Revision 6

Ship Design: Brig is the blueprint item for the Brig hull in Windrose. It is sold by the Brethren of the Coast Provisioner at Reputation Rank 2 for 1,000 Piastres.

Purchase Details

Design vs. Craftable Ship

Purchasing Ship Design: Brig does NOT immediately give you a Brig. The blueprint unlocks the recipe at the Shipwright's Workshop. Actually building the Brig requires Foothills-zone resources including Foothills Iron Ingot and Hardwood. Buying the design before you have access to these materials wastes 1,000 Piastres, because the design sits inactive until you can feed the recipe.

Strategic Warning

Community reports consistently warn about this gap: players spend 1,000 Piastres on the Brig design right when it unlocks at Rank 2, then find themselves unable to build the ship for many additional hours of play. The practical sequence: clear a Foothills expedition, bring back a healthy stockpile of Foothills Iron Ingot and Hardwood (exact recipe quantities are not documented in community sources and should be verified at the Shipwright's Workshop recipe list), THEN buy the Brig design, then immediately craft the ship at the Shipwright's Workshop.

See Also

• Brethren of the Coast — vendor faction

• Ship Types — full ship progression

• Shipwright's Workshop — crafting station

• Ship Design: Frigate — higher-tier design

Why Move Up From the Ketch

The Ketch starter ship is designed for the tutorial and the first round of Blackbeard Transport engagements, not for sustained mid-game combat. Once the main story pulls you toward level 4 enemy ships (Transport Ship 4, Interceptor 4, Blackbeard's Pirates' Ketch variants), the Ketch's 12-pounder loadout begins falling short. Each broadside does less damage than a 4-rank enemy deals back, and the Ketch's lower hull HP means two missed volleys can already put you within boarding-threshold distance of sinking.

The Brig closes that gap. It mounts more cannons, upgrades to a higher weight class, carries more hull HP, and supports a larger NPC crew for boarding. It is also the first ship that can reliably survive a 1v2 against level 4 enemies without needing to kite behind islands.

Cannon Class Upgrade

The most immediate combat benefit of the Brig is the jump from 12-pounder to 24-pounder cannons. Full weight-class detail is in Cannon Types, but the practical effect is that each broadside does meaningfully more damage per shot, which shortens the time-to-boarding on every enemy ship. Fewer rotations around a target equals less incoming return fire, which compounds the survival advantage alongside the raw hull HP increase.

The standard Brig carries 24-pounders cleanly. It can attempt 36-pounders only on Blackbeard variant hulls and at a noticeable mobility cost; a normal Brig fitted with 36-pounders becomes sluggish in turns and loses the tactical edge its broadside was supposed to provide. Stick to 24-pounders on the Brig; save 36-pounders for the Frigate.

Material Signal

The transcript-confirmed rule of thumb for Windrose's progression: if a recipe asks for a material you have never seen, the game is telling you to push further into the story before attempting that upgrade. The Brig blueprint itself (1,000 piastres at Brethren of the Coast rank 2) unlocks relatively early, but the materials to actually craft the Brig (Foothills Iron Ingot and Hardwood) require a Foothills expedition. Buying the blueprint before the Foothills run is how 1,000 piastres ends up idle in inventory.

The correct sequence: progress the main story until the first Foothills trip is stable; farm at least 20 Foothills Iron Ingots and 30 Hardwood; return to Tortuga; spend 1,000 piastres on the blueprint; craft the Brig at the Shipwright's Workshop; sail it immediately to begin backfilling Ketch-era engagements that were too hard at 12-pounder firepower.

Naval Tactics Slots

The Brig gets more Naval Tactics slots than the Ketch but fewer than the Frigate. Tactics are whole-ship passives purchased from the Smugglers of Port Royal provisioner at rank 3 reputation. More slots means more stacked passives, which is another reason to switch from the Ketch to the Brig as soon as the Foothills materials are in hand: every extra slot is a compounding combat bonus for the remainder of the playthrough.

When to Skip Straight to Frigate

It is theoretically possible to skip the Brig and save the 1,000 piastres toward the 3,000-piastre Frigate blueprint, but this is rarely efficient. The Brig's mid-game combat uplift buys back its cost in a handful of mid-game engagements, whereas skipping it means every fight between the Foothills and Cursed Swamps progression points takes meaningfully longer in an underpowered Ketch. Community consensus is to buy the Brig blueprint on the first return trip to Tortuga after a successful Foothills expedition, use the Brig for the entire mid-game, and hold the Frigate upgrade until Cursed Swamps materials are a reliable farm.