A Quickstart Travel Guide To The Neath

A guide to all of the ports, highlighting some of the simplest quests, which islands are the most profitable, and where to go to find them.

Introduction/Map Explanation

Congratulations! If you're reading this guide, I assume you already know how to play. This guide WON'T cover how to fight, travel, manage terror, etc; it's just a basic guide to the best early-game quests. If you just want my brief starting advice, head to the end; if you want my secret special starting advice go to the secret special final section.

However, before we go into that, a brief overview of how the game generates it's map:

The sunless sea map is divided up into a roughly 6-6 grid, with usually about 1 port per section. this 36 piece grid can be divided into 8 sections, which are either static or changing. Static sections will always have the same ports in the same places. Changing sections will move the ports around randomly, but they will always stay within that section. Here are all the sections: (see image for an easy explanation)

1. The Western Border. This section is static, meaning the ports on it will always be in the same 6 positions. They are, from bottom to top: The Grand Geode, the Iron Republic, the Culmean Canal, London itself (bordered by Hunters Keep and Mutton Island), Venderbright, and Wither/Codex.
   
2. The Southern Border. This section is also static, the ports here will never mover around. From east to west they are: The Grand Geode, Port Carnellian, an empty area with no port, Adam's Way, Varchas, and Kingeater Castle.
   
3. The Northwest Corner: This is the only other static section on the map, a single square containing Irem.
   
4. The North Border: This section is changing, and consists of the middle 4 northern border squares. They are Mount Palmertston, Frostfound, The Chapel of Lights/Avid Horizon, and an empty square with no port.
   
5. The Eastern Border: This section is changing, and consists of the middle 4 eastern border sections. They are The Empire Of Hands, Aestival, the Chelonate, and Saviours Rocks
   
6. The Southern Section: This section is changing, and consists of the southern 4 squares above the border (plus one more near the east for some reason.) It contains Fathomking's Hold, the Uttershroom, Swallowing Isles, the Isle of Cats/Visage, and an empty section.
   
7. The Near Zee: This section is changing, and consists of the 6 closest remaining squares to london. It contains The Salt Lions, Demaux Island, Pigmote Island, Station III/Shepard Isles/Abbey Rock, and an empty section
   
8. The Far Zee: This section is changing, and is the 5 furthest squares remaining. It contains Polythreme/Godfall, Nuncio, Wisdom, Port Cecil, and the Khanate (khan's heart, glory, and shadow)

This guide will go through each port and give a few details:
Does it allow you to buy fuel and supplies, and at what cost?
Does it allow you to reduce terror, and at what cost?
Are there any quests that are good for making money here, and what do they require?
Anything else of interest?

The last section will be a short set of suggestions of what to do when you're starting out.

London!

London gets it's OWN section because it's so special.

FUEL: 10$
SUPPLIES: 20$
Terror Reduction: Multiple options, all of them relatively inexpensive. The best place to reduce terror is home, of course.



The lifeblood of any sunless sea run is turning in Port Reports to the Dark Spectacled Admiral. When you go to a port, you can usually do something to gather information. This will give you a Port Report that you can turn in back at london. You will gain a few echos (usually around 10-50, depending on how far away the port is), 1 piece of Admirality's Favor that you can spend for cheap repairs or some other stuff, and most importantly 1 piece of fuel. After a long run this can often make up at least half of the fuel you spent, preparing you for the next run. After the first few are turned in you'll get access to missions where the admiral will ask you to go get him Strategic Information. These can be turned in to him, or you can save them up and click on them in your inventory to combine them into Vital Intelligence which is worth Much More, and also makes London happy.




London contains a number of great ways to make money. The most important of which is the Alarming Scholar, who can be accessed as soon as you've obtained your first secret. They will buy most of the rarest items you find in the game. such as outlandish artefacts, captivating treasures, searing enigmas, live specimens, fluke cores, along with a number of smaller items. As many quests reward these very rare items, and they pays VERY well (captivating treasures and searing enigmas will give you 1000 echos), he's the secret to turning your Quests into Money.








Another very important face is that of The Merchant Venturer This dude wants to do a thing, and he'll pay you handsomly for a wide variety of supplies. A lot of them can just be bought in London and then turned in for a hefty reward, although this requries a fair some of echos to start with. Others must be purchased in other places, but he will still pay better then anyone else. This won't last forever, though; after between 5 and 10 deliveries, he'll ask you to take him to The Avid Horizon along with 40 cargo spaces of "materials". This allows you to get a LEGACY item, an item that will permenantly increase the starting stats of every captain you play as for the rest of your time with sunless sea (note: it requires 1 searing enigma and 50 hearts.) If you already have this, or just don't want to end your current run, you can do the quest and just get a searing enigma as a reward.




There's a lot of other good stuff in London: the Blind Bruisier will give you a LOT of fuel and supplies if you agree to do him Future Favors, which could have... consequences. You can recruit Officers in London who each have their own quests that can have great rewards (and are just good to have, officers make things a lot better). You can buy a House, and then a will, which will make sure your kid gets your house and any heirlooms you make (a way to send money to the next run). If you have a house, you can have a kid by carousing in wolfstack ducks and meeting someone special more then once <3. This leads into the Scion quest, which lets you give TWO great things to your next run, not just one. Look around at everything you can, London is a safe place to explore (usually).

Western Border

The western border of the map contains 8 ports. Here they are from southernmost to northernmost.

THE GRAND GEODE
Fuel: None
Supplies: None
Terror reduction: The standard action here reduces terror by 5, or increases it by 25. Your gamble.
Other Information: Pretty much everything here that matters only matters for the furthest late game quests. Still, it's pretty.


THE IRON REPUBLIC
Fuel: 8$ (GOOD DEAL)
Supplies: Usually, none. Sometimes, 15$ Best deal in the neath, but only sometimes. See below for more info.
Terror: Anything that could reduce terror here has a higher chance to randomly raise it instead.
Other Information: The shops here randomly change each time you arrive. They will always have the cheapest fuel in the neath, but the other deals range from awful (1 long box for a captivating treasure? that's a loss of 850 echos) to incredible (the best supplies price in the neath). Be Careful. A lot of quests lead here, but the biggest thing of note is the Tittering Artificer's weapon. This thing costs quite a bit to build, and will only be useful to you if you have decided you want to finally kill one of the biggest monsters in the neath. If not, ignore it. If so, good luck.

CUMEAN CANAL
Fuel: 20
Supplies: 30
Terror: No real reduction aside from going to the surface, and who knows what that will do
Other Information: The main purpose of the canal is to allow you to go to the surface, which you really don't want to do unless you have a specific reason. It's 11 fuel there and 11 fuel back, plus rather dangerous (you will lose a few crew if you just do a quick run). Also, there is a an event in port with a 50% chance of getting you Moves in the Great Game, and those are rather rare.

QUAKER'S HAVEN
Fuel: None
Supplies: None
Terror: 20$ to remove 1 terror. There's some random events that do so, but head to london instead.
Oher Information: Not much here. There's some fun events, and a late game thing that will make this Interesting, but not much that's super important here.


HUNTER'S KEEP
Fuel: None
Supplies: None, but interacting with the sisters will gain you 1 supply at least
Terror Reduction: Lucy and Pheobe reduce terror slighty, while Cynthia slightly raises it. You're better off going to london though.
Other Information: Each sister will get you the Attention of a god. Cynthia does Salt, Lucy does Stone, and Pheobe does Storm. Salt is necessary for some later quests, including the Principles of Coral; it's usually worth having.


VENDERBRIGHT
Fuel: 20$
Supplies: 30$
Terror Reduction: -5 Terror for 50 echos.
Other Information: Venderbright has a ton of great smaller stuff. You should deliver a tomb colonist here as probably your first action in the game. This'll give you some echos or start an interesting quest, a great place to find a goal. However, the real key here is the FIRST CURATOR. This guy will start your quest for the NEATHBOW, which has a number of pages you need to bring him. Some pages will take horrifying late game feats, like killing a fluke, others are much easier, like getting the hunter's eye (head to Avid Horizon with a few fragments in your XP bar). All of them pay out in curiosities worth 1000 echos. Great quest to get started with. There's lots of other great stuff too, explore around!


WHITHER
Fuel: 1 zee story?
Supplies: 2 tales of terror?
Terror Reduction: 5 for 50 echos (on a success)
Other Information: Whither serves 2 main purposes: it's one of the only places to get Mutersalt (for 5 zee stories) which is needed for multiple officer quests, and it has The House of the Question, which lets you remove curses of the gods.

CODEX:
Fuel: 20$
Supplies: 30$
Terror Recution: None
Other Information: Not much here, but a good place to get supplies if you need it. Don't buy the doomed monster hunter unless you know why you're buying it.

Southern Border and Northeast Corner

This section contains the Far south, and Irem. Watch out, the far south has some real nasty monsters.

All ports from west to east, finishing with the northeast corner:

PORT CARNELIAN
Fuel: 12$
Supplies: 18$ (Good deal!)
Terror Reduction: 5 for 20$
Other information: This is a great stop. Fuel is relatively cheap, supplies are cheaper then london, and it allows for actual terror reduction. Additionally, if you have the Zubmariner DLC, this is where you get your zub. Remember this port if only to re-stock.

CRYING HEIGHTS
There isn't actually a port here, this is the empty square beween Carnelian and Adam's Way. It's here because it's long and dangerous. Be careful.

ADAM'S WAY
Fuel: 12$
Supplies: 25$
Terror: 10 for 20 echos, but see below for details.
Other Information: There's tons of stuff to do in adam's way, if you can get in. Getting in requires either Recent News from london, a Mt. Palmertson Port Report, or an Unread Log. If you have one of these, you'll get to do a few actions to explore quite a few quests and weird stuff. Of note is the sober showman's showcase, where you can reduce terror by 10 for 20 echos.
Also: don't sail south through the gate here unless you really, really want to.

VARCHAS
Fuel: None
Supplies: None
Terror: Will almost certainly be raised by being here
Other Information: Varchas has a structure whre you have a limited number of actions before you have to Sleep, and sleeping will reduce terror. Every night you stay it will get worse, but perhaps it could be prevented... anyways, Varchas is full of some great quests and stories, lots of which give stat bonuses or good items. Try it out, especially if you have some scintillack to trade.

KINGEATER'S CASTLE
Fuel: None.
Supplies: None.
Terror: -25 terror for 1 fuel and 1 supplies, but you must have >50 terror to start
Other Information: ...why? why did you come here? why would you do that? did this look like somewhere you could get fuel? The only purpose this place serves is you can teleport somewhere else for the cost of all your zee stories and much, much setback. There could be reasons to come here later, though...

IREM (Northeast corner of the map)
Fuel: 20$
Supplies: 30$
Terror: Will be reduced by 10 or 20, but requires 1 darkdrop coffee to enter the mirror marches.
Other Information: Irem's best feature is it's store. The story has all sorts of super rare/hard to get items, like soothe & copper longboxes, watchful curios, or even a judgement's egg for Secrets. Secrets are how you level up, so it's a rough trade, but if you want to continue a quest and don't know how this is your answer. You can also buy strange catches which are useful all over, and there's a way to buy searing engimas for an insane price. You can trade any darkdrop coffee you have for Parabola linen, which is worth a bit more. Additionally, if you have Darkdrop Coffee you cn use it to go to the mirror marches for some fun free stuff.

Eastern Border

Congrats! If you've made it this far, you are probably good enough that you don't need this guide! Here's all the ports on the western border, though, in no particular order.

THE EMPIRE OF HANDS
Fuel: 40$, then later 60$. Must be bought in story not at a shop.
Supplies: 20$. Must be bought in story, not at a shop.
Terror: Not many opportunties to lose this.
Other Information: The first time you come here, you can only barely explore. You can't interact with the court or the zeppliin yet, and you can sail around a bit but you can't do much. You can gain supplies by raiding with the cannibals, but you will probably be wounded and fail. Doing this, however, will get you a port report you can turn in at london for 300 echos, and let you pick up a passenger in london who will pay you 200 echos for a trip back to the isle. This will also open up all the rest of the quests on this island, including an indiana-jones style treasure hunt. Do the treasure hunt before you start transporting things, though. It might open... opportunities.

SAVIOR'S ROCKS
Fuel: 20$
Supplies: 30$
Terror Reduction: None
You can pick up a box of "trinkets" here that sells in london for 100$, or a trade 2 supplies for 1 spidersilk, a very slight bonus. Also, there's a fun quest here but it takes stat checks and multiple trips.

THE CHELONATE
Fuel: None
Supplies: None
Terror: 15 for 30$, but you will probably lose a crewmember.
Other Information: The story here will buy some of the weirder items in game (they pay 99 for sapphires), but only sells Stygian Ivory. You can trade a hunting trophy for an outlandish artefact, but there's not much else here. Don't get the monster hunter unless you know exactly what it's for.

AESTIVAL
Fuel: None
Supplies: 8-11 for free, but you might lose 1 crew
Terror: None
Other Information: Aside from the... secrets of Aestival, this is mostly just a great place to get supplies. 1 crew for 8-11 supplies is a great trade, and you only lose them half the time.

Northern Border

The top 4 ports of the neath,in (mostly) no particular order. Warning, Palmertson is the only reliable stop for food/supplies.

THE CHAPEL OF LIGHTS
Fuel: None
Supplies: None
Terror: It only goes up here.
Other Information: If you're desperate, you can eat of their food to get rid of some hunger. It might make you Unnacountalbly Peckish, though... although becoming a cannibal might be something you want? Aside from that, this is generally a bad, bad place.

AVID HORIZON
Fuel: None
Supplies: None
Terror: You can raise it by 10 for free.
Other Information: If you have 70+ fragments (xp) and the lantern symbol on your log, you can grab the Hunter's Eye here. This is a neathhbow item, and therefore after trading it in at Venderbright is worth a captivating treasure (1000 echos). Nothing else is here.

FROSTFOUND
Fuel: 1 for free, no more
Supplies: 1 for free, no more
Terror: -10 for free
Other Information: Going into frostfound is an Adventure that will take a Lot out of you (literally). Best to only do it if you have a good reason to. Alternatively, you could just do it for the hell of it :D. Also the "take tea" option in port gives you 1 free fuel, one free supplies, and removes 10 terror, as indicated above.

RAGGED CROW:
This square is empty aside from a big lighthouse that you can't dock at. Be careful.

MT. PALMERSTON
Fuel: 9$ (Good Deal!)
Supplies: 22$
Terror: None
Other Information: There's a questline with the wistful devilless that can provide some good rewards and some real fun. Make sure the second time you visit her you have a crate of souls, though. Aside from that, there isn't much here but it's a great port for restocking. Fuel is the cheapest you can get outside of the iron republic.

Near Zee

Here are the 7 ports of the near zee. I'll start with the 3 that are in the same square, abbey rock, the shepard isles, and station III.


SHEPARD'S ISLES
Fuel: 20$
Supplies: 30$
Terror: A Picnic will reduce it by 3 for 5 echos, once.
Other Information: All the options here are relatively valuble. None wiill get you rich, but they'll bive you zee stories and tales of terror and rarely something more valuble.

ABBEY ROCK
Fuel: None
Supplies: You can sell them here for 20$ but not buy them? Why would you do this
Terror: For 1 hunting trophy you can reduce terror by 10, along with some other rewards.
Other Information: If you have hunting trophies and you need to burn terror it isn't awful, I guess. But Not much else here.

Station III
Fuel: None
Supplies: None
Terror: None
Other Information: Ok, if you can get a soothe and copper long box, take it here. You'll start a quest with some good rewards, and if you're nice enough to the acolyte, and choose to be a good friend, you can get a legacy item which are the most valuble things in the game, bar none. Additionally a ton of quests use stuff you can get here. It won't do anything unless you can activate the port with a soothe and copper long box, though.

DEMEAUX ISLAND
Fuel: 20$
Supplies: 30$
Terror:No reductions
Other Information: The exploration option here allows you to get a 50% chance at getting supplies. a success will give you 2 terror and 1 supply, failing will just give you 5 terror. Aside from that, there isn't much here.

GAIDER'S MOURN
Fuel: 30$
Supplies: 40$
Terror: 5 reduction for 50$, if you succeed a stat test, and you might lose crew/gain terror anyways.
Other Information: There's not much here for you, and what is here is dangerous. However, if you have some illicit goods like red honey or unstamped crates of souls and don't know what to do with them, this island will buy them. Not for the best price, but they will buy them.

PIGMOTE ISLE
Fuel: None
Supplies: None, although this can become 1-2 free supplies
Terror: None
Other Information: This island is awesome and has the best story. Depending on how it goes, you'll either get 1-2 free supplies and -5 terror, or a way to fully repair your hull (for a price). Please check this island out, you won't regret it.

THE SALT LIONS
Fuel: None
Supplies: None
Terror: -5 per visit
Other Information: This is a big one. Finding this port should be something you do early, as you can ferry cargo back and forth from here to london for a good amount of money each time. Additionally, after a few trips it will end in a quest that gets you a much better reward. Take some time to do this. Also you can trade in Salt's Favor for an extraordinary implication, which is worth a bit.

Southern Zee

This is a guide to the 5 islands of the Southern Zee. I'll start with Visage and the Isle of Cats, since they occupy the same square.

THE ISLE OF CATS
Fuel: 20$
Supplies: 30$
Terror: Nothing, really
Other Information: This island is a good quest that can let you start smuggling red honey, a dangerous and difficult trade, but it takes some amount of resources to get started. Check it out, at least.

VISAGE
Fuel: None
Supplies: None
Terror: Nothing, really
Other Information: Visage has a really great quest, and if you go through it well, you'll end up with a 1000 echo reward. Do it if you can! Also, grabbing blood from the bull will give you a curious artefact, worth at least 100 echos.

The Fathomking's Hold
Fuel: 5, once, maybe
Supplies: 5, once, maybe
Terror: Only Gained
Other Information: If you have a zee story, you can head down and speak to the Fathomking and request a Boon. This can be 5 supplies or 5 fuel. There's some other good stuff, but it all requries that zee story.

THE UTTERSHROOM
Fuel: None
Supplies: 1 for each casket of Honey
Terror: Nothing to help
Other Information: For every casket of hone you bring, you'll get 1 supplies.. and 1 blemmigan! blemmigans are great, take htem all over the neath and have fun with them. Do this enough and , you can get some REALLY valuble items.

THE MANGROVE COLLEGE
Fuel: None
Supplies: 2-6, once
Terror: -10, once
Other Information: Aside from the actions to get supplies, or reduce terror, there's the option for Beachcombing which can have valuble results. Or if you're feeling brave you can Enter the Wisp Ways, which requires many, many candles and will probably lose you a few crewmembers. The rewards range from some solacefruit and a longbox to a searing enigma tho, so it could be worth it if you want a huge prize.

There's another dead square in this section with nothing it, as well.

Far Zee

This is a guide to the 7 ports of the far zee. I'll start with Polythreme and Godfall since those share a square, and then Khan's heart, Khan's Shadow, and Khan's glory for the same reason.

POLYTHREME
Fuel: None
Supplies: None
Terror: 1 terror for 30 echos
Other Information: The main thing you can do in Polythreme is pick up Clay Men to take them back to London. This will turn you a small profit. Additionally, you can turn a watchful curio into a wakeful idol, and you can sell sapphires if you want.

GODFALL
Fuel: none
Supplies: None
Terror: Nothing
Other Information: There's really not much here. They'll buy wine for a good price (once, ever) and you can give them a hunting trophy. The only other thing is the Shattered Citadel. There's some cool stuff in it, but it's dangerous, difficult, builds terror, loses crew, and make sure you have an Ambiguous Eolith if you want to explore.

KHAN'S SHADOW
Fuel: 15$
Supplies: 25$
Terror: Nothing, really.
Other Information: There's very little here in terms of actions, but there's a very nice shop. Buy supplies and fuel here if you need them, and check out the rest of the things they'll buy/sell.

KHAN'S GLORY/ KHAN'S HEART
Fuel: 50$, later 15$
Supplies: 50$, later 25$
Terror: 3 for 50$, later
CREW: Can be hired for 30$
Other Information: So in order to use the shops here, you'll have to gain the Khanate's Favor. That will require either an ENORMOUS amount of coffee, or an even larger number of drowning pearls. If you do, you'll gain access to some pretty good shops, including a place to buy romantic literature. Aside from this, wandering the khanate can get you some good rewards.


WISDOM
Fuel: 20$
Supplies: 30$
Terror: Nothing
Other Information: The only real thing to do at Wisdom is to trade exhorbitatnt amounts of resources with horrifyingly high stat requirements for a prisoner. Sure, you'll get an enigma with every prisoner you free, but the cheapest option to get a prisoner out requires an enigma to begin with. Eventually you may have a reason to free a prisoner. Until then, this is just a place to restock

PORT CECIL
Fuel: 20$
Supplies: 30$
Terror: Nothing
Other Information: At Port Cecil, you can try to harvest scintillack. It's very valuble and used in multiple quests, you get 1-3 each time you try. However, if you play chess enough you can start a questline that will give you LOADS of scintillack, 7 for each item you bring it, and some of the items are very easy to find, like a hunting trophy or an Ambiguous Eolith. It also gets you a free cook. The unlock method (playing chess over and over and over) can raise terror by a lot, though, so be careful.

NUNCIO
Fuel: 20$
Supplies: 30$
Terror: A lot of things at the Tavern will reduce terror by a bit.
Other Information: The quest here is easy, a ton of fun, and has a GREAT reward. Finishing it requires 5 candles and a flare, or a mirrorcatch box full of sunlight.

Quickstart Guide

If you just want a quick guide to getting started, here's a good quickstart guide:

Check your starting officer, see where they want to go. Delivering them will get you a substantial reward. Take the My Father's Bones ambition, as it'll provide you some direction.

Pick up a Venderbright passenger, fill up on fuel and supplies and head to Venderbright. Bring some wine if you want, but it won't make you that much money. From there, either sail north and then east or just straight east to hit as many ports as you can, trying to get as many port reports in the near area. Try and get to Pigmote isle and the salt lions, and if you're feeling really adventurous check for Avid Horizon up north to try and get the hunter's eye, Visage down south to try and get the captivating treasure ther, or Nuncio out east to try to get the enigma (provided you have 5 candles and a flare . Take it all back to London, turn as many things as you can into echos, turn all your port reports in, and head back out.

If you have any questions, i'll try to answer them!

Thanks for reading, i'll try and update with zubmariner DLC later. It makes the game surprisingly easier, as a lot of the under-zee ports allow you to buy fuel and supplies in places that were previously dangerously bare.

SUPER SECRET SECTION

Ok so, my secret suggestion is this: cheat. Look, sunless sea is annoyingly grindy, and there's a lot of awesome late game content that's really hard to get. Giving yourself some echos is the best way to do this, as it'll preserve the fear and terror of the game, the survival aspect, but allow you to get a slightly nicer ship and some slightly faster engines and slightly more fuel. To do this, go into the sunless sea save file, located at C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\LocalLow\Failbetter Games\Sunless Sea\saves\Autosave.json, and find the ID 102028. Find the Level part of this entry, and change it to however many echos you want. Buy a house, a will, a nicer ship, some guns and engines, and you're all set to have a smoother experience.

[Qazsarea]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS. I am not a very new player, but this entire thing is extremely helpful. Especially your super secret.