1 YPP Class List (aka Options after you get sick of being a jobbing pirate)

Intro

This is for those who have gotten sick of "just jobbing", and would like to chance to get involved with the "deeper" aspects of the game -- the more challenging content with arguably a steeper learning curve.

Basically, for those who say "I'm bored, What’s next?"

The best thing about these classes? You can choose to work towards all of them, or change your role whenever you want.

In pursuing all of these, you will face a lot of challenges and setbacks, perhaps even experience a lot of grief. Those who conquer shall prevail :P Is it worth it? Oh yes.

TL;DR Be prepared to invest a lot more time and effort into this game xD

1) Super-puzzlers

This is doing what you did as a jobber (puzzling), but the focus is on constantly improve efficiency and scores. Initially this involves perusing video guides and watching better pirates puzzle, but nothing really can be a substitutes for practise.

Subclasses:

a) Carousers - Also known as people who are allergic to ships.  If you get good (as in, super good) at these carousing puzzles (

SF, Rumble, TD or Drinking)

, you can make a steady income by regularly winning scheduled familiar tournaments.

• SF table sitters
• Be warned though, the SF community for some reason has more douchebags than you’d encounter in a normal YPP setting).
• Poker players.
• YPP poker is very different from either RL or other online gaming poker sites. Play it a bit and you’ll see what we mean.
• Don’t gamble what you can’t afford to lose.

• Spades/Hearts players
• While it is against the rules, there are some people who still collude in either game, so watch out~

b) Tokeners - Is getting constant incredibles just not doing it for you anymore? Do you want to take it to the next level? Then getting better at tokening is for you! This is for those that like to see 2/3 rows of tokens underneath their name!

• It takes a bit of practice to get good enough at a puzzle to get a decent number of tokens at a constant incredible.
• The puzzles with and without tokens can be very different from each other.

Perks:

• Shiny trophies (All the way up to Ultimate of Ultimates)
• Reputation - getting auto-jobbed everywhere.
• Getting huge ego boosts from beating everyone on the DR... every DR.
• Chance to win hefty wagers / Tournaments (Including colored familiars)
• Who doesn't want to have 25 of their alts on the top 25 list?

Drawbacks:

• Not everyone can do it - requires lots of practise and dedication, and some talent.
• Constantly trying to maintain stats is a pain, and it limits the kinds of voyages you can job on, especially when you're trying for ultimates or #1 trophies.

Shortcuts:

• If you just want the ultimate and #1 trophies, Hyper-ranking is a relatively painless way of doing it.

Commitment Involved :

• Lots and LOTs of practise

In all of the following classes, having someone who is more experienced to help you is an invaluable resource to have.

2) Battle Navigator (aka, Navvers)

The most "visible" class - these are the faces you see on the notice board loading ships day in, day out. One of the easiest to get started in, but deceptively challenging to get to the top. There's a few main arenas to get involved as a bnavver, and they all require slightly different skill-sets. The allure in Bnav is exactly that.

Subclasses

a) Pillage Runners - From Sloops to War Frigs, from jobbing everyone imaginable to only jobbing Leg+, these are the most common. Ease of loading much depends on reputation and online ocean population.  Use the Explorer’s Hall to spice up your voyage.

b) SMHers - From most common to least common,

• Atlantis - the nav for these are quite different from each other as they have very different goals.
• Regular Atlantis
• Citadel Runners.
• Haunted Seas
• Sinking ships only (Mostly for Chests)
• Graveyards only (Mostly for trophies)
• a combination of the two

c) Flotilla Killers - A rare breed! People that spend all their time navving flotillas. (Psst, its rumored that sinky flotillas pay the most/jobbing hour)

d) Cursed Islanders - Nav skill required: next to zero. However, the most successful of this lot cultivate hearty lists of epic foragers (entries with <50 Cursed Chests, for this group, are considered poor)

e) Kade Navvers - STAY on the BLEEDING POINTS DAMNIT! Arguably the most influential Class of the game, blockade nav skill may decide which flag gets to take and keep islands.

Perks:

• Significantly more income as compared to jobbing
• Fame / Reputation: Easiest way to gain recognition amongst the ocean’s population
• Islands are won or lost because of you! What’s not to like?

Drawbacks:

• Steep learning curve, especially for kade navving
• you're up against those with already 6 years / thousands of kades worth of experience
• Needs some starting poe, amount varies for type of voyage you want to nav in
• Long loading times. Get-a-book-and-read times.

Shortcuts:

• Take time to talk to established navvers to get tips and to critique your style.
• One of the quickest (but most expensive) ways to get into kade navving is to load a 3rd-party brig/frig every weekend and pay jobbers out of your own pocket.
• Even for a single round brig, be prepared to pay close to 200k

Commitment:

• On a per-voyage basis: you're the person that is the first to arrive, last to leave.
• Especially when you’re starting out, you need to have the nerve to wait for jobbers, and be just a little bit thick-skinned.

3) Politicians

Moving away from pure "game" skill are the classes that require more time talking to people and dealing with pirates of all kinds and types! These are the people that are best at playing the "social puzzle", the aspect of the game that sucks most people into staying.

Subclasses

a) Flag and Crew Leaders - Sounds simple, to lead a group of 20 - 200 pirates. Think again. :P

b) Support staff - These are the people that can make or break a voyage or blockade. Because no matter how good or poor the nav was, what pirates most remember is how they were treated, and face it: fishes have more personality than some navvers.

Most of these require that you not be shy in talking to complete strangers over voice programs over the internet.

• Jobbing Contacts (JC)
• eXecutive Officers (XO)
• SMH
• Cade
• Land Admirals (LA)
• Master-At-Arms (MAA)

c) Event Runners - The people that spend time organising events and prizes for pirates to win prizes and have fun! This can be a good way to raise funds, but also a great way to spend them :P Also a good way to raise reputation.

• Must be extremely organized, and able to see an idea from conception to follow-through to wrapping up. This can take anywhere from weeks to months.
• As an example, the Plankathon took Squishat a few weeks to come up, then test, then another month or two gathering resources, to finally posting the event (formatting is a giant hobo)
• You also need to be able to forsee any problems that may arise, and already have a solution for them before the event.
• It always helps (perhaps essential) to have a friend or two willing to co-host the event with you. It really really helps with motivation to get it done.

Perks:

• Getting to meet and know the most amazing people in game
• Knowing that you are (secretly) more important than the navvers
• POWER!!! muaahahahhahaa.

Drawbacks:

• Having to talk to the worst of the trolls
• Extremely time consuming, and in the cases of organizing a cade or a 500 strong flag, mentally exhausting.
• Having  to troubleshoot everything imaginable
• If anything goes wrong, it’s ALWAYS your fault :(
• “With great power, comes great responsibility” - Uncle Ben

Shortcuts:

• Get to know people. And ask! Volunteering for jobs can quickly get you well known, and well-liked.
• Be fairly active and don’t have a know-it-all attitude.

Commitment:

• You only get out of it what you put into, your reputation is based on your actions.

4) Merchants

These are the silent backbone of the game. These people are probably one of the richest people (second only to frequent colored familiar winners), quietly hoarding assets. They have an intimate knowledge of how the game's economy is set up, and how to exploit it.

Subclasses

a) Inn trading - The easiest class. Buying and selling directly from and to players, with a profit margin of course.

• This requires you to pretty much know all the inn values of all ypp items better than the back of your hand.

b) Shoppe and Stall Owners - From the most basic Iron Monger (easiest to run), to the most elaborate trading empires. The best of this class don't even have to work much, they've set up so that the shops run themselves.

C) Goods Transport - This includes running foraging operations, gem running, and commodity running. Good money, if you can stand to solo 20+ leagues almost daily.

• Highly suggested that you are either really good (constant excellents) at dnav and either sails or rigs.

Perks:

• PoE. PoE, and more PoE
• This is the most solo aspect of the game, as you dont have to deal with people directly, and can do most of these alone.
• The exception is Inn trading
• Or setting up epicly massive trading empires, you need to cut deals with island governors and negotiate your supply chains.

Drawbacks:

• Learn to love spreadsheets. You're going to need it.
• Vast amounts of time and PoE in the initial stages to start up.
• Lots of people try, and fail. Try to get all the information you can before you attempt these. Having someone to guide you is crucial.

Shortcuts:

• Talk to an established merchant to see how they’ve set stuff up
• Plan before you open a stall (Get the materials and start up costs before opening, to save on rent)

Commitment:

• Lots of time and effort in the beginning, less to keep it going (if you've set it up properly)

Hope this helped in furthering your YPP adventures!

Tinnitus + edits by Squishat