Officer Training notes, kindly donated by Yngvild and Decatur
The old officer notes came originally from Maus on Midnight and have been edited by Yngvild and Decatur in an attempt to keep them up to date. Of course, there be crew-dependent variations on this. They've been split into two, starting with bnav notes:
DETAILS FOR SEA BATTLE
When ships engage at sea, a sea battle will start. Sailing is very important to allow ye to move the ship. If ye have a full bilge, then yer not going to get very far no matter how many people are on sails. If ye have no damage and bilge, ye can move everyone to sails except for one on bilge. This will help generate movement tokens. Once the bilge starts filling again, move people back from sails to carpentry and bilge.
In the battle nav phase of sea battle, whoever was navigating last will have the helm, even if they be in another duty puzzle. If ye be really good, ye can do both the battle nav and the puzzle, but start by just doing battle nav. Ye can click and drag the battle map around to look for potential death traps and hiding places that may not be in yer immediate view. It can also help ye figure out where other ships be in times of blockade. Left mouse button recenters on yer ship, right mouse button leaves it where ye left it - try it and see.
As ye progress through battle nav, the radio button on the left allows ye to choose where new movement is placed as yer crew works the sails - if ye turn off Autosails. Otherwise, it will choose which new tokens to create. Cannons only shoot sideways and ye must know if the enemy be on yer port or starboard. Use the large rocks as shields. One or two shots of cannon damage is very good for a sloop, where each cannon hit puts a bar of damage at the bottom of ye or yer enemies sword fight puzzle. Larger ships need more cannons into them to give a bar of damage. If a ship smashes into a rock, the other ship, or the edge of the Battle Nav puzzle, damage will also grow. Entering Sea Battle with existing damage does not show up in the sword fight puzzle, only new damage appears. The real experts will want to give max damage to the other ship - six bars of damage.
Learn to use the whirlpools - yer ship rotates 90 degrees clockwise for each movement turn and is moved to the diagonally opposite corner of the whirlpool. I once heard "do the unexpected" and the whirlies be one more tool fer doing just that.
During the movement, the order in which things happen is:
(1) move
(2) winds and whirlies
(3) cannons
(4) grapples
This is repeated for each of the four movement turns when the hourglass runs out.
The brigands often move generally towards you. Doing a dance with two lefts, then two rights is usually better than using all yer straight pieces. They will react to yer movement tokens as ye put them in place. It used to be that ye could load them all in during the last nanosecond, but now ye must load them before that. Those placed at the very last moment may or may not be counted (definitely won't be on dial-up).
The Battle Nav phase of Sea Battle ends when one ship successfully grapples the other with the grappling hooks. The Brigand ships try to grapple yer ship as quickly as possible, so if ye be wanting to damage them first, make sure they can't get to yer ship in one turn. If ye be one square away from them, they will often grapple before shooting, while ye can try to get a shot in!
PvP battle nav has a different feel to it from brigand battle nav. Some people like to practice it just because it is a different skill, perhaps planning friendly fights. Sometimes ye can tell the enemy is human because they don't use four movement tokens in the first movement round the way a brigand would. If ye think ye were attacked by people, get out of yer puzzle and do a /vwho <name> on the name of the ship. Ye can send them a tell and ask to disengage if ye be carrying goods and don't want to lose any. Or ye can decide to go for it and fight! Also, just /who will list ships sailing in the ocean and who be at the helm of each. That way, ye know who to /tell.
This text is written as a guide for new and existing officers and for Senior Officers (SOs) when training officers.
For Senior Officers:
This text includes everything a new Officer should learn on their first trip as an Officer. The Officer needs to give ye up to a block of 60 minutes to show 'em the ropes.
Freshly promoted officers must at least take a sloop out for a 30 to 60 minute training cruise. They must be able to handle and coordinate ship operations by themselves without much reminder. The Senior Officer will be available to answer questions.
TRAINING CRUISE AGENDA
1. Taking a ship out
-which ships Officers may take out
-checking the officer bulletin board
-checking the hold
-charting and setting a course
-memorizing
2. Hiring jobbers
-hire jobbers
-order jobbers or non-player pirates (npp; bots or AIs)
-invite to join crew
3. Sailing
-deport/set sail
-league points
-stations
4. Attacking ships
-meanings of ship colors
-brigands vs. player vs player (PvP)
-how and when to attack
5. Sea battles - Battle Nav
-ship movement
-cannons
-whirlpools
6. Sea battles - Sword Fight
-targeting
-grouping
-communication
7. Putting into a port
-dividing booty
-check hold
-buy/trade commodities or forage
-always bring the ship back
8. Wait, there is just a little more
-be clear on who is captain
-chat channels
-shoppes
-flag/crew forum
-crew/flag banks
9. Beyond officer
-SO and what's expected
-titles
DETAILS FOR THE TRAINING CRUISE
1. Taking out a ship
Officers are encouraged to buy their own ship and sail that. Some sloops and cutters are designated as crew ships. Check the ship' officer bulletin board before use and make sure it not be locked. In either case, there should be operating instructions, such as leave it alone, restock to 80 cannonballs, etc. Also make sure it has the charts to get ye where ye want to be going. Charts to neighboring isles may be purchased at a boat wright, while charts to remote isles must be won in battle. We try to keep the extra charts on the crew chart ships (in some crews). Fleet Officers can move charts and are welcome to borrow any from the chart ship as long as they be returned when ye be done with them.
Ships larger than a cutter be trickier to handle and require a fair bit of experience and skill at battle nav. Sail the smaller ships fer a while to get comfortable with them first. Sail on brigs with other officers before trying it on yer own so ye can see what's required.
Check the Hold for enough cannon balls before ye head out. For a sloop, take 20 cannon balls or more. There be 4 guns on a sloop. Twenty small cannonballs will give ye 5 rounds (sea battles) of ammunition unless ye reload during the battle and use even more. The only risk incurred by over-stocking is that of losing more in sea battles (see below). I actually like to take a lot more now - more like 80 on a sloop, just in case.
To chart a course, click on the helm and select chart course.
Ye can chart a course by clicking on the island ye want to sail to. A blue line should appear from yer current position to the destination. Click "chart course". The line should turn white. Close the charting window.
If ye see brown spots appearing on the chart, it isn't a bug. It means ye have memorized that league point. If ye memorize all the points between two islands, ye no longer need that chart! Ye memorize by doing well in the nav puzzle while sailing that route multiple times.
Read about hiring jobbers and then ye may set sail.
2. Hiring jobbers
Using the "Hiring jobbers" button, ye can post a job notice and/or take it down. If someone applies to yer notice, ye will get whistle and a notice under Ahoy. There ye can get more information about the pirate or click "hire". Ye can also hire a specific person with "/job <name>".
To be nice, greet everyone who comes aboard, then ask them to sail or whatever needs doing. They usually ask as well. Ye can order crew and npps by clicking onto their name and selecting the duty. For crew, its usually nicer to ask them first, then give them an order. Gunning can only be done by jobbers if ye order them. Navigation now requires a mate to have a badge as well as getting the order. Usually, these tasks are reserved for crewmates bucking for promotion.
Ye may invite everyone to join our crew and we like getting new members. However, if someone gets on yer nerves, they will get on our nerves as well. Ye can invite someone by clicking on him/her and selecting invite to join crew. Ye can also make them yer hearty if ye want to watch them a bit more before inviting them.
On the other hand, if ye really can't work with them, it may be time for the /plank. Don't be afraid to use it if it is justified.
A little note on why ye only let crewmates and flagmates nav and gun: Decatur and I were once out on a long pillaging run. A greenie came on and insisted on gunning then doing nav. We found that he *didn't* load the guns. Then during nav, he hit the rocks multiple times and got us shot up a bit. Then he left. We should have planked him long before for his obnoxious chat, but we were green officers then.
3. During sailing
From port, ye can "set sail" or "deport". Deport puts ye in a funny just offshore state - ye'll still need to "set sail" from there, so I don't bother with it. If "set sail" is greyed out, make sure ye charted a course.
While sailing, ye will need at least one on Carpentry (on a sloop or cutter) who scores fine or better. Otherwise, damage will grow. If they be a really skillful pirate, he/she will be able to switch between Carpentry and Bilge and keep them both down. Normally, ye will need one on Bilge as well. Everyone else should Sail because this adds speed to the ship. If the ship be already damaged, try to repair it fast, this means put more or the best on Carpentry. The more damage ye have, the faster the bilge fills. The more water there be in bilge, the slower the ship will go. In general, we don't like people who laze about, not working a duty puzzle. Seems like those people tend to log out due to inactivity at a bad time and often earn the plank in other ways as well.
When ye first set out, the cannons will have been unloaded in port and will need immediate loading. Make sure they get loaded, whether ye do it yerself or have a skillful gunner on board. They will need to be checked after every sea battle to make sure they get reloaded. Only one can load on a sloop, while two can load on a cutter.
At a league point, a duty report will appear. Ye will have to click "set sail" to continue. If ye wait too long, yer speed will decrease. This is a good point to check ship status - is the bilge filling because no one is taking care of it? Use the duty report, to see if ye need to move crew to different stations, especially if they be 'Learning'.
At league points, ye can change course by editing the course chart.
4. Attacking ships
Ye can see other ships on the little screen in the upper right corner or by going up to the crow's nest. If ye click on a ship ye will get some information about it. If it be a Brigand ship, ye may attack it. Be careful with attacking player ships (called PvP) to make sure they aren't hearties. Also, they may have no poe on board.
Before attacking, look at the color surrounding the ship. Blue means they are really easy, but it might also bring on the black ship. Greens are great for attacking! Yellows are really difficult: ye need to hit them a few times with cannons in battle if ye want to win. Reds are nearly impossible, better not try!
Ye can also see ships when ye click "chart course" and zoom into it (called the radar), but then ye only see the colors, not if they be players or Brigands. If ye decide to attack a ship, click on it and then click engage. Now the chasing starts. Ye must have speed to catch up to them. Ye can "turn about" if ye passed 'em, although there is a speed penalty for turning about.
Battle Nav begins when the ships meet. If ye attack a vessel and ye lose, ye cannot attack again. However, Brigands sometimes will pursue (attack) ye. If ye lose the battle, ye can attack them for revenge! Sometimes, it be better to let them attack first.
5. Sea battle - Battle Nav
When ships engage at sea, a sea battle will start. If ye haven't already read them, read our sea battle notes. Ye should have practiced battle nav before becoming an officer. Practice more after - it be a challenging skill.
6. Sea battle - Sword Fight or Rumble
Before the sword fight, its nice to say something like 'Good luck'. If ye be out with jobbers or non-Officers from our crew, its important to make sure everyone knows how to target. Sometimes, it may be necessary to tell everyone which targets to select.
Here are some basic rules, which in our opinion are the best;
-no solos
-no 4s or more
However, for rumble fights with barbarians, teams of 5 have been known to work.
This means in practice if ye be 4 players, form two teams of 2. If ye be 5 players, 2 and 3, 6 players: 3 groups of 2 or 2 groups of 3 If ye cannot decide, we normally prefer groups or teams of 3. Before the battles tell them how ye want to team. Ye can also tell them who to target in the swordfight or to break up the 4! However, don't be surprised if people get too wrapped up in the fight to listen. Also, yer bots won't team by yer rules, so ye have to follow them to make teams.
On large ship pillages, one mate liked teams of 2 when he got lots of damage into the enemy, teams of 3 when he was less successful.
7. Putting into port
If ye get to an island, ye can put into port and divide the booty. A button will appear to "put into port". If ye lose a battle to a Brigand, 1/3rd from the booty is robbed, plus a 1/10th from the hold. However, porting and dividing the booty will make any unused expeditions vanish.
For dividing, ye must click on the Booty chest (lower deck for sloop and cutter) and choose divide. The number of stars tell ye how many battles each person fought in during the run.
If ye think it is necessary, change some numbers and lock them (small lock button next to the number). Our crew does even booty cuts, so the main reason to adjust is to give a newly arrived person a small amount or to zero out someone who left in battle without letting ye know why. NOTE: There is a 'crew cut' that goes to the Hold and is typically used for restocking the ship with fine rum and cannon balls.
If ye be at an uncolonized isle, ye can forage for fruit. Ye can forage until ye run out of work for the day, the isle is out of stuff, or yer ship be full. There is a slight chance ye'll dig up some gold ore or gems for the. lucky/skilled among ye!
If ye be at a colonized island, ye can sell yer commodities and resupply the ship by buying cannonballs. Click onto trade commodities at the hold. It may be confusing at first since the interface is designed from the shoppe's perspective. The buy price (shoppe's buy price) is what ye get if ye sell something. The sell price what ye pay the shoppe for buying commodities.
Some islands have a market. Ye can order commodities using the market bidding trade interface at the hold. Ask about bid tickets if ye be interested in the economic side of Y!PP.
Always bring the ship back to the home port and leave it with at least the supplies listed in the ship's Officers bulletin board at the Navigation station. Resupply ships bigger than a cutter with as many cannonballs as ye found on them. Or check the officer bulletin board for instructions.
If ye don't have enough PoE in the "crew cut" ye will have to buy the cannonballs from yer own PoE. Not all pillaging runs end up being successful! However, if ye have more PoE from the "crew cut" than ye need for cannon balls, take the rest, ITS YERS!!
8. Wait, there is just a little more
-ship captain
If there be more than one officer out on a ship, one of ye be in charge while the others have to back off. Make sure ye all know who is captain of the ship during the trip. It is OK to pass around the responsibility, just make sure ye be clear about it. The default captain is the one who takes the ship out originally. If ye be that person and ye have to leave, make sure ye find another officer to take over for ye before ye go. The rest of ye, don't go dividing booty or setting sail unless ye've been asked.
-chat channels
There be a variety of chat channels:
/crew - for talking to yer crew and jobbers
/jcrew - for talking to the crew ye be jobbing with
/o - for talking to only yer officers
/fo - for talking to all flag officers
As an officer, ye can now join in /fo and /o.
-flag forum
It would be great if ye register in our flag forum - sort of necessary to find this now.
9. Beyond Officer
Once ye have sailed a bit as officer and have earned the trust of the rest of the crew, we'll make ye a Fleet Officer (FO). The current officer level is somewhat limited and if ye can't earn our trust to get beyond it, ye may be better off in another crew.
If ye be looking for added responsibility, ask an SO for guidance. Give your new found Offcership some time to get used to. Small things, like recruiting new crewmates and helping train new officers is a good place to start. Also, get to know yer flagmates (try /fwho), sail with them, and maybe take them out for a war brig run. Join the flag forum, post there occasionally, find out about our allies, run a stall, read the Y!PP forum, there be lots to do!
DETAILS FOR SEA BATTLE
When ships engage at sea, a sea battle will start. Sailing is very important to allow ye to move the ship. If ye have a full bilge, then yer not going to get very far no matter how many people are on sails. If ye have no damage and bilge, ye can move everyone to sails except for one on bilge. This will help generate movement tokens. Once the bilge starts filling again, move people back from sails to carpentry and bilge.
In the battle nav phase of sea battle, whoever was navigating last will have the helm, even if they be in another duty puzzle. If ye be really good, ye can do both the battle nav and the puzzle, but start by just doing battle nav. Ye can click and drag the battle map around to look for potential death traps and hiding places that may not be in yer immediate view. It can also help ye figure out where other ships be in times of blockade. Left mouse button recenters on yer ship, right mouse button leaves it where ye left it - try it and see.
As ye progress through battle nav, the radio button on the left allows ye to choose where new movement is placed as yer crew works the sails - if ye turn off Autosails. Otherwise, it will choose which new tokens to create. Cannons only shoot sideways and ye must know if the enemy be on yer port or starboard. Use the large rocks as shields. One or two shots of cannon damage is very good for a sloop, where each cannon hit puts a bar of damage at the bottom of ye or yer enemies sword fight puzzle. Larger ships need more cannons into them to give a bar of damage. If a ship smashes into a rock, the other ship, or the edge of the Battle Nav puzzle, damage will also grow. Entering Sea Battle with existing damage does not show up in the sword fight puzzle, only new damage appears. The real experts will want to give max damage to the other ship - six bars of damage.
Learn to use the whirlpools - yer ship rotates 90 degrees clockwise for each movement turn and is moved to the diagonally opposite corner of the whirlpool. I once heard "do the unexpected" and the whirlies be one more tool fer doing just that.
During the movement, the order in which things happen is:
(1) move
(2) winds and whirlies
(3) cannons
(4) grapples
This is repeated for each of the four movement turns when the hourglass runs out.
The brigands often move generally towards you. Doing a dance with two lefts, then two rights is usually better than using all yer straight pieces. They will react to yer movement tokens as ye put them in place. It used to be that ye could load them all in during the last nanosecond, but now ye must load them before that. Those placed at the very last moment may or may not be counted (definitely won't be on dial-up).
The Battle Nav phase of Sea Battle ends when one ship successfully grapples the other with the grappling hooks. The Brigand ships try to grapple yer ship as quickly as possible, so if ye be wanting to damage them first, make sure they can't get to yer ship in one turn. If ye be one square away from them, they will often grapple before shooting, while ye can try to get a shot in!
PvP battle nav has a different feel to it from brigand battle nav. Some people like to practice it just because it is a different skill, perhaps planning friendly fights. Sometimes ye can tell the enemy is human because they don't use four movement tokens in the first movement round the way a brigand would. If ye think ye were attacked by people, get out of yer puzzle and do a /vwho <name> on the name of the ship. Ye can send them a tell and ask to disengage if ye be carrying goods and don't want to lose any. Or ye can decide to go for it and fight! Also, just /who will list ships sailing in the ocean and who be at the helm of each. That way, ye know who to /tell.
This text is written as a guide for new and existing officers and for Senior Officers (SOs) when training officers.
For Senior Officers:
This text includes everything a new Officer should learn on their first trip as an Officer. The Officer needs to give ye up to a block of 60 minutes to show 'em the ropes.
Freshly promoted officers must at least take a sloop out for a 30 to 60 minute training cruise. They must be able to handle and coordinate ship operations by themselves without much reminder. The Senior Officer will be available to answer questions.
TRAINING CRUISE AGENDA
1. Taking a ship out
-which ships Officers may take out
-checking the officer bulletin board
-checking the hold
-charting and setting a course
-memorizing
2. Hiring jobbers
-hire jobbers
-order jobbers or non-player pirates (npp; bots or AIs)
-invite to join crew
3. Sailing
-deport/set sail
-league points
-stations
4. Attacking ships
-meanings of ship colors
-brigands vs. player vs player (PvP)
-how and when to attack
5. Sea battles - Battle Nav
-ship movement
-cannons
-whirlpools
6. Sea battles - Sword Fight
-targeting
-grouping
-communication
7. Putting into a port
-dividing booty
-check hold
-buy/trade commodities or forage
-always bring the ship back
8. Wait, there is just a little more
-be clear on who is captain
-chat channels
-shoppes
-flag/crew forum
-crew/flag banks
9. Beyond officer
-SO and what's expected
-titles
DETAILS FOR THE TRAINING CRUISE
1. Taking out a ship
Officers are encouraged to buy their own ship and sail that. Some sloops and cutters are designated as crew ships. Check the ship' officer bulletin board before use and make sure it not be locked. In either case, there should be operating instructions, such as leave it alone, restock to 80 cannonballs, etc. Also make sure it has the charts to get ye where ye want to be going. Charts to neighboring isles may be purchased at a boat wright, while charts to remote isles must be won in battle. We try to keep the extra charts on the crew chart ships (in some crews). Fleet Officers can move charts and are welcome to borrow any from the chart ship as long as they be returned when ye be done with them.
Ships larger than a cutter be trickier to handle and require a fair bit of experience and skill at battle nav. Sail the smaller ships fer a while to get comfortable with them first. Sail on brigs with other officers before trying it on yer own so ye can see what's required.
Check the Hold for enough cannon balls before ye head out. For a sloop, take 20 cannon balls or more. There be 4 guns on a sloop. Twenty small cannonballs will give ye 5 rounds (sea battles) of ammunition unless ye reload during the battle and use even more. The only risk incurred by over-stocking is that of losing more in sea battles (see below). I actually like to take a lot more now - more like 80 on a sloop, just in case.
To chart a course, click on the helm and select chart course.
Ye can chart a course by clicking on the island ye want to sail to. A blue line should appear from yer current position to the destination. Click "chart course". The line should turn white. Close the charting window.
If ye see brown spots appearing on the chart, it isn't a bug. It means ye have memorized that league point. If ye memorize all the points between two islands, ye no longer need that chart! Ye memorize by doing well in the nav puzzle while sailing that route multiple times.
Read about hiring jobbers and then ye may set sail.
2. Hiring jobbers
Using the "Hiring jobbers" button, ye can post a job notice and/or take it down. If someone applies to yer notice, ye will get whistle and a notice under Ahoy. There ye can get more information about the pirate or click "hire". Ye can also hire a specific person with "/job <name>".
To be nice, greet everyone who comes aboard, then ask them to sail or whatever needs doing. They usually ask as well. Ye can order crew and npps by clicking onto their name and selecting the duty. For crew, its usually nicer to ask them first, then give them an order. Gunning can only be done by jobbers if ye order them. Navigation now requires a mate to have a badge as well as getting the order. Usually, these tasks are reserved for crewmates bucking for promotion.
Ye may invite everyone to join our crew and we like getting new members. However, if someone gets on yer nerves, they will get on our nerves as well. Ye can invite someone by clicking on him/her and selecting invite to join crew. Ye can also make them yer hearty if ye want to watch them a bit more before inviting them.
On the other hand, if ye really can't work with them, it may be time for the /plank. Don't be afraid to use it if it is justified.
A little note on why ye only let crewmates and flagmates nav and gun: Decatur and I were once out on a long pillaging run. A greenie came on and insisted on gunning then doing nav. We found that he *didn't* load the guns. Then during nav, he hit the rocks multiple times and got us shot up a bit. Then he left. We should have planked him long before for his obnoxious chat, but we were green officers then.
3. During sailing
From port, ye can "set sail" or "deport". Deport puts ye in a funny just offshore state - ye'll still need to "set sail" from there, so I don't bother with it. If "set sail" is greyed out, make sure ye charted a course.
While sailing, ye will need at least one on Carpentry (on a sloop or cutter) who scores fine or better. Otherwise, damage will grow. If they be a really skillful pirate, he/she will be able to switch between Carpentry and Bilge and keep them both down. Normally, ye will need one on Bilge as well. Everyone else should Sail because this adds speed to the ship. If the ship be already damaged, try to repair it fast, this means put more or the best on Carpentry. The more damage ye have, the faster the bilge fills. The more water there be in bilge, the slower the ship will go. In general, we don't like people who laze about, not working a duty puzzle. Seems like those people tend to log out due to inactivity at a bad time and often earn the plank in other ways as well.
When ye first set out, the cannons will have been unloaded in port and will need immediate loading. Make sure they get loaded, whether ye do it yerself or have a skillful gunner on board. They will need to be checked after every sea battle to make sure they get reloaded. Only one can load on a sloop, while two can load on a cutter.
At a league point, a duty report will appear. Ye will have to click "set sail" to continue. If ye wait too long, yer speed will decrease. This is a good point to check ship status - is the bilge filling because no one is taking care of it? Use the duty report, to see if ye need to move crew to different stations, especially if they be 'Learning'.
At league points, ye can change course by editing the course chart.
4. Attacking ships
Ye can see other ships on the little screen in the upper right corner or by going up to the crow's nest. If ye click on a ship ye will get some information about it. If it be a Brigand ship, ye may attack it. Be careful with attacking player ships (called PvP) to make sure they aren't hearties. Also, they may have no poe on board.
Before attacking, look at the color surrounding the ship. Blue means they are really easy, but it might also bring on the black ship. Greens are great for attacking! Yellows are really difficult: ye need to hit them a few times with cannons in battle if ye want to win. Reds are nearly impossible, better not try!
Ye can also see ships when ye click "chart course" and zoom into it (called the radar), but then ye only see the colors, not if they be players or Brigands. If ye decide to attack a ship, click on it and then click engage. Now the chasing starts. Ye must have speed to catch up to them. Ye can "turn about" if ye passed 'em, although there is a speed penalty for turning about.
Battle Nav begins when the ships meet. If ye attack a vessel and ye lose, ye cannot attack again. However, Brigands sometimes will pursue (attack) ye. If ye lose the battle, ye can attack them for revenge! Sometimes, it be better to let them attack first.
5. Sea battle - Battle Nav
When ships engage at sea, a sea battle will start. If ye haven't already read them, read our sea battle notes. Ye should have practiced battle nav before becoming an officer. Practice more after - it be a challenging skill.
6. Sea battle - Sword Fight or Rumble
Before the sword fight, its nice to say something like 'Good luck'. If ye be out with jobbers or non-Officers from our crew, its important to make sure everyone knows how to target. Sometimes, it may be necessary to tell everyone which targets to select.
Here are some basic rules, which in our opinion are the best;
-no solos
-no 4s or more
However, for rumble fights with barbarians, teams of 5 have been known to work.
This means in practice if ye be 4 players, form two teams of 2. If ye be 5 players, 2 and 3, 6 players: 3 groups of 2 or 2 groups of 3 If ye cannot decide, we normally prefer groups or teams of 3. Before the battles tell them how ye want to team. Ye can also tell them who to target in the swordfight or to break up the 4! However, don't be surprised if people get too wrapped up in the fight to listen. Also, yer bots won't team by yer rules, so ye have to follow them to make teams.
On large ship pillages, one mate liked teams of 2 when he got lots of damage into the enemy, teams of 3 when he was less successful.
7. Putting into port
If ye get to an island, ye can put into port and divide the booty. A button will appear to "put into port". If ye lose a battle to a Brigand, 1/3rd from the booty is robbed, plus a 1/10th from the hold. However, porting and dividing the booty will make any unused expeditions vanish.
For dividing, ye must click on the Booty chest (lower deck for sloop and cutter) and choose divide. The number of stars tell ye how many battles each person fought in during the run.
If ye think it is necessary, change some numbers and lock them (small lock button next to the number). Our crew does even booty cuts, so the main reason to adjust is to give a newly arrived person a small amount or to zero out someone who left in battle without letting ye know why. NOTE: There is a 'crew cut' that goes to the Hold and is typically used for restocking the ship with fine rum and cannon balls.
If ye be at an uncolonized isle, ye can forage for fruit. Ye can forage until ye run out of work for the day, the isle is out of stuff, or yer ship be full. There is a slight chance ye'll dig up some gold ore or gems for the. lucky/skilled among ye!
If ye be at a colonized island, ye can sell yer commodities and resupply the ship by buying cannonballs. Click onto trade commodities at the hold. It may be confusing at first since the interface is designed from the shoppe's perspective. The buy price (shoppe's buy price) is what ye get if ye sell something. The sell price what ye pay the shoppe for buying commodities.
Some islands have a market. Ye can order commodities using the market bidding trade interface at the hold. Ask about bid tickets if ye be interested in the economic side of Y!PP.
Always bring the ship back to the home port and leave it with at least the supplies listed in the ship's Officers bulletin board at the Navigation station. Resupply ships bigger than a cutter with as many cannonballs as ye found on them. Or check the officer bulletin board for instructions.
If ye don't have enough PoE in the "crew cut" ye will have to buy the cannonballs from yer own PoE. Not all pillaging runs end up being successful! However, if ye have more PoE from the "crew cut" than ye need for cannon balls, take the rest, ITS YERS!!
8. Wait, there is just a little more
-ship captain
If there be more than one officer out on a ship, one of ye be in charge while the others have to back off. Make sure ye all know who is captain of the ship during the trip. It is OK to pass around the responsibility, just make sure ye be clear about it. The default captain is the one who takes the ship out originally. If ye be that person and ye have to leave, make sure ye find another officer to take over for ye before ye go. The rest of ye, don't go dividing booty or setting sail unless ye've been asked.
-chat channels
There be a variety of chat channels:
/crew - for talking to yer crew and jobbers
/jcrew - for talking to the crew ye be jobbing with
/o - for talking to only yer officers
/fo - for talking to all flag officers
As an officer, ye can now join in /fo and /o.
-flag forum
It would be great if ye register in our flag forum - sort of necessary to find this now.
9. Beyond Officer
Once ye have sailed a bit as officer and have earned the trust of the rest of the crew, we'll make ye a Fleet Officer (FO). The current officer level is somewhat limited and if ye can't earn our trust to get beyond it, ye may be better off in another crew.
If ye be looking for added responsibility, ask an SO for guidance. Give your new found Offcership some time to get used to. Small things, like recruiting new crewmates and helping train new officers is a good place to start. Also, get to know yer flagmates (try /fwho), sail with them, and maybe take them out for a war brig run. Join the flag forum, post there occasionally, find out about our allies, run a stall, read the Y!PP forum, there be lots to do!