Uncharted Waters New Horizons

Most of the trading is done with the Xebec and other Xebec's found in Amsterdam and Lisbon. Save prior to landing in port to see if the Xebec is there, if not, restart, until available. With only 25 crew and an initial cargo of 420, it is the best all around ship for novice Navigators to quickly earn higher levels. Trade the Xebecs up to the Full Rigged when they become available. By then, you should have Navigators at close 100 and then they are not that slow. For the trade route - keep enough of the gold or silver on board to manipulate the price at Lubeck or Madeira before your first purchase to bring it down to 50% and then after your purchase to bring it back to 50%. 100 to 150 gold in increments of 20 to 25, depending on the starting percentage, is usually enough to bring it down to 50%, then 25 gold after each silver purchase should do it. So with 100 gold to start plus 25 for each ship you wish to stock, you can manipulate Lubeck and still sell the rest of the gold in other ports for about 1000 each. Silver will need about 250 to start depending on the starting percentage and 100 for each ship to bring the price back down to 50%. Silver can net about 200 each in other ports. At these prices, I usually hit over 500 gold bars even after I have purchased Full Rigged ships. That is enough to last Joao until he finds Neo-Atlantis. If you with to purchase the Japanese ships later in the game, you will need more. By that stage of the game, my full rigged can take out anyone in 2 or 3 shots, and I do not want to wait for 10 new ships. I only carry 5 cannon balls on each ship and then restock from the plundered ships. Remember to earn interest at the bank, deposit 971,900 and withdraw 29,100 each subsequent month. For longer voyages away from a port with a bank, withdraw more before the voyage and pocket the extra gold when you hit a port with a bank.
For gambling, I save after every 1,000 or 1,500 gain. If you win the first game, let it ride and try to win the second game as well. If you win, exit, save and do it again. If you do not win the first game try the same method for the next two. If it does not work, exit and restart. It can take a few hours, but the extra cargo space in the Xebec makes it worth it. I had developed the same idea in the first game and started with a Brigatine. More cargo space and profit on the firtst run makes a huge payoff. I have noticed in the Gambling, the run of cards depends if you guess right the first time, kind of like dueling. If you gues right at draw anohter or hold it, the other guy will get the bad cards. Does not always work, but keeps it light until the 36,168 for the Xebec, money for the exrta crew up to 35, and the 13,760 for the Olive Oil.

When I do my loooong trade route from Northern Europe to Japan, China, India, Middle East, East Africa, Malaysia, China, Middle East again, then Mediterranean ports, and finally Europe, I usually sell about 70% of my most profitable product then I sell the rest in batch of 50 to make the prices drop even though I sell at loss knowing that the next product I buy will be cheaper in the end.

I get the idea of using a short trade route but for me, it's more fun to go around the World twice a year because I always meet quite a few prays (merchants from rival countries) on my way and after crushing them, I make profit from selling their treasures, goods and ships while discovering villages, etc.
I also report my info to Mercator for some extra money.

I finally received my gamepad! It's a little on the cheapo side but I was desperate. Now I can play UWNH again! 😀

I don't always do the Lisbon-Seville Rock Salt/Porcelain trade route, but when I do, I go west from Lisbon.

-Hugo Oljack

FatRatKnight pulled the info from the game regarding speed and there is a fairly complicated calculation involving all of the factors. You can find the information in the topic named "Studying..." on the gamefaqs New Horizons board. I'm afraid if I tried to explain it in depth it would only confuse both of us. 😛

A very basic way to calculate speed is to recognize two types of sailing - sailing with the wind and sailing against the wind. When sailing with the wind the speed is normally seamanship divided by 5 or (seamanship/5). When sailing against the wind speed is normally tacking divided by 5 or tacking/5. That means that a ship with 50 tacking will have a maximum speed in a headwind of 10, or half of the normal 20 maximum when seamanship is at 100. This elementary number works for most normal sailing, but when in certain areas it fails to be accurate.

Celestial Navigation is good for two things and has NOTHING to do with speed. 1) CN allows you to use the traveler's aids - Quadrant, Sextant, or Theodolite to plot your coordinates. If you have a mate with the CN skill you can use those anyway, so the main character really doesn't have to have the skill. And, 2) when the first mate has the skill you can use auto-sail which some people find useful.

Power actually comes into play where those elementary speed calculations aren't accurate and affects the speed of the ship, and other possible situations. Again the full formula can be found in the "Studying..." top on the gamefaqs board.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/588823-new-horizons/59545276

Does that help?