Now that know how to get a new ship, you need to know which ship to get. This is a difficult question to answer considering everyone has their own favorite ship and their own reasons for liking that ship. Also, depending on your level, you will probably prefer certain attributes over others.
What to Look For in a New Ship (Getting a New Ship) is part of the guide: Getting a New Ship. This guide contains the following topics:
In the following sections we'll be using the stats of the 'Dolphyn' Ketch—a low level ship that would be a decent choice as your first ship upgrade. To access these stats, we purchased a 'Dolphyn' Ketch then spoke to the Harbor Master; although, you can look at any Ship Deed by checking in the in-game Help:
- On the Toolbar click on the Options button
. TheOptions window will appear.
- On the Options window click on the Help button. The Help window will appear. You should be looking at the Home page of the Help menu.
Note: you may have to click the Home button on the Help window to return to the Home page.
- On the Help window scroll down and click on Ship Deeds. You will now be presented with a list of every Ship Deed in the game.
- To find out more about a particular Ship Deed simply click on it.
Note: you may also press F1 to enter the in-game Help Menu.
This feature of the in-game Help is useful anytime you don't have access to a particular Ship Deed, but want to know the stats of that ship.
Health
Stats of a
Dolphyn Ketch. The section that pertains to
Health is circled.
This is a Ship Healthbar. The green circle in the center indicates the ship's Hull strength, and the green rings surrounding the circle indicate the ship's Armor strength. The blue rectangle indicates the ship's Sail strength.
Simply, the Health on a ship is what prevents it from sinking. Once a ship's Health has been taken down, the ship sinks.
Health Stats
The system is pretty simple:
- Port, Stbd, Bow, and Stern—these stats represent the Armor on various sides of the ship. Usually, a ship is weakest in the Stern and Bow, and strongest in the Port and Stbd (Starboard).
- Hull—this is a Ship's last line of defense. While the Hull can be slowly damaged anytime the Armor is not 100%, once the Armor on a particular side of the ship has been destroyed, opponents can begin heavily hammering away at the Hull. Of course, once the Hull is destroyed, the ship sinks.
- Sails—Sails are what keep the ship moving. Players can use certain shots (like Bar Shot
or Chain Shot 
) to specifically damage the sails, thus lowering a ship's speed and maneuverability.
Guns
Stats of a
Dolphyn Ketch. The section that pertains to
Guns is circled.
A ship's Guns determine how much damage it can cause on opponents.
Types of Guns
More guns mean more damage, but of course there are more stats than just damage, and there are multiple types of guns. This system is a bit less straight forward, but still simple once you understand the basics.
- Swivels—these guns are different than most other guns. Swivels don't do too much damage to an opponent's Armor, but they can be devastating to the opponent's Crew if used correctly (stay within range).
- Topdeck, etc.—depending on the size of the ship, it will have multiple decks, and each deck will have guns on it.
- Reload—the reload rate of a ship's guns can often determine the outcome of the fight. The more shots a ship can get in, the more damage it will inflict. Also, keep in mind smaller guns (including the Swivels) will reload faster than other guns.
- Range—guns can only shoot a certain distance. The number indicates their maximum range, but the closer a ship is to its opponent, the more accurate the guns will be.
Crew
Stats of a
Dolphyn Ketch. The section that pertains to
Crew is circled.
Each ship has a certian number of Crew that affect a number of the ship's operations.
How Crew Numbers Work
When diminished through attacks, the Crew will affect a number of ship stats. These stats include acceleration, Turning rate, and reload rate.
Also, a higher number of crew is better for Boarding. During Boarding you have a number of waves of crew members you can call. If you initiate Boarding with a significantly higher number of crew than your opponent, you will be able to call more waves than your opponent can.
There are several shots that can lower the number of crew a ship has—Langridge 
, for instance.
Capacity
Stats of a
Dolphyn Ketch. The section that pertains to
Capacity is circled.
The Capacity of a ship determines the amount of goods a ship can hold. Obviously the higher the Capacity, the more goods a ship can hold.
How Capacity Works
Depending on the style of play you prefer, the Capacity of your ship might be a pretty important stat or it might not matter very much at all.
To access a Ship's Hold, on the Toolbar click on the Inventory button 
. The Inventory window should appear. On the Inventory window click on the Ship's Hold tab.
Certain goods fill up a Ship's Hold much faster than others. For instance, unpacked ammunition takes up almost no room in your Ship's Hold, but any manufactured or raw goods will fill up your ship pretty quickly.
Consider that the Dolphyn Ketch (which can hold 180 units) could easily hold 10,000 pieces of Bar Shot (they would take up 5 units), but couldn't hold even 200 units of Oak Logs (as each Log takes up 1 unit).
Also, any Outfitting that a ship has applied takes up one 1 unit of capacity.
Speed
A ship's Speed affects many different aspects of play. Speed determines how fast your ship moves on the Open Sea and how fast your ship moves in combat. Fast ships can be good for hauling goods between ports, or for out maneuvering slower ships in battle.
Wind
Before you can understand Speed, you have to understand the wind. As you may have noticed when sailing around the Caribbean, wind only blows in one particular direction at a time. So if The Wind is against you (blowing a different direction than you are headed), you will find that traveling can be pretty slow.
The Wind Indicator around your ship. Try to keep your ship pointed toward Green.
Surrounding your ship is a Wind Indicator.
- To show the Wind Indicator, on the Toolbar click on the Options button . The Options window will appear.
- On the Options window click on the Preferences button. The Preferences window will appear.
- Click on the Interface tab.
- To show the Wind Indicator, click the Show Ship Wind Indicator button.
On The Wind Indicator are three colors: green, yellow, and red:
- Green (fast)—if you point your ship toward the green part of The Wind Indicator, you will go much faster than if you were pointed toward the yellow or red part.
- Yellow (slow)—if you point your ship toward the yellow part of The Wind Indicator, you will go slower than if you were pointed toward the green part, but faster than if you were pointed toward the red part.
- Red (slowest)—if you point your ship toward the red part of The Wind Indicator, you will go much slower than if you were pointed toward the yellow or green part.
Speed Stats
Stats of a
Dolphyn Ketch. The section that pertains to
Speed is circled.
Most aspects of Speed are pretty self-explanatory, but here's a quick rundown of the important stats:
- Max Speed—basically the fastest your ship can go in battle assuming all is perfect with wind and sail integrity. Although, you can increase your Max Speed through various skills, Outfitting, etc.
- Acceleration—this is how fast your ship can get up to that max speed. A faster acceleration is better for maneuvering your ship.
- Turning—while there are several Turning stats, basically the higher these stats are the better your Turning will be (with the exception of Turning Deceleration, which is best when lower). Better Turning allows you to turn through The Wind more quickly. This ability can be useful when fighting large and slow ships.
- Open Sea Speed—if you are heavily involved in the economy, a higher Open Sea Speed can drastically cut down the amount of time you spend hauling goods between ports. The maximum speed your ship can go on the Open Sea is not listed in its ship stats. If you would like to know this speed, see the Ship Speed Section.
Ship Outfitting
While you are Searching the Auction House you may notice the various Item Categories titled Ship Outfitting. Ship Outfitting allows you to improve various ship stats. By adding Outfitting to a ship, you can easily upgrade without having to buy a whole new ship.
Applying Outfitting
To add Outfitting follow these steps:
- Speak with the Harbor Master to enter your Dockyard.
- On your Dockyard select the ship you want to upgrade.
- Locate your Outfitting. It will most likely be in your current Ship Hold.
Note: to locate any outfitting you may have, you can also check in your Warehouse OR if you recently purchased outfitting from the Auction House, it may be located in your Auction House Pickups tab.
- To open your current Ship Hold, on the Toolbar click the Inventory button . The Inventory window will appear. Look on the Ship Hold tab.
- On the Dockyard locate the upgrade slots of the ship you want to upgrade and drag the Outfitting onto the appropriate slot.
Note: depending on the outfitting, adding the outfitting may be permanent, meaning you can never remove the outfitting unless you want to throw it away. If the outfitting is permanent you will receive a confirmation before you apply it.
Outfitting Types
Hover over outfitting to bring up a tooltip with information including the particular upgrade slot it goes into. The location on this tooltip is circled.
Each ship has nine slots for Outfitting. Six of those slots are for specific types of Outfitting (two slots each for Sails, Guns, and Hull), and three of the slots are for miscellaneous types of outfitting. First we'll cover the specific types of outfitting. Any outfitting that is used in these slots is permanent, and if you remove outfitting from these slots, it will be thrown away, not returned to your Inventory.
- Sails—outfitting that goes in this slot modifies your ship's Sails. Generally, this outfitting upgrades the strength of your Sails or your ship's Speed.
- Guns—outfitting that goes in this slot modifies you your ship's Guns. Generally, this outfitting upgrades various aspects of your Guns such as Accuracy or Reload rate.
- Hull—outfitting that goes in this slot modifies your ship's Hull and Armor. Generally this outfitting upgrades your ship's Speed or Armor integrity.
There is also outfitting that goes into the three Miscellaneous slots that you can add and remove without losing the outfitting. Often this Miscellaneous outfitting doesn't provide as high of a stats boost as the permanent outfitting. Also, even at low levels you will often receive the Miscellaneous outfitting through missions or by defeating NPCs (non-player characters) in ship battle.
Outfitting that goes in the Miscellaneous slots may modify various stats such as your Grappling Offense, your ship's Speed, your Accuracy, etc.
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