A Complete Guide to Aides

Welcome! You will learn here:

• What are Aides?
• Benefits of having an Aide.
• Reading Aide Information.
• How to choose your aide.
• How to recruit an Aide.
• All about Aide Duties (Job).
• How aides earn experience.
• Aide Skills.
• Traits.
• Giving Equipments to Aides.
• About Aide Captains.
• About the Royal Navy.

What are Aides?

Aides are your NPC companions. They help you on your voyages and are very important to just about everything in this game.

They can sail an additional ship and use unique skills that can have a big impact on your activities:

• Maritime skills.
• Trading boost.
• Productions assistance.
• Disaster solving for long voyage issues.
• Languages.
• Land Battles

Aides grow along with your character in the game and learn various skills along the way.

Aides and Alts

DO not confuse aides with ALTS. ALTS are toons (Characters) from the same player which may or may not be logged at the same time (Logging an alt at the same time requires a different account).

Benefits of having an Aide

• Increase your captain's bag size.
• Sail a ship for you (Extra cargo / Aide Ship)
• Aide exclusive skills
• Give a +1 rank to your skills (Support skills)
• Take care of disasters on the sea or completely prevent them from happening
• Pays off contributions for your company (Joining the aide fleet)
• Help you during land battle (Captain only)

Reading Aide Information

Don't worry, more details will be presented below.

1. Aide name
2. The aide’s current responsibilities
3. The aide’s level and experience points
4. The aide’s original skills. Number of aide skills increase as the aide develops.
5. The aide’s support skill. The number of support skills increase as the aide develops.
6. Change the aide’s name.
7. Sometimes bonus trait values are acquired when the aide’s level increases. This can be freely distributed among the aide’s status.
8. You can give equipment to the aide. Note that the equipment’s trait values will be ignored and items cannot be taken back once it is given.
9. Fire the aide. Think carefully before you do.
10. The aide’s bonus experience points depending on sail dates. You will get 20 points for logging in every day along with extra experience points depending on the aide’s job.
11. The aide’s profession. The aide’s profession is determined before being hired, and it cannot be changed afterwards.
12. The aide’s characteristics. It is a hidden trait that reveals itself as the aide develops. Higher character points can get the aide more skills.

Update 1: There is also the aide's trust (right above item 10), attack, defense and land battle experience (for each aide), also above item 10.

Update 2: There is a also a new skills button, for equipping aide exclusive skills from the aide academy (learn more below).

How to choose your aide

Some people only choose female aides (And ask to conceal it from their wifes lol).

Other people hire if the aide looks cool.

But this guide's purpose is help you choose an aide that will enhance your gameplay. And that means choosing aides by their skills before hiring them!

Tip: I have made a simple tool to help you choose your aide. Be sure to check it!

Aides can be recruited early on so it is important to have an early aide planning as well.

Postponing your aide's recruiting is also not a wise choice. You will miss the passive bonus xp that will effectively grow your aides without effort (just by sailing around).

And if you get tired of him, or change your gaming style, you can put your aide to other tasks like:

• Aide Bazaar 
• Aide Fleet
• Aide / Quarters Production

So the point here is know your main gaming style.

That narrows down a lot. Are you an Adventurer, Trader or Maritimer?

Picking your aide

Once you got your gaming style clear, pick the best skill of your class and scroll through the aides to see which one would be a good match.

In case of a doubt, go for convenience. Some skills may not be essential but they make your sailing smoother.

If you need help, check my aide search HQ tool:

Aide Search HQ

How to Recruit an Aide

Number of Aides (Limit)

You can hire up to five aides, two can accompany you. The others will be standing by at the quarters but can be summoned from any city (Bank) with a cost (Based on the distance from your quarters).

Place

We recruit aides at taverns, but not every tavern. These are the cities where aides are available for hire:

• Seville
• Lisbon
• Venice
• Marseille
• Amsterdam
• London
• Naples
• Geneva
• Tunis
• Alexandria
• Athens
• Istanbul
• Calicut
• Portobello
• Rio de Janeiro
• Jakarta

Talk to the tavern guy to browse the list of aides available for hire.

Note1 : Asian aides are premium (Cash only). They require you to buy with real world cash or from other players who did.

Note 2: Some aides will only become available for hire at the tavern after you rescued them.

Note 3: The aide search HQ will clearly tell you which one is cash only and which one needs to be rescued (so you don't waste time).

Hiring Requirements

First Aide

At least one job level, whether it is adventure, trade, or battle, must be above 20 to hire an aide.

Second Aide

To hire a second aide at least one job level has to be above 40 and one of the existing aide's job level must be above 20.

Both conditions need to be met.

Third Aide

Requires you to have an apartment (Purchase Quarters / Not dormitory from school) and one of the existing aide's job level must be above 20 (No need for a new lvl20).

Note: You can only have one aide with you to be able to hire another aide.

Fourth Aide

Requires you to have R3 quarters and one of the existing aide's job level must be above 20 (No need for a new lvl20)

Note: You can only have one aide with you to be able to hire another aide.

Fifth Aide

Requires you to have the East Asia Port Permit and R4 quarters. And the usual "one of the existing aide's job level must be above 20".

Note: You can only have one aide with you to be able to hire another aide.

Firing Aides

You may also fire any aide you have. In any city go to "Character" > "Aide information" > "Dismiss" button.

Warning: Once done there is no way of getting him back the way he was. If you hire him again he will be level 0 again.

Cost

Hiring an aide costs 100,000 ducats and they are paid on a daily basis at sea.

Exact daily cost formula at sea is unknown but it is believed to be 5 times the aide's total level. 10 times more if he is the captain of your aide ship.

Aide Duties (Job)

Aides may have the following duties:

• Navigator
• Lookout
• Paymaster
• Storekeeper
• Lieutenant
• Surgeon

Change Aide Duties window

1. Select a responsibility for your aide from the list.
2. A different aide is already on the job. Two aides cannot handle one affair at once.
3. The aide's skills. See if the the aide's skills will come in handy when handling a job.

Describing each duty

Navigator

Responds to some natural disasters and may remove seaweed.

Lookout

Increase acquisition rate for fishing, collecting, and procurement. Notifies you of shipwreck's location.

Paymaster

Increase chance of great success for production and haggling.

Store Keeper

Cures poor sanitation, rats, and fire. Prevents theft of trade goods by sailors. Gives bonus fame when selling specialty trade goods to a market keeper.

I've also seen "You have gained GREAT bonus fame due to aide's support". Aide on storekeeper and no one on paymaster.

Lieutenant

Reduces chance of becoming disordered when hit by cannons during ship battles.

Surgeon

Cures plague, scurvy, malnutrition, insomnia, mutiny, fighting, frustration, anxiety, and homesickness. 

Choosing a duty

Two aides cannot occupy the same duty, so its important to select aides that complement each other. You could pick for battle:

• Lieutenant and lookout or 
• Lieutenant and Surgeon

For Trade:

• Paymaster and Storekeeper

For long distance voyages (Nanban):

• Storekeeper and Surgeon 

Experience

Aides get the same experience you do. On top of that they also get experience for sailing, depending on their duty.

Also aides get 20 days of bonus experience per daily login, which can stack up to a maximum of 200 days.

Optimal Experience Gain

 To raise aide experience and levels they must be assigned to the proper duty.

• 100% Adventure: Navigator
• 100% Trade: Paymaster
• 100% Maritime: Lieutenant

Other duties will give mixed experience as follows:

• Lookout: 50% Adventure + 50% Battle
• Storekeeper: 50% Adventure + 50% Trade
• Surgeon: 50% Trade + 50% Battle

The first levels of aides are easy to obtain just by sailing a few minutes. But the following levels will get increasingly hard to obtain.

Aide's levels are supposed to be hard to get:

• Lvl 3: 1,400 XP (21 days sailing)
• Lvl 10: 38,500 XP (121 days sailing)
• Lvl 20: 287,000 XP (818 days sailing)
• Lvl 40: 2,214,000 XP (5635 days sailing)

A Quick Shortcut

You can alternatively use AVRs or AVLs for instant XP (Premium Consumables):

• Aide Voyage Logbook (Adventure) 
• Aide Voyage Record (AVR adventure)
• Aide Voyage Logbook (Trade) 
• Aide Voyage Record (AVR trade)
• Aide Voyage Logbook (Battle) 
• Aide Voyage Record (AVR battle)

Skills

Aides have a limited number of skills so it's important to make a conscious decision.

They don't have any skills from start. By gaining experience in adventure, trade and battle they will gain level and acquire trait points for each of the aide duties.

Note 1: As explained in the duties section, you cannot have more than one aide in the same duty. A practical consequence is that you will not be able to take advantage of all aide's skill at the same time.

Note 2: Aide's potential is hidden (And unusable) at the time of hiring, but will slowly reveal itself as the aide develops. You can find out all the skills they can have and its requirements in my aide's search tool or at Ivyro.

Types

Aides have two kind of skills:

• Aide skills
• Support skills.

A list of aide skills can be found here.

Support skills are the same skills you can own, but aides give you a +1 bonus.

Requirements

Each aide skill needs to meet certain level requirements and trait points.

You can also add a skill instantly with the Captain's Secret Notes (Premium Consumable).

Traits

Aides have traits for each of their duties:

• Navigator
• Lookout
• Paymaster
• Storekeeper
• Lieutenant
• Surgeon

The higher the trait is, the better the aide will perform in that duty. A certain trait number is also required for some skills to become available.

Having a trait at 100 will not prevent 100% of occurrences like fires. The closest to 100% prevention are those dedicated skills like "fire prevention" and etc...

Update: The aide's trait can also go above 100 if you complete the trait uncap quests at the aide academy in Sagres.

Revealing traits

Traits are ONLY revealed under one of the following criterias:

• Navigator: Adventure level 10+
• Lookout: Adventure level 12+ OR Battle level 12+ OR Adventure and Battle levels 8+
• Paymaster: Trade level 10+
• Storekeeper: Adventure level 12+ OR Trade level 12+ OR Adventure and Trade levels 8+
• Lieutenant: Battle level 10+
• Surgeon: Battle level 12+ OR Trade level 12+ OR Battle and Trade levels 8+ 

Note: Having all three levels at 10 will reveal all traits.

Some people claim to being able to predict if an aide is good or not by watching how often they acquire traits without much sailing or aide food.

The concept is based on the assumption that lower traits tend to rank more often than higher traits. It makes sense because that's how trust works and we can see it clearly while trust builds up.

But that doesn't seem to be the case for aide's traits. I've tried that approach in about 6 aides with disappointing results.

Sometimes it did reveal better result, sometimes it didn't. Looked like 50% / 50%, so not really worth it.

I found it much more worthwhile to start feeding your aide from level 0/0/0. Even if your aide starts with garbage traits like 20/20/20/20/20/20, he may get to level 10/10/10 with 50/50/50/50/50/50. And 80 traits by level 20/20/20 (Without counting bonus traits).

So start feeding you aide with aide food from day 1.

Quick and easy trait

You can use a grails, premium consumables that instantly gives your aide traits. Pretty much like the bonus aide traits you get once in a while. they are:

• Crystal Holy Grail
• Gold Holy Grail
• Silver Holy Grail
• Copper Holy Grail
• Stone Holy Grail (Obtainable in game)

Aide Food

There are 7 kinds of aide food. One for each duty type:

• Fisherman's snacks (Navigator)
• Country stew set (Lookout)
• Marinated seafood & 2 breads (Paymaster)
• Pie and fruit tray set (Storekeeper)
• Chunky stew (Lieutenant)
• Healthy cooking set (Surgeon)
• Afternoon Tea Set

You may buy these from other players or cook them yourself. Please find my how to make aide food guide here if you intent to make those.

The trick is, you use the aide food until your aide stops talking about it (Reacting). You have to do it for each kind of food / trait.

I use 20 units of each aide food kind and let the aide level.

Note 1: Remember that aide food raises the chances of increasing your traits but does not guarantee it.

Note 2: Always carry aide food with you until your aide maximizes all traits. You may forget he is going to level and may lose a 5-6 trait points per level.

Giving Equipments to Aides

Click on give equipment under aide information and hand over a piece of equipment from your belongings.

The aide's abilities will not be affected by the equipment. In another words, it is purely cosmetic.

Note 1: Once given, the equipment cannot be taken back.
Note 2: Gender restrictions still applies

Aide Captain

Requirements

The new aide captain requires 50 trust to be eligible to be put in command of a vessel. Once he gets to 50 trust you will receive the following message:

He also needs to meet the level requirements of the ship he will command.

Note: First trust points are easy to get but it gets harder as you increase. Just sail for more time with it or use a proof of trust (Premium consumable for instant trust).

How to give a ship to an aide

Open the "Change aide duties" on character information and click on the top right button.

FAQ: How to change your aide ship when he already has one.

How to release an aide captain

If your aide is a captain, the top right button on the change duties dialog box will be "Release Aide Captain". (Picture below)

Aide Trust

Aides will feel more loyal when you stay long times at sea with them. First trust points are easy to obtain but it becomes more difficult the more trust you already have (On that aide).

Conversely, they will lose trust if you run out of money during sailing (1 trust will be lost per day of sailing). Also, if you remove an aide from Aide Captain, they will lose 10 trust.

Note: You do not need to move to earn trust points. Just sit outside of some port to earn it (As if you were shipbuilding).

Land Battle

Only aide captains can join you on land and fight for you. You have to hit the button below to authorize him to accompany you:

Note: If he is not an aide captain, this button will not be available (Orange rectangle).

Land battle experience

Each land battle gives your aide some land battle experience. As he levels up he will gain an additional (bonus +1 per level) to his attack and defense stats.

Note: Base attack and defense points are defined by your aide's levels (and not by land battle experience or aide name / type).

Tip: You can increase your aide's land battle experience with this premium item. An equivalent item may also be available at the guild shop in exchange for cultural contribution, industrial contribution or roman coins.

Aide Fleet

Please read my aide fleet guide to better understand its benefits and disadvantages but also its stages:

1. Participation Notice
2. Aide Dispatch Period
3. Activities Period

And:

• Aide Fleet Ability
• Aide Fleet Points
• Aide Fleet Schedule

Aide Bazaar

Important feature so you can sell your stuff without the need of being online.

Your aide needs 50 trust points to be assigned to this task. The easiest way is to sit outside port with money and supplies so trust builds up (See "Trust" above).

Aide bazaars last for 24 hours and may be extended with a Bazaar Extension Request (for 1 day). The bazaar will continue up for business even when you log out (up to a total of 24h). When the bazaar closes you can get the remaining unsold stuff (and money) at the bank.

Your aide can display up to 5 different items or trade goods. Each trade good slot can hold 2000 units. You can change the contents sold (or refill stocks) even after the bazaar was opened.

There is a limit of 200 aide bazaars per city and some cities cannot have bazaars.

Royal Navy (Or Royal Fleet)

You may send your aide to your nation's Royal Navy provided he has the requirements.

Requirements

• Aide needs to have 50/50/50 levels.
• All traits 100.
• 100 Trust.

Benefits

• One of your Aide skills may be inherited by your other aides (Permanent new skill).
• You may get rid of a "unwanted" aide with style.

If you meet the above requirements just go to your quarters (Your aide should be in reserve).

Inside your quarters find / talk to him and click the "Join Royal Fleet" button.

Aide Academy

You can get more skills and improve the trait of your aides if you enroll them in the aide academy. Read my dedicated guide to learn more.

Unlock the True Potential of Your Aides

Are you tired of wasting countless hours leveling up aides, only to realize you've made a crucial mistake in your skill choices? 

Do you find yourself overwhelmed by the 120+ aides and their 15+ predefined skills, unsure which combinations will truly benefit your gameplay? Learn how to unlock the True Potential of Your Aides.

Available for my patrons:

My Top Aide Skills List and Review