Steering Grind
So I couldn't really find any information on how to properly grind this skill besides what I've heard through chat in game.
Because of that I decided to run some tests myself.
As of testing I am unrefined rank 14.
For testing I'm using a FS Maltese Galley.
It has 465 vertical sails and 391 horizontal sails.
128 rowing power.
37 wave resistance.
Fully loaded with food & water.
I have rank 21 refined rowing. (decided to keep the gear low to prevent having to use MST/MTT as much)
Oxford speed up 3 & 4 enabled.
VW (+18%) equipped. (no 30% or 50%)
Aide is in a sailing ship, not a Clermont.
For skill proficiency I am using the server booster +100% and a charm box +100%.
For a total of +200%.
In order to get proficiency you need to sail.
When you dock you get proficiency.
However, while sailing there seems to be a random interval where I got extra prof but I don't know what triggers this.
Considering I was sailing in a straight line it isn't turning. It also doesn't happen per day at sea.
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So here's what I have found out:
Going from Hobart to Hobart sailing EAST took me 58 minutes.
In these 58 minutes I gained 297 proficiency.
That is 5.12 proficiency per minute.
Going from Hobart, passing Hobart once and docking in Hobart sailing EAST took me 114 minutes.
In these 114 minutes I gained 413 proficiency.
That is 3.62 proficiency per minute.
Going from Hobart to Ushuaia sailing EAST took me 22 minutes.
In these 22 minutes I gained 180 proficiency.
That is 8.18 proficiency per minute.
Going from Ushuaia to Hobart sailing WEST took me 24 minutes.
In these 24 minutes I gained 138 proficiency.
That is 5.75 proficiency per minute.
Interestingly, it is significantly lower sailing to the west? (proven by multiple runs)
Going from Ushuaia to Hobart sailing EAST took me 35 minutes.
In these 35 minutes I gained 231 proficiency.
That is 6.60 proficiency per minute.
Going from Hobart to Ushuaia sailing WEST took me 37 minutes.
In these 37 minutes I gained 282 proficiency.
That is 7.6 proficiency per minute.
Here sailing west was higher than east, why? I don't know.
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The most efficient route is:
From Hobart to Ushuaia sailing EAST.
Then Ushuaia to Hobart sailing EAST.
This whole trip has an average prof per minute of 7.21.
So what I've learned is that a longer distance isn't necessarily better. Thus afk sailing for a few hours is not beneficial.
This leaves the question, are there better routes? And what is the most efficient distance?
Note:
All these numbers fluctuate a little. And the prof per minute depends on your sailing speed.
But they should all scale respectively to your speed.
Aka, if you take twice the time the prof per minute will get halved.
If anyone has any additional information let me know :)
Was going to post it on Ivyro but it didn't post for w/e reason.
Comments
From what i learned from Gazi is that steering rank is calculated according to wave hight for the sea zone your in. That probably why so many do their afk row grind in chillie sea basin (waves are 31 there) . Although i didn't keep as detailed information as you, when i did my row grind, my steering was NOTICEABLY higher in that zone vs any other sea zones i sailed in.
That might make sense as to why docking in Ushuaia is worth so much more exp. Since it might take the wave height of the zone you dock in + distance travelled. Or w/e the formula is.
Doing a shorter run from Ushuaia to Valparaiso which is 6 minutes I gained 81 prof. However on the way back to Ushuaia, also 6 minutes I gained 84 prof. (Mind you I have refined steering by now, so lower ranks probably gain more prof in general)
sidenote, Ushuaia -> Valparaiso and back seemed to have a slightly higher prof/pm than Hobart -> Ushuaia as posted before. However, the additional NPCs and short distance make it a lot more active grind compared to going AFK for 30 minutes.
I've also gone ahead and did a trip from Ushuaia to Ushuaia sailing east. However, the proficiency gained from that was still significantly lower than doing the Hobart -> Ushuaia -> Hobart route.
So if there are any seas near Ushuaia that also has a high wave height it's probably the best to hop between those two ports.
Interesting i didn't know you'd get prof points when you dock, i always thought that was just adv xp.
Thanks to Rufas I was able to get my hands on a list of seas and their wave height: DHO - 해역 (ssjoy.org)
Might be worth trying Ushuaia -> Bahia -> Ushuaia. Going to focus my weekend on a different grind though 😄
Or just leep sailing around chillie basin for max effect. You can put your sails to minimum speed like when on row grind.
So I've done the trip from Ushuaia -> Bahia -> Ushuaia, not really worth doing. Also circled slowly around Ushuaia for 20 minutes. But that was even worse. So Hobart -> Ushuaia -> Hobart is the fasted way as far as I can tell.
Ushuaia -> Bahia -> Ushuaia = 68prof over 8 min so 8.5prof/pm
Chile Sea Basin slow circling 20 min = 118 prof over 20 min so 5.9prof/pm
Only running the 100% from server now.
In the old days, there was only one way to get steering prof. Every [base skill rank] days sailing at sea (have to be moving) you got [current wave height] skill prof. Obviously, the most efficient way back then was to just slowly move around in Chile waters (where the wave height is the highest, 31).
Starting in with the Age of Revolution update (so already several years ago) this was changed. We still get steering prof at sea according to wave height, but it is halved compared to earlier: Every [base skill rank] days sailing at sea we gain [current wave height] x 0.5 skill prof.
Instead, we now also gain steering prof when you reach port, depending on distance sailed (time at sea doesn't matter). This is capped at a certain distance, so you should not sail around for a day, you need to regularly port. I believe the distance cap is 10k nautical miles, and that one round of the uwo world (Hobart–Hobart) is 16385 nautical miles. The amount of prof for a given distance depends on base steering rank – for max distance it varies from 250 at r1 to 58 at r14 (someone in Filibuster job should check what it is at r15, I believe 54). There is also some rank-dependent minimum distance needed to gain any prof.
The optimal strategy is to combine these two mechanisms, that is: sail long distance as fast as possible in the southern seas, where wave height is generally high. And that means porting at Hobart and/or Ushuaia. Hobart–Ushuaia back and forth across the Atlantic/Indian is the best from pure distance view (because Hobart–Hobart is too long).
In the posts above, it’s hard to directly compare the calculations of prof per minute since this will depend on if the prof from wave height happened to be included. For example, if your base rank is r14 and you port at Ushuaia after 27 minutes you get 15 less prof than if you port after 28 minutes.
The best way depends on how AFK you want to do this, how fast your ship is sailing in headwind vs. tailwind, if you are rowing or not, if you are willing to micromanage prof from wave height, etc. Personally I prefer Hobart–Hobart (eastern direction), even if it overshoots the distance. Or just do nanban or long-distance adventure in steering favoured job. And unlike rowing, you get steering prof if you follow someone in fleet too.
TL;DR Steering is faster to rank up nowadays, but slow rowing in Chile waters isn't so efficient anymore.
Stinker, Anima (London)
Good info thx! 👍
Thanks :D
Actually that gives me an idea. What if you mentor a low level alt and slow sail in Chile.. That should mean you maximise what you said with: Every [base skill rank] days sailing at sea we gain [current wave height] x 0.5 skill prof.Considering the mentoring would drop you down to rank 1. That would boost it up to a minimum of 15.5prof/pm, thus beating all my other runs so far..Now to combine it with the distance rule of sailing 10k miles. If I understand correctly you can do 5 sweeps of the Chile Sea Basin up and down. Since it's 1000 miles in height that should get you 10k miles.I might give this a shot 🤔
I tried it, I forgot that mentored skills don't gain the prof benefit of being a lower rank.
Unfortunately, your base would still be the same if you mentor. Boosters or subtractors does not affect the base. (Plus, you will move slower).
"Also FYI the distance from Ushuaia to Hobart East is 10100ish miles. So better than the shorter trip between Hobart -> Ushuaia which is about 6200 miles." Exactly, back and forth across Atlantic/India is the best.
"5 sweeps of the Chile Sea Basin up and down. Since it's 1000 miles in height that should get you 10k miles." Try it!