Pirate101 started out to be a game I chose for my playtime with the grandkids and with some adult friends. At that time, the game looked like it was made for children, I would say age 4 and up, and my Grandsons started playing around the time they were 3. I find this game teaches children the idea of working for your “gold” and putting the fun into doing chores, like building up your nautical xp, training your companions and training your pets.
I have determined, it’s not just a kid’s game and adults can enjoy this one too. I love to sail the skyway to each of the worlds, have a few ship battles and pick up quests in each area as my characters grow. It is a slower paced, turn-based MMO that has a lot of strategy built into it, but also is physically easier on my wrists and hands. You don’t have the 1-9 keys to battle with, it is what I call a “choose your power” type of game and the only exception to this is ship battles where you use your 1-4 keys. The cartoon-based characters come alive in the battles and the wonderful graphics can be seen as each companion takes their turn fighting the foe. My friends and I seem to laugh a lot as we watch the powers we choose on each companion, then see how these characters interact in battle. There is also a time when you want to smack your companions upside the head because they decide to do something extra that you didn’t tell them to do.
Pirate101 is a pay as you go and/or subscription game (monthly, 6 months or yearly) but will give you a way to try it out free for a while, to see if you like it. There are multiple difference I have seen between subscription(SB) and free to play(FTP). Two of these are size of your bag (Backpack: (SB) 120 slots - (FTP) 80 slots) and the areas you can play (Areas: (SB) all areas open - (FTP) very limited areas, unless you pay for them). Just recently, Kingsisle has added elixirs to solve the storage issues.
If you have more than one account, you also get a monthly discount if you link them to the same main account. It took me a couple of days to decide to buy the subscription and add an account for both my grandsons to play. I found it well worth the quality of play time I get with my grandkids and friends that live far away.
In this basic guide, I will try to provide information on the main parts of the game to make playing fun, but there are more things that won’t be mentioned and left for you to discover. The sections I will cover are making your character and little things that you don’t find out in the beginning tutorial. I will also touch on companions, pets, ships, mounts, worlds, housing and let’s not forget shinies and gold. Once you know what to look for and how to get there, the awesome adventure begins.
There are some choices to be made that will lead the path to your storyline, give you certain powers and starting companions. I have tried all of the following combinations and at this point, those choices will be your personal preference. Whichever way you choose will be a fun challenge for you. Some things to consider are below:
Below is a list of your choices of how you were orphaned and what companion you will receive.
(Starting on top going clockwise around the compass)
If your parents:
All are good companions, but my favorite is Gaspard De Vole because of his fighting graphics. He spins in a ball with one of his hits. It’s very humorous to watch!
This choice will give you a natural talent that adds +5 to your power.
(Starting top right going clockwise around the compass:)
This is where you pick your Class, Starting Power, Weapon and Starting Companion
Going clockwise around the compass starting top right:
You will have a few steps and choices to make on how your pirate looks and choosing your flag. There is always a ‘Back’ button on the left and a ‘Next’ button on the right, so you can always go back and change something while you are in this section. Once you accept, the pirate is made, but before you click accept there is one important thing you might want to consider. When you choose the colors of the flag, the background colors determine what color your companion’s outfit will be.
Once you choose accept, you can skip the tutorial or go through it. If it is your first time in the game, I suggest going through the short tutorial because it will give you the basics of fighting, interacting with the NPCs and a sailing lesson.
You might have noticed a lot of different buttons on your screen and seeing pink pear-shaped objects with wings flying around Skull Island. First, the pink flying things are Yum Yums and they will heal you, so just run through one if your health circle is low. “Health Circle?,” you ask. Look at the bottom left corner of your screen, the big red circle is your health. You will also see 5 little buttons with symbols in them, and if you scroll over any button on your screen, a description of that button will pop up for you.
From the left to right:
Bottom Middle Screen:
The Green Bar on the bottom center of the screen is your XP bar. This bar will fill up as you earn more experience points.
The Yellow Arrow above the green bar is your quest arrow. The number in the arrow will get smaller as you get closer to your quest, but if your quest is in another area, the number will change once you get into the new zone. Underneath the arrow it tells you what quest you are going to, so Silly Sierra’s quest is to “Find Ensign Livsey in Skull Mountain”.
The Top Middle Screen:
The five little boxes show on the screen when you scroll your mouse over a little red triangle, otherwise they are hidden and only the little red triangle is seen.
From left to right:
The Top Corner Buttons:
[There are a few extra buttons in the top corners that are there when you have a free account but are not there when you have a subscription. Those are the “Upgrade Now” and the “Earn Crowns” buttons.]
Last but not least, two more important buttons available on your screen
As you see, there are lots of choices available to you! Don’t get stressed because they will teach you most of this as you play the game. If you are really lost, go to the gear on the top middle dropdown bar and click ‘Options’. Go to the first joystick button from the left and click it. The third row down is Tutorial Tips.
Click the arrow next to Tutorial Tips, until it reads “All” - This will give you lessons as you go through the beginning battles and will tell you what is needed at the time. Once you have things figured out, just open options back up and put it back to “Critical Only”.
Now that we have the basics out of the way, let’s go have some fun. The screen buttons will make more sense and become “old hat” in a short amount of time. Don’t stress and go raise Cain!
The Fun Ahead!
This is where the excitement begins! Here comes the brief introduction to companions, pets, ships, mounts, worlds, housing, shinies and gold.
No need to panic because you receive your companions through the quests as you go. You can buy them with crowns, but I find the quests will give you a good crew for your fights. Training your companions starts as soon as you begin leveling. There are two things to do in this panel: Train the companions to your level and send the extra companions out on duty. Note: to start putting your companions out on duty, you need to be level 8.
To train your companion to your level, training tomes are necessary. If you look at the picture above, at the bottom of the picture of Louis Le Bisque, you will see the word “train” and above it you will see 13. That is how many training tomes are available, so click train and you will see the green bar move up for him toward the Level 13. There are 2 ways to get more training tomes: as a reward when you finish quests or you can also buy them in the taverns from the Training Tome Vendor. As you do this, your companions, at times, will want to talk to you in the tavern cellar, where all your companions hang out when you aren’t busy. This is either a paid or a quest promotion. The tavern cellar is usually close to the Training Tome Vendor, so look around for a set of stairs going down.
To put your companion on new orders, click “New Orders”. You have 6 choices to choose from: Keel Haulin’, Brawlin’, Plunderin’, Sailin’, Scavengin’, and Pet Wranglin’.
Your companions train even while you are asleep, so don’t worry about shutting down the game after you give them their orders!
You usually receive your first pet around level 4, with a quest from Mickey Dugan that is called “Silly Pet Tricks”. Mickey resides in front of Avery’s Office. During this quest, you are sent to Bestia to tour the Coliseum (also known as Circus Maximus) and the people there will tell you all you need to know about training and taking care of your pet. By the time you leave, the egg you received should have hatched.
After your pet hatches, it is time to train. Press “I” to open your pet training panel and click on the pet you want to train. At the bottom of the window, there is a “Train” button. After pressing the button a window will pop up that has Activity Categories. Press the one that is unlocked and choose a Task for your pet to train.The longer they train the more xp they will receive. Click on the next “Train” button to start their training and when they are finished, a yellow exclamation point in this window will come up to alert you. There is also a little chest on the left side of your screen, above your health circle, that will alert you when either a pet or companion is done with their training. To finish the training, click on the pet that has finished and you will have to either feed him pet food or skip the feeding.
I am not an expert at pet training, but I know you don’t need to pay crowns for food or exercise equipment. If you are out and need more food, go to the Bazaar merchant, who is downstairs from Avery’s Court and next to the tavern. Interact with him and you will see an arrow in the right hand top corner. Click it until you see pet snacks and equipment symbols in the left hand top corner. Once you are there, you can see the food and equipment to buy for gold, not crowns. I personally just buy some food to feed them and they will get their equipment as they train. Keep training them until they are level 70. When you were at the Circus Maximus, you also learned that pet training in the contests will earn equipment and food too. I love testing out all my pets in the coliseum and in battles.
Ships are so much fun and battles on the skyway are a blast. I must admit the crazy little raft you start out with isn’t much, but you will build up to have some awesome ships! As you play, you will have the opportunity to receive ships from your main quests. You can also buy ships on some of the docks by looking for the ship and ship part vendors. Don’t forget to equip your parts onto your ship or you won’t be able to battle!
By clicking “E”, the quick key, you can look at your ships and equipment, and if you look at the top of your window you will see a line of equipment buttons. They are: cabins, all ship items, anchors, cannons, figure heads, rudders, sails, wheels and horn. To equip them, you select the item and click on the hand at the bottom of the window. Make sure all items are equipped for battle and ready to go to test them out.
Ship Battles are fun as long as you have good equipment or friends to battle with you. To board your ship, go to the dock of your choice. Look up to your ship panel at the top middle of your screen and unbottle your ship of choice. At the bottom left corner, you will see a little ship symbol to click on. It will put you at your wheel, then just press “X” to launch your ship. You will see pink, yellow or blue paths on the skyways that are safe zones and no ships will attack you on those paths.
Now for the battles! Click on the ship you want to fight and move up until you see the target on that ship turn orange. Press the spacebar to put out your anchors, to stop your movement while you fight. In the bottom right corner you will find your battle keys: the 1,2 and 4 keys are your guns and shields, and the 3 key is your heal. The big blue circle is your ship’s health and if it goes into the yellow, the battling ship will board you and you will have to fight them or flee. The bar on top of your screen is the health of the ship you are fighting. When you finish the battle, there will be a crate to pick up where the ship was. Make sure you pass over it to get your shinies and nautical xp. Happy Battling!
You can buy mounts at the crown shop or buy rental mounts at a vendor. Once in a while, in certain battles you can win a mount but it is very rare these days. During the holidays, special days and parties, Kingsisle will decorate and put down gift boxes in certain areas in Skull Island. These will give you either rental mounts, pet food, pet equipment or gold. If you are buying a mount, be aware that there are different speeds to each mount that range from average (slow) to very fast. For me, it speeds up some quests as you travel faster through the zones. Beware! The faster you go, the more likely you will accidentally run yourself into a fight with a foe on the road.
To equip a mount, press “B” for backpack and click your mount button. It is just a matter of selecting the mount you want to use and using the hand at the bottom to equip.
The worlds are listed in quest level order and are the ones you need a windstone to enter:
Skull Island, Monquista, Valencia, Cool Ranch, Moo Shu, Marleybone, Aquila and Valencia Part 2. They all have their own theme to them and different foes to fight both on land and on the skyway. I find it quite interesting what Kingsisle has come up with.
Skull Island
This area consists of a cluster of Islands with four skyways and a channel: Skull Island, Tradewinds, Flotsam, and Port Regal are Skyways and Corsair’s Cove is in a Channel. These areas remind me of the the South Pacific Islands. There are many zones your quests will take you to including: Skull Island, Bestia, Blood Shoals, Jonah Town, Flotsam, the Great Volcano, Scrimshaw, Puerto Mico and Port Regal. Skull Island bosses on land consist of the following creatures: troggies, aztecosaur, dog soldiers, dog pirates, skeleton warrior, evil spirits, shark pirates, frog pirates, redcoats, wharf rats, mice duellist, and rat scoundrels. On the skyway, there are Cutthroat, Marleybone, Red Claw, Waponi, Monquistan Navy and Water Mole Ships to battle. You can also raise a ruckus with on-the-ship fights amongst Waponi canoes, batacuda, flying fish, storm sharks and jellyfish.
Monquista
Monquista is in the Tierra Primata Skyway and reminds me of a desert area with a city of monks, a summer palace, an ancient cave area and a stronghold. The boss creatures and characters on land are mainly monkeys but also sea monsters, renegade monquistadors, crabbies, spiders, and thorn tendrils. On the skyway, we have the Monquistan Navy, Royal Squadron, Cutthroat, Imperial warships, Holy Monquistion ships, sailing near skarakeets, jellyfish, flying fish, and batacuda to combat.
Valencia (Aragon Skyway)
There is a long sail to it through the stormgate of Avernus and into the Aragon Skyway to reach Valencia. It is a very interesting place with some small islands, an armada fortress, stronghold, villa, Sivella (a city) and Granchia, an old broken down city with catacombs and art strewn around. The main bosses on land in Valencia are Armada soldiers, Servus and Phule. On the way to Valencia, in the stormgate, there are jellyfish and bone drakes going through Avernus and once you get into the Aragon Skyway, there are Armada and Vanguard Squadron ships. Not many quests are in this area, but you do come back for companion quests, so keep a pirate here for that time when you need to come back.
Cool Ranch
Cool Ranch is definitely based on the wild west with lots of characters from the old west living in these parts. It has multiple skyways: Cooper’s Roost, Big Sky, Arroyo Grande, Santa Pollo, Tumbleweed and Haunted Skyways. There is also a quick travel stagecoach to take you to the main places in each skyway. Many characters in this area have humorous conversations with you, so don’t rush through the conversations by click, click, clicking. On land you see and battle bloodbats, bison spirits, banditoads, frogerales, scorpions, skeletal pirates, crabs, stingtails, storm snakes, horses, roosters, ducks, chickens, crows, and evil spirits. Sailing on the skyway you will clash with Black Storm Raiders, Darkmoor, Wild Bunch, Renegade, Ghost, Banditoad, Frogerales and Red Sash Frigate ships, sailing amongst hornets, bloodbats, bumbleloons, buffaloons, sky snakes, hornets, and bone snakes.
Marleybone
I would call Marleybone a navy port skyway for ships. There are two Isles: Isle of Dogs and Isle of Fetch, with a few outlying places called the Invader Fortress and Beachhead. There are multiple hidden places to see for your quests and make sure to bring a friend to help you out. Be careful not to be pulled into a fight in the tunnels before you are ready. On land, you will scrap with sky dogs of the Royal Navy, radical foxes, radical dogs, dragoons, dog pirates, cat smugglers, frog thugs, Kurgha (tiger soldiers), crocagators and the Armada soldiers. The ships on the skyway are Marleybone, Cat Smuggler, Cutthroat, Armada and Frog Pirate ships sailing in the midst of sky gar, and flying fish to skirmish.
Moo Shu
Moo Shu depicts an Asian world with three skyways: Hamamitsu, Subata and Khotan. Be aware of the roads that are not so easy to maneuver and you will have to decide how to get to where you are going ahead of time. With so many foes on the streets, you will not be able to cut across these roads without getting caught in a fight. With the life fountains so far away, you truly do not want to run all the way back to your destination. As far as the enemies here, they tend to be very different and hard to fight. On land, I remember creatures called Inoshishi pigs, ninja pigs, blue oni (elephants), bulls, Samoorai, goats, helephant, Amber Horde (horses), and Samoori. The skyways are plagued with Armada, Amber Horde, Inoshishi, Tso Warship and Jade Fleet ships, along with sky dragons, storm koi, flying turtles, storm sharks, and ki-rin.
Aquila
Aquilla is located on Achaean Way and Ithaca Skyways. The area reminds me of the mediterranean, with an ancient Roman flare. If you remember all the Jason and the Argonauts and Hercules movies, this is what it is like. There are many islands that you will be taken to on the skyway, during your quests. The smashing bosses on land are loaded with snakes, serpents, centaurs, satyrs, manticores, eagles, vultures, a hydra, Amazon archers, cyclops, ettins and orthrus (two headed dogs). Out on the skyway you can battle Ophidian, Renegade Eagle, Vulture Pirate, Pirate ships, sky snakes, harpies, and sky squid.
Ithaca Skyway has one big battle to actually get through the passage, so group up with your friends onto one ship. First, there will be a ship-type battle with a scary creature with four vine-type heads, called the Scylla. After you defeat the creature there will be a fight on your ship, with scylla spawns.
While the ship battle is being fought, the other pirates on the ship can clear tokens to keep the ship alive and clear bombs before the second part of the on-ship battle starts. Once the ship kills all the vine-heads, the second fight on ship starts. It is just a normal battle with the scylla spawn and at the end of the fight, you sail into Ithaca, where the Palace of Ulysses and Hawkules resides.
Valencia (Calabria Skyway)
Florenza is a large city with tunnels and caves under the city and is located in Calabria Skyway, with lots of smaller areas you go to for your quests, including villas, clockworks, palaces, smaller cities and the big battle in the Machine Docks. Disagreements and misunderstandings are your nemesis here as you end up fighting unicorn soldiers, Armada dragoons, Armada marines, crab thugs, musketeers, battle angels, bishops, Deacon, and Kane. The ships you attack here are Valencian Brigands, Ophidian, Valencian Smugglers, Armada, with stiletto fish lingering about. In the stormgate from Moo Shu to Calabria Skyway you also have void fish and octopus, along with more armada ships.
If you like to decorate or just be silly, housing is for you. As you battle and open chests, you will receive lots of housing items. Once you buy a house with crowns or gold, you can retreat there with all your shinies, companions and pets. My grandsons like to make mazes out of their homes by placing all the items, so they are blocking the doorways. It’s funny to go around the maze and try to catch the grandsons.
Note, if you don’t have a house, you can still decorate the bunkhouse and get to your shared bank there. In each house you buy, there is a pvp center that is a great place to practice fighting with your friends. You can also buy a smuggler’s arena, party room and mini-game kiosks, all of which will get you some type of shiny when used and I will go into these a bit more in the next section. I personally, enjoy decorating my houses for the special times of year.
There are so many ways to get shinies and gold that I will surely miss mentioning some! What do I mean by Shinies? Things like Mojo Potions, weapons, armor, ship equipment, pets, pet food, doubloons, gold and rental mounts. Here is a list of the ways and a short explanation of where to look for them.
Pirate101 has a lot of different things to offer and is a great game to be serious, laugh, or be silly with. I must admit on days that have been stressful, it is fun just to hang out around a life fountain and chat with others, or pick up some gifts in Skull Island during the holiday seasons. It is enjoyable to go with other players to their houses and see how they decorated. In real life, I love to take drives to places, but when I can’t get out, it is great just to sail around the beautiful skyways in Pirate101 and just take a breath. That being said, on days that I’m feeling a bit more lively, I love to do my quests on land and the skyway.
I want to thank my grandsons, John and William, my friends, Gill and Scott, Kingsisle and Heather Sorensen for all their help getting information for this article. If you would like more information on Pirate101, please go to https://www.pirate101.com/ and check them out!
Happy Sailing!