Sea Forts are the Best
Sea of Thieves has a lot of content you can do, but there’s one thing I do in pretty much every single Sea of Thieves session I have, even if I don’t intend to play very long. Even if I just intend on going fishing, I’ll always go to a Sea Fort before I do anything else, after I’ve bought all my supplies and stuff.
Sea Forts are stone fortresses dotted across the Sea of Thieves. There are six of them total, and they all have the exact same layout, although there are three cosmetic themes: standard, prison and overgrown, based on where the forts are located. Weirdly, there isn’t a Sea Fort in the Roar, but I kinda wish there was because the volcano-themed stuff in Sea of Thieves is awesome and I bet a Sea Fort in the same style would also be cool. Either way, these Sea Forts apparently belong to Captain Flameheart, and are overrun with phantoms that spawn as soon as you step on the fort. Unlike wild phantoms, these spawn regardless of the time of day. Also, unlike other events in Sea of Thieves, Sea Forts are always available, and they reset and respawn as long as there are no ships within two map squares of them.
Doing a Sea Fort is easy. You fight eight waves of Phantoms, and the last wave spawns a captain, which drops a key when you kill them. You can take that key and unlock the vault on the lowest level of the fort. Inside is gold, some cursed treasure (chests of the damned and ghost skulls), as well as some Merchant crates and some assorted skulls, chests and trinkets. There’s also a second locked room on the very top floor, and its key is located somewhere in the fort, normally in one of the many interactive cupboards, chests and the like. The top room only really has a firework crate, two chests of the damned and a mermaid gem, but it’s extra loot nonetheless. On top of that, each Sea Fort also randomly has 1-2 empty Collector’s Chests, the treasure chests that can be used to carry up to three items at a time.
While there’s not huge amounts of loot on a Sea Fort, most of it is conveniently located next to a platform that can be moved to the gated exit of a Sea Fort, allowing for easy harpooning if you park your ship right. The total loot is about enough to get you to halfway towards rank 3 with the Reapers, if you have an Emissary Flag, so two forts should get you to rank five.
The REAL reason you do Sea Forts though is to grab the 150 cannon balls scattered across the fort itself. Every Sea Fort has three Cannon Ball Barrels which have 50 cannon balls in them, and they also have wood barrels as well. Most of the fortresses also contain a pier with six barrels on them which contain meat, and barrels dotted around each Sea Fort also contain a large amount of fruit and planks. These resources are just about equal to buying the resource crates from the Merchants and the Captain’s Supplies at any outpost, and there’s generally a Sea Fort within viewing distance from most outposts. So doing a Sea Fort just after stocking up at an outpost is basically a chance to double your resources, without spending a penny!
Sea Forts also have up to 6 kegs on them, so if you want to blow something up, Sea Forts are a good place to start. Although, these days, having gunpowder barrels is a bit more dangerous since most people have wised up to keg strategies. Still, if you are desperate to nuke someone, Sea Forts are the fastest way to stock up.
So yeah, I highly recommend doing Sea Forts. Not only do they provide you with a steady trickle of loot, but they also give you a good head start into the rest of your adventures.