10 Tips and Tricks to Know Before You Start Windrose

If you have a desire to hit the open seas and plunder great riches, you have probably set your eyes on Windrose. This pirate survival game has some amazing base crafting, solid combat, and plenty of treasure.

Of course, being a survival game, it can be difficult to find your bearings. The game gives you little direction, often letting you find your own way. This will inevitably lead to you dying a few times before you get the hang of things.

This is why we have compiled a list of tips and tricks to help you survive the harsh tides in Windrose and live to tell your tale without ending up in Davy Jones' locker.

10 Change How You Build

Different Angles, Different Modes

The building mechanics in Windrose are much deeper than they initially seem, which is something that is very appealing for those who like to craft elaborate bases. One thing that often gets overlooked is that you can press the Q key on your keyboard to unlock more building options.

Pressing this button will open a sub menu, giving you the ability to change the angle you build with, a change in perspective, and the ability to turn snapping on and off. This will allow you to go more in-depth with your build.

The angle is great for when you are dealing with multiple structure types, but the best part of this menu is the ability to change your camera mode. Seeing everything from a bird's eye perspective helps when building rooftops and working in difficult spaces.

9 Stand in the Air

It Helps With Building

Let's continue the trend of talking about crafting by talking about a little trick that I didn't notice until fairly late in the game. Whenever you build, you can hold the mouse button to continuously build walls, floors, etc.

This plays into what this section on the list is about, and that is being able to stand where you are building. Whenever you are building a new floor, you can walk wherever you have theoretically placed a structure.

If the floor is green, you can step on the area, allowing you to essentially walk on air, and also allowing you to continuously build without needing to position your camera at awkward angles.

8 Light Up the Caves

Better Than Your Lantern

Dealing with your lantern can be a bit annoying, and it doesn't offer that much light. A better means of going about exploring caves is bringing the materials to build torches.

You don't have to have a camp nearby to build torches, meaning you can simply place them on the walls of a cave to light up the area. Additionally, these torches are permanent, so you never need to replace them.

If you are wondering if the torches prevent ores from respawning, they don't. So you can continuously go back to the same cave and mine more ore without ever needing to worry about your lantern ever again.

7 Always Have a Fast Travel Location

It Makes Returning Much Faster

Let's face it, you are probably going to die a lot in Windrose. The enemies can be pretty tough, and the world is unforgiving. Plus, there are a lot of islands to explore.

A major tip is to always have the items to craft a fast travel point for your character or on your ship. This way, when you get to a new island, you can place down a fast travel point.

If you die, you can then fast travel quickly back to the island without needing to go through the hassle of sailing. When you are done with exploring the island, you can destroy the fast travel point to get your resources back and build a new one somewhere else.

A Faster Farming Method

There's plenty of fiber to be found in Windrose by destroying plants around the islands. The main issue here is that you can only destroy plants in an area that your weapon can hit. This means that if you increase the area your weapon can hit, you can get more fiber.

The fastest method I have found to obtain fiber isn't by wildly swinging a weapon around in the foliage. Instead, grab your shovel and use the leveling tool to flatten out the ground.

Everything within this large circle will get destroyed, quickly giving you a bunch of fiber. Do this in a few areas to quickly farm fiber without much trouble.

5 Put NPCs to Work

Hiring Bonuses

With so much to do in Windrose, it would be nice to get a little help around your camp. Well, NPCs in the game do more than just stand around and look pretty. They can act as workers to aid you around your base.

Several NPCs around Tortuga and the neighboring islands can be hired. These include Rosalinda Mercer, Jasper Crowe, Black Axel, and Mortar Joe. Each of them has a bonus for keeping them around your camp as well.

For instance, having Rosalinda around will double your clay bottle production and give you a 30% chance to get an extra elixir when crafting. Each of these bonuses is very important, and you should hire these NPCs as soon as you can.

4 Unlock Merchant Contracts

Speaking of NPCs, they make great merchants. I don't just mean that you can buy upgrades for your ship or new items for your camp from them. I mean that you can unlock them as merchants at your camp.

You will notice that some of the faction members will sell you merchant contracts. You should buy these as soon as possible, as they will help you get additional resources.

A merchant contract allows you to place a merchant table at your camp. You can then use these merchants to buy food and resources. These merchants also get upgraded inventories as you progress through the game.

3 Heavy Attacks Get More Resources

They Hit Harder

If you are someone who wants to get materials very quickly, then this tip is useful, as it will save you some time when trying to gather resources like copper and iron. Simply use a heavy attack instead of your normal attack.

Heavy attacks have a wider attack range, which means you will end up hitting more resources at once while mining. This will allow you to break more ore at a fast rate, making mining go a lot quicker.

After switching to this form of mining, you won't want to go back to using standard hits anymore, as you will realize how much slower it can be.

2 Let Your Crew Attack First

It's Safer

I am a huge fan of the ship combat in Windrose. I love hitting the sea, finding enemy ships, and blasting them out of the water. One of the best parts of this experience is being able to board these ships and initiate a battle against the enemy pirates.

You may have also made the same mistake I have, which is quickly jumping aboard the enemy ship only to get killed instantly. When you board a ship quickly, all the enemies tend to flock straight to you, making it difficult to defend yourself.

However, if you wait around 30 seconds, your crew will board the enemy ship, making it much safer for you to jump aboard and join in the assault. This also means that you won't need to make your way back to this area to gather your inventory if you die.

1 Stay Well Rested

Your Ship Counts

You may have noticed that you obtain the well-rested bonus any time you go to your camp. This bonus lasts an amount of time equivalent to your comfort level.

Your comfort level can be increased by building items that increase comfort around your camp. It is important to always return to your camp to get this bonus, as it will make your stamina regenerate faster — a necessary bonus for survival in Windrose.

Your ship also counts, as boarding it will give you a bonus equal to your highest camp comfort level. Always be sure to go back to your ship or camp and get this bonus, especially if you are going to go somewhere with combat like a boss fight or enemy camp.