Resources
Once you’re out on the seas, there are plenty of items to salvage. You need all of them for one thing or another, so pick up everything that’s floating out there.
Sailors are recruited to help you control the Morrigan and fight your battles. The ship isn’t at its best without a full crew, so capture enemies to put them to work or stop at a tavern to grab more people if you’ve lost some folks along the way.
Wood is a vital upgrade material. It’s used in a huge number of ship improvements. You can never get too much of the stuff.
Metal is a combat upgrade material. Most of your more military improvements require a fair amount of metal.
Cloth is used in Renovations, a few ship upgrades, and many of the visual customizations for the Morrigan.
Stone lets you renovate buildings. Help build the new world and reap the rewards for your gubernatorial efforts.
Tobacco is a cash crop. Sell piles of it when you’re at a harbormaster and turn that money around to buy new weapons, upgrades, and information before you leave port.
Building an Economy
u Collect wealth and resources by boarding enemy vessels and completing side activities throughout the world
u Use your money and resources to invest in property renovation and ship upgrades to obtain more income and battle larger ships
u Use this cycle of increased wealth and resources to gain even more income and purchase upgrades for the Morrigan to best any enemy ship
Shay doesn’t have to earn every single pound that he’s going to spend throughout the game. Even in the new world, there is an economy that you’re already a part of. Making use of the economy allows you to earn a great deal of cash throughout the game. This makes it easier to purchase personal upgrades and upgrades to your ship. It also lets you invest heavily in the new world’s economy so you can earn more money faster as the game progresses.
There are two major types of resources that you need during the course of the game: pounds and raw goods (like Metal and Wood). Early on, you need to get both of these manually. Opening chests, boarding ships, and completing side activities (like raiding Outposts and hitting Supply Camps) to bring in money. Boarding ships is one of the best ways to earn resources because it’s relatively fast once you master it, and you pull in a substantial quantity of pounds and other resources once you’re able to take on somewhat larger vessels.
Use your money and resources to invest in Renovations throughout all three regions of the game. By putting your resources and money into these dilapidated buildings, you get back a huge amount of wealth over time as your investments pay for themselves (and then start to earn profits). The sooner you put money into Renovation work, the easier it is to get a massive income to power through the late game.
Capturing Gang HQs to increase your income even more. Even though these require some time and skilled killing to procure, you won’t need to devote Shay’s wealth to get them. That makes Gang HQs a wonderful set of targets when you’re low on money and resources.
Improving the Morrigan is also an investment in the future. Purchasing powerful combative upgrades to the ship allows you to take on heavier vessels without as much risk of failure. Once you’re able to board and seize the heaviest enemy ships, it’s possible to gain titanic amounts of money and resources without having to hunt around for them. Go to heavy shipping areas in the North Atlantic (in the northwest and northeast), and then go after the vessels there for extended battles with multiple ships. When victorious, you come home with so much money and raw goods that it’s easy to buy upgrades and still have items left over for investing in Renovations.
Fleet Missions generate quite a bit of money over time as well. These missions are launched from the Captain’s Cabin after a certain point in the game. They’ll happen behind the scenes and let you get free collectibles and wealth. The larger your fleet, the more ships you can send on missions at a time, allowing for pretty serious capital gains. You need money to invest in additional docks once your fleet gets big, and you also have to capture ships instead of simply looting them after boarding. But, this pays quite well over time as each ship goes on to complete many missions for you.
You can also bring in money by selling excess hunting pelts, Tobacco, and by continuing to open chests throughout the world while you hunt for collectibles.
Make sure to collect your money often from the Bank so that it doesn’t pile up and stop accumulating. The Bank is found in Gang HQs or inside the Captain’s Cabin of the Morrigan. Interact with the chest at those locations to get your money (it’s also shown on the map as a pound symbol).
Your income will grow large enough to start to using cash for hunting goods, ship upgrades, ammo, and spare outfits without getting in the way of everything else that he’s trying to accomplish.
Staying Warm
Shay takes damage if he swims in cold water for more than a few moments. The screen turns white as crystals form on the edges of your vision, and Shay’s health bar begins to fall. This damage is restored fairly quickly once you get out of the water, so this isn’t too dangerous. Make sure to only engage in short stints in the water when you’re playing in the North Atlantic or in the colder areas of River Valley (up north).
Pickpocketing
Shay can earn petty cash by pickpocketing both guards and civilians. Stand behind a target and keep pace with them if they’re moving. Hold down the Counter button and wait for the gauge to fill. As long as you aren’t spotted by a guard while you’re pickpocketing, you receive several pounds.
The individual you’re targeting determines how much money you get. Peasants don’t carry around piles of cash, do they? The better someone is dressed, the more likely it is they’ll have a moderate amount of money on their person.
Looting
Another way to get small sums of cash is to loot the bodies of individuals you kill. They frequently have several pounds and may also have ammunition or tools to steal. To make this process faster, hold down the Counter button while moving past groups of bodies. Shay immediately loots each body in turn, making it easier to get the job done quickly.
Pick Locks
Though uncommon, some citizens lock up their goods. In New York, you come across some locked doors during specific missions. Interact with them to pick the locks and gain access to the location without making much noise. Although this is a slow process, Shay always gets the job done if he isn’t interrupted. Make sure that patrolling guards cannot see the activity, because you’re fairly exposed while picking locks.
The Naval Campaign
Later in the game, you unlock a Naval Campaign. This is a side activity that lets you collect ships for your fleet. Send them to secure trade routes and distribute goods along those routes for extra money and unlockables. There are 33 unique missions in the campaign, and it’s one of the many cool activities that you get to work on while going through the game.
The Naval Campaign is covered in the “Side Activities” chapter of this guide.
