Sailing Era: Speedrunner’s Guide to Abdullah

This guide was made as a thought exercise over how to speedrun Abdullah, but should also be useful to those who just want to get through the character quick or people who are stuck and want to figure out what to do next.

Warning: This guide will, of course, be full of spoilers. I will be skipping the content of the cutscenes (they won’t even be indicated in the guide), as people can easily watch them if they want, but there will be more than enough hints to spoil part of the story.

You have been warned.

Note: Abdullah’s quests don’t make him money, so you might end up short depending on what you loot. You’ll be doing a lot of sailing, so grabbing treasures along the way also works.

Abdullah’s first chapter is less of a tutorial than anyone else’s; it’s more an example of how his story will go. That example is fighting; you’ll be getting in more battles in this chapter only than in the entirety of Yun Mu’s story. You’ll also need to keep a better eye on crew and hull; you’ll need those more than with any other character.

• Go to Cafe
• Go to the Shipyard
  1. Talk to Elderly
• Go to the Pier
  1. Assign Nasser to the Crow’s Nest
• Set Sail
  1. Head straight East until you arrive at a river mouth, then straight south.
  2. There will be a cutscene as you arrive in the right spot, and you’ll need to use lookout to scavenge the ship at the middle of the bright patch of sea.
  3. Once that’s done, put Nasser as a Sail Master.
  4. Return to Muscat by going west, then North west when the wind changes.
  5. You’ll be attacked once close to Muscat. This is the classic training battle; it would be difficult to fail it. Just approach the enemy ship and melee it to death.
  6. Dock in Muscat once that’s all done.

  Note: To go as fast as possible in the first chapter’s battles, do not board them, as the limited crewmembers you have make the results not viable. You’ll be going faster if you don’t end up boarding them.

  Note 2: Given Abdullah relies on melee very much, you’ll need to get good at managing your speed. Staying just behind the enemy ship is best, especially at an angle; there, you are out of reach of all the guns and can damage their crew with impunity.

• Go to the Shipyard
  1. Talk to Elderly
• Set Sail
  1. Head West past Hormuz toward Basrah until you get into a fight.
  2. There’s an extra ship this time, but you can just ignore it. Again, just approach the enemy ship and melee it to death.
  3. Dock in Hormuz once that’s done.
• Go to the Cafe
  1. Recruit crew back to your maximum
• Set Sail
  1. Head West again toward Basrah until you get into another fight.
  2. It’s the exact same thing as last time, so do the exact same.
  3. Dock in Hormuz once that’s done.
• Go to the Equipment Store
  1. Buy a Craft Tollbox

  Note: You’ll need a shipbuilder to be able to modify ships, but unfortunately you don’t have any good candidates now. As such, grabbing that Craft Toolbox will me it so that you can start modifying your ships as soon as Chapter 2 start, which is crucial.

• Sail to Muscat
• Go to the Cafe

There’s a side-trip at the start of Chapter 2 where you’ll be getting your flagship for the rest of the game, but outside that and a little detour to grab a discovery, you’re pretty much following the quest word for word.

Note: you may get Garaba at a certain point during the second part of the chapter while you’re sailing through Southeast Asia. If you do, instantly put him as you second Sail master; speed is king, and Garaba is one of the better Sail Masters out there.

• At the Cafe
  1. Level up Abdullah to 21, and put the point in Shipbuilding
  2. Talk to Emin to get a Machete
  3. Equip the Craft Toolbox to Abdullah, and the Machete to Nasser.
  4. Leave Cafe
• Go to the Shipyard
  1. Repair your ship if needed
  2. Modify your ship with two front-mounted Shrapnel Guns
• Go to the Cafe
  1. Talk to Nasser (bottommost choice)
• Sail toward Ceylon
  1. Fight a pirate fleet on the Indian coast, or in the Gulf of Mannar (between Ceylon and India).

  Note: What you’re looking for is a fleet containing an Armed Privateer, normally being two of those along with other ships. Use your new Shrapnel guns to mow down the crew of this flagship, scavenge everything on it save whatever cargo it has (or the gold, if it doesn’t have cargo), then recruit it.

  Note 2: Yes, as said above, you can both scavenge and recruit the same ship. As long as there’s anything left on the ship, you can still recruit it. It’s better to use cargo for that, as you’ll get said cargo anyway when you recruit the ship. Doing this every time you recruit ships allows you to maximize your profits.

• Go to the nearest port with a Shipyard (Calicut or Ceylon)
• Go to the Pier
  1. Dock your old ship
• Go to the Shipyard
  1. Sell your old ship
  2. Modify your Armed Privateer with two front-mounted Shrapnel Guns
  3. Modify your Armed Privateer with a second Common Aftermast Gaff Topsail (replace the Naval Mines)
  4. Do repairs if needed.

  Note: This will be your flagship for the rest of the game, as you won’t be finding a faster ship anytime soon.

• Go to the Cafe if you don’t have enough crew
  1. Recruit crew
• Sail towards Jeddah
  1. Fight the Pirate Fleet outside the city.
  2. Sail back to Muscat once done.

  Note: This fight is a little tougher than the ones before, but nothing compared to what you just went through to get your Armed Privateer. Mow the flagship’s crew down, then do the scavenge/recruit work as explained before.

• Go to the Commerce Guild
  1. Talk to Laise
• Go to the Pier
  1. Edit you Cargo Capacity to 0
• Sail to Malacca
  1. Pass by the West India Fishery (south of Kolkata) to grab the Manta Ray there
  2. Temporarily put Nasser back as Lookout, and grab the Straits of Malacca before arriving in the city

  Note: Both of those will be needed soon.

• Go to the Teahouse
  1. Talk to Sailor
• Sail to Gia Dinh
• Go to Governor’s Office
  1. Report the two discoveries you just made
  2. Get the Land Expedition Qualification Permit
• Go to the Post
  1. Bring both Nasser and Abdullah, no Elephant, and only supplies.
  2. Move 4N, 2NW, 4N, 1 NE to find the exclamation mark.
  3. Select the first option on every popup.
  4. Once you have the Sea of Light, go straight down through the mountains until you either get back to the city or your supplies and energy run out.
• Sail to Manila
  1. Fight the Pirates outside Manila

  Note: Once again, a little tougher, but you should still have a second ship from the previous fight, and it should help as a decoy. Just focus on the enemy flagship and you’ll have it down before long.

• Sail back to Muscat
  1. Put Hiyar as Lookout.
  2. From Manila, go South South East to grab the Dugong Discovery at the Southeast Asia Fishery.
  3. Stop as needed for resupplying.
• Go to the Commerce Guild
  1. Talk to Laise

Abdullah’s Chapter 3 is painful. Ypu’ll be bouncing all over the place, and some of the quest are simply badly described. It’s also the main part of everything Abdullah does, as Chapter 4 is very short. You have three fights to go through, and they range from relatively easy to painful.

• Go to the Cafe
  1. Recruit to fill the crew capacity of your new ship. Only go for needed crew on your extra ships, as you won’t needed said crew in combat for a while.
  2. Level up Abdullah to 31, and put the extra point in Leadership
  3. Level up Nasser to 31, and put both points in Sail Control
  4. Level up Garaba to 31, and put both points in Sail Control.

  Note: If you don’t have Garaba, wait. You’ll be getting a new crew member once you arrive in Europe, and he’ll be your second Sail Master instead.

• Set Sail

  Note: You’re just waiting until Laise comes back to you. As such, you can just sail around in the area until you get the required cutscene. If you’re running out of money, you can also go and grab the Stone Falcon Statue treasure past Hormuz in the corner of the Strait.

• Once back in Muscat, go to the Commerce Guild
  1. talk to Laise
• Sail to Venice
  1. Grab the Coelacanth discovery from the Western Africa Fishery (straight South of Mogadishu) while traveling around Africa.
• Go to the Tavern
  1. Talk to Tavern Owner
• Go to Library
  1. Talk to Chief Librarian
• Go to the Church
  1. Talk to Church Priest
• Sail for Genoa
• Sail Southwest of Genoa to encounter the pirates.
  1. Fight the pirates
  2. Return to Genoa once done

  Note: Again, a little more difficult. Your three extra ships should be able to keep most of the enemy ships busy, so focus on the flagship and add it to your fleet afterwards.

• Go to the Governor’s Office
• Sail to Seville
• Go to the Shipyard if needed.
  1. Repair your fleet.
• Sail to Nantes
• Go to the Tavern
  1. Talk to Tavern owner
  2. Recuit crew if needed.
• Sail south out of Nantes
  1. Fight the Navy
  2. Return to Nantes once that’s done.

  Note: You’re in for a tough fight this time. You’ll be at knife range from the start, and this is the strongest opposing fleet you’ve faced yet. You’ll probably take losses, but that isn’t important. Just focus on the flagship, and add him to your fleet.

• Go to the Tavern
  1. Talk to Tavern owner
• Sail to Ceuta
• Go to the Tavern
  1. Talk to Sailor
• Sail to Barcelona
• Go to the Tavern
  1. Talk to Sailor (topmost)
• Sail to Palma
• Go to the Tavern
  1. Talk to Tavern owner

  Note: This quest is the most badly-indicated one in the game. Only those three ports are needed for you to get the message from Laise, and one of those is a Mediterranean port by the slimmest of margins.

• Sail to Alexandria
• Sail to Porto
• Go to the Tavern
  1. Talk to Tavern owner
  2. Level up Maltim Almiedo Blanca to 31, putting the points either in Sail Control if he’s Sail Master, or Steering if he’s not.
  3. Leave the tavern afterwards
• Go to the Tavern
• Sail to Calais
• Go to the Governor’s Office
  1. Talk to Cynthia
  2. Talk to Charles
  3. Talk to Nathan
  4. Talk to Governor

  Note: The little murder mystery here doesn’t have a wrong answer. The two top choices are both valid, and the bottom one is simply going back before talking to the governor. Whatever you do, you’ll end up continuing on.

• Go to the Pier
• Sail to Veracruz
  1. If you haven’t gotten St. Elmo’s Fire earlier, pass by the North Europe Fishery and grab the Atlantic Blue Fin Tuna discovery there.

  Note: You’ll need four discoveries in the Caribbean, two in both Veracruz and Merida. Normally, at this point, you should have Dugong, Sea of Light, Coelacanth and either St. Elmo’s Fire or Atlantic Blue Fin Tuna. If not, go North up to the Scandinavian Fishery and grab Pelican Eel there.

• Sail to Merida
• Go to the Governor’s Office
  1. Report two discoveries
  2. Get Land Expedition Qualification permit
• Go to Post
  1. Take four crew member and only food
  2. Move 3S, 4SW to find the exclamation mark.
  3. Return to town once done

  Note: Remember the spot, as you’ll need to return later.

• Sail to Nassau
• Go to the Tavern
  1. Recruit full crew
• Go to the Shipyard
  1. Repair all ships

  Note: Both the above are because of an upcoming battle with four Large Galleons. It’s a tough battle, and having strong support ships will let you focus on the flagship more easily.

• Go to the Governor’s Office
  1. Talk to Governor
• Sail east out of Nassau
  1. Fight the pirates
  2. Once done, sail to Havana

  Note: This fight is one of the toughest yet, and the Large Galleons can broadside you into oblivion if they get enough chances. Hopefully, you’ll still have support ships to help you distract the enemy fleet. If not, try to escape to the east side of the map, and winnow the enemy down one by one. You don’t want to be stuck from multiple directions by this fleet.

• Go to the Governor’s Office
• Sail to Merida
• Go to Post
  1. Take four crew member and only food
  2. Move 3S, 4SW to find the exclamation mark.
  3. Return to town once done
• Sail to Veracruz

  Note: You do not need to get involved in Carlos’ storyline to finish Abdullah’s. In fact, it is better not to, as that fight is one of the toughest in the entire game. It’s a two-phase fight without any time behind those, and the Florida Strait isn’t the right place to maneuver. Go straight west to Veracruz and you’ll skip the fight, then do not pass by the Florida Strait after the end of chapter 3.

• Go to the Governor’s Office
  1. Report two discoveries
  2. Get Land Expedition Qualification permit
• Go to Post
  1. Take four crew member and only food
  2. Move 10S, 3SW to find the exclamation mark.

Chapter 4 would be the shortest if not for the fact that you need to return to Muscat from Veracruz. Outside that it is simply two fights one after the other, luckily with enough time for repairs and recruitment in between. Said fights are tough, but nothing you can’t deal with at this point.

• Veracruz Post
  1. Return to the town
• Sail to Muscat

  Note: You may want to reduce your crew to needed levels as that’ll mean less stops along the way. It’s possible to do it in two, going directly from the Caribbean to Natal, and Natal to Muscat. You don’t need to grab anything along the way either.

• Go to the Cafe
  1. Recruit crew

  Note: You have two big fights coming, so you’ll need to be as prepared as you can.

• Sail East along the Indian coast until you find the Portuguese fleet close to Goa.
  1. Fight the fleet.
  2. Sail to Calicut once done.

  Note: This is another set of Large Galleon, like before. You have more place to move here, but the battle may start at very close range. Focus on the flagship as usual; hopefully, most of your ship will make it through this to the last fight of the game. Add the new ship to your fleet once the fight is done, and proceed.

  Note 2: If you think you can take the game’s final fight without resupplying and repairing, you may skip going to Calicut and go straight to Muscat. It’s risky, but it would gain time.

• Go to the Shipyard
  1. Repair your fleet
• Go to the teahouse
  1. Recruit Crew
• Sail to Muscat
  1. Fight Laise’s fleet

  Note: Laise Fleet his Galleasses and not Galleons, which mean sizeable crew but not much hull, comparatively. If you still have a full complement of ships, a well-placed joint strike could easily erase half his hull. As such, focus on broadsides and do not get close; his ship is built for melee combat and fighting him in his preferred area isn’t how to win. You also don’t care about his ship as this is the last step before the end, so fire away and sink him!

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Thanks to Seraviel for his excellent guide, all credits belong to his effort. if this guide helps you, please support and rate it via Steam Community. enjoy the game.