Joseph O'Malley's Guide to Successful Sailing Skills

Introduction- Hello and welcome to my first blog post. This is not only my first blog post on this website but my first in ever! But that's beside the point I want to get to. I am not going to name names because that would allow the deletion of this blog, but I achieved max sailing level at Notoriety 24, so I know what I'm talking about. This blog will give you specific play-by-plays and instructions on how to sail your ship with minimul damage. I will teach you strategies and tricks that many do not know of or practice. Without further ado, I present this blog.

Sailing in a nutshell- I'm not going to sit in my chair and point out the obvious to you guys, but this is a breif summary of sailing and how I personally feel about it. Sailing is probably the easiest thing to do in the game, so long as you know what you are doing and how to do it. There are many different types of ships that can be sunk, and there are many different player ships, that can do the sinking. Depending on what kind of ship you have is very important. For instance, if you have a Light Sloop and try to take on a Tally-ho, unless you know the "End of World Glitch," you're going to get roasted. One of the most important things about sailing is having a ship that fits you, knowing what you want to acomplish in your sailing campaign, and knowing what you plan on tackling. My suggestion for people who sail for cargo, upgrade a War Galleon and purchase the cargo upgrades. If you want a strong SVS ship, go with a streamline War Sloop or War Brig. Going off on a rant really quick, if you do plan on SVSing, for god's sake do NOT use a War Galleon. You will get blown so far out of the water it's not even funny. But that's also beside the point, which I appear to be good at doing. Most of you are here to learn how to minimize damage whilst sailing, so I will now give you some tips and tricks on how to do so.

Snake Method- This is a name that I came up for this technique, but it is quite suitable nontheless. This is also probably one of the hardest methods to use if you have a big ship. Basically, you get behind a ship and turn your broadsides on it and shoot. Then you turn to the other side and use the other broadsides. If done correctly, the enemy ship will not turn around and fight back. Please note that this method does not work on Hunters or Warships. I also recommend you don't use this method with other people on your ship, being as they will get very tired of running from this side of the ship to that side of the ship. This method may require a bit of practice to master, but you will know when you have perfected the skill when you don't take damage. This is, in my opinion, probably the best way to keep your ship in tact, mostly because, like I keep saying, if done correctly, they won't be able to fire a single shot at you. I stress the importance of knowing this technique because it is an art that can save your ship from valuable hull HP.

Idle Method- This is another fairly simple method that can save your ship from mayhem. Instead of getting behind a ship, you get within cannons distance in front of an enemy ship and make your ship perpindicular with that of the enemies. Know that for this method to have it's full potential, you will need a few gunners. Once you have laid the first shot on the ship, you will notice that it will come head-on towards you, but fairly slowly. Keep shooting him as it comes closer to you but keep in mind that it will eventually turn when it gets close enough to you. Depending on which way the ship goes, reverse or forward you ship to keep in front of it as best you can. I want to say that this method is risky if done on any type of Frigate, being that they have front cannons that can hit you while they are sailing towards you.

End of World Glitch- Surprisingly, many do not know this very helpful technique. Let it be known that this will only work when a Hunter or Warship is after you. It is rather simple to do if you know exactly what you are doing. Just a tell you what this method does, it makes your ship unhittable by enemy cannons. You will understand why when I tell you how to do it. This is the easy part. With a Hunter or Warship following you, make way towards Padres del Fuego. Once there, go straight to the end of the world with Padres and the ships right on your rear. You must be near Padres the whole time you do this glitch because it is the only area where the enemies will not disappear when doing the glitch. Once behind Padres you will sail to the end of the world like I said. You will know when you get there because a message will appear on your screen telling you to turn around. Once there, you will notice that your ship isn't going forward but sideways. Using the water to judge, go slightly to the right and keep your ship going in that direction. Your ship will move at a constant rate in that direction. Only go left back towards Padres del Fuego once you have defeated the ship(s) because you don't want to stray into code-red area, which is where the ships randomly disappear. For this method to work, you will need many gunners to destroy the powerful ships. Once the ships appear, make sure they don't get too close to your ship because they will get on the other side of you or they will be able to hit you. Going back to what I said earlier, the reason they can't hit you is because the computer registers that you are going forward when you are really sitting still, so they will generate shots in front of your ship because they think you are mvoing forward, when really, you are stationary. Remember to always go right and always have your gunners on the left. In the uncommon circumstance that another player ship is doing this glitch but is doing it a bit slower than you are, simply use "Come About" and quickly make your way around them before hitting the edge of the world again. This is a very good technique if you always remember the following:

1) Stay near Padres del Fuego. If not, you will enter the code-red area which will cause the ships to disappear. The closest code-red area to Padres is Isla Tormenta, which is one of it's neighboring islands, so send the enemy ship to Davy Jones' locker before you get near there. Many gunners is imparitive.

2) Always go slightly to the right. By looking at the water near your ship, you can see which way you are steering.

3) NEVER STOP. This will result in your downfall.

4) Don't let someone who doesnt know how to do the glitch steer while you are doing it. They need to know what can happen if something goes wrong.

5) When you get to the point that a Warship and Hunter are both after you, cripple the sails of the Hunter and sink the Warship. This is to keep the Hunter from interfering with the Warship.

Island Roundabout- This technique is fairly similar to theend of world glitch. Also keep in mind that it can be very hard to do. First, you need a Warship and/or Hunter to be after you to engage in persuit. All you have to do is locate a small island (e.g. Isla Tormenta, Kingshead, Outcast Isla, etc.) and sail around it's porting border. I recommend you got to the right and let them follow you on your left side. Let me further clarify how to do this. You know how when you get too close to land it will prevent your ship from getting any close? Just go around the island just like that and let your gunners have at the enemies chasing you. This method is very difficult to do, and the enemy may occasionally fire at you, but you should be ok if you do it right. Sometimes the enemy will go through the island. Do not worry, just make sure you are in front of it when it emerges. Cannoneers are something you will need for this glitch/technique.