Memorization: How to Get Routes Charted

In order to nav a course, you need to first get that course charted. You have two options here - you can either chart it yourself (meaning that you must own the chart for that route) or you can get someone else to do it for you.

Step 1: Use the Navy

Memorization of the ocean may be the single best use of the navy (well, maybe except for the "Defeat Brigands" missions which are never run by the folks that need it most, but that's a different story). Once you have Broad experience in bilge, sailing, carpentry, and gunnery, you can take navigation missions from the navy.

What's so great about navigating with the navy?

1. The navy will automatically chart a random course for you within the arch you're in (including interarch routes). You need no chart and you need no one to come chart it for you.

2. You don't need to worry about being attacked on the high seas because no one can attack a navy vessel.

3. You get paid to mem! Sure, it's not a lot, but you're still getting paid, and that's something.

What's not so great about navigating with the navy?

1. The routes it gives you are random. That means that, even if you already have Spring-Epsilon memorized, it may still show you that route...over and over and over again. You just need to be patient and keep checking the mission list for a different route. They change periodically. This becomes more and more of a problem as you successfully memorize more and more of the arch in question.

2. Not all routes are available. You can get a whole lot of routes by navving with the navy (I think you can get all the interarchs, but I'm not quite certain). Nonetheless, the navy covers nearly any route you'd ever want to sail. Most routes not offered are routes that go to uninhabited islands. Unless you're big on foraging, those routes probably aren't a big deal.

Step 2: Find Charts

Once you've memorized everything the navy will allow you to memorize, you're going to have to go out on your own and start memming. This can be a bit of a pain because you're now open for attack (don't carry much - just some rum will do) and it'll cost you PoE to go memming, as you need to stock the ship.

Of course, now you need to chart the courses yourself, because the navy won't do it for you. That means you need to either have the chart for the route in question or you have to have a mate that knows the route and can chart it for you.

If you're looking for a specific route, there are a number of places you might check for charts. For one, check with mates in your crew and/or flag. They may very well have the chart lying around somewhere. If it's a particularly troublesome route, check out the Buying/Selling Charts thread in your ocean's bazaar forums. (That link is for Midnight.) You may be able to find someone selling the chart you're after. You can also sell the charts you no longer need out there, getting you a little PoE back and, more importantly, helping others accomplish just what you're trying to do: memorize the ocean.

Another place to find charts, which may seem a little odd, at first, is at skellie fights. Quite often, people bring extra charts with them to skellie fights to use as their wager items. Whether you take part in the fight or are just watching, you can see the list of items won by folks when the fight is over. Scan through that list and see if you spot some charts that you need. Quite often, you won't find any charts in there that you can't already buy elsewhere, but occasionally you hit the jackpot. If you find a chart you need, send the winner of that chart a polite tell asking if you can buy it. Often, they won't want it, anyway, and just hand it over. And, if they'd rather sell it, 100 PoE is usually enough to get it in your pocket. It may not be the greatest place to find charts, but I found a few that way.

Step 3: Watch for Helpful Charters

There are quite a few folks out there that have the entire ocean memorized. Most likely, all of those folks had some help getting it done, from others that would chart routes for them so they could memorize them. Many of these people look to "give back" by simply helping the next group of folks memorize routes.

Maybe you have someone like this in your own crew or flag. Ask around.

Once in a while, you can find "events" like this one (which is coming up soon) in which you'll have a whole crew of folks willing to help you memorize the ocean. Events like this are a spectacular way to memorize large chunks of the ocean. I memorized nearly all of Sapphire in a single morning thanks to a similar event.