Beginner Sailing Guide: Ship Rations, Durability, Repair & UI

This is a beginner Sailing guide, covering basic ship maintenance and sailing UI. It helps explain ship Durability, Rations, and Repair, as well as Sails, Sea Currents, and Wind. All the things you need to keep your ship sailing the salty seas!

Ahoy! 🙂

The Sailing Life Skill went through a major rework with the Great Expedition on 23 Oct, 2019 and has seen even more improvements in recent updates.

Sailing can be as simple as taking a beginner Epheria Cog boat out to sea to enjoy some fishing. But it’s also a Life Skill that is filled with complex strategy for those players who like to dive deeper.

Just conquer the deadly seas with our mighty piratey prowess!!

Beginner Sailing Recommendation

The main sailing questline is VERY beneficial. Don’t skip this before you start!

• Level 50+
• Main Sailing Quest Line:
  • [The Great Expedition] quest line under the Suggested tab of Quests (O).
  • Starting Main Sailing Quest:
     – Vigorous Velia (travel to Velia)

Sailors

You will get 1 free Sailor from completing the main sailing questline.

Sailor Management occurs via any <Wharf Manager>.

Click on “Manage Sailors” to assign Sailors to your ship.

Select the Sailor and then “Board” button.

If you have multiple ships, you have to do this for each ship. They don’t automatically board every ship you take out.

Ship Anchor Button:

Cooldown: 30 seconds. Must be at water surface to call ship. Other players will fall off your ship, if you call it.

Sailing User Interface

When you board a ship, most of the control of the ship takes place at the wheel.

Press R at the ship’s wheel to mount the ship.

Unfortunately, you are the only one that can control the ship’s wheel to sail your ship, even if you are in a party with a trusted friend.

Friends have the option of traveling up the mast to enjoy the scenery. (I recommend this because it seems to prevent a glitch that can dump friends in the water while you sail.)

Ship Mounted Combat State: While mounted to the ship, a red Invincibilty icon appears over you. This means your character, but NOT your ship is protected from damage and CC. Once your ship is destroyed, you are no longer invincible and can be killed.

Equipping Ship Gear

You can equip and unequip ship gear at the ship’s wheel.

Press F5 Mount Information at the ship’s wheel to see your ship’s info and equip cannons, figurehead, plating, and sails.

You can also view your ship’s stats like inventory, weight limit, and cannons.

Beginner Ship Gear

Ship Gear is equipped to improve ship stats to make sailing, barter, and sea monster hunting better.

Ship Gear Benefits:

• Cannon: Damage & Durability
• Plating: Weight Limit & Defense
• Figurehead: Speed & Defense
• Sail: Turn & Rations

For your first ship gear set, I recommend purchasing the green grade ones available in Port Epheria.

For more details: Ship Gear

Ship UI

When you grab the ship wheel, a Sailing UI will appear.

• Wind Speed & Direction
• Fold and Unfold ship sails
• Ship Speed
• Cannon Timer & Cannonball Count

Refill Rations & Cannonballs

You can refill ship rations and cannonballs at any <Wharf Manager>.

Make sure your ship is “Checked Out” at the wharf then use the Wharf Manager’s “Buy Supplies” option.

Rations via Sailor Explore
Sailor Explore option at a Barter NPC also has an RNG chance to replenish Rations. But Sailor Explore costs 100,000 rations and you may even get a bad result!

Rations via Sailor Supply
A Barter NPC’s Sailor Supply option will give a very small amount of Rations. Don’t use this unless nothing else is available. If you use this, you can’t use Explore for 20 minutes.

Read our Sailor Guide for more info.

Supplying Rations at Sea

For times when you can’t supply at a <Wharf Manager>, you can use marketplace foods like Special Balenos Meal.

This is usually my go-to food since it’s plentiful on the marketplace and cheaper than other options.

The amount of Rations food will supply is shown in small white text on foods that have a Marketplace price. (Node Worker food, like Beer, is excluded.)

The amount of rations supplied depends upon the food’s grade.

How to Supply Rations at Sea: Press P key while you are mounted to the ship’s wheel. Click the plus sign next to Rations. 

Ship Durability

Ship Durability is shown as a thin red HP bar. This is depleted through battles in sea monster hunting, PVP, and sailing along reefs.

Reefs are located next to the shores of Velia and Port Epheria. Ships get -10% Durability damage, upon entering reefs.

Ram skill costs 20,000 Durability with each successful hit. (Max 9) If one Ram skill hits 3 times, it will cost 60,000 Durability.

Repairing Durability

Repair Durability at any <Wharf Manager>.

At the Wharf Manager select “Check In” → “Repair”.

You must have the ship checked in!

Repairing Durability at the Mast

Move around the ship mast until the correct UI pops up.

Press F6 “Mount Repair” to use a repair kit to restore the durability of your ship.

If multiple types of repair kits are in your inventory, the first one at non-auto arrange state will be used.

Repair Ship Gear

As you progess in ship upgrades, you will start to equip and use ship gear.

Ship gear also needs repair.

How to Repair Ship Gear: Whenever you are at a Wharf Manager select the Repair button along his NPC options bar.

The normal repair next to your ship icon only repairs Durability and NOT ship gear.

Sea Currents & Routes

There are special Sea Currents that will boost your sailing speed. (Also known as “Fast Current” and “Oquilla Current”)

Sea Currents are static and do not change like wind does.

When you enter an Oquilla Current, your Ship UI will change into a blue swirling mermaid spirit. Really!

Different Waters Impact Sailing Speed:

• Oquilla Current: +36%
• Deep Water: base speed
• Shallow Water: -20%

Most water surrounding the main land is Shallow Water, giving a speed penalty. The difference between these fast and slow waters is 56%.

Ships are only affected by wind when the sails are unfolded. See below.

Fold or Unfold Sails

By default ships leave the wharf with their sails unfolded. This means you will can be impacted by sea storms if you sail against the wind.

The wind gauge will change color when there is high wind during a “sea storm”.

• Green: 300 wind speed
• Blue: 400 wind speed

Unfold Sails when sailing with the Wind.

Cannon Timer & Cannonballs

Higher tier ships, starting at Improved Epheria ships, have a Cannon UI visible, when you have control of the steering wheel. (Older ships have a cannon UI, seperate from the steering wheel. Only when you interact with the cannon on deck.)

IMPORTANT: You must be level 50+ in order to shoot cannons!

• RMB: shoot all right side cannons
• LMB: shoot all left side cannons
• RMB + LMB: shoot both sides at the same time
• Hold LMB or RMB to increase range

Cannon Timer: There is a timer between cannon shots. Each side has a seperate cannon timer. The higher tier ships are able to reload cannonballs quicker. (Epheria Sailboat/Frigate: 17s –> Epheria Caravel/Galleass 15s)

Cannonball Count: Each ship has a maximum cannonball count. Battle style ships (like Epheria Frigate) and higher tier ships are able to hold more cannonballs. Cannonballs fired depend on the amount of cannons on each side. Ships with two cannons on one side shoot two cannonballs each time, etc.

Emergency Cannonball Supply

Cannonballs no longer have to be crafted and are restored at the <Wharf Manager>.

Refill cannons the same way Rations are filled, via “Buy Supplies” on a Checked Out ship at a Wharf Manager.

When you can’t get to a <Wharf Manager>, you can use Breezy Crystal and Origin of Wind to replenish cannon ammunition.

Cannon Damage: Ram and cannonball damage are greatly increased by Cannon ship gear.

Ship Gear can be enhanced to +10 using Black Stones obtained via Sailing activities.

FocusFire Skill

FocusFire mode gives you a different cannon firing view and attempts to help the accuracy of your cannon shots.

IMHO Focus Fire makes aiming at and hitting the enemy much easier.

It has different mechanics and cannon rules.

Enter FocusFire mode by pressing Q or E

Read more about FocusFire and other ship/sailing skills.