1.3 Account, Server & Nation

Before you sail, the game asks you to accept a letter of marque — the commission that makes a privateer something other than a pirate. In practice this is where you set your captain’s name, choose a faction, and pick the flags your ship will fly.

1.3.1 Accepting the commission

The commission screen presents a period document naming you as captain of a private sloop-of-war and granting authority to seize pirates and rovers at sea. It sets the fiction you are playing inside: you are licensed, you are not navy, and your authority has limits written into it. You enter a captain name and accept.

Read it once rather than clicking through. The framing explains the game’s central tension — you are hunting for profit under a licence, which is why prizes, cargo, and reputation matter as much as sinking things.

1.3.2 The four factions

You choose one of four:

This is the choice that matters. It determines who you sail as in a Mediterranean carved up between France, the Ottomans, the Barbary corsairs, and the Coalition arrayed against Napoleon. Treat it as a commitment and pick the side you actually want to fly.

1.3.3 Sub-nations are cosmetic

After the faction, you choose a sub-nation from a long list within it — national navies, rebel movements, city states, merchant houses, and assorted corsairs and pirate colours. The game is unambiguous about what this does:

“The choice of sub faction is strictly cosmetic, and adds extra flags to your ship.”

So choose it for character, not advantage. There is no hidden bonus to research and no wrong answer — a sub-nation buys you a distinct set of colours at sea and nothing more.

Ships carry several flag positions, including a flag, a naval ensign, and a sub-nation naval ensign. Your faction supplies the main colours; the sub-nation adds its own on top. There are roughly fifty sub-nations across the four factions, so the range of recognisable appearances is wide.

1.3.4 Before you sail

1. Read the commission text once for the setting rather than clicking straight past it.
2. Choose the faction you want to belong to — this is the meaningful decision.
3. Choose a sub-nation for its flags alone, without hunting for an advantage.
4. Note the flags you end up flying, so you recognise your own ship at range.
5. Go to the dock and inspect your ship before undocking. See Port UI.

Naming, faction, and flags settled, the rest of the game happens at sea.