Boarding Party Gear

Boarding Party Gear is the sole Ship Crew Equipment item in the game, mounted in a ship's dedicated Crew Equipment slot. It boosts the combat power of the NPC boarding party that follows the player onto an enemy deck, so it matters most for captains who plan to win fights by capturing ships rather than sinking them.

Equipment reserved for close-quarters combat. Better gear means better-armed boarders, and fewer chances for the enemy once the clash starts.

Gentlemen, once aboard, leave nothing standing. (Black Bart)

Overview

In-Game Effect

Boarding Party Gear applies a single persistent effect while equipped in the Crew Equipment slot: it increases the power of the NPC boarding crew when the player initiates a Boarding action on an enemy ship. The effect applies to NPC crew combat performance during deck fights, not to the player character's own melee output.

Because the effect is a blanket crew-power increase rather than a stat breakdown (HP, Attack, Defense), upgrading the gear at higher tiers scales the whole crew-power bundle rather than a specific stat.

Fits Ships

Every hull in the game accepts Boarding Party Gear in its Crew Equipment slot, so you never have to pick between upgrading the gear and switching to a different class of ship. Compatible hulls:

• Blackbeard Brig

• Blackbeard Frigate

• Blackbeard Ketch

• Brethren Brig

• Brethren Frigate

• Brethren Ketch

• Brig

• Frigate

• Ketch

Crafting Recipes

Boarding Party Gear is crafted at the Shipwright's Workshop. Each station tier unlocks a better material pipeline for the same finished gear, so the recipe changes as your workshop levels up rather than the gear class itself changing.

Upgrading

Like most ship equipment, Boarding Party Gear carries its own upgrade track at the Shipwright's Workshop Upgrade tab. Every Item Level from 1 to 15 costs an incremental batch of the listed materials (see the Level-by-Level Material Cost section below). At Item Level 15 the ATK stat peaks at 380, matching the rest of the top-tier ship equipment bracket.

Disassembles Into

Salvaging a Boarding Party Gear at the Shipwright's Workshop returns the Level-1-tier ingredients:

• Copper Ingot x7

• Rough Hide x7

• Coarse Fabric x7

Disassembly returns the raw-material cost you paid at Level 1 regardless of which tier you upgraded through, so salvaging a high-item-level copy does not refund the higher-tier materials you spent on upgrades.

When to Prioritize

• Boarding-focused builds: A boarding-pressure captain benefits the most. If you plan to capture ships rather than sink them, upgrading this gear gives your NPC crew the survivability to win deck fights while you flank or hold a chokepoint.

• Solo play vs. larger enemies: Blackbeard Brigs and Frigates spawn more deck defenders than a Ketch or standard Brig. A crew without upgraded gear gets wiped quickly against those spawns.

• Multi-ship fleet play: When you are managing helm and cannons on your own hull, the crew is the only boarding party you field. An upgraded Boarding Party Gear effectively turns your crew into an autonomous deck-clearing unit while you keep your ship moving.

Captains who run gunnery-first loadouts tend to keep this gear at lower item levels and invest crafting time into Cannons or Naval Tactics instead. Because crew-boarding fights are entirely optional in most engagements, skipping the upgrade path is a valid choice.

Pairing with Naval Tactics

Boarding Party Gear slots into a different ship slot than Naval Tactics, so they do not compete for equip space. The natural pairing is with Naval Tactics II: No Quarter, which restores 30% ship health when you destroy an enemy within 50 meters (a common outcome of a successful boarding action when the boarded ship is left low on hull afterwards). Naval Tactics IV: Shipshape is also a strong pairing because it regenerates hull health between boarding actions so you can chain multiple prize hunts without docking.

Equipping

Boarding Party Gear equips into the Crew Equipment slot at a Wharf. The slot is separate from the tactics slot, the cannon slots, and the hull-mod slot, so equipping this gear does not force trade-offs against other ship upgrades. Every ship class carries exactly one Crew Equipment slot.

See Also

• Ship Crew Equipment: category roster (this item is currently the only entry)

• Boarding: the deck-combat mechanic the gear influences

• NPC Crew: the crew that benefits from the gear

• Shipwright's Workshop: crafting and upgrade station

• Ship Customization: full ship-loadout context

• Naval Tactics: tactics slot that pairs with Crew Equipment

• Cannons: primary ship weapon roster

Details

Properties

Crafted By

Crafted at: Shipwright's Workshop

Disassembles Into

Fits Ships