Zailing (Guide) (Retired)

This guide is outdated and has been retired! You can find the current guide at Zailing (Guide). This guide has been preserved as an acknowledgment of the history of Fallen London and of the contributions to the wiki. If you don't think this guide should be retired, please explain in the Comments or at Category talk:Retired.

Do you want to be a zailor? Do you have what it takes to be the captain of your own ship? Then be welcomed to the Neath's Unterzee, where the sibilants are voiced and the girls are mermaid zombies.

Introduction

In order to own a ship, you must be A Person of Some Importance -. Until then, you may travel to Polythreme via A Ticket to Polythreme at the Wolfstack Docks, or to Mutton Island via Board (only during the Fruits of the Zee Festival).

Once you're a PoSI, you can start working towards Acquiring a Ship. The PoSI Item Crafting guide includes details on getting ships. It is generally recommended to start with the Rusty Tramp Steamer, as the Clipper, Zub, and Yacht are significantly more expensive. It is possible to trade in ships at any time.

The following acronyms will be used throughout this guide:

• BU: The Broad Unterzee, the main Zailing area, which allows travel to London, Hunter's Keep, the Iron Republic, and more.
• SoV: The Sea of Voices, a secondary Zailing area that allows travel to Polythreme and more.
• AJE: Approaching Journey's End, essentially a progress tracker for Zailing.
• TW: Troubled Waters, essentially a Menace tracker for Zailing.

Preparations

Once you have your own ship, you can finally set zail and explore the Zee. However, zailing entails more than just hopping into your ship and heading off. First, not all locations are immediately unlocked:

There are two places you can Zail to immediately, Mutton Island and Hunter's Keep.

• To zail to Polythreme, you need to be in the SoV, which requires the Screaming Map. This is obtained with Route: Wolfstack Docks and playing Polythreme Ho!, which starts a couple of short quests to obtain the Left- and Right-Hand Halves of the Screaming Map.
• To zail to Bullbone Island, Corpsecage Island and Grunting Fen, you need Embarking on a Voyage of Scientific Discovery 3. This becomes available after completing Featuring in the Tales of the University. Grunting Fen is in the SoV so additionally requires the Screaming Map.
• To zail to Port Carnelian, you need Imperial Legitimacy. This is obtained through completing Working toward a Foreign Posting in The Foreign Office after being Banished from the Court -. If you have already been to Port Carnelian but have lost your Legitimacy, it may be restored by playing through the carousel again.
• To zail to The Court of the Wakeful Eye, you need Associating with Radical Academics 20. This storyline requires access to the Fifth Coil of the Labyrinth of Tigers.
• To zail to The Iron Republic, you need an Iron Republic Safe-Conduct, which costs 3 Mark of Credit Pages. Marks may be earned through the Counting the Days carousel. (It is possible to buy the Safe-Conduct from "Chat with the Local Gossip" at your Lodgings, rather than through Secrets and Spending, which does not clear your Counting the Days quality.)
• There are also some destinations just for specific ambitions: The Sisterhood's Island Convent with Ambition: Bag a Legend! 44, Dr. Vaughan's Hidden Encampment with Ambition: Light Fingers! 51-64, and Stop briefly on Corpsecage Island to find the Prince's Prison with Ambition: Heart's Desire! 150.
• While Seeking Mr Eaten's Name you can go to The Chapel of Lights with A Book of Crimson Prayer, "Nothing is certain. Nothing is impossible." with The Hollow Heart, and NORTH with Embarked on an Expedition to the North.

Progress Quality Wipes

Whenever you set zail, you completely lose several progress qualities. If possible, you should cash them in before you leave to benefit from them.

The cleared qualities are:

• Dramatic Tension
• Casing...
• Fascinating...
• Inspired...
• The Hunt is On!
• Running Battle...
• Investigating...
• Seeking...
• Term Passing...
• Disappearing...
• If present, Time Passing in the Southern Archipelago and Unnatural Exuberance are also cleared.

You may also consider stocking up on Zee-Ztories (x20) and Partial Maps (x4). These can save zailing time in unfortunate situations, as will be discussed below.

Planning Routes

Before you set zail from most places, you can shorten your zailing trip by spending resources up-front. This is not possible from the three scientific expedition locations, or in other specific circumstances.

When possible, however, you may Plan a more ambitious route and spend Zee-Ztorys and/or a Puzzling Map to decrease your time spent at Zee. These increase both AJE and TW.

Spending 5 Zee-Ztories increases your AJE by 6 CP (up to Level 7) and TW by 5 CP.

Spending a Puzzling Map increases your AJE by 25 CP and TW by 20 CP.

Note that the Puzzling Map option locks with any amount of AJE, so it may only be done once, and must be selected first.

Zailing Mechanics

Lay in supplies and sail (which costs 100 Rostygold, if setting out from London) usually includes a Watchful challenge. Success at this challenge will give 2 Zee-Ztories, or possibly a more valuable item; failure will not give the Ztories but has no other penalty.

All Zee-trips include a Zailing Difficulty of 6; this value is only different for trips in certain Exceptional Stories.

In some locations, there are restrictions on when you may set sail:

• On Mutton Island, you cannot leave when you have Time Passing in the Southern Archipelago 7-9.
• In The Iron Republic once you arrive you cannot leave until you have completed a cycle and reach A Day for Reading.
• On the three scientific expedition locations, you can not leave until your Orthos is Coming! quality is 10.
• Port Carnelian only allows you to Plan a more ambitious route at the end of a term as governor. While you may leave at other times, you will lose half of your Imperial Legitimacy if you have the Time Passing in Office quality, and will be sent straight into the BU without being able to plan your journey.
• Leaving any of the Seeking Mr Eaten's Name destinations sends you straight back to London, not the BU or SoV.

Setting Zail

When you zail you have two progress qualities to worry about: Approaching Journey's End and Troubled Waters. These may be gained through (undiscardable) Opportunity Cards, from preparations before zailing, or the storylets Steam Boldly and Steam Prudently.

The primary goal of Zailing is to increase AJE to 10 (55 CP). This lets you pick a destination and disembark. At 7 (28 CP), AJE allows you to move from the Broad Unterzee to the Sea of Voices or vice-versa. This clears your AJE quality and reduces TW by around 25 to 50 CP.

TW is basically the Zee's Menace quality. Depending on how high it is, you may draw different cards. Cards drawn at high TW are typically more punishing or more difficult to succeed at than those available at low TW. There are three tiers of TW:

• Calm Seas: TW < 8 (36 CP)
• Lashing Waves: TW = 8-9 (36-54 CP)
• Fury of the Unterzee: TW > 9 (55+ CP)

Fury of the Unterzee cards will often force you to take a 50% Luck challenge that either slightly lowers TW or resets TW and sets AJE to 5. This will typically add a significant number of actions to your trip, so the cards are best avoided if possible.

Listed below are the Zee storylets and possible cards. The table includes possible actions, any requirements and challenges, and outcomes for success or failure along with the average result.

Note that the Zee has an infinitely replenishing Opportunity Deck, but only allows three cards to be held in your hand regardless of your Lodgings. Also note that cards from the Broad Unterzee will be carried over to the Sea of Voices (and vice versa).

Pinned Storylets

Storylet	Branch	Req.	Odds	Success	Failure	Average
Steam Boldly	Extrapolate from the charts (BU & SoV)	<8	50%	+7 +6	+5 +12	+6 +9
	Make it up as you go (BU & SoV)	<10	30%	+10 +9	+7 +18	+7.9 +15.3
	Ignore the warning signs (BU)	8	30%	+6 +1	-4 +6	-1 +4.2 +0.3
	Can it get any worse? (SoV)	8	30%	+6 +1	-4 +6	-1 +4.2 +0.3
Steam Prudently	A cautious captain (BU & SoV)	<8 (5 Actions)	100%	+14 +11	—	+2.8 +2.2

Regular Cards

The following cards can be drawn at any Troubled Waters level.

Card	Action	Req.	Chal.	Success	Failure	Average
A Corvette of Her Majesty's Navy (BU)	Exchange pleasantries via semaphore	<5	None	+3 -2	-	-
	They're not slowing	5	50%	+4 +3 +3	+3 +10	+3.5 +6.5 +1.5
A Mountain of the Unterzee (BU)	'Hard to port! Reverse engines!'	None	50%	+7 +3 x2	+2 +7	+4.5 +5 x1
She's Going Down! (BU)	Stop and rescue them	None	None	-2 -2 +3 -3	-	-
	Let the Unterzee have them	None	None	+3 +1 +3 -3	-	-
The Clinging Coral Mass (BU)	"Put your backs into it, lads!"	None	120	+3 +2 Rare: No x3	+2 +4	-
	Grab a hammer yourself	None	120	+3 +2	+1 +4	-
The Killing Wind (BU)	Outrun the storm front	None	50%	+7 +4	+1 +8	+4 +6
	Make ready to dive	Zubmarine	None	+2 -3	-	-
Those engines don't sound healthy (BU & SoV)	Offer to help out	None	None	-2 -2 +3 -3	-	-
	Hoist the black flag	None	None	+2 +2 -3 +3 +3 300	-	-
The Fleet of Truth (BU & SoV)	Villainy!	3	120	+2 +2 x5 x5 x5	+2 +4	-
Good weather for a Zee-Clipper (BU & SoV)	Full speed ahead	Swift Zee-Clipper	None	+9 +8	-	-
Submerge (BU & SoV)	Run deep, run quiet	Zubmarine	None	+2 -4 +?	-	-
Zailing in style (BU & SoV)	Days of black and gold	Majestic Pleasure Yacht	None	+2 x1 x10 x50 +1CP	-	-
A Good Meal (SoV)	And a little bonus	3		+2 +3 x3 x3 x3 x1
A Hazard to Shipping (SoV)	Set a course around the thing		120	+2 +2 Rare: +3 No x2	+1 +2
A Light in the Fog (SoV)	Get as close as you dare			+2 x13 +5 CP
	Keep away from the lighthouse			+2 +1
Crossing Paths (SoV)	Hail the ship and have a chat with the captain			+1 -1 x1 +5 CP
	Steam on by			+2 +3
Listen to the Wind (SoV)	Listen to the Voices		50%	+7 +2 x1 +5 CP	+2 +7	+4.5 +4.5 x0.5 +2.5 CP
	Steam the way the voices tell you	1		+3 +5
A Wily Zailor (BU & SoV) < 10	Zail around the Pelagic Upheavals	1		+6 +4
	Skirt the Howling Shoals	4		+7 +4
	Steam straight through the Beechey Currents	6		+8 +4 x1
	"I'll be in my bunk."	1		Costs 8 Fate

Calm Seas Cards

The following cards can be drawn only when Troubled Waters is less than 8.

Card	Action	Req.	Chal.	Success	Failure	Average
A Huge Terrible Beast of the Unterzee! (BU)	Delicious, delicious lumps		120	+1 x1 x1-3 1 +1	+2	-
	Steam on by		None	+3 +3	-	-
A Spit of Land (BU)	Stop briefly at the island		50%	+3 -1	+2 +5	+2.5 +2
	Steam on by		None	+3 +2	-	-
A Steamer full of Passengers (BU)	Invite them aboard for a party	Majestic Pleasure Yacht	None	x5 x1 +2 +3 -3	-	-
	Steam past them		None	+3 +2	-	-
Creaking from Above (BU & SoV)	Glim-fall!		50%	+1 +3 x300 +1	+1 +5 x20	+1 +4 x160 +0.5
Fair Zailing (BU & SoV)	Take advantage			+6 +4 +1	-
	Correspond with a Fellow Scholar	Socal Action x10 You and a friend need; x50, x50 and x50		+3 +2 -10 Once accepted; x10, x10 x10 and x4-8
Meeting a Local Steamer (SoV)	Hail the steamer to exchange news			+1 -2 x1 +5 CP
	Steam on by			+3 +1
	I say, must you do that?	Majestic Pleasure Yacht		+2 -2 x1
The Giant of the Unterzee (SoV)	Erm, hello?		120	+4 +4	+1 +3

Lashing Waves Cards

The following cards can be drawn only when Troubled Waters is 8-9.

Card	Action	Req.	Chal.	Success	Failure	Average
A Blanket of Fog (BU & SoV)	Is there someone out there?		50%	+5 +6 x1	+1 +8 +1	+3 +7 x0.5 +0.5
A Shape in the Depths (BU)	Steam briskly away			+3 +3
	Take a closer look		120	+3 +2	+3 +5
A Ship of Zealots (BU)	See them off		120	+3 +2	+3 +4
	Race away from these lunatics	Swift Zee-Clipper		+5 +4
A Stowaway! (BU)	Let him off at the next port			+3 +3 +3 -3
	Heave him over the side			+3 +3 -3 +3
A Tiny Coral Island (BU)	Record it and move on			+3 +3
	What's that down there?	Zubmarine		+2 -2 x5
The Iceberg (SoV)	Keep a prudent distance		50%	+3 +5 CP	+1 +3	+2 +1.5 +2.5 CP
	Have a look around under the iceberg	Zubmarine		+2 -? x2 +5 CP
Unfinished Pirates! (SoV)	Repel Boarders!		120	+2 +3 x1	+3
	Outpace them	Swift Zee-Clipper		+5 +4

Fury of the Unterzee Cards

The following cards can be drawn only when Troubled Waters is at least 10.

Card	Action	Req.	Chal.	Success	Failure	Average
A Blank Space on the Charts (BU)	There's an island here		50%	-5	=5 =0 +3
	Fortuitous fragments	x4		-4 -5
The Stone Pigs Cough (BU)	At your earliest convenience		50%	-5 +?	=5 =0
	Race away	Swift Zee-Clipper		+2 -5
Hardship and Want (BU)	Tighten your belt and make the best of it		50%	-5	-3	-1.5 -2.5
	Let them eat pies	Majestic Pleasure Yacht		+2 -5
What are Those? (BU)	Something is wrong here		160	-5	=5 =0
	Learn from those who failed before	x20		-20 -5
Taken (SoV)	Oh no		50%	+2 -5 +? CP	=5 =0
	Use your store of sea-lore	x20		-20 +2 -5
Lost but not Alone 11 (SoV)	A tapping on the hull		50%	+2-6 - 2-6	=0 =0 +3
	Avert what comes	x20 x100		+2 -5 -20 -100

The aim is to raise AJE to 55 CP as fast as possible, while avoiding having to play any Fury of the Unterzee cards. Almost every action that gives AJE also gives TW, and as many of them are Luck challenges it is not possible to guarantee success in most cases.

There are three main things to consider in an action: How much AJE it gives, its relative rate of AJE and TW, and its Echo profit. The average card gives about 3 AJE, 3 TW, and few or no Echoes. While Zailing, try to keep AJE higher than TW, making use of actions that lower TW such as Exchange pleasantries via semaphore. However, if AJE is obtained in large amounts, it may be possible to simply wrap up the journey before your hand fills with undesirable cards.

Keep in mind that the storylet actions are useful to obtain large amounts of AJE, and may be as or more reliable than the Opportunity Deck in many circumstances. However, Steam Boldly carries the risk of significantly increasing TW, and Steam Prudently is less action-efficient than most card options.

Particularly useful cards at Zee include:

• A Wily Zailor is easily the best card to draw. Initially it gives 6 AJE, increasing to 7 or 8 after many voyages, and it only gives 4 TW. This makes it the fastest card and one of the best for getting ahead of trouble.
• A Corvette of Her Majesty's Navy gives a decent 3 AJE but also decreases TW by 2, giving it the largest difference between AJE and TW. This can be very helpful if your voyage has been an unlucky one. However, if the TW decrease is not necessary other actions, such as Extrapolate from the charts, may be superior.
• Fair Zailing has two good options. One is a social action that gives 3 AJE, 2 TW and a small profit. The other gives 6 AJE, 4 TW and 1 SiC.
• Listen to the Wind, The Giant of the Unterzee, A Mountain of the Unterzee, The Killing Wind give 4.5 AJE/4.5 TW, 4 AJE/4 TW, 4.5 AJE/5 TW, and 4 AJE/6 TW respectively. All of these cards have higher than average AJE, but equivalent or higher TW. Extrapolate from the charts gives proportionally the same AJE to TW as The Killing Wind.
• A Light in the Fog (SoV only) gives 13 Zee-Ztories (6.5e) for only 2 TW, so it is very profitable.
• Creaking from Above gives on average 1 AJE, 4 TW, 1.6e and 0.5 SiC. If TW is not a concern, it may be profitable to play.
• A Huge Terrible Beast of the Unterzee! is a 120 dangerous challenge that gives, 1 AJE, no TW, 1.1e, 1 SiC and up to 1 Unaccountably Peckish on success.
• Those engines don't sound healthy includes an option, Hoist the black flag, that gives a Bundle of Oddities with a maximum value of 300 on success. This may be useful for players who are looking to regain their Soul (value: 200), as it is relatively more common than other actions with similar Bundle value ranges.