Sea of Thieves Guide

A lot if information that you probably need to know.

Kegs

Kegs are a pirates' bomb. There are a few different types but these are the ones you'll encounter most often:

Gunpowder Keg
This is the most common type of keg and can be found almost anywhere. It can sink a ship if detonated in the right spot and is a great tool against AI enemies. It can also be sold to the Merchant Alliance or the Reaper's Bones for a decent bit of reputation and a handful of gold, but is better used as a weapon.
It is a plain red barrel with a piece of paper nailed to it.

Stronghold Gunpowder Keg
This dangerous looking barrel of doom has a blast around three times larger than a normal keg. It can sink any ship no-matter where you detonate it. It is found in skeleton fort world events and can be dug up from certain voyages. It can also be sold to the Merchant Alliance or the Reaper's Bones for around 2-6 K gold and a good chunk of reputation.
It is dark red and held together with bones and metal hoops, with a jolly roger nailed to it.

Keg of Ancient Black Powder
This is the most powerful keg in the game. It can be found during an Athena's Run voyages, and there is a small chance to dig one up during an Athena's Fortune voyage, as well as two in a Fort of Fortune vault. It can be sold to Athena's Fortune or the Reaper's Bones for 3-12 K gold and a lot of reputation.
It has the same structure as the Sronghold variant but with red and purple paint and the Athena symbol attached to it.

I wouldn't recommend putting any kegs on your ship but if you must take the risk of blowing up, carry them separately from the rest of your loot so that you don't lose everything.

Emissary Guide

There are 5 major trading companies in Sea of Thieves:
Gold Hoarder, Order of Souls, Merchant Alliance, Reaper's Bones and Athena's Fortune.
Each one has a different emissary flag to represent that company:













You can buy theses flags (labeled as "Emissary Licenses" in-game) for 20,000 gold each. Once you buy a license, you can raise or lower the flag at a table near the npc from the company as long as your ship is in range.
Once you raise an emissary flag, you can level it up by collecting loot, defeating ai ships, defeating skeleton forts and completing world events. Each level/grade will give you a bonus for anything you sell to that company.
Grade 1: no bonus
Grade 2: +33% bonus
Grade 3: +67% bonus
Grade 4: +100% bonus
Grade 5: +150% bonus
Once you reach grade 5 you can buy an emissary quest from your trading company (Reaper's Bones NOT included) which is a special voyage that rewards you with more treasure.

A downside is that if you sink, you lose your flags grade and other players can sell that flag at the Reaper's Hideout for gold. The value of your flag increases the higher grade it is, making emissaries a valuable target for other players.
If you are flying a Reaper emissary flag, all other players will be able to see you on the map, but once you reach grade five, you will be able to see the location of every other emissary on the server.

Also, when you vote to lower your emissary flag, you receive gold depending on the flag's grade,