Port Governors can have significant influence over the prosperity of a port, and so like any political system, obtaining a position of power can be a bit daunting. Hopefully, dedicated Governors will govern with concern for their port.
In order to run for Governor, players must accumulate Influence The Influence icon. Players may accumulate Influence only when they are part of a Society and level 10 or above.
Note: that statement is not entirely true, as players may also donate their own influence to other players individually. The players receiving this influence must be level 20 or above.
Becoming Governor (Port Governance) is part of the guide: ^^Port Governance^^. This guide contains the following topics:
Becoming Governor
How to Govern
Port Governance FAQ
| Nation | Capital | Starting Port |
|---|---|---|
| Spain | San Juan | Vera Cruz |
| Pirate | Tortuga | Marsh Harbour |
| France | Pointe-a-Pitre | Charlesfort |
| Britain | Port Royal | Jenny Bay |
^^The Society Registrar^^
To create a Society, talk to the Society Registrar in your nation's capital or starting port.
Joining a Society is simple—although, finding a Society that fits can be tough. The ^^Joining a Society^^ page has a few tips to make finding the right Society easier.
You may also create your own Society. Before you can create a Society, you must fulfill the following criteria: (1) you must NOT be a member of any other Society and (2) you must have 1000 doubloons.
To create a Society, follow these steps:
After you have created your Society, you can review your Society details at any time by looking at the Society tab on the Social window.
To open the Social window, on the Toolbar, click on the Social button Social button (or press O).
Once you have created your Society, you may start inviting players to join. Not every other player will be able to join your Society.
Invitees must be of the same nation as the inviting Society and not be a member of any other Society. Otherwise, inviting someone to your Society is simple.
Being a member of a Society has a number of ^benefits^. Although, we will only discuss Port Governance related benefits here. One benefit is that now you may begin to accrue Influence.
Influence tab
The Influence tab on the Social window displays, right click on the targeted character, click pledge influence (A). Enter the amount of influence you want to give (B) and click "OK"
Influence The Influence icon is the currency of Port Governance. Influence is what you will need in order to run for Governor. While you belong to a Society, whenever you gain Experience (at level 10 or above), your Society will gain Influence.
Completing missions is one of the most common ways to gain Experience (and thus Influence for your Society). Of course, you may also gain Experience through other means—such as defeating NPC ships.
Once you have begun accumulating Experience (and therefore Influence) you can track how much Influence your Society has on the Influence tab of the Social window.
To open the Influence pledge window, on the Toolbar, click on the Social button (or press O). The Social window will appear. On the Social window, you can pledge influence by a simple right click.
Note: Your role needs to have the right to manage influence.
After you have accrued Influence The Influence icon, you should choose someone to support for Governor. This nominee will use Influence in a ^bidding^ war to become Governor.
As we mentioned, all Influence your Society accrues ends up in the Society pool. From the pool, Society Leaders and roles that own the right to do, can pledge an amount of Influence to individual players. This Influence is what players use when running for Governor.
Note: If you started your own Society, you will be a Leader in that Society. Other possible ranks are Agent, Member, and Invited.
In order to receive Influence players must have the following attributes:
Once you have selected a player to receive Influence, go to the Influence tab on the Social window (press O). Here you will type in that player's name and the amount of Influence you will be Pledging.
Note: We charge a fee when you pledge Influence. This fee is generally about 5% of the cost of the pledge amount.
Also, keep in mind that your Society may only pledge Influence once a day (every 24hrs), so it might be wise to discuss pledges with other Society members.
Once you have your own Influence, you may start bidding.
Running for Port Governor is essentially a silent auction. Players make bids using Influence The Influence icon as currency. To become Governor, you must get through three rounds of bidding:
Takeover Bid window
Before anyone places a Takeover Bid the Election window displays (A) the Takeover bid fee, (B) your bid amount, and (C) the amount of Influence you have.
To begin bidding, decide on which port that you want to Govern.
Before you begin sailing, keep in mind a few restrictions:
Players may govern ports of their nation only — for example, British players cannot govern Pirate owned ports, and French players cannot govern Spanish ports. Also, no player may Govern a Dutch port.
The port must NOT be in Contention — if a port is in a state of Contention, the Governor's Clerk will not let you place a Takeover bid.
You can be a Governor of only one port at a time — if you are the Governor of Nassau, you CANNOT issue a Takeover bid at West End.
You can run in only one election at a time — if you issue a Takeover bid at Nassau, you CANNOT issue another bid at West End; only one race at a time.
Ongoing elections will be CANCELED if the port contention goes over 10,000. (The port is flipped.)
The Governor's Clerk
OBS! Do not initate a name change while you are part of a(n) bidding / election.
To begin bidding, talk to the Governor's Clerk.
Once you have sailed to your chosen port, you should find the Governor's Clerk. You can find the Governor's clerk by looking on your Local Map (press L) for this icon: Governor's Clerk Icon.
To begin bidding for Governor, talk to the Governor's Clerk and click on Port Governor Elections. Now you can enter a Takeover bid. A Takeover bid is the first bid, and it starts the bidding.
Note: Placing a Takeover bid costs a fee of 10 InfluenceThe Influence icon, but players can start the bidding at whatever number they like, making the minimum cost 11 Influence (10 Influence fee + 1 Influence bid).
Open Bidding window
During Open Bidding, the Election window displays (A) the 24 hour countdown until Closed Bidding; (B) the minimum bid, which is 1 point more than the previous bid; and (C) the maximum bid, which is 100 points more than the previous bid.
Closed Bidding window
During Closed Bidding, the Election window displays (A) the 5 minute countdown until Closed Bidding ends; (B) the minimum possible bid, which is 10 points higher than the previous bid; (C) the maximum possible bid, which is 1000 points higher than the previous bid; and (D) your previous bid.
Once a player places the Takeover bid, the Open Bidding countdown begins. The length of this countdown may vary, but it will be at least 24 hours. Specifically, the timer starts at 24 hours and then it advances to begin during the first ^^Port Battle time^^ slot. This means that the starting countdown may last longer than 24 hours.
Once the countdown ends, Open Bidding begins. Open Bidding lasts for 24 hours. During this time, anyone may place a bid with the Governor's Clerk as long as long as they meet the following criteria.
To bid, players must...
Players must bid 1 – 100 Influence The Influence icon more than the previous bid. So if the previous bid was 10 Influence, then players could bid at most 110 Influence or at least 11 Influence.
Twenty-four hours after Open Bidding begins, Closed Bidding begins. At this point only players who placed a bid during Open Bidding may continue to bid for Governor.
During Closed Bidding, players must bid 10 – 1000 Influence The Influence icon more than the previous bid. So if the previous bid was 50, then players could bid at most 1050 Influence and at minimum 60 Influence.
Closed Bidding lasts for at least five minutes. Every time a player bids, the countdown timer extends to five minutes. The player with the highest bid at the end of that time becomes Governor.
At this point, the new Governor may click on the horse next to the Governor's Clerk to head to the Governor's Office.