All Ports Visited - Plus Mystery Islands.

[Billy Budd]

That's quite an accomplishment, Billy. Congratulations! Also, just a suggestion for another self challenge... get to lvl 50 crafting. It will have you sailing all over the place, collecting goods, storing goods... it also brings a deeper understanding of the game. Just an idea!

 

I don't really understand anything about Crafting, that is why I have never delved into it. It seems all rather complicated. I don't even know how to start crafting let alone being able to build my own ships. If someone can explain step by step how to start crafting, I might give it a try. Crafting seems to be the most complicated part of the game, that is why I have left well alone. 

[The Spud]

I don't really understand anything about Crafting, that is why I have never delved into it. It seems all rather complicated. I don't even know how to start crafting let alone being able to build my own ships. If someone can explain step by step how to start crafting, I might give it a try. Crafting seems to be the most complicated part of the game, that is why I have left well alone. 

 

If you want to craft a ship, first you will need to have the blueprints for a ship, you have some basic ones you get as you level up, and you can "learn" some by crafting ships. As you craft stuff, both ships and materials you will earn craft XP and you can level up, max level is 50. You will need to sacrifice one production building slot to get a shipyard build, for 6th rates and belwo you need level 1, 4-5th rates level 2, 3rd rates and up level 3. This will cost you around 1,8 million to get a level 3 shipyard, but I don't think money is an issue for you

 

If you go to the craft tab, and you go to ships, you will have a list of ships you know how to craft. If you click on one of the ships it will give you a list of the items you need to craft that ship. These items can either be bought (expensive) or be crafted by yourself. If you click on any item in the list it will take you to a next screen where you will see what you need to produce that item, if you click on an item it will take you to a screen where you can creat that item. For instance, for carriages one thing you'll need is iron fittings, if you click on iron fittings it will take you to a screen to make those, you'll need iron ingots and coal for that, if you don't have iron ingots, click on iron ingots, and it will take you to the screen to make ingots with iron ore and coal. And thats the way it goes with all the items.

 

Producing items will cost you labour hours, these are hours you can see in the top right corner, these regenerate at 42 labour hours every real life hour, up to a maximum depending on your craft rank. As you know ships have build qualities, basic, common, fine, mastercraft and exceptional. To increase the build quality you'll need craft notes, these can be made also in the ship tab. For everything level 6 and below you need low grade ones (copper ore), 5th rates to 4th rates need mid grade notes (silver), 3rd rates and up high grades (gold). You need no notes for basic quality and 1 note for every extra quality, so an exceptional one will take you 4 notes.

 

You can also sellect the wood type, note that you need to select this before you make the frame parts for your ship, as the frame parts need to be made out of the selected wood. Fir is faster less armour, Live oak is more armour less speed, teak is a small armour increase, oak I think is planking increase (might be wrong on this as they changed it some months ago).

 

Last you can also select the building specification, you have build strenght (more armour), crew space (more space for crew), planking (less likely to get leaks) and rigging quality (faster rigging response).

When you craft a ship you can get as an extra bonus either stifness (less heel, armour increase) or speed (more speed). You can't select this, it will be random.

The amount of perma and regular slots you have increases with he build quality (basic, common, fine, mastercraft and exceptional), but is still somewhat random. And exceptional ship is not guaranteed to have 5 regular and 3 perma slots.

 

If you craft ships you get a chance that it will "drop" a blueprint of a ship you haven't learned yet, when you have all the mats and selected all the details you can click craft on the bottom right, and it will take a couple of seconds to craft your ship. It will pop a screen saying for instance "Cutter crafted", it will say if it dropped a blueprint in that window. Sometimes it also drops craft notes or even multiple blue prints. The higher the crafting grade, the higher the chance of getting a blue print or craft note is. Select the gifted perk in your officer tab for more luck in blueprint drops.

 

If you don't want to build ships, you can build parts and sell them, carriages and craft notes are a good way to make easy money. You can also craft most of the upgrades under the manufacture tab in the craft menu. You will need mid grade notes the same way you need them on ships 4 notes for exceptional.

 

If I was you I would just try to build a cutter first, you can't do much wrong. Just make sure you have a spot free in your docks, or you can't craft the ship.

You can sell ships on the market, or give them away, 10% of the XP gained by the player sailing your ship, will be given to you. So you can level up faster.

 

Good luck mate!

[Billy Budd]

Hi Spud! Thank you for explaining about crafting. I will have to write down all this info on a notepad, so that I can refer to it as I go through each stage. Too much to take in, to remember. I take it that Port Royal is the best place to build my shipyard, as this is where all the best crafted ships seem to be sold. Other ports only sell basic ships and they are always 7th or 6th rate ships.

 

I will give it a go and if I get stuck, I will PM you for more help, if that's ok with you?

[Baron Von WeisenCracker]

 

One fish I have never caught yet is an Eel, these fetch good money, so are best kept whole, rather than convert into fish meat. But where are they? I have crossed the Sargassa Sea which lies out in the Atlantic in the North East area of the map. This is where the Eel breeding grounds are, but I have yet to catch one. Has anyone caught an Eel yet and if so, whereabouts on the map did you catch them?

 

Try the east coast of the US, between Cabo Canaveral and St Mary's --- more so to the south portion of that area (Neuva Smyrna/St Augustin) in particular. (For Eels) .. they are not plentiful ... just a fair warning.

[Billy Budd]

Try the east coast of the US, between Cabo Canaveral and St Mary's --- more so to the south portion of that area (Neuva Smyrna/St Augustin) in particular. (For Eels) .. they are not plentiful ... just a fair warning.

 

 

Thank's. I have also noticed that Eel is consumed in these ports. Little Isaac Rocks, Williams Bay, Shroud Cay, as well as Cabo Canaveral. So it must be in this region where Eel are most likely to be caught. The first three ports are situated in the large shallows region where all the islands are situated. I must spend a bit of time fishing this area to see what I can catch. This area is good for Grouper, which convert into 3 fish meat each.

[Bramborough]

If you want to craft a ship, first you will need to [snip]

 

Excellent response in the basics of crafting.  Nice job mate!  I only snipped to save space here.  Every word relevant!

 

I don't really understand anything about Crafting, that is why I have never delved into it. It seems all rather complicated. I don't even know how to start crafting let alone being able to build my own ships. If someone can explain step by step how to start crafting, I might give it a try. Crafting seems to be the most complicated part of the game, that is why I have left well alone. 

 

@Billy.  I've read quite a few of your posts, on this and other threads.  Through such, I've gained a sense of what you might and might not enjoy.  I do think that once you get into it, you'll enjoy the process of developing your shipbuilding skills.

 

I leveled up crafting on the PvE server, and was always content there while I did so.  Only after I reached level 50 and obtained all blueprints did I find myself sufficiently restless to create a PvP character and see what that side of the game was all about.  A few items I'll add:

 

There are two aspects to consider about developing crafting:  1st, craft level, and 2nd, blueprints.

 

1.  For craft level, the most efficient way to level up is building small grey traders (Trader Lynx, Trader Cutter).  Reason:  the biggest Labor Hour "sumps" are gun carriages and crafting notes.  Small grey traders require neither.

 

2.  For blueprints, build Exceptional-Quality warships, and use the Gifted perk to double your chances of obtaining a Blueprint drop on any given build.

 

So...alternate building small grey traders with the occasional gold warships at appropriate levels.  You'll reach Level 50 with most/all blueprints quickest this way.

 

Resist the following:

 

a )  Crafting notes.  Notes are enormous LH sumps.  Craft only as many notes as necessary to build the few gold warships you need to reach your blueprint goals.  Crafting mid-grade notes for gold upgrades simply isn't necessary to beat the AI ships you face on the PvE server.  Period.  They're make-or-break against player ships on PvP, but just not needed on PvE.

 

b ) Even for the high/mid notes you need to build gold warships....buy them on the market rather than craft.  Yes, you'll spend a lot of money.  But you have it.  Money is a lot easier to come by (especially on PvE), than the Labor Hours.

 

Using these principles, I leveled from 0 to 50 and obtained all blueprints in approx 3 months on the PvE server (would've been significantly less if Labor Contracts, Gifted perk and free Officer resets had been available).  When I created a new character on PvP1 and had to start over on blueprints, was able to build a Victory in approximately 2 weeks (granted, stockpiled Labor Contracts on PvE were a big help).

Edited September 24, 2016 by Bramborough

[Billy Budd]

Just read your post Bramborough and took your advice. I have had another look on the crafting part of the game with the info that the Spud so kindly explained, which made it easy to follow. Your advice on starting with Trader Lynx & Cutters, makes sense because like you say, you don't need gun carriages and crafting notes.

 

Just to get my hand in, I was thinking of crafting some upgrades first, before I start with ship building and once I understand about collecting the various materials to make these items, I should have a fair knowledge to move on to craft some ships. As far as labour hours are concerned, I have gathered quite a lot of these, during my many hours of game play.

 

Just one thing I am not sure about, are these Labour Contracts, I have a few of these, which I got from ship wrecks after opening some of my sealed bottles (still have a good stash of these). What are these Labour Contracts for and how do you use them?

 

As far as Copper, Gold & Silver coins, and Iron Ingots that I have also collected from wrecks, I have sold most of these by contract. Maybe I should keep these in future as I noticed that they are useful for making into other items, that are needed for crafting purposes. Apart from these items labour contracts the only other goodies I have had from wrecks are a few different upgrades and some Sugar & Tobacco.

[Bramborough]

Just one thing I am not sure about, are these Labour Contracts, I have a few of these, which I got from ship wrecks after opening some of my sealed bottles (still have a good stash of these). What are these Labour Contracts for and how do you use them?

 

One uses a Labor Contract and immediately receives 500 Labor Hours (LH) available for use.  The LH from a contract aren't any different from LH regularly accrued, once that contract is used.

 

The value of a Labor Contract is (from my perspective), derived from four factors:

 

1.  The intrinsic value of the 500LH itself.

2.  Storeability.  A player can only accrue up to a certain amount of LH (anywhere from 1000 to 2000 depending on level) before some must be used...or else will stop generating LH.  But Labor Contracts do not count against this LH cap.

3.  Tradeability.  Can be traded among players.  Useful in the common scenario where one player has the notes/materials, and another has the crafting level and blueprint to build a certain ship.  Player A gives the materials to Player B to produce the vessel...with Contracts, Player A can provide the necessary LH as well.

4.  Cross-server applicability.   Because LH are shared across servers, then a Labor Contract by definition also applies to all servers, not just the one on which it is consumed.

 

Taking all this into account, it becomes clearer why these items command such a high price in the player market, eh?

 

When/how to consume Labor Contracts is an individual choice; can't really answer it for you.  Some ways I've used (or intend to use) Labor Contracts' advantages:

 

a )  Used them to quickly obtain BP for and then produce Bucentaure when that was released a couple patches ago.

b )  Used stockpiled Labor Contracts on one server to quickly build a lot of ships for BP's when starting a character on another server.

c )  On my "list of things to do" is gather parts for and then track down someone who can build me an Agamemnon...I'll need a few Labor Contracts to cover the required LH.

 

If such scenarios don't apply to you and are unlikely to do so in forseeable future, well, then just use 'em to boost LH as you go along and make the crafting go a bit faster.  I would recommend at least keep stockpiling them until you're building larger ships which take longer (up to nearly a week for a 1st-rate).

Edited September 25, 2016 by Bramborough

[Werewolf]

Keep in mind too you can only store so many labor hours, according to your crafting rank

[Billy Budd]

Thank you guys, for your help, I think I have sussed out crafting now and have already crafted two ships. I crafted a Traders Lynx first, then did am armed version of the same ship. I am now at level 5, so still have a way to go, before I reach level 50. lol.

 

I think I will concentrate on crafting smaller items and upgrades for the time being, to increase my crafting level, before going back to crafting more ships. I take it you only drop ship blueprints by crafting more ships?

 

What about these Low, Mid & High Grade Notes, I suppose the blueprints for Mid & High Grade also come with building more ships depending on your craft level?

 

Naturally, I have built a Shipyard and have also built a Copper Mine, Coal Mine and Oak Forest. I have one more building slot left yet, but not sure what to use it for. Obviously, you can't produce everything yourself, so I am doing some more Port visiting whilst trading sugar and tobacco, which keeps my gold reserves at a decent level. This then provides me with gold to buy some materials, that I need, such as various logs, hemp and other items needed to craft certain parts. I can see now, how long it can take to build a top notch 1st rate, when you have to craft each individual part, which also need several processes to make the parts that you need.

 

But now I understand how everything works, It has opened up the game a bit more, from just sailing round the map, fishing and trading. There is so much to keep one occupied, either by fighting battles, crafting parts and ships and fishing and trading goods, besides producing your own by having different buildings.

 

I do appreciate all the help you have provided Bramborough and the same goes to The Spud (former Lander) and also to others who have provided helped me to understand how everything works in this game. I will still keep with PvE though, because I prefer the single aspect of game play, rather than playing against other users.

[BallsOfSteel]

Save you contracts, craft trader cuttters till you get more crafting xp i.e. level 15

[The Spud]

Billy Budd, you can always send me a PM if you need any help. What bramborough said about the ships is true, the cheapest to build ships is to build grey trader ships as the give a nice XP return on investment. Now I forgot to mention a VERY interesting website www.navalactioncraft.com . Here you have the best tool anyone can have to craft ships in Naval action. Under craft info it will tell you the LH cap you have per level. When you go to craft ship you can select your ship and you immediatly see what you need to produce said ship. And also interesting is the ship blueprint tab, it will give you the details on what ships you need to produce to get a chance at dropping a blueprint. The blue dots are ship blueprints you get from leveling up, highest being the Frigate. Red dots are the ones that can be obtained from crafting other ships. The drop % are a bit odd, as they use things like 5% drop chance, this would mean that a BP would drop on 1 ships for every 20 ships you build, I would say this is more like 20% drop chance or less. This is very random, you can get it on the first craft you do, or you can have it after 5 or more gold ships. I'm level 50 now, and I got all my BP's after 2-3 gold crafts, 5 gold crafts being the longest until I got a drop.

 

For example when you craft a lynx, there is a chance it will drop the Privateer BP, when you craft the Trader Lynx, there is a chance it will drop the Traders Brig blueprint. If you want these, you stand the best chances of getting these if you craft a mastercraft ship and if you have the Gifted perk enabled on your officer. The benefit from crafting is you can make your ships to you own liking, you want fast but less armoured ships, you can build a fir one with rigging quality. You want a tough war ship, build a live oak build strenght one.

 

Something worth remembering is that when you craft a ship and you sell it on the market, whoever buys it and uses it in battle will give you 10% of the XP that person gained from using your ship. I don't know if this accounts to crafting XP or regular XP. The crafted ship will also carry your name on it until the end of its days.

 

As with the crafting notes, you'll need to be level 15 to be able to craft mid grade notes and level 35 to craft high grade notes. These will open up automaticaly when you reach that rank, so you don't need to craft low grade notes to get a BP drop for mid or high grade notes, you will just need to have the levels.

 

If you would consider an extra production building, I would go for Iron Ore. The copper building i would use until you have stocked a big amount of copper, as you will only need those for low grade notes (and in some mods). If you have done some shipwrecks I would imagine you have a ton of silver and gold coins to give you mid and high grade notes for a good amount of crafts. So you could see what you find yourself buying the most of the time, and get a production building of that somewhere.

 

Crafting is fun and you get the LH anyways for free, so you might as wel use them. Note that if you sell ships on the market you'll have to pay 10% of the selling price as a "tax". Always look at what ships are on the market and where your ship would be value wise and prise accordingly. If your ship is not sold after 9 days, it should go back to your docks, and you lose the 10% tax on it.

 

I have my shipyard in Kingston, as the shop is always stocked with all the stuff you need (on PvP1 that is) and its the best place to sell ships.

[Billy Budd]

Thank you again Spud for more info on crafting. I have had to increase my warehouse space several times at Kingston Port Royal to store all the extra materials I need and to store the crafted parts that I need to craft my ships. The cost of this increases with each extra 8 spaces and the next space increase will cost me five million gold. I have the money, but this crafting doesn't come cheap, when you weigh up the cost of buying materials, warehouse space, production buildings and so on, it makes crafting a Trader Lynx twenty times more expensive to build, for what you can sell it for. But I suppose over time when you have most of the production buildings making stuff and the warehouse space to store everything, you start to reap the benefits. It seems you have to speculate to accumilate. 

 

It's a good job I have a decent amount of gold, to allow me to get started with crafting, otherwise I would have been struggling a bit. I still have just over 15 million in my reserves, which I am managing to keep topped up through fishing and trading. Anyway I amm getting the hang of crafting and it's all beginning to make sense now. I will have a look on navalactioncraft.com, as you suggested.

 

I too have my shipyard in Kingston, as like you say, this seems the best place to buy ships. I have bought all mine from here as this is where most people who craft ships, sell them. 

 

Building grey trader ships as you say, seems the best way to up your crafting level, but trying to sell them seems a bit pointless, as no one seems to buy these, when you can go out and cap one. I think it might be better to build these, just to boost your crafting level, then break them up for spares, which can then be used towards crafting more Trader ships until you get higher up the crafting ladder, then move on to build bigger and better ships, once you have the blueprints, if that makes sense.

Edited September 26, 2016 by Billy Budd

[Lancella Dutch de Wildt]

I have finally managed to visit every port on the whole map, including two ports on a group of islands that are not shown on the map.

Nice achievement!

Wish I had the spare time to undertake as well

Edited September 26, 2016 by Dutch Langella

[Billy Budd]

It was just something I wanted to achieve, but I don't think I would want to do it again.

At least I now have a read out of every Port on the map and can see at a glance what each Port produces and consumes, so I can plan any trading routes I want to do, from my Outposts, which cover all areas of the map. I have a Traders Brig and either a Le Gros Ventre or Indiaman docked at all my Outposts, except in one Outpost at Governors Harbour, because large trader ships can't access the shallows and shallow water ports in this region.

 

I have several other challenges I want to set myself, now that I am into crafting, and that is to build my own Victory, but that won't be for quite a while yet. First I plan on reaching one hundred million gold, just to see if I can achieve it really.   

[Lurken]

and incase you wonder where the ports not shown on the map is located...

 

69.80 - 31.48  is the coordinates

[Billy Budd]

I think you should not have posted those co-ordinates Lurken, as earlier in the post I deleted them by request from Sir Texas. But I suppose by now, everyone will know of the Islands existence and where to find them.

 

I don't think I will be travelling to them again or to Bermuda, they are too far away from the rest of the land masses on the rest of the map. I wonder if anyone has set up an outpost there? I doubt it.

[Lurken]

I think you should not have posted those co-ordinates Lurken, as earlier in the post I deleted them by request from Sir Texas. But I suppose by now, everyone will know of the Islands existence and where to find them.

 

I don't think I will be travelling to them again or to Bermuda, they are too far away from the rest of the land masses on the rest of the map. I wonder if anyone has set up an outpost there? I doubt it.

why not, its not a secret nor will anyone find them by accident. i dont get your point ;-)

[Sir Texas Sir]

why not, its not a secret nor will anyone find them by accident. i dont get your point ;-)

Cause it's a spoiler and not every one wants to just magically know where it is.  Even if it shows on the new content map they still have to find it for them self and there is a lot of OPEN SEA OUT THERE. 

 

 

The OP all ready removed the cords cause he was asked to nicely and you shouldn't be adding it to his post after he has done so.

 

As for finding them by accident.   I found them looking for a wreck a bottle dropped and I'M A PIRATE.  Never had been there before and was in a storm getting a wreck and found them.   So yes folks do find them by accident.