Puzzle Pirates
The Unofficial Omnibus
by T. Stodden, Ludologist
Version 0.503 -- Silver Edition
================================================================================
NOTICE & DISCLAIMER: The game that is being written here is an actively evolving
online massively multiplayer game.  Therefore, information in this guide may
become incorrect, dated or no longer relevant as this guide ages.  While most
information will be updated to include relevant data, the guide will be updated
as long as the author remains interested in Puzzle Pirates.
Please visit the Puzzle Pirates website (http://www.puzzlepirates.com) for the
most up-to-date information with the game.
Other writers MAY choice to rewrite this guide or make their own guide AFTER
this author has retired from the game without requesting permission.  Please
read Section E for Copyright & Licensing information.
0) Table of Contents
-----------------------
Quick Tip: You can jump to the action you want by copying the TOC entry, hit
CTRL+F (for Windows) to pull up the Find prompt.
>
1) Introduction to Puzzle Pirates
2) Signing up for Adventure
2.1) Creating your Pirate
2.2) Creating your Account
3) The Laws of the Seas
3.1) Social Laws
3.2) Crew Laws
3.3) Currency Laws
>
4) Sailing Puzzles
4.1) Bilging
4.2) Carpentry
4.3) Sailing / Rigging
4.3.1) Sailing
4.3.2) Rigging
4.4) Gunning
4.5) Navigation
4.5.1) Standard Navigation
4.5.2) Battle Navigation
4.6) Treasure Hauling
5) Crafting Puzzles
5.1) Blacksmithing
5.2) Alchelmy
5.3) Shipwrighting
5.4) Distilling
5.5) Foraging
6) Social Puzzles / Games
6.1) Rumble
6.2) Swordplay
6.3) Drinking
6.4) Treasure Drop
6.5) Hearts
6.6) Spades
6.7) Poker
7) Crews
>
8) Islands
9) Buildings
10) Clothing
11) Weapons
12) Commodities
13) Decay & Consumption
>
14) Pillaging
15) Expeditions
15.1) Treasure Treks
15.2) Merchant Catch
15.3) Shipwrecks
16) Flotillas
17) Blockades
18) Atlantis Voyages
19) Cursed Isles
20) Foraging
>
21) Puzzle Work
22) Ship Tips
23) Badges
24) Ships
25) FAQ's for the potentially hopeless
26) Chat Commands
27) Game Jargon
28) Pirate Lingo
>
A) About the Author...
B) Acknowledgments
C) Suggested Viewing
D) A Brief History of the Guide
E) Copyright Information & Licensing
F) The Final Word
>
~ Introduction ~
This section is designed to get you into Puzzle Pirates & learn the ropes
of the game's basic laws as well as get you started.  If you're already know the
basics, you most likely want to skip this section...  otherwise read on.
>
1) Introduction to Puzzle Pirates
------------------------------------
Welcome to the seas of Puzzle Pirates, where you get to sail the various oceans
for adventure & riches.  Players get to play a wide variety of puzzle games
during your journies.
Before you set sail to the game, please be aware of the following requirements.
* 500 Mhz processor or faster
* 128 MB - 256 MB's of RAM
* Java Runtime Environment (available at http://www.java.com )
* Decent video card
In short, any computer by the turn of the millenium should be able to handle
this without problems.
I will note that basic video cards (like those embedded on the motherboard) are
acceptable, but they tend to have some minor graphical glitches.  Therefore, I
must suggest that you have a decent video card to avoid such issues.
Puzzle Pirates runs complete on Java, which makes the game completely OS
independant & even browser independant.  However, the game is pretty much geared
towards PC users.
2) Signing up for Adventure
-------------------------------
Unlike other MMORPG's, Three Rings allows you to try out Puzzle Pirates BEFORE
you create an account.  This way you can check out the game & see if you really
want to play it more than once.
2.1) Creating your Pirate
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before you can hop onto a server, you'll need to create the look of your pirate.
While the options are fairly limited, you can choose how you look & what rags
you're wearing.  You can also choose a name for your pirate.  HOWEVER, you can
only have a one-word name, no special characters OR numbers (letters ONLY) & it
has to be unique to the server at the game has selected for you.
Do worry if you don't like your initial choices, you can pick up new clothes &
even change your character's looks later...  once you get your wallet filled
with some PoE & Doubloons, which will take some time to do.
2.2) Creating your Account
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When you're ready to make a commitment to the game, you just go to the "Ye" tab
& click on the "Save my Pirate" to bring up the account registration form.  Here
is where you enter the username you want (assuming it's unique for the game),
your password, birthdate (for COPPA reasons) & e-mail address (optional, but
highly suggested for account recovery).
Please note that the pirate you created with your account is dedicated to the
server you're playing on, so if you try login to a different server, you'll have
to create a new pirate for that server.
3) The Laws of the Seas
--------------------------
Like all massively multiplayer games, there's always some rules that you'll have
to deal with.  Here's some rules that you'll need to be aware of so you don't
get yourself into trouble.
3.1) Social Laws
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As with social areas, there are a few rules in place in order to keep things
civil & organized.  Here's a few laws that are in effect.
1) NO SWEARING PERMITTED!
This is a family-friendly game.  Since it's difficult to know the age
of any particular player (without directly asking), you should be on
your best behavior.
Breaking this rule can result in getting reported, placed on ignored
lists of other players & potentially banned.
The game now highlights any words that may be considered swearing in
your chat prompt BEFORE you hit enter.
2) Avoid Spamming at Inns
Inns are major social hubs since they contain the social games on the
servers.  Since there's a large number of players at the inns, most
inn owners heavily discourage spamming.
Spamming is consider an wide-area message for buying or selling items
at a moderately consistant rate without regards to who may hear it.
While you're permitted to make transactions at Inns, it's best to pace
yourself to minimize the annoyance you're causing.
Breaking this rule can result in getting placed on ignored lists of
other players & thrown out by the owner.  However, there can be more
serious penalties as well.
3) Socialize with others you're planning on challenging OR trading with.
This is more a courtesy rule than a law.  You should always hash out
the details of the trade / challenge BEFORE issuing the request as
most players like a little small talk before taking a request.
The only place where you can forgo this law is when you're playing on
the parlor tables, where players can create an open-ended challenge
that anybody can join in OR when you're in an elimination tournament,
where your opponent is decided by the tournament pairings.
4) NO BEGGING OTHERS FOR ANYTHING!
Begging for stuff is EXTREMELY WEAK as you're trying to get something
for nothing...  which greatly annoys others since the time you're
wasting to beg others could be used to sail with the navy (weak, but
steady pay) OR enroll as    a Jobber for voyage (inconsistant, but good
pay with winning crews).
The only exception would be high-end officers requesting donations to
pick something up (like a ship) for the crew to use.  However, these
are usually noted on the crew's notice board once & it's completely
optional for the crew to comply.
Breaking this rule can result in getting placed on ignored lists of
other players.  You could also get reported & potentially banned as
well since it could be consider item scamming.
You may get a loan from a fellow crew member that trusts you, BUT (and
this is a BIG BUT) you need to remember that you'll have to payback
the loan you receive...  possibly with interest, before it ruins your
relationship with them (as moneylending is known to break up
friendships) & gets you branded as a thief.
5) NEVER DISCLOSE YOUR USERNAME NOR PASSWORD TO ANYBODY!!!
This is a common sense law.  If you give your username & password to
somebody, they could hijack your account & take it for their own.
Since each account can have MULTIPLE PIRATES of MULTIPLE SERVERS, it
becomes even MORE CRITICAL!  You're can give your pirate names & the
server they're on, but that's all the important information you want
to give out.
If you need to give access of items in the game to others, you should
use in-game measures to grant access...  however, there's still some
risk (albeit it less) with granting access to various items.
3.2) Crew Laws
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When participating in a pirate crew, either as a jobbing pirate (temporary) OR
as a crew member...  there's a few things that you'll need to be aware of in
order to help the crew & keep you employed.
1) NEVER ANNOY THE CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP!!!
The captain of the ship is the supreme ruler of the vessel & uses the
standard pecking order.  The ship's captain is at least an officer or
higher in the crew & has full control over the ship while traveling.
Annoying the captain will increase the risk of you getting slapped
with a fine (a "-") OR walking the plank & losing any claims to booty
from the trip.  For jobbing pirates, you'll get booted from the crew
as well.
2) Check crew rules when applying as a full member & boarding crew ships.
Some crews require you to ask for boarding permission on an active
ship.  When you're a full member, you may board any active ship your
crew has.  However, boarding permission rule is more of a courtesy
rule as the ship's captain may have a full crew or something.
When sending an application to a crew on the notice board (as a
jobbing pirate), the game forces boarding permission as the ship's
captain has to offer you a spot within the crew before you can board.
Other rules like membership & officer requirements may be posted as
well, which must be observed when you're a full member.
3) Try to follow captain's orders as much as possible.
During your voyages across the seas, the captain may issue orders on
the ship in order to address the needs.  The captain can issue general
orders (which anybody available should follow) & direct orders, which
you should follow.
Some tasks on the ship, like Gunning & Navigation, usually require an
order from the captain in order to bypass the standard requirements
for those spots.
You may request performing one of these spots, but if the captain
denies your request (either by saying no...  if anything), DO ANOTHER
JOB!!!  Asking multiple times will    annoy the captain & the rest of the
crew.
4) Avoid idling on a ship.
You're getting paid to work on the ship, not to sit around & look
pretty.  Unless you're moving to a different spot on the ship, find a
job that you can do.
Once you're doing a job, make sure you actually playing it & doing a
fair job.  Idling on a puzzle will hurt your job performance & those
who consistantly get booched reports will likely get planked since
booching some puzzles will incur penalties for the ship.
Doing a poor job may place you at risk of getting planked OR ordered
to do another job, but at least it shows you're making an effort
(albeit a weak effort) on the job.
While it may look bad to the crew, the ONLY PERSON that is permitted
to idle on a ship is the captain themselves as they be looking for
other ships.
5) Check Booty distribution BEFORE signing on with a crew.
When crews post job offers, the crew information will tell you how the
crew splits up booty when the voyage ends.  There's pretty much 5 ways
that booty is divided.
* Even -- Everybody gets 1 share, regardless of rank.
* Rank's Privilege -- Officer's get slightly more than others.
* 2 shares for Cabin persons
* 3 shares for Pirates & Jobbers
* 4 shares for Officers & higher
* Jobber's Delight -- Jobbers are given an incentive to job with
the crew for voyages.
* 5 shares for Jobbers
* 3 shares for Cabin Persons
* 4 shares for the rest of the crew
* Crew Loyalty -- Crew members are given an incentive to voyage
with their own crew.
* 4 shares for Jobbers & Cabin Persons
* 5 shares for the rest of the crew
* Promotion Pays -- Pay is scaled towards rank within the crew.
*  5 shares for Jobbers
*  6 shares for Cabin Persons
*  7 shares for Pirates
*  8 shares for Officers & Fleet Officers
*  9 shares for Senior Officers
* 10 shares for the Captain
* Officer's Club -- Pay is scaled towards rank within the crew,
but Jobbers are paid the same as Pirates.
*  5 shares for Cabin Persons
*  7 shares for Jobbers & Pirates
*  8 shares for Officers & Fleet Officers
*  9 shares for Senior Officers
* 10 shares for the Captain
* Jobber's Bane -- Pay is scaled AGAINST Jobbers & Cabin Persons.
* 1 share for Jobbers & Cabin Persons
* 2 shares for everyone else
* Trader Shares -- Pay is scaled towards Pirates & lower-ranked
crew members.
* 4 shares for Jobbers & Cabin persons
* 5 shares for Pirates
* 2 shares for Officers & higher
* The Cruel Shelf -- The harshest pay scale that heavily pays
higher ranked crew members.
*  5 shares for Jobbers
* 10 shares for Cabin Persons
* 12 shares for Pirates
* 15 shares for Officers
* 20 shares for Fleet Officers & higher
Please note that booty splitting is based on per-battle & the ship
restocking fee is taken out first BEFORE the it's divided by amongst
the crew.
For example, let's say there's 4 people on a ship for the entire
voyage.  You (a jobber), a Pirate, an officer & a senior officer.
Your pillaging raked in 10,000 PoE on your last pillage & the crew has
a 25% restocking fee.
10,000 * 25% = 2,500 PoE Restocking Fee, which means there's 7,500 for
the crew.  Assuming no +'s or -'s are issued (which would affect the
shares), here's how the booty be split.
Under "Even", one share is 1/4 of the booty, or 1,875 PoE per share...
which is what everybody takes.
Under "Rank's Privilege", One share is 1/14 (3+3+4+4) of the booty or
around 535 PoE per share.  You would get 1,605 PoE while the officers
get 2,140 PoE.
Under "Jobber's Delight", One share is 1/17 (5+4+4+4) of the booty or
around 441 PoE per share.  You would get 2,205 PoE while everybody
else would get 1,764 PoE.
Under "The Cruel Shelf", One share is 1/52 (5+12+15+20) of the booty
or around 144 per share.  You would only get 720 PoE, while the Pirate
gets 1,728 PoE, the Officer gets 2,160 PoE & the Senior Officer gets a
whopping 2,880 PoE.
When jobbing with a crew, look for crew that pays evenly OR pays more
for temporary work with "Jobber's Delight" or "Trader Shares" while
more permament position in a crew may want something else.
I should note that whenever the ship wins a battle, half of the booty
is automatically given out to all crew members who participated in
the battle, based on the pay scale used.  This way, jobbers who can
only do a partial voyage will still get some PoE from their voyage.
Please note that the officer that is splitting up the booty (usually
the owner or operator of the ship) reserves the right to award +'s or
-'s to anybody they deem worthy.  However, the officer can only give
out 1 +/- to each person...  but the dividing officer may place as
many -'s as they wish upon themselves.
6) Always try to do your best, especially in multiplayer battles!
Multiplayer battles are a group effort where you have to eliminate all
the players of the rival team before your team is eliminated.  Please
be aware that your fellow players (on BOTH SIDES) can see the current
condition of your playfield with every piece played.  Therefore, it
can become apparent if you commit suicide.
Those who commit suicide will likely get slapped with a -.
Inversely, if you manage to take down the rest of the rival crew by
yourself (like in a 1 vs 5 deal), you may get awarded with a +.
3.3) Currency Laws
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Puzzle pirates runs practically one two currencies: Pieces of Eight & Doubloons.
Pieces of Eight, or PoE, is the standard game currency as all pay is given in
PoE.
Doubloons are the "Premium" currency.  Some items usually require Doubloons to
buy as such items or services in the game on Doubloon Oceans as part of the
"a la carte" pricing.  Subscription Oceans DO NOT USE Doubloons since players
are paying a premium to access nearly everything.
With currency, you will need to be aware of the following:
* Players may buy & sell Doubloons at any price they deem fair -- This
allow players on Doubloon Oceans to trade Doubloons in PoE.  Please be
aware that here is a transaction fee on selling Doubloons.  You are
charged around 2% of the selling price when your Doubloons sell.
Please be aware that Doubloon Exchange prices will vary based on the
ocean you're playing on as well as current events in the game.
The Exchange price can vary greatly during the life of the game, but
it's in constant flux & various situations (seasons, new items, ect.)
can affect the exchange rate... so look at the buying & selling prices
before you consider placing an offer on the exchange.
* Doubloons are attached to your account.  PoE's are attached to your
pirate -- Since Puzzle Pirates allows you to have up to three pirates
per ocean on your account, each pirate has a separate account for PoE
only.  Since Doubloons are a premium currency, it's attached to your
account so you can use them with any pirate you have.
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BUY DOUBLOONS ON ONE OCEAN & SELL THEM ON ANOTHER
OCEAN IN AN ATTEMPT TO MAKE A PROFIT!!!  AS STATED, PIECES OF EIGHT DO
NOT TRANSFER BETWEEN OCEANS!!!  ATTEMPTING TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN
SCREWING YOURSELF OUT OF SOME FUNDS!
* Doubloons can be purchased with real funds. -- Because it's a premium
currency, the makers of Puzzle Pirates will allow you to buy a set
number of Doubloons.  The "per Doubloon" rate will vary between $.20 &
$.25 depending on how much money you're willing to spend.
$3.00 =  12 Doubloons ( $.25  / ea.)
$10.00 =  42 Doubloons (~$.238 / ea.)
$19.00 =  90 Doubloons (~$.222 / ea.)
$50.00 = 240 Doubloons (~$.208 / ea.)
$100.00 = 500 Doubloons ( $.20  / ea.)
NOTE: Prices stated here are rounded to the nearest dollar
You'll either have to use a credit card or PayPal to buy the Doubloons
directly.  However, you can buy prepaid cards at Target for $10 or $20
& can be used to buy Doubloons OR access to the Subscription Oceans.
* You can buy access to the Subscription Oceans through Doubloons -- This
method is called a "Coin-scription" since you're paying through the
game's premium currency.  The "Coin-scription" rate is 42 Doubloons
per month.
>
~ Puzzle, Games, & Crews ~
This section is made of puzzles & games that are included in Puzzle Pirates
for you to play & work on.  You can read up & learn the various puzzle games as
well as finding similar games that could help you improve your skills when you
aren't online.  You're free to develop your own tactics, but this should get you
start on the right foot.
>
4) Sailing Puzzles
---------------------
This is the core of Puzzle Pirates as each ship contains various puzzle
positions (or "spots") with a minimum of 1 spot for each type of puzzle.  Each
ship is designed for all players to work as a group over various duties to help
promote the welfare of the group.
Please be aware that there are some requirements with some puzzles that have to
be take care of before you can fill that particular spot.  This section is to
help players to learn the puzzles.
For more information as how each puzzle on the ship affects each other, please
see section
4.1) Bilging
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Difficulty: Easy
Similar game(s):
* Panel de Pon (various platforms)
* Tetris Attack (SNES)
* Pokemon Puzzle League (N64 / GBC)
* Puzzle Planet League (DS)
Controls:
* Mouse / Arrow keys: Move Cursor
* Left Click / Space: Swap Pieces
Bilging (or "Bilge Pumping") is pretty much one of the easiest puzzles on the
ship.  If you've played one of the similar games noted, you've gotten the basics
of the game down.  The only major difference is that you play with a completely
full playfield all the time.  You just move the cursor around (with your mouse
being the best method) & click on the pieces to swap them.  Please be aware that
you can only swap pieces horizontally, NOT vertically & pieces float upward, NOT
DOWNWARD.
The object of the puzzle is to line up 3 or more pieces a line (horizonally OR
vertically) to clear the pieces.  During your progression through the levels,
you'll start seeing 3 specialty pieces that can help or hinder your progress.
* Blowfish (Lv 4) -- These are generally good as they allow you to remove all
the puzzle pieces in a one-block area (3x3) of the blowfish when activated.
* Crabs (Lv 5) -- These are annoying, stubborn creatures that'll hinder your
progress as you can't move them around.  Thankfully, they'll leave the
board as soon as they're above the waterline.
* Jellyfish (Lv 6) -- These are considered a godsend to bilgers as they allow
you to remove ALL instances of a puzzle piece selected with it.  When
you're stumped with the board, you can stimulate the playfield by using one
(or more) Jellyfish.
As you progress from Lv 4 to Lv 7, the game will start adding a new puzzle piece
to the playfield until you have all 7 pieces to work with.
The better you can clear pieces from the board, including cascading combos, the
better you'll perform as a bilger.  The pump in the lower-right corner of the
game window will show your performance.  The faster the pump is working, the
better.  When the pump turns gold, you're producing "excellent" work.  If you
start seeing golden sparks as well, you've reached the "incredible" performance
level.
During the game, you'll notice that the "Water Line" will vary between 3 lines
from the top (Waterlogged) to 3 lines from the bottom (dry).  The Water Line
reflects the water status of the ship.  The better the bilger works, the faster
the water line drops & the better the ship runs.  Please be aware that you can
generally work faster ABOVE the water line than BELOW it, but there may be some
circumstances where you're forced to work below.
In the ship gauges, the right gauge (in Blue) notes the water level on the ship.
Needless to say, the lower the gauge is...  the better.  The water level can
affect the speed & potentially the battle condition of the ship.  HOWEVER, your
efforts are affected by the damage level of the ship.
During Flotilla & Blockade events, you'll see special tokens appear on the
pieces while you play.  All you have to do to collect the special tokens is to
line up the token halfs together, regardless if it clears pieces from the board
or not.
The only way to booch this puzzle is to work VERY SLOWLY.
4.2) Carpentry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Difficulty: Moderate
Similar Game(s):
* Tetris (various platforms)
* Pentaminos
* Jigsaw Puzzles
Controls:
* Mouse: Move Pieces
* Left-Click: Select / Place Piece
* Z: Flip Piece
* X / C: Rotate Piece
Carpentry is a little harder as you try to patch up the various holes on this
ship that tend to occur during travels.  The object is to fit the pieces that
you're given into the holes with as little overlap as possible.
The controls of the puzzle is pretty easy.  Use the mouse to move the pieces
into position, then use 'Z' & 'X' to rotate the pieces into place.  All
the pieces in Carpentry are 5-unit pieces.  Pardon the ASCII art here.
XXXXX - I block (or "BAR")    XXX  - Z/S block    XXX - P block
XX      ("Little")     XX
X                      XXX                X
XXX - + Block                 X  - T Block         XX  - M/W/E/3 Block
X                         X                 XX
X                         XX                XX
XXXX - R Block            XX  - F Block         X  - Z/S Block
X                 XX   ("Big")
X X - C Block                XXXX - L/J Block    O - Putty
XXX                        X                    (Up to 5 squares)
You'll have 3 pieces of wood (or putty) in your toolbox to place in each hole.
Putty is more of a wild-card piece that allows you to fill in any hole in any
shape, up to a maximum of 5 squares.  If the hole is larger than 5 squares, you
won't be able to use the putty until shrink it.
During normal gameplay, you'll have 4 holes to work on at the same time.  When
2 holes on the same side is filled in, the work area will shift to include new
holes as you progress through the puzzle.  HOWEVER, you cannot dedicate all your
time one hole as ignoring holes will make matters worse.  The game will warn you
when you're ignoring a hole a little too long based on it's progress.
When no progress has been made to filling the hole, the outline of the hole will
start flashing red.  You'll have to place a piece in the hole within 3 moves OR
the hole will enlargen of neglect by one square... making it practically
impossible for you to properly fill in that hole without any overlaps.
If you've placed pieces in a hole, one of the pieces will start to shake when
you've ignored it a bit too long.  You'll have to place a piece in that hole
within 2 moves of the shaking piece will fly off.
In both cases, you lose progress on the holes...  WHICH IS VERY BAD FOR YOUR
PERFORMANCE as you're going backwards.
As you finish the holes, you'll get rated based on how well the pieces fit.  If
you patched the hole with absolutely NO overlap, you'll get the coveted
"Masterpiece" judgement.  A little overlap will get you "Craftmanship" while
a lot of overlap will get you the undesirable "Sloppy Work" judgement or WORSE.
Please be aware that "Masterpiece" judgements can be stacked, so the longer you
can keep the Masterpiece streak going, the better your progress rating will be.
Craftmanship will break the streak, but it will keep you in the "Good" work
progress in the crew.
To the right of the toolbox is a hammer, which is an indicator of your progress
rating.  The faster the hammer moves, the better your rating.  As with Bilging,
Gold = Excellent & Gold Sparks = Incredible.
During Flotillas & Block events, you'll see special tokens on the pieces.  To
collect the tokens, you have to put all 4 token pieces together & do a good job
on the hole to earn it.  Fair & sloppy work will cause you to lose the token
bonus.
Carpentry affects the battle condition of the ship & becomes a critical task
during flotillas & dangerous trips as the ship can sink if the red damage meter
(in the center of the ship gauges) maxes out... which carpentry works to counter
it.  The only way to booch this puzzle is to work VERY SLOWLY, ignore all
warnings & heavily overlap holes.
4.3) Sailing & Rigging
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prior to April, 2009, The sails on the ship only had one game to do with it.
HOWEVER, they added Rigging to help break up the monotony.
Pirates can now do EITHER task & it'll go towards the sails.
4.3.1) Sailing
*****************
Difficulty: Moderate
Similar Game(s):
* Dr. Mario (Various Platforms)
Controls:
* Left / Right: Move piece left / right
* Up / Down: Rotates piece
* Space Bar: Drops piece
Sailing is one of the essential puzzle games that tends to be one of the
important spots on the ship as there's proportionally more sailing spots than
all other spots.
The object of Sailing is to fill the sails with the appropiate combination of
"Wind Orbs", which slowly drops from the top of the playfield.  The "Wind Orbs"
come in 3 colors: White, Blue & Gold.
When you complete all the sails, you clear the board.  However, if you make a
mistake, you just line up 4 of the same color in a line (horizontally OR
vertically) to clear them.  Please be aware that any linked orbs will drop.
The sails tend to follow one of the following patterns:
O
O        OO        O        O
O        OO         O        OO        OO
O        OO        O        OOO        OO
The staggard patterns (sails 1 & 3) are usually a single color while the other
patterns can be multicolored.  Patterns 1, 3 & 4 can be flipped horizontally as
well.  Please be aware that sails have a bar underneath them, so you cannot pass
through the bottom of them.
In the upper-right corner of the game window a little ship that serves as your
work progress indicator.  The higher the sail on the ship, the better your
progress is reported.
Sailing carries 2 purposes:
1) Fills the ship's wind gauge, on the left in Yellow & makes the ship move
faster in the water in normal mode.
2) Fills the ship's manuever list, which allows the ship's captain to move
the ship in battle mode.
HOWEVER, Sailing efforts are affected by the ship's water level.  The higher the
water level, the hard you have to work in order to keep the ship moving.
During Flotilla & Blockade events, you'll see special tokens on the pieces.  To
collect the tokens, you just have to pair up the tokens & clear them.
Please be aware that it's possible to booch sailing by having the wind orbs go
beyond the playfield.  This will reset the playfield & ship will incur a small
penalty.
4.3.2) Rigging
*****************
Difficulty: Moderately easy
Similar Game(s):
* Chuzzle (PC, various platforms)
Controls:
* Left-click & drag
Rigging is the EASIER alternative (in my opinion) to sailing as there's no major
time pressures (as Sailing has gravity forcing your actions, but you still need
to work at a respectable speed) OR booching penalities involved with this game.
The object of this game is to line up the 3 or more of the same tokens that's
touching the highlighted pulley to remove them from the board & help propel the
ship.
With every move you make, the highlight pulley rotates clockwise around the 6
pulleys around the board, whether or not you clear tokens from the board.
Therefore, you have to pay attention to which pulley you need to line up with.
While you need at least 3 in a group to clear, all the tokens do NOT need to be
in a straight line as the game will take all the tokens that are touching each
other.  HOWEVER, you can only pull on one line of the board each time & the
tokens will wrap around that line.
For every token you remove from the board, you add 1 coil of rope to the meter
below.  Once you max out that meter with 20 coils, you'll be awarded a wild card
token.  HOWEVER, if you fail to clear any tokens in 3 moves, you'll lose 5 roils
of rope.
Just like sailing, the indicator in the upper right will show you how well
you're doing.  It's simply clear as many tokens with as few moves as possible &
you'll do just fine.
When in a flotilla or blockade, you'll have specialty tokens on the board.  In
order to redeem those specialty tokens, you have to clear 2 tokens in two moves.
What I mean by this is that the first token you clear will be sent to the next
pulley.  If you can clear that token on the next move, you'll redeem it.  For
Rigging, you CAN redeem MULTIPLE specialty tokens in the same move.  Any cleared
specialty tokens NOT redeemed will carry on to the next pulley, so you could
essentially redeem those specialty tokens around the clock.
4.4) Gunning
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Difficulty: Hard
Requirements (1):
* Pirate's Badge or better (crew ships only)
* Captain's Order
Similar Game(s):
* Chu Chu Rocket (various platforms)
Controls:
* Mouse: Move cursor
* Left-click: Place Arrow
* Z / X / Mouse Wheel: Rotate Arrow
Gunning is considered one of the hardest puzzles on the ship & therefore usually
restricted to more experienced crew members.  Less experienced players should
practice gunning on navy ships to learn the ropes of this game.
The object of the game is to load the 4 cannons in the playfield by directing
the items, in the RIGHT ORDER, into the cannons by placing allows on the
playfield that the items must obey.  In order to load the cannons, you must put
the items in the following order:
1) Gun Powder (red bag)
2) Packing Paper (white wad of paper)
3) Cannon Ball (black ball)
When a cannon has been fired OR if you make a mistake in loading a cannon, you
must use the bucket of water to wash out the cannon.  There's 2 of each item on
the playfield at any given item.  When an item is loaded into a cannon or
jettisoned from the ship, it'll return to the playfield from the barrel located
around the center of the playfield.
Gunning is mostly a battlefront puzzle as once all the cannons are filled, you
have to wait until they're fired before you can clean & reload them.  The only
exception to this is practicing with the navy in non-battle situations as they
fire the cannons once they're all of them are loaded.
At the bottom of the playfield is the speed meter, which works 2 ways:
1) Allows you to manage the pace of the items on the playfield.
2) Gives you a precise measure of progress
As you properly load the cannons, the speed meter increases.  Whenever you make
a mistake OR jettisson items, the speed meter decreases.  Ideally, you want to
go as fast as possible without making mistakes in order to keep your work
progress up.
It's fairly easy to booch gunning by placing the items in the wrong order, using
the water bucket at the wrong time OR jettisoning too many items as well as the
standard idling.  Since the cannons are a critical battle item, most captains
want only good gunners doing this job.  There's a few times where the captain
may prefer doing this job themselves instead of permitting sub-par players.
4.5) Navigation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Difficulty: Moderate / Moderately Hard
Requirements (1):
* Officer's Badge or higher (Owned / Unlocked ships)
* Captain's Order w/ Pirate's Badge (Normal Only)
Navigation is broken up into two parts & it's considered one of the most
important job on the ship as there's practically only ONE SPOT on the ship.
This is usually reserved for ship's captain or an officer of the crew.
4.5.1) Standard Navigation
*****************************
Controls:
* Left / Right: Rotate Ring
* Up / Down: Change Rings
* Space: Drops Star
The object in Standard Navigation is to match the star pattern amongst the three
nagivation rings.  While you cannot control the falling stars, you can control
the rings.  Please be aware that gravity applies towards the center of the wheel
so the stars will go towards the inner rings when there's space available.
When you need to make space for the right star in the ring, you'll have to line
up three stars in a row on the same ring OR across all three rings to clear them
from the wheel.
Getting combos on the wheel will help improve your performance.  However, if any
star lands outside the outer ring, you'll booch the game.  This will reset the
board, turn the ship around for the current league (taking you back to the start
of the league) & ANNOUNCE YOUR MISTAKE TO THE ENTIRE CREW...  not something you
want to broadcast...  especially when you're getting pressed for time.
In the upper-right corner is group of four stars rotating around each other,
which serves as your work progress indicator.  The faster the stars spin, the
better you're performing.
Navigation acts like an amplifier for the ship, so the better the performance on
navigation, the better the work from other jobs on the ship will become.
Navigating is usually reserved for the captain of the ship, but any officer of
the crew can take the wheel.
4.5.2) Battle Navigation
***************************
Similar Games:
* Robo Rally (Board Game)
Controls:
* Mouse: Move command(s)
* Left-Click (drag): Issue / Reorder / Cancel Command(s)
Battle Navigation is a different puzzle than standard navigation as you have to
either work to catch OR evade the other ship in the battlefield.  In Battle
Navigation, you have a little amount of time PER TURN to issue your commands.
You're able issue movement commands as well as firing cannons & even firing a
grappling hook.  You may issue up to 4 movement & firing commands per turn, but
some of the larger ships only permit 3 moves.
Sailing & Gunning plays a major role here as sailing gives your ship the ability
to move on the battlefield as Gunning gives your ship the ability to shoot.
On the battlefield, there's wind icons that will alter your ship's path.  You
will need to take the wind into account when trying to intercept or evade your
target.
Battle navigation ends ONLY when the ships confront each other OR disengage from
battle after a set number of turns (where neither ship has taken damage).
During special voyages (like flotilla, blockades, ect.), there are special
"safety zones" where ships can enter & leave the battle boards, but they cannot
attack (or be attacked) in.
Due to the importance of Battle Navigation, only the ship's captain of a fellow
officer in the crew (on an unlocked ship) may take the helm & usually given to
the crew member with the most experience.  It's highly suggested that pirates
who want to do their own voyages to practice with the navy in the mission
"Battle Brigands with the Navy" for it's low risks, since you do not have to pay
for supplies on navy ships & you don't lose anything (other than pride) when you
lose in a battle.
4.6) Treasure Hauling
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE: SPECIAL BATTLE-TYPE EVENT PUZZLE
Requirement(s):
* Available ONLY during the following events...
* Flotilla Combat
* Sinking Blockades
* Atlantis Battles
* Shipwreck Expeditions
* You're near a recently sunken ship
Similar Games:
* Bilging
Treasure Haul is extremely similar to Bilging, but the major difference is that
you can only swap pieces vertically instead of horizontally.  As soon as your
ship sinks a rival ship, players of your ship can start hauling treasure aboard.
Pretty much the better the players are on "hauling", the faster the treasure
from the sunken ship will get brought aboard.  Hauling while you're directly on
top of the sunken ship is more efficient than hauling from a nearby spot.
Treasures obtained through Treasure Haul will consist of PoE & will be added to
the Ship's Booty Chest for splitting when the ship returns to port.
As noted, Treasure Haul runs practically the same Bilging where you try to line
up at least 3 or more coins in a line.  During the game, you'll run into "power
gems" that can help you clear coins when used.
* Ruby (Red) -- Clears all coins in the game row & column (in a + pattern).
* Emerald (Green) -- Clears all coins diagonally from it (in a X pattern).
Please be aware that you can cause a chain reaction with power gems & have one
gem trigger another gem (& so on).
Performance is based on the rate (speed) & the value of the treasure getting
hauled up during the game.  Since speed is more important than combos, you won't
want to waste time setting up combos.  There's three indicators of performance.
1) The Growing Gold pile behind the pirate.
2) the Pirate is merrily pulling on the ropes.
3) Coins are flying up the screen.
During Atlantis battles, treasure chests will sporadically apear.  Pretty much
just clear all the coins above it in order to claim the chest, which contains
MORE PoE than the coins obtained from a shipwreck.  For this case, players tend
to keep a ruby on the top row to make things easier.
Again, SPEED IS OF THE ESSENCE HERE!  The faster you work, the most booty that
you can pick up & less time your ship has to spend near the shipwreck.
Please be aware that while players still need to others to work on the ship
(ESPECIALLY Carpentry) while this game is available since the ship MUST make it
to port in order to make this game worthwhile.  If your ship sinks (which IS
POSSIBLE during these events), you will lose ALL the PoE that could have been
obtained from the post-voyage booty split.
5) Crafting Puzzles
----------------------
Crafting Puzzles are a group of puzzles that allow you to flex more of your
creative powers than sailing.  While there's usually one crafting puzzle that's
available to all players each day, you'll most likely need to pick up a Labor
Badge (5 Doubloons) to keep playing any particular puzzle beyond the designated
day.
Labor Badges allow you to generate up to 24 hours of OFFLINE WORK per day.
Each time you play a game, you generate one hour of labor of work for the stall
that you're working for.  Please be aware of the following limits:
1) You cannot produce more than 24 hours of OFFLINE LABOR per day.
2) You cannot produce more than the work limits of the stall you're are
employed at, due to labor restrictions.
3) You can only produce labor ONLY for work orders that are pending for a
specific stall. -- No orders = No labor
4) Your labor may be downgraded as needed to fill work orders -- Even if
you produced skilled labor, you may only get paid the basic rate if
there's no need for skilled labor.
You are paid an hourly rate for your work, based on the quality of the work you
provide.  You are required to login every 10 days in order to keep your job.
You will automatically quit all jobs if you fail to do so.
If the stall has maxed out on OFFLINE LABOR for the day OR you have maxed out
your labor badge, you can only practice the crafting puzzles.  This will give
you more experience with the game, but you will not produce any labor as a
result of it.
Please be aware that Labor Badges are only good for 30 CALENDAR DAYS, NOT LOGIN
DAYS!  Therefore, you most likely DO NOT want to unwrap your labor badge UNLESS
you're ready to work for most of those 30 days.
5.1) Blacksmithing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Difficulty: Moderate
Free Access on Sundays
Similar Games:
* "Peg" / "Golf" solitare (Non-card version)
Controls:
* Mouse: Move Cursor
* Left Click: Confirm Move
This puzzle requires some thinking as the object of the game it so clears as
many squares on the playfield as possible before you run out of moves.  Your
first move can take any square you want, but subsequent moves will be restricted
to what the last square you hit shows.  On the upside, you can go in any of the
8 directions.
* 1 Square = 1 square from the last square hit.
* 2 Square = 2 squares from the last square hit.
* 3 Square = 3 squares from the last square hit.
* 4 Square = 4 squares from the last square hit. (Level 4)
During the game (starting with the second level) you'll run into chess squares,
which act similarly to their actual chess piece.
* Bishop Square = any square on the edge diagonally from the last square hit.
* Rook Square = any square on the edge horizontally or vertically from the last
square hit.
* Knight Square = any square available in an "L" shape from the last square hit.
* Queen Square = any square on the edge in any of the 8 directions from the last
square hit. (Level 3)
Finally, there's the "Rum Jug" square that's introduced on the 4th Level which
acts as a wild card & allows you to strike any square available on the board. It
will replace the last piece hammered on the top (hot) & middle (warm) layers on
the playfield.
To help you see the moves, the game will highlight the eligible squares by
making them glow.
Please be aware that each square in the 6 x 6 grid can only be struck 3 times
during the game.  Once you hit the square for the third time, that square is
considered completed & is no longer available on the playfield.  When you can
no longer make a move (or complete the board), the game ends & you'll be ranked
on how many strikes are left on the board...
+------------------------------+--------------+--------------+
| Message                      | Strikes Made | Strikes Left |
+------------------------------+--------------+--------------+
| Maybe use that one as a club |   Under 78   |    Over 30   |
| A Hefty Blade                |   78 -  91   |    30 - 17   |
| Finely Balanced              |   92 - 101   |    16 - 7    |
| Keen Edge                    |  102 - 107   |     6 - 1    |
| A Masterpiece!               | Exactly 108  |     NONE!    |
+------------------------------+--------------+--------------+
To avoid booching, you'll want to try & clear as many squares as possible &
create chains & sets.  You can see the progress of your work by looking at the
piece of metal that's surrounding the playfield (to the left & right of the
playfield will give you a better look).  The better your performance, the better
the metal will look.
The best strategies for this game are...
* Try to clear layer before working on the next -- This will help prevent you
from creating holes in the playfield & reduce the risk of ending early.
* Avoid clearing the edges early -- The chess pieces (other than the knight)
require edge pieces to clear...  so try holding on to them, if possible.
Other than that...  I wish you the best!
5.2) Alchelmy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Free Access on Wednesdays
Similar Game(s):
* Talismania (PC / Web)
* Rocket Mania (PC / Web)
Controls:
* Mouse / Arrow keys: Move Cursor
* Left Click / S: Rotate pieces Counter-clockwise
* Right Click / D: Rotate pieces Clockwise
* Spacebar: Confirm "Fill"
Alchelmy is fairly simple, but challenging puzzle.  The object is to fill the
bottles at the bottom of the playfield with the appropiate color from the top by
manipulating the pipes in between.
In the lower-right corner of game window is a mouse with a number by it.  That
number is the turn limit, which decreases every time you manipulate a pipe in
the playfield.  However, you can manipulate the same piece of pipe as many times
without affecting the turn limit counter as there's some times that you'll need
to rotate the pipe multiple times to complete the connection.
You'll need to manipulate the pipes to fill as many bottles with the right color
AND hit the fill button before the turn limit counter hits zero or some of the
bottles may shatter.  You'll get a warning when the counter hits 10 turns or
less as the bottles start to shake.
For those who are colorblind, each of the primary colors are tagged with an
astrological symbol.  This way you can match the colors with their symbols.
You'll find some bottles will require a secondary color, where you have to find
a way to mix the two colors within the pipes prior to filling.  Please be aware
that secondary colors will mix in all the pipes that are connected together, so
you can't use a multi-tap pipe to split blue into blue one way & mix with yellow
for green on the other.  You have to separate the color paths to avoid mixing.
For those who don't know how to mix colors (which practically everybody with an
elementary education should know)...
* Red + Blue = Purple
* Red + Yellow = Orange
* Yellow + Blue = Green
* Yellow + Red = Orange
* Blue + Red = Purple
* Blue + Yellow = Green
Mixing all three colors will produce brown, which you'll NEVER NEED for any of
the bottles...  so avoid it when possible!
In later levels, you'll get larger "striped" bottles, which needs to be filled
in the proper order (bottom-up) to clear.  While they do take more time to fill,
they're generally worth more.
As you play the game, you'll find three special pieces to help you out:
* Bonus Piece (Gold Coin) -- This will boost your work score a little bit when
color is routed through it.
* Multifill piece (Arrow icon) -- This rare, but valuable piece allow you to
fill all consecutive instances of a color in a bottle...  as long as the
color is needed for a bottle.
* "Quicksilver" piece (Q icon) -- This piece will change at one of the source
bulbs (at the top of the playfield) into a new silverish-grey color for
each color that routes through the piece.  If you only route one color
through it, only one bulb of that color will become quicksilver.  If you
route two colors through it, one bulb of BOTH colors will become
quicksilver.
The new "Quicksilver" color acts as a wild-card color & can be used to fill
ANY BOTTLE you want.  This makes it extremely valuable, HOWEVER,
quicksilver only counts as a primary color for scoring purposes.
Some players try to use Quicksilver & Multifill pieces together in order to fill
multiple colors quickly, but it takes some practice to get down.
Just fill as many bottles with (preferably with secondary colors) in as few
turns as possible to do well in this game.
However, it is possible to booch this game.  Pretty much if you break all the
bottles (either by taking too long OR filling the bottles with the wrong color)
before you finish & filling only ONE bottle at a time will
5.3) Shipwrighting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~