2. Setting Sail

Set sail from the docks into Pillage War, the open water where you fight, fish, run cargo and haul it home. This is where you earn. How to Play covers what a voyage looks like end to end.

Use the shack on the right side of the docks to queue.

Your ship, and whose ship

Every pirate holds a Sloop, free. Your first voyage sails in it, and every hull above it is something you earn. A war reset takes it like any other hull, and you are given a fresh one when you are next at the docks.

Nothing else is handed out, at signup or at a war reset. The free Sloop means nobody is ever stuck at the docks with nothing to sail, and nobody starts a war ahead of anyone else.

You can captain your own ship, or join an existing ship of your faction as crew. A crewed ship is stronger than a solo one and pays everyone aboard, so joining a captain is not a lesser way to play. See Loot & Rewards for how a haul is split.

Sail short-handed and crew come aboard to fill half the ship: one hand at once on a Sloop or Cutter, the rest of a Brig's or Frigate's inside your first minute at sea, and a Man-o-war's inside two. They man the guns, patch holes, bail, and mend damaged sails. The ship always keeps a seat free for a friend who wants to join. A private ship takes only the pirates you give your code to.

Factions

There are two: the Sea Wolves and the Iron Corsairs. You pick one, and it decides which port you sail from, which island you can hold land on, and who you are fighting for the rest of the war. Factions reset with the war.