Everything you need to know about Cargo Runs

Low-down on the brand new voyage type

Beginning with Patch 1.3.1, a new type of voyage finally comes to Sea of Thieves- Cargo Runs.

This guide walks through how Cargo Runs work, how to handle each of the types of goods, and how to earn all the new Bilge Rat Commendations, Doubloons, and Titles associated with them.

Cargo Runs

Cargo Runs are a new type of voyage within the Merchant Alliance that tasks you with delivering pieces of cargo. You purchase them as you normally would at any outpost, except that in every region besides the Devil’s Roar, they will be mixed in among the original Merchant Voyages (you can tell which is which before you purchase them from the Trader).

Once you vote to embark on a Cargo Run Voyage, you’ll receive one or more parchments in your quest wheel, which will tell you the name of an NPC to pick up your cargo from, and the island that NPC is located on. You don’t always pick up cargo from the Merchant Trader, and the NPC won’t always be located on the Outpost. To facilitate these voyages, Rare have added new NPCs to a number of islands throughout the world, so if you see any hanging about, that’s why! Your voyage might even point you toward the new Sea Posts found in each region.

Find that NPC, and a prompt will allow you to pickup their cargo, which will come in several crates. Once you’ve retrieved every crate from each parchment, the voyage will disappear from your quest wheel and map table- this allows you to start another voyage while delivering the cargo, including stacking more Cargo Runs!

Once you set down a crate of cargo, you’ll notice that it has a secondary prompt on it that allows you to read its destination tag. The destination tag tells you who to deliver to, on what island, and by what time- yes, Cargo Runs have a time limit, but when time is up they just lose value instead of becoming worthless. Most interestingly, these destination tags mean that when you find crates of cargo in the world at random (or by stealing them…) you can still figure out where to deliver them and get the full payout for their sale.

The Cargo

These voyages might seem simple- are we seriously just delivering crates from point A to point B? Well, the challenge comes from the fact that these crates of cargo need to be maintained, with each of the three varieties having different conditions needed to keep them in perfect condition. Fail to do that, and their value will gradually decline.

Bottles of Rum

These fragile bottles will become damaged if you jump up and down, jump down from a ledge, or allow them to get struck by explosions or cannon fire. The will depreciate in condition from Prime to Cracked to Splintered and finally to Shattered, with each tier being worth less money when delivered. You’ll notice the cracking get worse visually as this depreciation happens, until finally the tops break right off and they become “Shattered”.

Jumping straight up and down takes about 30 jumps to become fully shattered, though falling from farther heights or taking cannonfire hits will do dramatically more damage more quickly. They don’t seem to take damage when dropped, including from heights- it’s only when you’re carrying them.

Tip: Don’t jump from your boat down to shore or shallow water while carrying Rum Bottles! Jump to deep water or climb down the ladder without any drop onto a hard surface

Luxurious Cloth

Luxurious Cloth of course is too luxurious to get even modestly moist, so do what you can to avoid letting the crate contact water of any kind! This means no swimming while holding them, noputting them in the hull as it takes on water from a hole, and no leaving them exposed to rain from a storm.

Luxurious Cloth depreciates from Prime condition to Wet to Soaked and finally to Waterlogged.

Getting items from shore onto your boat and vice versa without taking a swim can be extremely difficult, especially on islands that don’t have a dock. The simplest solution is to use a Rowboat! Rowboats can be found washed up on the beaches of islands at random, and allow you to transport as many crates as you want to and from shore, docking onto the back of your ship without ever needing to set foot in the water.

Tip: Try setting Luxurious Cloths on shelves and tables above the water level, and avoid sailing near the radius of a rain storm

Plants

Crates of Plants, unlike Cloths, require water constantly. When denied water, they depreciate from Prime condition to Parched to Wilted to Shriveled. Luckily, it takes a decent amount of time before they transition to a worsened state, during which you can see their colors begin to fade. While fading, hitting them with water instantly rejuvenates them back to looking fresh- but once they’ve dropped down a tier of quality, they never recover.

Plants should be stored in the bottom of your ship’s hull, and there are two options for keeping their thirst satisfied. If you allow your ship to fill with water up until it covers the crate that they’re stored in, they will stay constantly refreshed. However, if you don’t want this much water in your ship, you can keep the thinnest layer of water in your hull and periodically scoop it up and throw it on the plants manually. They will return to full value just as long as they haven’t become completely shriveled, which takes nearly 12 minutes to do.

Tip: Don’t be shocked the first time you carry around a plant crate if they obstruct your vision- that’s on purpose and it‘ll take some getting used to.

Each of these cargo types sells for roughly 350 gold in prime condition, which drops as low as 50 gold in their worst state (250 and 150 in the intermediate states). These values are low, but you’ll always be transporting a good number of them at once, and you can stack them to deliver massive hauls.

NOTE: Athena’s Voyages (exclusive to Pirate Legends) now incorporate these Cargo Runs in place of the old animal collector voyages. You only need to complete the pickup of these goods to have them disappear from your voyage wheel- delivering them is just a bonus!

Commendations

Alongside the new type of voyage there are 5 new Bilge Rat Commendations you can complete, which will earn two new Titles and a total of 115 Doubloons. Doubloons can be spent in Duke’s shop (found in the tavern where you spawn) on whatever the current time-limited cosmetic items are, or on leveling up your reputation and even buying sacks of gold.

Cargo Runner- Simply deliver 25 pieces of cargo on time and in prime condition to earn 15 Doubloons.

Master Cargo Runner- Once you deliver 100 pieces of cargo on time and in prime condition, you’ll earn an additional 30 Doubloons, as well as the title “Master Cargo Runner”.

Legendary Cargo Runner- Your long term or “legendary” tier goal is to deliver 200 pieces of cargo on time and in prime condition- that nets you 50 Doubloons and the “Legendary Cargo Runner” title.

Fleet Cargo Runner- For this commendation you must be in an alliance and deliver 3 pieces of cargo. This earns you 5 Doubloons.

HOW TO FORM AN ALLIANCE

In the crow’s nest of the ship, open the “Flag Box”. Navigate to the second page of flags, and activate the “Offer Alliance” pennant (heart). Now find another ship in the world, and persuade them to join up with you- if they agree, they will do the same process in their Flag Box only they will select the option to “Join Alliance” (chain link). Now you can travel together or go on your merry way- allies will appear on your map table, be able to put voyages on your voyage table, and give you a bonus 50% of any loot they sell at no cost to them, and vice versa.

Devil’s Cargo Runner- For the more daring pirates, the Devil’s Roar presents a greater challenge and reward. Once you deliver 25 pieces of Devil’s Roar Cargo on time and in prime condition, you’ll earn 15 more Doubloons.

Devil’s Roar Cargo can only be found by purchasing the voyage at Morrow’s Peak Outpost in the Devil’s Roar region. Though you’ll pick up this cargo in the Devil’s Roar, you may not always deliver it to within the Devil’s Roar.

Devil’s Roar Cargo are also special varieties of those cargo items- worth roughly double their regular value (100 up to 700 gold), but also more fragile. Devil’s Rum will crack easier, Devil’s Plants will wilt faster, and Devil’s Luxurious Cloths will become soaked faster. This combined with the region’s unique and difficult environmental threats makes retrieving Cargo in the Devil’s Roar quite a bit tougher.

With Luxurious Cloths, as always the trick will be having a rowboat handy so you can avoid any amount of swim from shore back to your boat. The other issue is that volcanic eruptions make the hull of a ship very prone to taking on water. Luckily, there is no storm in the Devil’s Roar so rain is not a concern, and geysers don’t seem to damage Cloths either.

Bottles of Rum face the most hazards. Geysers litter the islands, and avoiding them at all costs is crucial to maintaining the bottles’ integrity. If you do get launched sky high, you might be lucky enough to land yourself in deep water- this won’t damage the bottles.

While sailing away from and nearby volcanic eruptions, bottles are particularly in danger of being damaged. Your safest bet is to load all the cargo as quickly as possible and escape the range of any volcanoes, giving any potential eruptions a very wide berth as you exit. Another option is to park far from shore and deliver cargo by rowboat, as rowboats seem less likely to be hit by stray volcanic rock.

Plants don’t seem to be particularly more difficult in the Devil’s Roar, but of course just surviving at all is more difficult. Utilize a rowboat to deliver your entire load in one trip, and don’t spend any more time on an island than you need to.

For more detail on dealing with the Devil’s Roar’s environment, read my Forsaken Shores Guide.

NOTE: The Fleet Cargo Runner and Devil’s Cargo Runner commendations overlap with the regular Cargo Runner ones- if you work on the former two, you’ll also be making progress on the latter!

With the first new voyage added to the game since launch, the Merchant Alliance gets a much needed revamp. Both in and out of the Devil’s Roar, the presence of Cargo Runs is sure to change up the pirate’s journey in Sea of Thieves.