The compass and navigating

[Tungsten Whitmarsh Cadow]

I found out that the gold pointer on the compass always points north and the red pointer is the wind. I still don't see how this is helpful in getting to places I want to go. That red pointer is tiny and way off to the side. Other games that use clouds or flags on screen seem more intuitive.

When you're sailing is up always north?

Bottom line - Is there an interesting and quick way to keep your ship in the wind while making good progress towards reaching your destination?

Also, is there a way to make your crew happy without giving away all your stuff?

[chrisben1]

First, forget the compass, you don't need it. Yes up is always North. The wind is always easterly, blowing from East to West, especially when playing on the first difficulty. As the difficulty increases the wind veers more from the NE to SE and on rogue it can go from S to E to N.
Best way to keep your crew happy is gold, 1000 per crew member keeps them from mutiny. So, never divide your plunder. It ages you 6 months and leaves you starting all over. Don't worry about aging though. You never age past the 45th year and you can easily beat anyone on the map except Montalban and the English Captain of the Guard. Hopefully youv'e already dispatched Monty while your in your late twenty's early thirty's

[Tungsten Whitmarsh Cadow]

Thank youI haven't dispatched anyone but a bunch of ships. How do I give people on the crew money? Do I have to go to a port or a tavern or something? I have no clue. Is there a button?

[chrisben1]

You don't have to give them any gold. As long as you have enough gold on board they will be less likely to mutiny. Look in the lower left corner, as long as you have at least 1 thousand per crew member, your good to go.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=219098718

[Tungsten Whitmarsh Cadow]

That's useful to know. Now when I capture a ship and I'm offered some crew, I'll know that whether I take more crew depends on how much gold I have. I hope I have some way of checking how much gold I have at that point. Maybe I just have to keep an eye on that stat.

I also noticed that guns reload a lot faster when you have a lot of crew.

Where do I get my ships upgraded with grape shot? I've lost so many ships to mutiny that most of my ships don't have grape and now I'm far from where I started.

[chrisben1]

Check in every city or pirate haven. The smaller settlements indians and jesuits don't have a shipwright. The location of the upgrades changes with every new game you start so who knows where they are on your game.