Blockade coordination

Winning a blockade requires excellent blockade coordination. Long before the Category:ships set sail, there is a lot of work to be done.

General Notes
As a good war master, you should make sure you are available to your crew mates to answer questions both in game and on the forum. You should also have regular communication with the crew ambassador & have someone watching the live map. Keep the crew updated as to what is happening and what needs to be done. Because many of us have young impetuous people in our crews, it may be useful to remind people of what it means to be good sports and the importance of being gracious, win or lose.

"Too many cooks spoil the broth." Having too many war masters/coordinators/admirals can be detrimental towards your crew's blockade effort especially when critical decisions are needed in a matter of seconds. For example, in some cases, having more than the necessary number of organizational staff can lead an undermanned ship being sent out or no one willing to take the make-or-break decision. A clear chain of command is needed, and it usually boils down to a single pirate making important decisions quickly. The position of assistant coordinator or admiral may be created so that others may learn the ropes under the guidance of an experienced blockade coordinator.

Things for Other People to Do
Crew Ambassador – Start checking with your allies and potential allies about what kind of support you can expect to get from them. The also includes "support" via a mutual ally staying neutral during the blockade contested by two allies.

Dock Spy – Size up the competition's fleet by having people periodically check the nearby island docks which belong to the rival crew & their allies, and taking notes.

It's critical to have enough crewmates as as they will be needed in order to be able to navigate the vessels in the blockade, help divide gunpowder stock, and give reports on how damage is going.

Ships
In general, it's best to get as many "sinkable" war brigs as possible with smaller ships, depending on strategy. It is good to create a list of ships in the blockade fleet, so decisions can be made as to which ships to use when.

Blockade coordinators may decline to answer when asked for specific ship numbers unless asked by the higher ranks of the crew.

Supplies
Make sure you supply your gunners with gunpowder and tnt. This can easily be done by putting a chest on each ship, and having the navigator of that ship deal out the supplies to the gunners before leaving the safe zone.

Navigators
Figure out your list of navigators. Because many people are eager to try their hand at blockade navigation, this list can be longer than what you'll be able to use. Tell people right off the bat that they potentially may not get to blockade nav. Your nav list will need to be ranked according to what you can figure out as the various people's skill levels are. The top one on the list will get the first filled ship, then the second, and so on.

It's also highly helpful to have your navigators and trusted gunners talking/coordinating during the blockade, using a voice chat. This will require all navigators and trusted gunners to have headsets or microphones. Whatever software you choose to use, make sure it's accessible to all your navigators and that everyone, especially you, knows how to use it. (Check the External Links at the end of this page for more suggestions.)

Mercenaries
Some crews may hire themselves out as mercenaries. Some bring fully staffed ships to the blockade and others will bring navigation skills. Prices will vary depending on the crew.

Tasks & Roles
Sometimes it can be helpful to have, in addition to the Ambassador and Spy, other people on hand to handle certain aspects of the blockade:

Stockmaster - If you aren't prestocking your ships, you'll need somebody to hop between ships and distribute gunpowder and TNT before they are sent out of the safezone.

Jobbing Contact(s) - It takes a lot of the weight off the rest of the team if you have a designated jobbing contact, who stands on a large ship in the safezone so they can teleport gunners straight to the blockade. Generally this person will also be responsible for answering questions from jobbers, and acting as somewhat of a moderator over crew and ally chat.

Communication
Make it clear that crew chat should not be used for idle conversation. Use crew chat to direct people to ships. Navigators and other core roles in the blockade should already be using a voice chat outside of the game as outlined above.

Ship Staffing
War brigs should have at between 20–22 people on board and war frigates should have at least 50–55. Each ship should also have a minimum of 2 trusted navigators. This helps cover cases where an out of game issue pops up or an accidental disconnect happens to a navigator.

Jobbing
Hopefully you and the crew Ambassador have advertised the jobbing point(s) of contact enough, along with the time that you'd start jobbing, that you'll have plenty of people. Ask your allies/friends to do crew bulletin boards and announce in the crew chat for you about 15–20 minutes before entry so the word starts being spread. Do your jobbing from on board the ship you are trying to fill, and avoid teleporting players to a ship already in the blockade. Once it's got the optimal number of people, announce who is in charge of the ship along with the name of the backup navigator and let 'em do their thing. Hop on the next ship with the next navigators.

During the Blockade
Hop aboard the supply ship so you can work your coordination and help making sure stock doesn't fall low.

Tasks & Roles
Sometimes it can be helpful to have, in addition to the Ambassador and Spy, other people on hand to handle certain aspects of the blockade:

Admiral: 1 - This is the person running the show. They sit watching the live map, fully zoomed on the Sea arena and communicate with the navvers. They receive information from the vice admiral about what's going on outside the arena, jobbing status, the opponent's jobbing status, if more ships are being sent etc. Every tactical decision made goes through the admiral. This includes: when (if) to pull out, what the navigators should be doing, what type of ship to fill next, etc. This person has the final say on all blockade related matters.

Vice-Admiral: 1 - This is like the Admiral's right hand man. He is the liaison between the Admiral and the rest of the blockade team, especially those outside the blockade board. He does not go on the blockade board, usually sitting in the safezone and checking ship numbers. For example, the Admiral would say "fill a brig next", and the Vice Admiral would go down his ship list to find an appropriate brig, and inform the jobbing contacts. Other duties including: assigning navigators to ships, and taking over everything that isn't covered by someone else. This person needs to be versatile, and fill in whenever necessary. They also need to have very good communication with the Admiral, who makes the final decisions. Another example: Vice Admiral tells the Admiral there's a warbrig with 3 people in safe zone, jobbers coming in slowly. The vice-admiral should in this case as to either send in the vessel or wait 3 minutes for the ship to fill. The Admiral makes the final decision, but the Vice Admiral needs to be the one bringing important matters to his/her attention.

Jobbing Contacts: 2-3 - These are the people actually filing the ships. They need extremely fast typing skills, and the ability to maintain cool heads under pressure. They need to relay with the Vice Admiral for decision making purposes, and be able to quickly process information and take actions. They need to take the raw information that the Vice Admiral gives them, and put it into action, which often is not the smoothest process ever.

Navigators: 4+ - These are the people actually driving the ships. All they should be focusing on during the blockade is driving, and which ship they need to get to next if they're sunk. They listen to the Admiral for directions on what to do, and coordinate amongst themselves during the blockade, for moves and such if necessary.

Quartermaster: 1 - This is the person handling stock, usually in the safezone for the entire blockade. He makes sure that all ships are fully stocked and takes stocking orders from the Vice Admiral, jobbing contacts, depending on which one notices any errors. This person may also handle blockade payment, which is a hellish job, and probably will be the one answer questions in crew chat and trying to keep things there in order. Most of the questions will be stuff like "why am i not getting paid yet??? you guys are thieves!". You need to answer all of these in a diplomatic manner. It ain't easy.

Communication
Make sure you're on the voice chat, but just let the navigators do their thing & coordinate with each other. You can use voice chat to get updates on how things are going. Specifically look for damage levels where there's danger of sinking. That way you can tell your jobbing contact' that another ship is needed. Toward the end of the blockade when they're headed back, check again on damage levels (if they're high, tell them to just sink the vessel) and check on supply levels so you can restock back up (if damage is low and a replacement ship isn't needed).

After the Blockade
The winning crew becomes the owner of the island. The declaration creator will be made governor, when an administrator is available.