Claiming Ships
In the game PotBS, at level 5, each character automatically receives a skill that allows them to claim ships no matter what their class is. As a Navy Officer, you get the skill "Claim Prize Ship (Navy)". Claiming creates tokens which can be traded in for rewards. We will tell you the strategy to get these rewards.

In combat, when an enemy is defeated after boarding or when it abandons the ship, it will create a derelict instead of sinking. You click on the defeated foe, click the skill's icon and an item will appear in your loot box.

Navy Officer Commendations
In PotBS, Navy Officers obtain military Commendations when they claim. There are 10 types of Commendations, which will be listed below. The one you earn depends on a number of factors, some obvious and some unknown. Some of these factors include your level versus your enemy's and your ship's strength compared to your enemy's. Obviously, fighting higher level foes gives higher level Commendations. Like all MMORPGs, PotBS works following a risk versus reward system. The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. However, this is somewhat random because we've killed enemies 25 levels above us which only gave a Commendation for Diligence, the lowest ranking Commendation. Use the level and ship difference as an indicator and not as a rule.

Where do we turn these in for rewards, you might ask? Well, you aren't alone because the chat is always busy with players asking this question. Navy Officers can turn in their Commendations at their country's capital. The capitals are Point-a-Pitre for the French, Port Royal for Britain and San Juan for Spain. Once you've sailed to your capital, go to the Naval Headquarters. You will see a NPC with an exclamation point. That's the NPC that gives you the quests that require you to turn in commendations for rewards.

Game Strategy to obtain Commendations
Because you can't use the claim skill on sunk enemies, you have to plan your game strategy accordingly. First step is to determine which type of Commendations you want. If you want Diligence, for example, attack level 1-12 enemies. These will almost always produce minor commendations. If you're looking for higher level commendations, the obvious strategy is to attack higher level enemies.

Once you've selected which type you're actively hunting, head to an area with lots of enemies of that level. For effective grinding, you don't want to chase around, you need to kill quickly. To obtain Commendations, the main strategy is boarding. This is especially the case at lower levels. When boarding successfully, you are 100% guaranteed to receive the full loot as well as a Commendation. This is the prime game strategy at low levels because we don't have a lot of cannons to shoot down ennemies swiftly. We recommend using grapeshot, which damages the crew. Attack one enemy to lower it's crew, try to block his path at a 90 degrees angle and then board. Rinse and repeat for every foe. To do this more easily you want skills such as Decimate, which lowers grappling defense, and Disable Rigging. You also want to pick a ship with good speed so that you can catch up to your opponents and block their path.

Once you reach level 20 or so, a new strategy opens up after you upgrade your ship. You get more cannons, so you can do a lot more damage to your enemies. Note that we said that you don't get Commendations if you sink them. This is still true. However, at higher levels, enemies tend to abandon once you've lowered the structure integrity to 20-50%. They seem to do so more often when attacked with many cannons at once, hence why the Halifax Schooner Fallback doesn't cut it.

Boarding or attacking? The game strategy depends on which type of opponent you're facing. Against merchants, who typically have less cannons to damage you and less armor, we've found that it's quicker to shoot them down. Often, you will head straight for them, fire at them from close range and in 2 or 3 shots they will abandon. Always try to get close to the enemy ships because you do a lot more damage and it makes them abandon quicker.

On the other hand, against non-merchants, we suggest boarding. These are enemies which have many cannons, more than you do, and also a lot of armor. Because of that they can take a beating and also beat you down so it's wise to stop them from damaging you as quickly as possible, which boarding accomplishes.

Lastly, soloing is better for Commendations grinding. In a group, you destroy many more ships and players aren't interested in waiting for you as you sail 30 seconds down wind to go claim an ennemy. So while grouping is much faster to gain experience, it's not nearly as good to grind commendations.

Rewards
Commendation	Quantity	Choice
Commendation for Diligence	5	12 Hull Patch, Rough
		11 Mast Brace, Rough
		1 Spare Guns, Rough
		11 Structural Brace, Rough
		11 Crate of Heavy Round Shot
		1 Tales of Adventure (200xp)
		1 Swashbuckling Skill Respec
		1 Career Skill Respec
	25	1 Bermuda Sloop deed
Commendation for Courage	50	1 Mediator Cutter deed
Commendation for Temperance	50	1 Curieuse Heavy Snow deed
Commendation for Justice
Commendation for Bravery	50	1 Stralsund Frigate deed
Commendation for Skill	50	1 Raa Frigate deed
Commendation for Valor	5	9 Hull Patch, Quality
		22 Keg of Rum, Quality
		11 Mast Brace, Quality
		1 Spare Guns, Quality
		4 Structural Brace, Quality
	50	1 Defiant Frigate deed
Commendation for Honor	30	Artemis' Cannon Modification
		Hercules' Hull Modification
		2 A Captain's Captain (xp books)
Commendation for Heroism	20	23 Hull Patch, Superior
		27 Mast Brace, Superior
		3 Spare Guns, Superior
		8 Structural Brace, Superior
	50	1 Myrmidon Mastercraft Frigate deed
Royal Commendation	20	1 Mordaunt Fourth Rate deed
	30	1 Writ: 'Valiant' Third Rate
		1 Writ: 'Wenden' Third Rate
	60	1 Writ: 'Triumphant' Second Rate
		1 Writ: 'Trinity' Second Rate
	80	1 Writ: 'Invincible' First Rate
		1 Writ: 'Prince' First Rate

Please submit missing information via our forums with a picture of the quest rewards.