The Frontier

The strait is open. There is water past the edge of every chart, the same distance from all five oceans, and nobody keeps the peace in it.

Lawless Water

Chart of the FrontierMapSoundings, currents and the few safe anchorages past the edge of the known water. Read it and your fleets may sail for the Frontier.

The Frontier is one hop from every ocean. The same crossing from all five, so nobody starts closer than anybody else.

It belongs to nobody. No towns, no trade posts, no beginner protection and no vacation. Every port out here is an alliance's, and it can be razed to the waterline.

Any captain can sail out with Navigation 6, a Shipyard at 6, a colony and a chart from a Cartographer. Founding a port takes an alliance.

Somebody Is Already There

Every seat in the Frontier is held by a haven full of people who got there first. Break it and the seat is your alliance's to settle with a Charter Ship.

Holding Ground

Two garrisons sit in every archipelago. Station ships on one and it is yours.

• Each garrison held lifts what your alliance's port produces.
• While any garrison holds, your port cannot be raided.
• A broken garrison cannot be manned again for twelve hours. That is the siege.

What You Are Fighting For

Every archipelago in 1F has a maelstrom, and each one opens on one of the five alliance raids. There is no shortage of islands out here. There is a shortage of the raid you are missing.

• Land a fleet in a maelstrom with your alliance's port in the same archipelago and sound the call. Two hours later your alliance sails into an Elite version of its raid, with gear of its own one grade better.
• An alliance that wants all five has to hold ground across the map, and the places where all five sit close together are few. In 2F only one archipelago in three has a maelstrom, and which ones moves with the water.
• Leadership now goes to 10, and every level past 5 opens one more Elite raid.

Elite Raids

An Elite raid is fought stage by stage: their screen, their line, two of the captain's lieutenants and their guns, then the captain on a flagship of their own. Every ship carries its damage from one stage to the next.

• Every stage you break pays out, and every lieutenant gives up a chest. Now and then, the thing they were carrying.
• Every Elite piece favours a hull. The Haven's are for the light swarm, the Ghost Fleet's for the frigate line, the Citadel's for Men-o'-War, and a captain who brings ten of them fires first.
• Each raid takes a set number of captains. Hold more maelstroms and your alliance runs more raids at once.
• Each Elite raid can be won once a week, apart from the ordinary raid's own day.
• The raid plays out over the hour after it sails, a stage every few minutes. Watch each fight as it happens.
• Your officers can break off between stages and bring home everything still afloat.

The Frontier (2F)

Chart of the Frontier (2F)MapWater that will not hold still. A chart that tells you how to read it anyway. Read it and your fleets may sail the second Frontier. SablefishFishSleek and black as a wet boot, with flesh so rich it drips. The deep water keeps the fattest of them. 5-25 lbs. Cooks into Sablefish Broth. CoelacanthFishA fish with legs where its fins should be. The old charts call it extinct, and it has not read them. 60-200 lbs. Cooks into Coelacanth Stew. DeepstoneMaterialBlack stone from under the deep water, cold however long it sits in the sun. It only comes out of the caves out there.FoundCaves in the Frontier: Undercroft, Lost Workings, The Abyss

Past 1F lies a second ring, 2F, and it takes a chart of its own. The Cartographer will sell you one once you have read the first, and he knows what it is worth.

• An alliance founds in 2F only once it holds a port in 1F.
• 2F reorders itself every Monday. Your port stays where it is; what sits next to it does not.
• Every archipelago in 2F is a question mark until one of your fleets has been there that week.
• It has fish and caves of its own, and five alliance raids of its own, opened only from its maelstroms: new places, new captains, new gear.
• 2F's gear is cut for 2F's hulls. The Sunken Exchange arms Interceptors, the Reef of Lanterns Lancers, the Black Abbey Marchwardens.
• Its caves take Delving to 9 and every class to level 15.

Pirates on the Water

Pirate captains work the Frontier. Any fleet that arrives out there may find one waiting, and the deep water's are worse.

• Win and the fleet carries on with what it came for.
• Lose and the trip is over. Whatever was aboard is theirs.
• Not all of them want a fight.

Take It From Them

Alliances can go after each other's ground together.

• An officer calls an assault on another alliance's garrison or port, and it lands twelve hours later.
• Every ship your alliance gets there in time fights in the one battle.
• The other side hears the moment it is called, and every raid on Frontier ground is announced as it sails.
• A smaller alliance fights harder against a bigger one.

They Come For It

The havens send fleets at your ground with half a day's warning, and what they take they keep. Ground the pirates hold stays theirs until you break the fleet on it. Lose every garrison for long enough and the archipelago goes back to the people who had it first.

The Works

Blast FurnaceBuildingTapped on a Frontier shore for Darksteel: black, dense, the metal of the Frontier's guns and knees.Needs Shipyard 3 SawpitBuildingA pit dug at the edge of the old Frontier forest. Saws Blackwood, a timber too dense for ordinary hulls.Needs Harbour 3 TryworksBuildingRendering pots on the beach where the whaling boats come in. Boils Leviathan Oil out of what the deep water gives up.Needs Harbour 5 DarksteelResourceBlack, dense metal tapped at the Blast Furnace of a Frontier port. The heaviest hulls and works out here are built on it. BlackwoodResourceTimber from the old Frontier forest, too dense for ordinary hulls. Leviathan OilResourceRendered at a Frontier Tryworks from what the deep water gives up. It lights the lamps, greases the harbour works and goes into the richest cooking.

Three buildings only an alliance port can raise, making three things the safe oceans have never seen.

• The Blast Furnace taps Darksteel.
• The Sawpit cuts Blackwood.
• The Tryworks renders Leviathan Oil.

Buildings now go to level 15, and the top five levels are built from these.

Fight for the Haul

Blackened IronworkKnees, bands and bolts from a Frontier wreck, gone black in the cold water and heavier than they look. A yard that knows Darksteel Smelting gets Darksteel out of it. SturgeonFishArmoured in bony plates and older than the harbour it swims past. The roe alone is a fortune. 40-300 lbs. Cooks into Sturgeon in Brine. White SharkFishThe one the old hands go quiet about. It has been known to take a longboat's oar in passing. 500-2500 lbs. Cooks into Shark Steak. DragonfishFishBlack as pitch with teeth that glow. Comes up from the deep at night and the crew stops talking. 0.5-2 lbs. Cooks into Dragonfish Broth.

Fishing and salvage in the Frontier take time on the tile, and everyone who has charted it can see you working. Anyone outside your alliance can sail in and take what has come up so far.

• Frontier wrecks give up Blackened Ironwork, which the Breaker's Yard smelts into Darksteel once you find the manuals. The deeper ones bring up Blackwood.
• Every fish from level 70 up swims out here. Fishing and Cooking now go to 80.
• Whales and the kraken give up Leviathan Oil, and two new recipes are cooked with it.
• A working fleet can turn for home early with what it has so far.

Delves

DelvingResearchEach level makes your captain stronger underground, carries more out of a cave and opens the deeper ones.Navigator's Guild 3Up to level 9 NitreMaterialWhite salt scraped off the walls of a sea cave where nothing has disturbed it for an age. The powder mills pay for it by the sack.FoundCaves in the Frontier: Sea Grotto, Smugglers' Cave, CavernSalvaging rare and epic delve gear, sometimes GalenaMaterialHeavy grey ore in bright square crystals, dug from the dark at the back of a cavern. It runs into lead in a hot fire, and lead is shot.FoundCaves in the Frontier: Smugglers' Cave, Cavern, Deep Cavern and 3 moreSalvaging epic delve gear, sometimes Tarred GlovesEquipmentCanvas soaked in pitch until it stands up on its own. Rock does not cut it.FoundThe bottom of a cave: Sea Grotto, Smugglers' Cave FougasseHeavyDefenceA pit dug into the shore and packed with black powder and stones, fired under the first boats to come in.Blows once at the start of the fight, across every attacking ship.Attack 0Hull 200

There are caves in the Frontier, and your captain goes into them on foot. The Delve mission sails them there; the fleet waits off the shore and carries home what they bring out.

• Room by room down to the bottom, through chambers, dens and hazards, with a shrine halfway that patches you up and stows what you carry.
• Go in as a Bruiser, a Mender or a Rogue. The Bruiser draws the den, the Mender keeps you standing, the Rogue ends it. Each levels on its own.
• Every cave moves at midnight, and you get one try at each a day.
• The deeper caves open with the new Delving research. It is paid in what you bring up from them.
• Nitre also builds the Fougasse, a new shore defence: a pit of black powder and stones that blows once across a raid as it lands.
• Gloves, coats and boots fill the empty slots on your captain, and they are only found at the bottom of a cave. A Delves gear set holds what your captain wears underground.
• Go in as a group of up to three, with friends or your alliance. Everyone takes their own path and keeps their own loot, but your captains fight side by side in every den, with whatever class and gear each of you brings.
• A friend who never goes in that day still fights in yours.
• Pack food. The ration you send with the fleet feeds your captain for the whole run, and the caves have food of their own if you know what to do with it.

What the Caves Keep

Crocodile ToothEquipmentA yellow tooth as long as a hand, drilled and hung on a cord.FoundThe White Crocodile, at the bottom of a cave Sapper's GlassEquipmentA short brass glass for finding the weak seam in a wall. It finds the weak place in anything.FoundThe Sapper, at the bottom of a cave Isopod PlateEquipmentOverlapping shell plates laced onto a leather back. Ugly, and nothing gets through it.FoundThe Great Isopod, at the bottom of a cave Hollis's CompassEquipmentThe compass of an expedition that came down to map the deep and never went back up. It still points the way out.FoundCaptain Hollis, at the bottom of a cave FlowstoneTokenSmooth rock that water lays down over centuries on a cave wall. Earned in the dens, spent raising a delve weapon.FoundClearing dens in a caveSalvaging delve gear

The bottom of every cave has a keeper, three to each kind of cave, and each keeper drops gear of its own.

• Coats, boots, gloves, hats, charms, spyglasses and compasses from the caves can come up stronger against one kind of creature: Beasts, Vermin, Serpents, the things in the water, or men. Most come up at one or two percent. The ceiling is fifteen.
• Some pieces make a class ability better: the Bruiser's Taunt held longer, more healing for the Mender, more Quick Hands for the Rogue.
• Whatever you do not want breaks down into Flowstone.
• A bestiary in your Collections fills in as your captain kills what lives down there.

Heirlooms

Capstan Bar IEquipmentAn iron-shod capstan bar, the last thing on deck anyone lets go of.FoundThe bottom of a cave, one in ten Throwing Anchor IEquipmentA small anchor on a long line, thrown, set, and hauled on.FoundThe bottom of a cave, one in ten Boat Hook IEquipmentA boat hook on twenty fathoms of line, for pulling people out of places they should not be.FoundThe bottom of a cave, one in ten Flare Pistol IEquipmentA brass signal pistol. Fired into the dark, it lights the whole cave for a breath.FoundThe bottom of a cave, one in ten Long Knife IEquipmentA long thin knife, sharpened so often there is barely a blade left. What is left is enough.FoundThe bottom of a cave, one in ten Throwing Knives IEquipmentA brace of throwing knives in a leather bandolier. They make no sound until they land.FoundThe bottom of a cave, one in ten

Six old weapons lie at the bottom of the caves, two for each class. One cave bottom in ten gives one up.

• Every den pays Flowstone. Spend it raising an Heirloom from common to legendary.
• Raise one all the way and it takes its own name, with an ability to match.
• Somebody wants each of them back. The last step is a note, and a fleet to beat.
• The third step takes its class at level 5, and the last at level 10.
• Anyone can wear one, but its ability only answers to its own class.

Belts

Salvaged Rigger's BeltEquipmentA narrow belt of tarred rope with a marlinspike and a knife, worn by a rigger who was never once caught on deck. The light hulls under a captain who wears it fight like they have somewhere else to be.FoundThe Armourer, for 100 Blackmark Salvaged Officer's BaldricEquipmentA broad leather baldric worn over the shoulder, cut for a sword and a speaking trumpet. A line of frigates keeps its station under the captain who wears it.FoundThe Armourer, for 100 Blackmark Salvaged Gun Captain's BeltEquipmentA heavy belt hung with a priming horn, a pricker and a gunlock lanyard, worn by the man who laid the great guns. The heavy line holds under the captain who wears it.FoundThe Armourer, for 100 Blackmark Salvaged Steward's BeltEquipmentA belt with a ring of hold keys and a tally book on a chain, worn by the one who answers for every cask aboard. The holds come home under the captain who wears it.FoundThe Armourer, for 100 Blackmark Salvaged Lashing BeltEquipmentA wide canvas belt with an iron ring to clip a lifeline to, worn to fight in weather nobody else would. The fleet keeps its feet under the captain who wears it.FoundThe Armourer, for 100 Blackmark Salvaged Brander's BeltEquipmentA belt of scorched leather with a slow-match in a tin case, a powder flask and a bag of pitch balls, worn by a man who sailed fireships and lived. Every enemy burns under the captain who wears it, and the powder goes further.FoundThe Armourer, for 100 Blackmark Salvaged Salvor's BeltEquipmentA diver's belt of lead weights on a canvas strap, with a pry bar and a sounding line, worn by the one who works the wrecks while everyone else is fighting over them. The salvage hulls under the captain who wears it come home with the lift.FoundThe Armourer, for 100 Blackmark Salvaged Boarder's BeltEquipmentA thick belt hung with a brace of pistols, a cutlass and a grapnel hook, worn by the first man over the rail. Crews board to keep, not to sink, under the captain who wears it.FoundThe Armourer, for 100 Blackmark BlackmarkTokenA coin with no mint behind it, struck black past the edge of the chart and taken by nobody but the Armourer. Won in the Frontier's fights; buys and raises a belt.FoundElite and Deep raid wins, breaking a garrison, holding one against the pirates, winning an interception: the Frontier's fights, and nothing else

Your captain has a new slot, and eight belts to wear in it. Each one is cut for a way of fighting: the light swarm, the frigate line, the heavy line, the convoy, the storm, the fireships, the working grounds, the boarders.

• The Frontier's fights pay Blackmark, and nothing else does. The Armourer takes it for a belt's first stage.
• Raise a belt through five stages with Blackmark and the Frontier's own materials. From the third it carries an effect the whole fleet feels.
• The last stage is fought for. One of the Frontier's captains wants the belt back.
• A ninth belt is for the fishing fleet, and the Collector sells it for Scrimshaw and Fish Oil. Bigger hauls, and fishing boats that are harder to sink.

Five New Hulls

OutriderLightCombatSent ahead of the fleet to worry the big ships and keep them from forming line.Attack 350Hull 200Cargo 60Speed 8Powder 14/rd PrivateerMediumCombatA letter of marque and guns enough to make it stick.Attack 400Hull 300Cargo 120Speed 6Powder 22/rd InterceptorLightCombatBuilt long and lean for one purpose: to be among the great ships before they can bring their guns to bear.Attack 800Hull 400Cargo 120Speed 9Powder 45/rd LancerMediumCombatHeavy enough to stand in the line and quick enough to run down what the line cannot catch.Attack 900Hull 700Cargo 200Speed 6Powder 50/rd MarchwardenHeavyCombatBuilt past the edge of the known water, for fleets that mean to stay there.Attack 1100Hull 900Cargo 500Speed 2Powder 65/rd

• The Outrider and the Privateer give the light and medium lines a Galleon-tier hull.
• The Interceptor and the Lancer sit at the top of the yard, built on Darksteel.
• The Marchwarden is the Frontier's heavy, a step past the Man-o'-War, slow and built on Darksteel and Blackwood.

Misc.

• A second set of plans from a campaign boss now ranks that hull up.
• A full hold now takes the whole wreck instead of leaving a tonne behind.
• A raid report now names every ship lost, your gear's carrier included.
• A tapped quest card on a phone now takes the whole screen and scrolls.
• The shipyard's Show more button now names the hulls behind it.
• A co-op campaign invite in your inbox now has a Join button.
• The ship count in the dispatch window is now a box you can type in.
• Load Cargo now has the inventory's tabs, and the hold stays in view while you scroll the items.
• Gut and Sell at the fishmonger now take a count, so a stack can be split.
• A fleet still on its way out can now be turned back. It comes home in the time it has been gone, with what it carries, and a raid's powder goes back to the magazine.
• The ocean strip now names each charted archipelago's trade post and the store it sells.
• Every captain now has a word for every campaign boss before the fight.

Nobody owns the Frontier. Some of you will try anyway.