At the beginning of your journey in Windrose, the player faces a challenging start. Without a proper ship, you are limited to the starting islands and their scarce resources. Fortunately, there is a way to get a more serious vessel to return to the sea and start plundering.
We will tell you how to get your first ship, upgrade it, and eventually build an entire fleet to fight against Blackbeard and his minions.
Table of contents
How to Get a Bigger Ship
Save
After the shipwreck, you are left with only a small and slow boat. As you progress through the main storyline and reunite with the doctor, you will learn about other shipwrecks worth exploring.
One of the ships can still be saved if you know where to look for it. You will need it to get to Tortuga and become famous as a pirate.
Where to Find the Ship
Save
To find the ship, open the map and look for marks. If you are playing without quest markers, inspect the shores of the surrounding small islands.
You need a ketch that has remained largely intact. There is only one. A ship broken in half can be safely ignored.
Once you find it, gather the following materials to repair it:
100 units of wood
10 ropes
20 units of coarse fabric
20 nails
The materials must be in your inventory, not just in the camp storage.
After repairing the ship, you just need to find a crew!
On the starting islands, there are several pirates locked in cages under the guard of Blackbeard’s men. You will have to fight the guards to free them.
In each camp, there are usually two pirates. So, in addition to the first pirate from the main storyline, you need to raid three camps. After freeing all seven, return to the repaired ship and assemble the crew.
How to Use the Ship
Save
With the crew on board, the ship is ready to sail! You can immediately go to sea, but it’s better to wait a bit. By default, the ship has no additional protection or cannons.
How to Upgrade the Ship
You need to build a shipyard to create cannons and boarding equipment, and then a dry dock to install upgrades. After that, you can set sail as a real pirate.
At the shipyard, you can manage your fleet and build new ships. This is a great way to check the condition of the ships before departure. Additionally, you can now summon your ships anywhere if there is accessible water nearby, by pressing the corresponding key (on PC, it’s K).
How to Control the Ship
On board, approach the helm to control the ship or unload the hold. The hold is additional storage that can be used to transport resources between bases or to store loot.
At first, the choice of ships is limited, but as you develop your skills and improve your reputation with other factions, you will unlock new blueprints.
Use standard movement keys to control the ship. Remember: the higher the speed, the worse the maneuverability. At sea, you can aim by moving the camera and holding the right mouse button, and the left mouse button is responsible for firing the cannons.
Outside of combat, the crew can sing songs or repair the ship!
There is no formal mooring system. To disembark, press the same key as for taking the helm. Then you can jump overboard and swim to the shore. The main thing is to swim close enough not to drown from exhaustion of endurance.
