I wanted to share some tips from the experience I've had since the early stages of beta until now. This is a non-exhaustive list of course and I will probably add more from time to time.
I won't talk about the most famous tricks such as seeing the map on his boat without having to go down or turn off the lights on your boat. I will focus on tricks that actually help me at an "advanced" level of the game. Oh and sorry for my english tho :)
Looking for treasures on islands
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Always keep in mind which way you arrive on an island. This will help you find your way around knowing where your boat is. Sometime if I have difficulties to find a treasure with clues I even go back on my ship to see the map of the island.
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When looking for treasures with maps, think of parking as close to the treasures as possible. You'll save time. It's obvious but I see a lot of random players parking anywhere on the islands.
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When searching on an island you can play music if you're walking near snakes, they don't attack and they're easier to kill that way
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When you are parked, if you are on a galleon, try to keep at least one person on the boat who will raise all the sails and the anchor while the others seek the treasures. This will allow the boat to pivot on itself to direct it to the next destination and when all the members are up there you'll just have to lower a sail to move forward instead of wasting time to raise the anchor.
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With a sloop, when you're parked on an island, think about doing the same thing by raising the sail and the anchor. You'll leave faster if there's a problem. Remember to keep an eye on your boat while you look for treasures just in case.
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Use the different map elements when searching for treasure. Rocks, red plants, palm trees etc...
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While it still works, try to learn how to use the "charge attack" to move faster from your boat to the island and then from the island to your boat. You'll find some videos on YouTube I guess.
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When looking for treasures, keep an eye on gunpowder and normal barels to recover consumables as much as you can before you leave. You never know if a skull event will spawn or not :p
Naval battles
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If you're on a sloop, don't be afraid of galleons. Keep in mind that a galleon with a poorly coordinated crew can easily be destroyed by a small sloop.
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Also keep in mind that a sloop with wind against it will be faster than a galleon. Do not chase a galleon even if the wind is behind you. You'll never catch him.
When you fire your cannons on a boat there are two main tips:
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On a sloop, try to shoot exactly at the same spot each time below the waterline. When your enemy will want to repair, if you are fast and accurate enough he will never be able to repair because he will be knocked back by your shots.
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You can do the same thing on a galleon but it's better if you shoot in several places. This way the enemies will be forced to put themselves at least to two to repair.
Don't forget to also fire at enemy cannons that fire at you. If they aim badly and you aim well, you can easily stop them from shooting. -
Always remember to play with your sails when you are in combat. Raising them a little will allow you to turn more easily and to have a better angle of shooting more quickly.
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Only shoot if you are sure to hit several times in a row. If the target boat is too far away, by the time the cannonball arrives and if the others don't hit, your enemy will have time to repair and you will waste cannonball. Effective and accurate shots are obviously better than shooting everywhere.
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In the same way, if you are not sure of yourself, do not try to "canon board" a ship. You risk losing a valuable crew member for a long time if he miss his target.
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When the ennemy ship is about to sink if you managed to make lot of holes on it. Try to board it and kill the guys while they're repairing. Usually if I manage to explode a ship with gunpowder I wait close to the ship until I can hear some repairing.
Skull events
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When heading to a "skull event", try to keep one or two gunpowder barrels on your crows nest. Be sure to have enough bananas/planks and cannonballs.
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When you approach a fort, if you are the first to arrive, keep a member of your crew in the hold of the boat to repair.
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When you approach, ideally all your crew members should have plenty of bananas and planks on them. You'll regret it if one of you gets killed by a well-placed skeleton shot.
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The best way I've found so far when I'm first on an event is to rush as close to the island as possible, ideally between two enemy towers. While my crew repairs the boat, I can take the time to park the ship so that the skeletons can no longer shoot me.
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Once you are in a safe place and the skeletons cannot shoot with the canons, never kill those from the towers. If an enemy ship approaches they will be a precious help for you.
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With a sloop, try not to park too close to the island. When the waves of skeletons are close to your boat, they will be able to shoot you very easily. If you are all alone on the event you can handle it but if an enemy boat arrives it will be very difficult for you.
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If you are parked and an enemy boat arrives, keep a crew member on the boat to prevent the enemy from boarding. Another crew member can easily approach the enemy ship with a powder keg and cause significant damage. Gunpowder will be your best weapon if you need to fight an enemy on a skull event.
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If you finish the event and enemy boats arrive, sometimes it's better to move as far away as possible with the key and come back a few dozen minutes later. Also remember to use the canons on the island if an enemy ship is out of range of yours.
Conclusion
That's it for the few tips I have in mind at the moment. Most of them will seem obvious to a lot of players but I still see a lot of inexperienced players falling for simple things.
I don't consider myself a pro gamer but most of these tricks allowed me to fight several galleons during an event while I was in sloop. It has allowed me to improve to the point where I'm no longer afraid to leave my lights on or attack someone even though I have lots of loots on my boat.
Feel free to add your advice in comments. This is something I made for reddit community and I decided to post it here too.
Hope it'll help Pirates :)
