuego, just because there are a good amount of hard ships there, and if you have a good crew, it will be a breeze.

Now, Bounty starts like this. The First "level" is a flag. This means that if you get close to any other EITC or Navy ships, they will attack you without hesitation. So try to keep your distance after that flag. And remember, Skeleton ships will attack you no matter what. The second level is a flag with a bone across it. This means that ships nearby (Not including skeletons) will start sailing towards you in their attempt to sink you. You will have more opportunities to sink ships, But make sure your crew is divided among the sides of your ship, so you have the ultimate defense. The next level is a flag with 2 bones on it. This means that the bounty hunters will now come after you. To understand all the bounty hunters, I suggest you look them up, and learn what each one can do. Some, like Century Hawk and Kill ya Dead, are easy to defeat, because they are war galleons (Easy to shoot and hit) and they don't necessarily shoot "dangerous" ammo. Others are war sloops, and they are hard to defeat because they move so quickly. Others are War frigates, which are the most dangerous, merely because they shoot explosives on their top decks. If your hull is damaged, three of these babies could get you down to red health or even sink you.

If you are lazy (like I am), there is another way to fight off the hunters; Its called the End of World Glitch. If you are not yet familiar with this, it is when you go out to sea, opposite from all the islands, and when you hit the end, you can glide slowly to the right of left. The important thing is, that when the hunter is following you, none of it's shots can hit you! They always miss you. But remember, you should always start lined up with Kingshead, and Be careful. Don't go left if you are lined up with kingshead. And by all means, do not pass Cuba. If so, the ships will start dissapearing for no reason at all. Another thing: don't go to fast when you glide to the right; it is not necessary. Just go fast enough so that the cannons on the hunters don't hit you.

War Ships

If you have not already done End of World with the hunters, I would suggest this is the time to do it. In the last stage of Bounty, you will get a hat on top of your bones. This represents the fact that a dangerous War ship will hunt you down. They are all very dangerous, and very hard to sink. So unless you want to most likely lose all the loot you worked hard on, I suggest you use the End of World Glitch. Now, before, during hunters, a sink would reward you usually material chest, and sometimes a chest or a skull with it. Now, warships will give you Rare materials. Instead of getting things like Pine, Canvas, Iron, etc, you will also have a chance to get oak, steel, and silk.

Also, keep in mind that when warships come, the hunters will keep coming as well. Some people prefer to take off all the sails on the hunter, so it can't move. This doesn't mean sink it, it just means neutralizing it. That way they can concentrate all their fire on the warship, and forget about the hunter. Other people prefer to do the opposite, but I must warn you: It doesn't work very well, because the warship goes quite fast even without it's sails! Strangely enough, I prefer to do this. You know why? Because most of the ship upgrades require normal materials (Iron and Pine) more then they require rare materials.

Now. when you get warships, the Navy closes down all the ports except one. This means, that only one Island will allow you to port. Its usually Devils Anvil, Cuba, Tortuga, and Ravens Cove.

Knowing when you are full. When looting for materials, and only materials, you are allowed to replace other loot with materials. For example, say you have 5 royal chests and 3 loot pouches and 1 loot chest. You can exchange all the royals and all the pouches for materials instead, just by sinking a hunter or a warship. But keep in mind that anything better then a pouch (Loot Chest, loot skull chest, material chest, and rare material chest) Can NOT be replaced. So when you realize you have no more pouches, and the only thing remaining is anything from that list, then its time to port.

Congradulations! Now you know how to successfully go on material runs. Once you get your upgrades, go to a shipwright and upgrade one of your ships! Light ships cannot be upgraded. You can upgrade in these Units:

Cargo-gives you more cargo space

Streamlined-More Speed

Reinforced-more armor

Say you choose Reinforced. You can upgrade it to the fourth rank. at this time, it gives you a specific ammo you can shoot out of your broadsides. Reinforced is the path to Copperhead or Skull and Bones. Skull and Bones shoots a 15 percent chance of Fury through its broadsides. Copperhead has a chance for 5 percent explosives. The next rank, V, increases your ships stats and also increases the percentage of a special ammo through your broadsides. Rank VI does the same.

The special ranks are Copperhead, Skull and Bones, Fortune Hunter (Firebrand), Firestorm (Also Firebrand), and Storm Chaser (Lighting bolt).

I hope you enjoyed my guide and found it useful!

Peace