Player guide
Everything a new captain needs to get from the first berth to a crew of their own. Read it start to finish, or jump to the part you're stuck on.
Your first hour
You come ashore at a free berth in Hallam Harbor with your trawler tied up beside you, a few Credits in your pocket and an empty hold. A short guide greets you the first time you join, and F2 brings it back whenever you want it. The quay is a good place to get your bearings. Hallam Market sits on it, the Administration's harbor office is a few steps away, and the harbor shipyard is at the north end.
The best first step is a job. Press E on the harbor clerk, or walk into town and talk to anyone, because people who've heard something will point you toward a real cache with a direction and a distance. Before you cast off, check the fuel gauge at the top right of the screen. Nearly every job means a crossing, and an empty tank in open water is the most common way for a first evening to go wrong.
Press M for the chart. Click to drop a marker, close the chart, take the helm and press P, and the autopilot will carry you there. That's the easiest way to learn where everything is.
Controls
These are the keys the game starts with. You can change any of them in Settings, and F1 shows the full list in the game, using whatever keys you've chosen. A controller works too, and the hints on screen switch to match whichever you're holding.
| W A S D | Walk, swim, drive and steer |
| E | Talk, open doors, search, take the helm or a vehicle, man the deck gun |
| V | Switch between first person and a view from behind |
| M | Open the chart of the Sound |
| P | At the helm, sail to your marker on autopilot |
| Q | Draw or put away your pistol |
| Left mouse button | Fire the pistol or the deck gun |
| R | Reload, or right a capsized boat |
| H | Take a dose of Medicine |
| T or Enter | Chat |
| F1 / F2 | Controls list / the new captain's guide |
| F11 | Switch between a window and fullscreen |
| Esc | Pause menu and Settings |
On the chart, drag to look around, scroll to zoom toward the pointer, press F to see the whole Sound and Space to find yourself again. Click to set a marker and right-click to clear it. K hides the key in the corner, and pointing at any symbol shows its name. The grid squares are a kilometer across, so "meet me in D4" is all a friend needs to hear.
Running your ship
Your trawler starts with three hands. The helmsman holds her steady, and without one she makes only about two thirds of her cruising speed. The engineer saves fuel and engine wear and puts out engine room fires. The deckhand slowly patches the hull with Materials from the hold. Each hand eats a Food from the hold every half hour, and one who misses three meals in a row walks off, so keep some Food aboard. Crew contacts and the harbor clerk can find you more hands: lookouts who spot raiders early, guards who fight at the rail, and medics who patch you up between ports. Type /hands to see who's aboard.
Fuel, engine and hull show under your Credits at the top right. A full tank lasts a little over an hour at full throttle, and each Fuel from your hold or pack puts a tenth of a tank back. When your ship is tied up at a trader, the "Fill her tanks" button in the trader's window uses your own Fuel first and buys the rest. At sea, /refuel pours in Fuel you're carrying and /repair patches the engine and hull up to 60% with Materials. An engine below half or a hull below 40% slows her down, and running aground at speed takes a real bite out of the hull. The shipyard's Overhaul and Repair buttons put everything back to 100% for Credits and Materials.
If she's stranded, out of fuel or too battered to move, /tow brings her home with 20 fuel in the tank for 250 Credits. Home is her home berth. Bring her alongside a free berth and type /home to make it hers. At a crew's dock you'll need to be a member or have 40 standing with them. She's launched there each time you join.
The harbor shipyard in Port Hallam fits upgrades for Credits and goods, taking the goods from your hold first and then your pack. Breakwater Salvage members get the same work 25% cheaper at their own yard. A stronger engine, bigger tanks, armor plate, a bigger hold, better navigation (salvage shows on your chart), a salvage crane, a tender that lets you trade from further off, extra bunks and a deck gun are all on the list. At the helm, /paint navy repaints the hull for 150 Credits (teal, red, green, charcoal, ocher, sand and plum work too), and /name Morning Tide registers a new name by radio.
If you go over the side while she's moving, she stops and waits. Swim to the stern ladder and climb back aboard.
Trading and Credits
Five goods move around the Sound: Food, Materials, Fuel, Medicine and Ammunition. Every trading post buys and sells all five, and prices rise when a trader runs short and fall when they have too much, so the same crate is worth more on one island than another. Press E at a counter to trade. When your ship is tied up at that dock you can trade straight from her hold, with Tab switching between the hold and your pack, and Stow and Take move goods between the two. Your Credits and pack are always shown at the top right.
Each crew makes one good and needs another, all the way around the ring. Whitetail Ranch makes Food and needs Materials. Breakwater Salvage makes Materials and needs Fuel. The Harbor Syndicate makes Fuel and needs Medicine. Lifeline Clinic makes Medicine and needs Ammunition. The Swiftwater Runners make Ammunition and need Food. Buy where something is made and sell where it's needed, and you'll rarely sail with an empty hold.
Jobs and salvage
Every crew has a contact behind a desk at its headquarters, and the Administration's harbor clerk takes on captains too. Press E to talk, ask what they're about, then ask for work. They'll offer three jobs at a time: bring them supplies, carry a consignment to another crew, search a far-off cache, or sail out and take a look at a place. Your current job shows at the top left and as a yellow diamond on the chart. Hand it in at the same desk with H.
Crates, fuel drums and lockers all over the islands and islets can be searched with E. What you find goes in your pack, and the spot stays empty for a while afterward. The richest caches are on the islets, and so are the raiders, so go armed and go carefully.
Joining a crew
Every job you do for a crew raises your standing with them, and after three jobs, once they like you enough, the contact will offer to take you in. Press J to join. Members get a bunk in the crew's town, better pay for the crew's jobs, better hands for your ship and a share of the stores. Standing is remembered by everyone, though, so a favor for one crew can cost you with a rival.
Each crew keeps shared stores at its headquarters, looked after by a quartermaster behind the STORES counter. Members can put goods in and take up to 20 a day, and every five goods you bring in earns a point of standing, up to five a day. The stores only stay full if members fill them, because the crew uses up what it needs faster than it gets it.
The member with the highest standing leads the crew. The leader and up to three officers can set a small trading fee at the crew's posts, add a bonus to jobs from the crew's treasury, pay members, and decide whether the crew is friendly or hostile toward each of the others. Type /crew help to see it all.
The Administration isn't a crew you can join, but its contracts are open to any captain who stays on the right side of it.
Trouble, the law and getting hurt
Every captain carries a pistol, but most days go by without it. Guards, patrols and raiders all give a warning before they shoot. A crew's guards warn off anyone the crew has turned against and fight if you don't back away. Raiders on the islets shout once and then open fire, and out in open water a raider boat may come for your ship while you're under way. You'll be told which side it's coming from. Get out on the open deck, because nobody can shoot from inside the ship, or man the deck gun if she has one. Raiders belong to nobody, and the Administration pays a bounty for each one you stop.
The Administration keeps the peace in its own way. Attacking someone who didn't start it, running people down, raiding a crew's stores, hotwiring someone else's vehicle, carrying ammunition past its guards, or drawing a weapon near the harbor office all make you wanted. Defending yourself doesn't count against you. While you're wanted, its guards, patrols ashore and patrol boats at sea will try to stop you. If they catch you, your pack is taken and you spend a few minutes in the lockup, unless you'd rather type /bail and pay a Credit for each second left. Logging off won't get you out of it.
Your health shows at the bottom of the screen when you're hurt. It comes back slowly after half a minute of peace, and H takes a dose of Medicine for a quicker fix. Nobody dies in the Sound. Knocked down, you wake at Lifeline Clinic in Wellbrook, 50 Credits lighter, and your pack is left in a bag where you fell. Anyone can pick it up for the next five minutes, so it's worth going back for quickly.
Cars and small boats
Every dock has a workboat and a jet ski tied up at the pier, and every crew town has a car by the road. Walk up and press E to take one. Each has its own fuel and condition, and /refuel and /repair work on them too. A crew member can /claim the vehicle they're driving for their crew. Anyone else then has to hold E for five seconds to hotwire it, and the crew calls that theft. A vehicle left away from home for half an hour finds its own way back.
Chat and commands
Press T or Enter to chat, and Enter again to send. /help lists every command you can use, and /who shows who's playing. Moderators and admins keep the server friendly, and they can mute, warn, kick or ban anyone who makes it miserable for others.
Settings and updates
Press Esc and choose Settings to change the display, graphics, sound, controls and what shows on screen. If the game feels slow, try the Medium preset or a render scale of 75% first. Every change takes effect at once and is kept through updates.
When the server has a newer version than you, the game downloads the update when you press Join, restarts itself and drops you straight back in. You only need a new installer from the download page if something goes badly wrong.