Guide Misha's Guide to Ship Upgrades (Outdated)

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Misha

Site Founder
GUIDE IS OUTDATED, PLEASE CHECK OUT THE ACTIVELY UPDATED VERSION HERE.

Introduction

Below are the direct calculations as to the price increase per ship and class, which can be used as reference in pricing for Gold and Materials. Do take note that all ship upgrades are consistent with the below chart, and will always be directly influenced by the type of ship you are driving.

Base Class
Sloop - 0% Cheapest Ship Upgrades
Galleon - 25% more Material & Gold
Frigate - 50% more Material & Gold
Brig - 75% more Material & Gold
War Class
War Sloop - 100% more Material & Gold
War Galleon - 125% more Material & Gold
War Frigate - 150% more Material & Gold
War Brig - 175% more Material & Gold

For those of you who are just starting your voyage in TLOPO, I would urge you to read the second portion of my High Seas Guide, explaining ship runs and other information that may become useful to you as you go along, found Here.

Starting Upgrades

Streamlined
d95ffc8d75ecadefeb24e3c43416ddc3.jpg

Streamlined ships are the mainstream upgrade tree in order to get to advanced upgrades with speed modifications primarily. Streamlined ships are a Beige-ish white, with Sea Blue stripes across the hull, as shown above.

This upgrade path is also the most expensive in regards to materials in starting a ship upgrade path, requiring a hefty amount of pine and oak to complete.

Once a ship has been upgraded to Streamlined III they have the choice of two upgrade paths, one being Firestorm and the other Storm Chaser.

Cargo
54d8315e992e0de737c11569de521e31.png

The Cargo branch is a marginal increase to Armor while bolstering the ship's cargo space by a phenomenal 60% at Cargo III!

Cargo upgrade ships can be identified as having a tropically decorated wooden hull, combined with dark embellishments to create a stylish finish.

Upon completion of Cargo III, Cargo Ships have three primary upgrade directives. The paths that can be chosen upon completion of Cargo III are Fortune Hunter, Skull & Bones and Firestorm.

Reinforced
d1587bc2d7bbccce45634b855e64ea6a.png

The final ship path that Users can pick is what you'd imagine a tank in any sort of MMORPG being. This thing eats hits and dishes right back out like no tomorrow! Ships in this upgrade tree get a massive 54% boost to the ship's armor while losing 10% of its speed.

Reinforced ships are a purple-gray tint, closest resembling the Black Pearl in terms of color, with modifications to the lower hull to give it an armored look.

Completing Reinforced III gives the owner of the vessel access to either the Copperhead or Skull & Bones trees.

Broadside Modification Upgrades

Copperhead

d6c61c9972bc8f64d714d1cf34e3c336.png

The middle-school bully of upgrades here in TLOPO, you'll start feeling invincible out on the water with this monster. Upgrading your ship to Copperhead gives your vessel a starting 5% chance to fire an explosive shot out of your broadsides, to a maximum of 15%.

The looks and strength go right along with your power, too. This upgrade features a Bronze and green color scheme with elegant finishes to the ship to make you feel like royalty while you pummel everything else out of existence, as well as a maximum of 80% extra armor to your name!

A bit of a forewarning, Upgrading to Copperhead does not fix the -10% speed reduction applied by the Reinforced upgrade branch, sufficing that speed even when fully upgraded for an absolute powerhouse killing machine. Copperhead uses tons of metals such as iron and steel, so be ready with the materials needed or start making your paces! It is also recommended maxing out Explosive shot in your Cannoneering skills if you wish to be as effective as possible, and possibly including an Iron Priming Ram, as shown below to maximize damage:
220


Skull & Bones
87bd20cbf762effce2b110925b08b88d.png

Derived from the depths to where only traitors and mutineers are held, we have the next upgrade, called Skull and Bones. Skull and Bones begin your ship with a 15% chance to fire Fury from your broadsides to a maximum of 50%. Unfortunately, selecting Skull and Bones reduces your cargo back to bare bones stock if your trek had been through the Cargo upgrade path.

As well, this upgrade gives you marginal armor increases, up to a maximum of an extra 65%! The broadsides of this ship upgrade are rather consistent, not doing the most damage, but having a high enough of a percentage to alter the broadside to equal out if you plan to be spamming your broadsides consistently. This also follows the trend of looking intimidating as blazes when you see it, having a traditionally dark look, lines with bones from bow to stern.

Being that this upgrade comes from both the Reinforced and Cargo trees, you have a choice in whether you want to spend more gold or material to get to the same place.

Storm Chaser
dee53233590dda9173d4a4d6c8ad44f7.png

Found solely after completing the grind through the material-heavy Streamlined tree, this upgrade gives allows the ship to keep it's upgraded perks from Streamlined, as well as applying a starting 15% chance to fire Thunderbolt from the broadsides to a maximum of 45%. This upgrade does not give the ship any further enhancements, but it does also give it a very spectacular darkened blue paint job.

Whilst not the most expensive tree off the bat, Storm Chaser will dig into your Pine supplies and run you dry. It is also recommended to completely max Thunderbolt in order to get the most out of your broadsides when attacking.

Fortune Hunter
a5004d2db1b50c5d19b9ed7836e6a3d2.png

Fortune Hunter is an upgrade exclusive to the cargo tree and is essentially the equivalent of if someone doesn't want to part ways with Cargo's tremendous quantity upgrades, but wants to continue upgrading their ship. Along with a marginal 10% armor increase at both Fortune Hunter V & VI

Fortune Hunter gives your vessel the ability at a minimum chance of 15% to release firebrand; this chance is increased to 45% at Fortune Hunter VI. This upgrade as stated prior continues to sport a 50% extra cargo space for you adventurers and greedy pirates. Fortune Hunter vessels are one of the most unique looking styles in the Caribbean, sporting a Black, Red, And Gold paint-job that gives even Her Majesty's Navy a run for their wallets.

While Fortune Hunter only gains Firebrand, it is recommended to stick a few points into the shot in order to increase your broadside's total damage output, even if you don't plan to buy or use Firebrand when you man a cannon elsewhere, and is recommended to us the Cajun Cannon Ram to further increase Broadside damage:
240


Firestorm
b699476b3d895ae4207a8ac105c0134d.png

The overlooked love-child of Fortune Hunter and Streamlined, Firestorm is just about the most underused Upgrade in the Caribbean. This upgrade is obtainable both through Streamlined and Cargo, so pick your poison in terms of your spending. Sporting a 20% beginning chance to release Firebrand from its broadside, this upgrade maintains it's speed and turning, making it agile enough to circle those ship-of-the-lines that you see trying to keep the waters free of us Buccaneers.

Maximizing your Firebrand chance to a 60% at Firestorm VI, you'll be setting fires and turning your enemies into charcoal. Atop of this, Firestorm ships sport one of the most intimidating decals of these waters, the deck blazing and the ship raging in its own inferno of hatred.

Being that your broadside is your specialty when combined with your speed, it is recommended maximizing your Firebrand through your Cannoneering skill, as well as with a Famed Cajun Ram, as shown below:
240


Best-In-Class: Activities

Q:
Material "Mat" Runs
A: Fortune Hunter or Skull & Bones

Q: Loot Runs
A: Storm Chaser or Copperhead

Q: SvS
A: Storm Chaser or Skull & Bones

Q: Tanking
A: Copperhead or Skull & Bones

Q: Beginner Friendly
A: Skull & Bones, Firestorm, or Fortune Hunter

Conclusion

Any and all feedback is appreciated on the guide! If you have your own opinion, feel free to leave it below, but remember to be prompt and civil.

EDITS

v1.01 - Firestorm Image Updated for better resolution.
v1.02 - Reworked and adjusted the layout of the entire guide.
v1.03 - Reworded and adjusted different text to make it easier to follow.
v1.04 - Added Cannon Ram suggestions to certain upgrades.
v1.05 - Recreated the upgrade path photos to be at a higher quality.​
 
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Great guide, however you forgot that reinforced III also cost 600 iron as well, making it on par with streamline's 900 materials needed.
 
Great guide, however you forgot that reinforced III also cost 600 iron as well, making it on par with streamline's 900 materials needed.
Totally missed that detail when I was re-reading ship customizations, thanks! Updating the guide now to include that. Appreciate it, mate!
 
Thank you for making this guide Misha.
I have always wondered what exactly the Skull & Bones and copperhead was and how to get it.
I also went for the cargo upgrades over the others as I really didn't want to lose any speed or turning on my war brig.

Got enough money for cargo III but getting the iron is taking me ages lol.
 
Hey there, and welcome to my guide on Upgrading your ship. Today, I'll be discussing all the primary upgrade paths to a ship, and what they do. Before we get started, I'd like to remind you all that this guide is purely opinionized, and you can do any upgrade path you like, nothing is 100% superior in this game's upgrade methodology.

**When I talk about Upgrades, I will be referring to as if it was applied to a War Brig in how their effects work. That being said, War Brigs are also the most costly in materials and gold, so don't feel discouraged if you're upgrading a ship at this moment.

Q: What are mat runs, and why do I need to do them?
A: Mat runs, or material runs, are essentially gathering a crew to hunt down Bounty hunters and warships in order to obtain Common and Rare material chests from them when they sink. On a material run, unless something comes up the best idea is to fill out your cargo in purely Material chests, if you can help it. As of this current Beta patch (1.3.8), Royal Chests and Loot (Pouch, chest) still give the player what was inside, regardless of if they were replaced prior to porting. Loot Skull Chests CANNOT be replaced. Materials from these chests come in small quantities, but in bulk will be used to upgrade your ship's hull and sails.

So, here we begin at the bottom of the tree, starting with the three mainstream upgrades all ships must pass through to get their final specializations.
Streamlined
Streamlined ships are the mainstream upgrade tree in order to get to advanced upgrades with speed modifications primarily. Streamlined ships are a Beige-ish white, with Sea Blue stripes across the hull, looking as follows.
d95ffc8d75ecadefeb24e3c43416ddc3.jpg

This upgrade path is also the most expensive in regards to materials in starting a ship upgrade path, requiring 600 Pine & 300 Oak at Streamlined III. Once a ship has been upgraded to Streamlined III, They have the choice of two upgrade paths, one being Firestorm IV and the other being Storm Chaser IV.

Cargo
In my opinion, the best starting choice to a ship upgrade path, Cargo is a marginal increase to Armor, while bolstering the ship's cargo space by an outrageous 60% at Cargo III! Cargo is also the most expensive in terms of Gold spent, Cargo III costing a painful-to-the-pocket 90,000 Gold at Cargo III! Cargo upgrade ships can be identified as having an Oak wood, combined with black embellishments to create a stylish finish.

54d8315e992e0de737c11569de521e31.png

Upon completion of Cargo III, Cargo Ships have three primary upgrade directives. The first path the captain can choose will be Fortune Hunter IV, Skull & Bones IV, and Firestorm IV as well.

Reinforced
The final ship path that Users can pick is what you'd imagine a tank in any sort of MMORPG being. This thing eats hits and dishes right back out like no tomorrow! Reinforced ships get a massive 54% boost to the ship's armor while losing 10% of its speed. Reinforced Upgraded ships are in the middle of the gold range but are tied for the highest amount of materials needed, a Reinforced III ship costing 60,000 Gold & 600 Iron, & 150 Pine and Steel. Reinforced ships are a purple-gray tint, closest resembling the Black Pearl in terms of color, with metal reinforcements to finish off the armored look.
d1587bc2d7bbccce45634b855e64ea6a.png

Completing Reinforced III gives the owner of the vessel access to both the Copperhead IV and the Skull & Bones IV.

Copperhead
The middle-school bully of upgrades here in TLOPO, you feel invincible with this powerhouse of an upgrade branch. Upgrading your ship to Copperhead gives your vessel a starting 5% chance to fire an explosive shot out of your broadside every time you use your broadside abilities. The looks go right along with your power, too. This upgrade features a Bronze and green color scheme with elegant finishes to the ship to make you feel like royalty while you pummel everything else out of existence.
64d5aa7e5cfd5de211c9343fe9fbc6cb.png

A bit of a forewarning, Upgrading to Copperhead does not fix the -10% speed reduction, but only further increases the armor by another 26%, and an ending 15% to fire Explosive from your broadside. Copperhead uses tons of metals such as iron and steel, so be ready with the materials needed or start making your paces! It is also recommended maxing out Explosive shot in your Cannoneering skills if you wish to be as effective as possible!

Skull & Bones
Derived from the depths to where only traitors and mutineers are held, we have the next upgrade, called Skull and Bones. Skull and Bones begin your ship with a 15% chance to fire Fury from your broadsides, unfortunately reducing your cargo back to bare bones stock if your trek had been through the Cargo upgrade path. As well, this upgrade gives you marginal armor increases, up to a maximum of an extra 50%! Also being one of the most reliable broadside upgrades in the Caribbean, this also follows the trend of looking intimidating as blazes when you see it, having a traditional, and very dark look.
6851b7b33d7fb77ef0c47dd65616c2aa.png

Being that this upgrade comes from both the Reinforced and Cargo trees, you have a choice in whether you want to spend more gold or material to get to the same place.

Storm Chaser
Found solely after completing the grind through the material-heavy Streamlined tree, this upgrade gives allows the ship to keep it's upgraded perks from Streamlined, as well as applying a starting 15% chance to fire Thunderbolt from the broadsides. This upgrade does not give the ship any further enhancements, but it does also give it a very spectacular darkened blue paintjob.
42a91000f8870956b8952ce3c54c7c7f.png

Whilst not the most expensive tree off the bat, Storm Chaser will dig into your Pine supplies and run you dry. It is also recommended to completely max Thunderbolt in order to get the most out of your 45% maximum chance to fire the shot from your broadsides.

Fortune Hunter
Fortune Hunter is an upgrade exclusive to the cargo tree and is essentially the equivalent of if someone doesn't want to part ways with Cargo's tremendous quantity upgrades, but wants to continue upgrading their ship. Along with a marginal 10% armor increase at FH V & VI, Fortune Hunter gives your vessel the ability at a minimum chance of 15% to release firebrand. This chance is increased to 45% at Fortune Hunter VI. This upgrade as stated prior continues to sport a 50% extra cargo space for you adventurers and greedy pirates. Fortune Hunter vessels are one of the most unique looking styles on the seven seas, sporting a Black, Red, And Gold paint-job that gives her Majesty's ships a run for their wallets.
1dde19b3fe398d9d14168c915c817290.png

While Fortune Hunter only gains Firebrand, it is recommended to stick a few points into the shot in order to increase your broadside's total damage output, even if you don't plan to buy or use Firebrand while you yourself cannoneer.

Firestorm
The overlooked love-child of Fortune Hunter and Streamlined, Firestorm is just about the most underused Upgrade in the Caribbean. This upgrade is obtainable both through Streamlined and Cargo, so pick your poison in terms of your spending. Sporting a 20% beginning chance to release Firebrand from its broadside, this upgrade maintain's it's speed and turning, making it agile enough to circle those ship-of-the-lines that you see trying to keep the waters free of us Buccaneers. Maximizing your Firebrand chance to a 60% at Firestorm VI, you'll be setting fires and turning your enemies into charcoal. Atop of this, Firestorm ships sport one of the most intimidating decals of these waters, the deck blazing and the ship raging in its own inferno of hatred. (Apologies for the picture, there aren't any high-quality images of Firestorm ships currently.)
6f7d4f2d708a759a29a5ee4118efd194.png

Being that your broadside is your specialty when combined with your speed, it is recommended maximizing your Firebrand through your Cannoneering skill, and then some if possible with different equipment.

So, the final consensus? As stated before there are no OVERALL best ships, but I can give my opinion on what is best for certain activities.

Q: Material Runs?
A: Fortune Hunter & Copperhead.

Q: SVS?
A: Skull & Bones, or Storm Chaser.

Q: Broadside Sponging?
A: Copperhead, or Skull & Bones.

Q: Beginner Friendly?
A: Skull & Bones, Fortune Hunter.

Q: Secondary Fire Ships?
A: Firestorm, Storm Chaser, & Fortune Hunter.

I hope you all enjoyed my article on Ship Upgrades. If you have any questions, or want to know my opinions on certain things, feel free to ask. Thanks for reading!
Incredible guide thanks Misha! I suppose I'm going for fortune hunter then!
 
Thank you for making this guide Misha.
I have always wondered what exactly the Skull & Bones and copperhead was and how to get it.
I also went for the cargo upgrades over the others as I really didn't want to lose any speed or turning on my war brig.

Got enough money for cargo III but getting the iron is taking me ages lol.
Of course, glad I could help! Yeah, the Iron is a real pain, but it'll be worth it. ;)
 
See this link (also in my signature) for both the full detail and simpler numbers of broadside strengths.

To add to this, the Copperhead broadsides do the most damage on average, followed by storm chaser and then skull & bones.

You can work this out via the formula ((round shot damage * chance) + (special shot damage * chance)) * broadside count / 2

For example, a Copperhead Tier 6 War Frigate has a 0.15 chance of explosives, and therefore a 0.85 chance of round shot. The broadside count is 20. We divide that by two since you're only firing half your broadside cannons at any one target.

Using the wiki we can grab the level 5 damage values of each cannonball type. Round shot is 1,035 and explosive is 10,500.
NOTE: The wiki damage values are wrong. USE THE IN-GAME NUMBERS FOR THIS CALCULATION. I'm just using these numbers as examples.

With these numbers our formula comes out to
((1035 * 0.85) + (10500 * 0.15)) * 20 / 2 = 24,575
That number is our "average damage" per broadside. Specifically against unarmoured targets, since I used those numbers, but armoured damage is just half anyway.

If you use the wiki numbers you'll find skull and bones to be stronger than stormchaser. This is not true. Wiki thinks one fury shot does more damage than one thunderbolt, which we all know is wrong.

When I worked this out using actual numbers, Copperhead came out to about 60% more damage per broadside than Skull & Bones.
 
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War Galleon Fortune hunter best for Mat runs?
Ehh. I'd say the War Frigate and War Galleon have a good balance on each other, but the War Brig takes the cake for mat runs - as much as I hate to admit it (god I hate brigs...)

The Galleon may have an additional two cargo spaces at base stats, but it's debatable whether that makes up for the lack of speed, the disastrously massive weak spots, lack of armour/health, and overall tendency to get hit more than other ships (its giant frame and lack of speed contribute greatly).

While the War Brig has a large frame as well, much less of it is "weak" (the galleon's front is a giant weakspot, and the rear is wider than the brig too). But more importantly, the War Brigs speed not only means more dodging, but faster looting too. In addition, the extra two deck guns PLUS all guns facing lateral means significantly more firepower. Overall the War Brig tends to get more materials per hour, even if you never sink on either ship, at least from what I can tell.

The War Galleon has too many drawbacks for its extra three slots at Fortune VI to make up for it.
 
Mo
Ehh. I'd say the War Frigate and War Galleon have a good balance on each other, but the War Brig takes the cake for mat runs - as much as I hate to admit it (god I hate brigs...)

The Galleon may have an additional two cargo spaces at base stats, but it's debatable whether that makes up for the lack of speed, the disastrously massive weak spots, lack of armour/health, and overall tendency to get hit more than other ships (its giant frame and lack of speed contribute greatly).

While the War Brig has a large frame as well, much less of it is "weak" (the galleon's front is a giant weakspot, and the rear is wider than the brig too). But more importantly, the War Brigs speed not only means more dodging, but faster looting too. In addition, the extra two deck guns PLUS all guns facing lateral means significantly more firepower. Overall the War Brig tends to get more materials per hour, even if you never sink on either ship, at least from what I can tell.

The War Galleon has too many drawbacks for its extra three slots at Fortune VI to make up for it.
War brig making more materials per hour again is debatable.
if you join the fleet near padres for mat runs you don't need manueverablity. Just hit em hard while going around in circles.
And since what galleons might lack in spewed it can make up for in cargo room. So really debatable if a brig brings in more for mat run
 
Mo

War brig making more materials per hour again is debatable.
if you join the fleet near padres for mat runs you don't need manueverablity. Just hit em hard while going around in circles.
And since what galleons might lack in spewed it can make up for in cargo room. So really debatable if a brig brings in more for mat run
Honestly I was thinking regular runs, not cluster runs, but I think my point still stands. The speed is absolutely necessary. All those times you have to port at Raven's? What about when the cluster moves? God forbid it moves while you're not there and you have to hunt it down. Point being the Galleon is going to be better in an ideal situation, yes, but all those times when it's not ideal the War Brig comes out on top. Overall that's going to add up.
 
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