So I did the math really quick. One Captains chest without any modifications has an average of selling for 824 gold. If we grind out Gold Hoarders Emissaries and we get the captains chests, we get a 2.5x multiplier modification on how much gold we get per item sold. So I took 824 gold and multiplied it by 2.5. That gave me a total of 2,060 gold. (2,060 gold per chest we sell with a 2.5x multiplier) Now, if we get 20 captain's chests, that's 20x more then 2,060 gold. The math is 2,060 gold x 20 = 41,200 gold. Using this information, we can conclude that doing one Emissary Gold Hoarder's final mission will grant us an average of 41,200 gold. This is a massive total! Basically what I'm saying is that doing one of these Emissary grinds most likely takes less time then doing one Athena's Fortune Voyage and also grants more gold. The SOT Wiki states that with no Emissary Grade, one Athena's Chest sells for a minimum of 8,000 gold and a maximum of 10,000 gold. With an Emissary grade 1, the min. is 8k and the max is 10k. For Emissary 2, the min. is 10640 and the max is 13300. Grade 3 Emissary has a min of 16k and a max of 20k. Finally, Grade 5 Emissary has a min. 20k gold and a max 25k gold. One Athena's Fortune Voyage has the requirement of you doing eight separate quests. These are as stated below -->
| Order of Souls missions || x2 |
| Gold Hoarder's Riddles missions || x2 |
| Merchant's Alliance Cargo Runs missions || x2 |
| Gold Hoarder's Buried Treasure Maps || x2 |
However, when you do an Emissary mission, all you NEED to do is one of the following -->
Progressing in Company-related Voyages or Quests
Finishing Company-related Voyages or Quests
Picking up Company-related Treasure Items for the first time* (reset after another Crew claims the Treasure)
Placing Company-related Treasure Items on your Ship for the first time* (reset after another Crew claims the Treasure)
Overcoming Skeleton Fleets, Skeleton Forts & Fort of the Damned Raids**
Sinking Emergent Skeleton Ships (only if hit with a cannonball at least once)
Defeating Megalodon & Kraken Encounters
Defeating rivaling Emissary Player Pirates (only for Reaper's Bones) or sinking their Ships (for all other Companies)
As you can see, there are SO MANY THINGS that you can do to progress your Gold Hoarder's Emissary grade. My theory is that you can progress faster in a Gold Hoarder's Emissary ||||||| Grade rather than an Athena's Fortune Voyage. So, doing one Gold Hoarder's Emissary mission should be by my research (1.) faster and more efficient and (2.) more gold in shorter times (which will help tremendously especially if you decide to grind out multiple missions at once) and (3.) Accessible to ANYONE that has at least 20,000 gold (to buy the Emissary Flag) From watching multiple videos on people that have gotten the Athena's Chest, I can conclude that at the MINIMUM, if you are LUCKY, you can complete an Athena's Fortune Voyage in 1hr 30m. Now, this was at the minimum, but for the average player like me and you, It should take us from 2 to 3 HOURS. This is a long time just to be rewarded with a chest that has a maximum of containing 25,000 gold when you could do one of the Gold Hoarder's Emissary Missions (plus everything leading up to the mission) in LESS THAN 2 HOURS, maybe TWO HOURS at MOST, but usually around an hour or an hour and thirty minutes. So, if we were to grind out Emissary missions starting at around 9 am, all the way to around 4 or 5 pm that same day, we should be able to complete 5 Emissary missions plus the grind up to them. Here is my math --> (the times are estimated to be from 9:00 am-4:30 pm without breaks)(also, in this math we are estimated to complete each voyage in 1hr 30mins exactly)
9:00 am - 10:30 = 41,200 gold (+5k for lowering the flag at the end but we're not gonna count that)
10:30 am - 12:00 pm = 82,400 gold
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm = 123,600 gold
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm = 164,800 gold
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm = 206,000 gold
So, in the end, we'd make 206,000 gold in one BIG GRIND for SEVEN HOURS. This is a lot of gold!
Also, I made another sheet of the Athena chests' value with the exact same times, multipliers and bonuses, and maximum gold got from a chest, and still, even if the Athena's gave the max gold available every time, it still wouldn't beat the times and money in the period of time. Here is the math.
9:00 am - 10:30 = 25000 gold
10:30 am - 12:00 pm = 50000 gold
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm = 75000 gold
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm = 100000 gold
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm = 125000 gold
As you can see, the first set of data beats the second set of data by 81,000 gold!
So, this concludes why and how we should grind for gold and levels to get to max Gold Hoarders level. This also shows how much WORSE Athena chests are to grind out rather than the Gold Hoarder's Emissary missions/flags. My logic my be completely whack but if you want to correct me, please do. This all starts from one 20 captains chests in 1hr 30mins vs one Athena's chest in 1hr 30mins, and the clear winner are the captains' chests. The only real reason why I would grind Athenas' over Captains is to grind my Athena's level to get to max. Athena's are overrated in my opinion.
However, Yes, in theory, one Athena's chest is worth much more than one captains chest, however that is looking at a 1 to 1 chest ratio rating from a gold counter perspective. In theory, the Athena chest is the best chest in the game, but the journey to get it is much more tedious than a captains chest grind. Also, Captains chests are much more common than Athenas' chests. That's why we should grind Gold Hoarders Emissaries instead of trying to go for Athena's.