New player... Kind of lost on what doing next.

Sunless Sea
1

Hello all,

I am new sunless sea player, and I am at a point relatively early in a game with my first captain but I am not sure what to do next.

I have roughly the first halfway of the map discovered (venderbight, wither, codex, chapel of light, salt, sheperd island, gaider’s mourn, godfall, visage, abbey, station three, pigmote, mangrove, iron republic, port carnellian). Additionally I kwow where are but I have not discovered Khan, and Isle of cats.

The things is that I have roughtly 300 echoes, but slowly but surely my finance are getting worse and I barely can keep the Terror at bay.

I finished carrying saltstone already, had some issue with the bruiser so I can’t do anything else for now, I have kinda misclicked and bought the 1000 echoes lodging and then a will. I have lots of officer (I would say most of them, wich is likely overspending and to advance further I need some weird or rare item I can’t afford)

The only slightly profitable route is going to sell &quotmore wine&quot in godfall (I am around day 100 I think) and coming back to FL with a few port report, but I can’t really see what my next move or upgrade should be. I could also sell wine in port carnellian and bring back coffee to FL. But it is probably under 100 echoes in profit.

I still have the starting boat with the first upgrade in terms of canon and engine. I had would like to get a bigger boat, but withtout barely making end meets, spending 2 or 3k seems unattainable.

I know this is a pretty open ended question, but I have no idea what I should do next or strive for.

Thanks in advance for your suggestion
edited by yes on 10/22/2015
edited by yes on 10/22/2015
edited by yes on 10/22/2015

2

To put it simply. Look for stories. You will never get anywhere through trade alone. I will give you an example(spoilers) go to the port made of coral and play chess. Eventually you will make your way to a… thing that will send you on a hunt across the zee for various items. He pays well. stuff like that, things that seem miscellaneous at the time could prove to be very profitable. So my tip is, try to do everything you can at every port you visit.

From your helpful engineer,
Quinn
edited by Quinn on 10/22/2015

3

Try the Merchant Venturer’s requests - they’re generally a good way of getting you out of your routine and looking for interesting things - and it can be profitable!

I agree with Quinn that starting stories in different ports is essential - have a look at the First Curator storyline in Venderbight. This also will reward you when you come across certain things. What I would advise you to do is keep a record of the little quests you are doing. I generally have a small handful of missions on the go at any point, and it’s really easy to forget what you were doing, esp when you leave and come back to the game. It’s also rarely profitable going for one thing at a time, so plan efficient routes - e.g. can you get your Strategic Information and Venturer’s Desire in a loop and save on fuel costs?

4

Don’t forget Port Reports - that fuel really helps early game. The Quests are really useful though some of the items might be a bit obscure but once you have played a few captains you will learn how to find them all… and how you can combine certain quests to make life easier. Good luck and I hope you enjoy your time on the Sunless Sea.

5

For what it’s worth, the game that was kinda stucked, suddenly opened in a marvelous way. Everything clicked together.

I finished pigmote which allowed to unlock khan, which in turn allowed to easily complete 2 venture desire in a row. And at the same time, I fathered a child ! So basically plenty of opportunities opened up. I discovered principale of coral, polythreme, nuncio, frostbound. This is just great.

I think the lesson here is that the game can be in some kind of lull, but it does not take much to advance.

Thanks all for your advices !

6

Try out the southern route along the coast. If you are still in the starting ship be careful to avoid see beasts and ships down there, modified Veils >60 helps - and shutting the light off if near an enemy. They could be to strong for you. Take wine with you, sell it in one of the southern ports (you will discover more down there), but keep one, and buy darkdrop coffee instead. Later in the game after you have done certain quests you should keep them to trade the wine in the Empire of Hands for coffee. This is also the best option to maximise your profits for a sell of of the coffee in Vienna. If you go down all the way to the east and then up all the way back to the north you will discover a port to trade your coffee for something more valuable to sell then in London. The only better options is to sell the coffee in Vienna (via the Cumelean Channel), but that option is not indefinietly available. In the east you will also find the most valuable port reports. And really, really important: do not do the pilgrimage in Varchas until you have an unmodified pages stat of 200 (or arguably even until you have all stats that high). Trust me on this.

I like to do long round-trips. Even in the starting vessel they are absolutely doable and net around 1000 echoes in port reports and fuel gifts, plus all the little sidetrading you are doing, which can easily add up to another 500 (polythreme clay men, trinkets in saviour rock, etc.). Keep track of cheap refuelling (Iron republic - shop, Mt. Palmerston - shop, Frostbound - SAY, only 1 unit, and only if needed Khan’s Shadow - shop) and resupplying options (Port Carnelian - shop, Mt. Palmerston - shop, Mangrove College - SAY random unit amount with average around 4 + Port Report 1 unit, Demeaux Island - luck test, SAY only 1 unit, Aestival - SAY random, usually around 8 units). That is oft he top of my head.

Oh and for sphixstones and Vienna coffe trade I suggest you upgrade to the merchant cargo cruiser with 120 cargo space before. That way you can maximise your profits.

I hope that helps.