Player-owned port

The Player-owned port is a high-level members minigame that was released on 11 December 2012, as announced in the December 2012 Behind the Scenes news post. Borrowing elements from the Managing Miscellania minigame, this minigame involves players building their own port in order to manage a fleet of ships, staffed by recruited crew members. These ships explore the Eastern Lands on the player's behalf and return with exotic items and supplies that are otherwise unavailable. Players can start by heading to Port Sarim. South-west of the Rusty Anchor pub is a portal that players can use to enter their port.

Level requirements
Access to your player-owned port has no requirements, but playing the minigame requires level 90+ in at least one of the following skills: Fishing, Slayer, Runecrafting, Herblore, Prayer, or Thieving. More content is unlocked for each of the requirements met. Some content has no level requirement and thus is available to all members such as Meg, a distraction and diversion.

Tutorial
Starting the tutorial requires level 90+ in either Fishing, Slayer, Runecrafting, Herblore, Prayer, or Thieving. Upon entering the port for the first time, players will see a cut-scene followed by a brief interactive tutorial. It is recommended to play through the tutorial, since it teaches the mechanics of hiring crew, equipping your ships, sending them out on voyages, upgrading your port, and collecting rewards. At the end of the tutorial the player's character receives a logbook, which can be used to check progress and status of many aspects of the minigame when not actually in port, and then proceeds to the actual minigame play proper.

How it works
Player-owned ports is a management-based minigame in which the player manages a port by sending out crew members to complete missions in an effort to reach the Eastern Lands. Players must choose crew members and ship fittings for each voyage to tailor to the needs of the voyage. The green indicator bars on the voyage and shipyard interfaces need to be as high as possible for the best outcome. The higher the numbers, the higher chance the mission will be successful. If a mission is not successful, the ship may be damaged, the crew may be drained of energy or even lost overboard at sea, and resources will not be gained. Voyages, crew member availability, and the Black Marketeer's resources all renew daily at 00:00 UTC. Special voyages cannot be carried over to the next day, regular voyages can.

Each voyage wil have a combination of one or more of the following requirements: Morale, Combat, and Seafaring. For the best chance of success, players should choose their crew members and ship components so that all of the requirement indicators are filled as fully as possible with the combined statistics of available crew members, ship modifiers, and effects applied, remembering that the overall success potential of the voyage is equal to the least filled indicator. Thus, it will more likely be a successful mission if all indicators are showing 75% of necessary requirements than if two are showing 100% and one was showing 56%. Only indicators which affect the outcome of the voyage are shown. Speed is a fourth stat which is different from the other three. The speed does not affect the success of a voyage, but affects the amount of time that it takes to complete a voyage.

Resources gained from voyages may be used to upgrade the fittings on your ships, upgrade the port buildings, or hire more crew. Ship upgrades and a varied crew roster allow for more varied and more difficult voyages to be successfully completed. Port upgrades allow you to have more ships operating at a time, boost resources gained from successful voyages, boost ship stats, or hire better captains, crew and special adventurers.

Buildings
Buildings and decorations can be built or upgraded to offer bonuses to different areas of the port's operations.


 * Bar: Upgrading the Bar increases the chances of attracting adventurers and attracting better captains.
 * Office: Upgrading the Office unlocks additional ship slots.
 * Workshop: Upgrading the Workshop unlocks more ship upgrades. The first level also requires that areas on the archipelago map have been unlocked.
 * Lodgings: Upgrading the Lodgings increases the chances of attracting higher quality crew.
 * Shipwright: Upgrading the Shipwright boosts the base stats of your ships.
 * Warehouse: Upgrading the warehouse increases the rewards from voyages.
 * Totem Hotspots (4): Building a totem allows the player to choose a bonus, depending on which totem is built: extra chance of scroll missions; increased xp from missions; increased rewards from voyages; increased chances of a port random event; or increased trade-related goods received.
 * Icon Hotspots (3): Building an icon increases the chances that a specific adventurer will appear, depending on which icon is built.
 * Portal: Upgrading the portal is simply a cosmetic change.

Interfaces
The port interfaces can be seen at the top of the screen while at the port. Players can use the buttons to set up their voyages, upgrade buildings, check their resource stock, and see how far they've advanced with the map.

NPCs

 * John Strum, The Partner, is the former portmaster
 * Duncan, The Navigator, helps with the management of the port
 * Surula, The Barmaid, sells beer and "gossips" (gives a high level bonus voyage) every Thursday
 * Felix, The Black Marketeer, sells resources to the player for gold coins
 * Meg, The Adventurer, seeks the player's advice
 * Seasinger Umi, a siren training to become a seasinger

Random port events
When the player receives a random event, they will be alerted by a message in the chat box, immediately after a successful voyage. Depending on which event is received, the player will have to go and talk to either Surula The Barmaid or Felix the Black Marketeer to start the event. Each of these minigames gives minor rewards in the manner of "effects" (see below) which can be added to ship characteristics before a voyage.

Felix's Ninja Assassins Minigame
Felix's random event presents the message: "The Black Marketeer had a little trouble with some assassins. Speak to him to relive the event." In this minigame, the player helps the Black Marketeer work off his debt to the Death Lotus Assassins. The player takes control of Felix and must search for 5 ninjas hiding in various barrels around the dock. Each ninja will give a clue, hinting at who their intended victim is. (The victim is one of the Wandering Strangers.) The player, still controlling Felix, must then identify the correct victim, or continue to search out their targets through a series of further clues given if the victim is misidentified. Only one assassin's victim can be searched for at a time. If desired, the player can simply guess the victim, as there are no penalties for failing. This random guessing can be made faster if the player looks for the gender hint, given in every single clue. The ninja will say: "My target is a (man/woman). Be careful - (she's/he's) dangerous." If the player doesn't find a Ninja within a set period of time, an arrow will appear pointing to one.

Surula's Bar Minigame
Surula's random event presents the message: "The Barmaid had a tricky time while the Ship was away. Speak to her to relive the events." For this minigame, the player takes control of Surula and has to serve beer to 20 clients in the bar area, upstairs, and nearby outside, all in fewer than 10 minutes. Surula can hold only 2 beer glasses at once and over the time she serves the clients, she will have to keep getting more from her bar in order to continue, as there are twenty clients to be served.

Random event rewards

 * Effects (one-time boosts for the ship/crew, which may be applied before the voyage by clicking the "Add Effects" button when choosing a ship from the Voyage List interface. Many of these effects stack, thus you may use 2 Seasinger's Cry for +20% Seafaring):

Adventurer Rerolls are useable even if you already did your daily Specialy Voyages, giving you additional Special Voyages!
 * Port resources
 * Crew rerolls (1 Captain or 5 Crew members)
 * Voyage rerolls
 * Adventurer rerolls

The Name


The player may customise each ship's name by bringing up an interface by clicking on the pencil icon next to that ship's icon. Ths can be done whether the ship is in port or at sea. Each name has three parts that can be changed individually, either manually or randomly. The list of available names and the interface by which changes are made and applied are shown on their respective pages above.

Upgrades
Once unlocked, ships are already built for the player. Using resources, players can upgrade their ships using five customizable hotspots: Clicking on the hotspot gives players a list of possible upgrades. Each option shows its specific stats, its resource costs to buy, and either a grey or gold padlock if the upgrade has not been purchased, or a green check-mark if it has been purchased and is currently in use on that ship (purchased, currently unequipped upgrades will show neither padlock or checkmark). The stats displayed are coloured green if the upgrade would improve that stat from the current equipment, white if there would be no change in that stat, or red if it would cause a degradation in a particular stat.
 * Rams/Figureheads (bonus to Combat or Morale)
 * Deck Items 1 (bonus to Combat, Morale, or Seafaring)
 * Deck Items 2 (bonus to Combat, Morale, or Seafaring)
 * Rudders (bonus to Speed)
 * Hulls (bonuses to Combat, Morale, Seafaring, and Speed)

Once an upgrade is purchased, players can use them on any ship, even at the same time. Upgrades do not have to be purchased in the order displayed in the interface. If the player has the resources to purchase an upgrade, the padlock symbol will be gold. If the player has insufficient resources, then the padlock symbol will be grey. The upgrade options for the two deck hotspots are identical, and upgrades unlocked in one hotspot are automatically unlocked in the other.

Captains
Every crew must have one and only one captain. Players may have a maximum of five captains recruited at any one time. In addition to their basic statistics and traits, each captain has a given "personality" listed under their trait. These do not seem to affect game play, but they do affect the appearance and dialogue of the captain. The personalities are:
 * Abrasive
 * Approachable
 * Calm
 * Cowardly
 * Cruel
 * Eagle-Eyed
 * Eccentric
 * Exuberant
 * Vicious

Statistics
Each crew member has statistics in Morale, Combat, Seafaring, and Speed. These are determined by three factors:
 * The base stats of the particular type of unit, which are given in the table below.
 * Random bonuses specific to an individual unit. These do not appear in the crew roster until the unit is recruited.
 * Any traits that the unit has.

Level
Each crew member has a level, which starts at 0 and can be increased by sending them on voyages. When a crew member gains a level, their stats are increased by 10% of their base stats. This does not take into account any increases due to previous level-ups, individual bonuses, or traits. Therefore, for example, a Smuggler will always gain 7 Seafaring and only 7 Seafaring per level, no matter what her current stats are.

Traits
Crew members (including captains) may have between zero and four "traits", which are permanent modifiers given in addition to the crew member's basic statistics. These traits, if present, are shown in the recruiting interface under the picture of the crew member prior to recruitment.

Some crew members start with specific inherent traits, such as the "Merchant" trait for the Ardougne Shopkeeper, or the "Staunch" trait for the Exploding Golem. When the crew member with a trait is part of a voyage, the modifier provides additional adjustments to the ship's adversity or rewards.

Captains tend to have a much higher chance of having traits at recruitment than crew members. It is possible to have the same trait in multiple trait slots, thereby stacking the trait's effect.

Traits may also occasionally be acquired as a listed (in this case not random) reward from some voyages.

Explanations of the traits can be seen when hovering over the trait. The possible traits are:
 * No trait - No bonuses
 * Eager - Improved morale
 * Eagle-Eyed - Improved seafaring
 * Cowardly - Reduced Combat
 * Good fortune - Increases the chance of gaining a random event on completing a voyage (does not stack)
 * Merchant - Improve the goods retrieved from a mission by 10% (does not stack)
 * Misery guts - Negative morale bonus
 * Plucky - Improved combat
 * Rallying Cry - All exp gains for this crew member's boat are increased by 10% (does not stack)
 * Short Sighted - Reduced Seafaring
 * Solidarity - Gives +25 or +50 to all stats per unique crew member aboard (does not stack)
 * Staunch - Will give its own life to save a crewman in distress

Unlock Area/Task
Not all crew types are available to the player at the start of the minigame. Once the player accomplishes certain voyages, or unlocks certain areas, more (and often better) crew types will become available. For example, one of the first additional unlocks is the Cyclops, which is received when the Island of Cyclosis voyage is successfully completed.

The statistics and costs and other data of each possible crew member are listed in the table below:

Voyages
After equipping and crewing a ship, players send it out into the Eastern seas to attempt to accomplish a voyage. The length of a voyage varies depending on the distance traveled, difficulty of the voyage, and the combined speed statistics of the ship and crew. The estimated time of arrival (ETA) for each ship on a voyage can be seen by clicking on the vessel or by checking the logbook item while outside the port. With the proper setup, some voyages only take 15 minutes while others last hours.

Once a ship has returned, players receive a notification in their chatbox. Players must return to their port to check on the success of the voyage. Voyages can be successful or unsuccessful. Some successful voyages bring back resources such as Chimes, Bamboo, Black Slate, and Jade. Later voyages may bring back trade goods such as Ancient Bones, Spices, Chi, Plate, or Lacquer. Other successful voyages bring adventurers to the port, unlock new islands, or bring back parts of elusive scrolls for high level armour, food, or scrimshaws. A failed voyage does not bring back any reward, although it is still possible to have crew members level up. In addition, failed voyages may result in damage to the ship, loss of a crew member (including the Captain), or both. Equipping a ship with a Lifeboat increases the chance that a crew member lost overboard makes it back to Port.

Standard voyages
Players are given 12 new standard voyages each day. The voyage reroll counter is reset at 00:00 UTC. Rerolls may not be carried over day to day, but any standard voyages left in the three voyage slots do carry over to the next day. A list of the standard voyages can be found on the main page.

A Barmaid's Tip
Once every Thursday you can visit your ports bar and speak with the barmaid to hear some gossip about a standard voyage with increased rewards. This voyage will take the place of the third slot in the standard voyage interface. If there was a voyage already in that slot, it cannot be recovered. Possible Voyage Rewards, Adversity and Difficulties are as follows:


 * [Difficulty: 4] [Adversity: 800 Morale, 800 Combat, 800 Seafaring] [Rewards: 300 Chimes and 250 Bamboo]
 * [Difficulty: 4] [Adversity: 2000 Morale, 2000 Combat, 2000 Seafaring] [Rewards: 700 Chimes and 350 Gunpowder]

Special voyages
Special Voyages require the "assistance" of one of six potential "Visiting Adventurers" that may appear daily in port and show in the "Visitors" dropdown interface. The various Adventurers are only available if the player's skill is 90+ in the same proficiency as their own, and their appearance that day is still not a guaranteed event even so. For example, the Missionary requires a 90+ in Prayer before he will randomly make an appearance, and the Biologist requires 90+ in Herblore. Adventurers can be attracted more often by building the appropriate Icons via the Building Upgrade interface. However only 3 icons can be made at one time, so a choice must be made as to which three are most important, should the player choose to build the icon(s).

A list of the names of the special voyages and type of reward:

Another type of special voyage is called "The Forgotten Scrolls." Successful completion of this voyage rewards the player with one segment of an Eastern Scroll. This special voyage can appear on the mission list with any of the six adventurers. Players can change which scroll segment will be awarded by selecting the sought scroll in the Port Management menu, even when the voyage is already on the mission list. However, once a ship has been sent off to the scroll-awarding voyage, changing the sought scroll in the Port Management menu will NOT change the reward. Players need to make sure to select the desired scroll before starting the journey.

Sometimes the same adventurer will be required by multiple special voyages. Players can only send each adventurer out once per day. This means that the player may only complete one of the the voyages that require the same adventurer. For example, if you choose to take one voyage with the Botanist which gives resource rewards, any other voyage that requires the Botanist will disappear from the list of possible voyages. As such, players need to prioritize between the potential gain of resources, a scroll piece, or furthering a storyline, as well as take into account the disparity between the requirements of these special voyages in order to find out the most desirable one.

The list of special voyages is refreshed daily at 00:00 UTC.

Strategies
In the early stages, focus on completing every voyage successfully. Because there are a limited amount of standard and special voyages per day, it's more important to complete the voyages that pose the least risk first, before attempting higher risk voyages later in the day. In other words, maximize your success rates for the voyages you can manage (90% or more success rate) and leave others until more upgrades are acquired or until crew members level up from easier voyages. One voyage failed means one less voyage's worth of progress for your port, which is important since there are a limited amount of daily voyages that you can take. In some cases, a failed voyage could also mean the death of a potentially skilled and valuable crew member. As of this time, rerolling voyages is never a good idea as it will take away from your total voyages for the day. It is better to just complete easy voyages for the experiences, and harder ones should be attempted if success rates can be raised to reasonable levels (60% or higher).

Increasing voyage success rate means using the right combination of crew member and ship upgrades. Voyages may require 1 or more of the following stats: Morale, Seafaring, or Combat. Using crew member, ship upgrades, or items that affect those stats will increase the success rate.

Crew members are particularly important for the success of a voyage. Early crew members can be identified easily for their skills by looking at the color of their bandana. Red bandanas indicate a crewman with high combat stats, blue for seafaring, and green for morale. (This heuristic doesn't apply for many later crew members.) Using a Brimhaven Pirate with only 150 Combat won't increase the success rate of a voyage which requires Morale. However, if success rate is adequate, even without a full crew, it still may be beneficial to include additional crew member to fill the voyage. Any crew member that is part of a successful voyage gains experience and can level up, increasing their stats. Those bolstered stats can improve the success rate on future voyages, so it's useful to try to level up your crew members whenever possible. In order to maximize crew experience it is best to try and focus on better crew members quickly, it is more effective to have a level 3 catherby fisherman with 200 seafaring than a level 3 smuggler with 100.

Ship upgrades are also particularly important for the success of a voyage, especially because any upgrade unlocked can be used on any ship you own on all future voyages. Five upgrades can be applied to the ship, but only one (the rudder) doesn't particularly aid in success rate. Deck items are likely the most important investment in ship upgrades, since they can be used twice on any ship you own, so therefore have a larger value to the success rate of your voyages. Rudder upgrades can be delayed since they don't particularly add to the success rate of your voyages, although they do decrease the time it takes to complete the voyage by a maximum of 25%.

Voyages to further portions of the east may take more time, but in time you'll be able to manage 3 or 4 ships to speed up the rate you complete your daily voyages. Rudder upgrades and some varieties of crewmen may also improve voyage speed. The longer the voyage is, the more the speed stat decreases base voyage time.

Certain effects can also bolster ship stats on a voyage temporarily. These can be earned through random events in the port, which can occur after checking the status of a returning voyage.

One effective method is to take all the lowest level voyages first each day, gathering resources and increasing crew stats. Then, use the resources to improve the ship(s) or port to assist in achieving the higher level voyages. After the voyages are finished, think about adding one or two crew members that can be used the next set of voyages to increase their stats until your crews are all higher level. Lastly, don't forget to bank resources for the future - the key to succeeding long term is to make a plan, identify the things you will need to accomplish it, and work towards those goals.

Rewards
Among the range of rewards available from player-owned ports are degradable level 85 armours: Tetsu armour, which is melee class; Death Lotus armour, which is ranged class; and Sea singer's robes, which are magic class. These items can be created by players with 90 Smithing, Crafting, and Runecrafting respectively (non-assistable and the materials are untradeable). Players can create two versions of this armour: tradeable versions with slightly lower stats that crumble to dust when fully degraded, and untradeable versions with slightly higher stats that can be repaired either with coins or port resources. Other available rewards include the high level food rocktail soup, and scrimshaws, which are items for the new pocket slot. These rewards require the player's ships to retrieve 4 pieces of a scroll relating to each item for the player to be able to produce them. Once a scroll is completed, the parts for that scroll are removed from the possible finds for that player.

Titles
Titles are unlocked by increasing your Port Score, found in your captain's log. These are the approximate cutoff values. Please update them as more information is learned. The titles are found under Descriptions in the Titles section of the Customization screen.
 * Cabin Boy/Girl (1-400)
 * Bo'sun (400-800)
 * First Mate (800-1200)
 * Cap'n (1200-1600)
 * Commodore (1600-2000)
 * Admiral (2000-2400)

Tetsu armour

 * [[File:Tetsu helm.png]]Helm (Superior)
 * [[File:Tetsu body.png]]Body (Superior)
 * [[File:Tetsu legs.png]]Legs (Superior)

Sea singer's robes

 * [[File:Sea singer's headband.png]]Headband (Superior)
 * [[File:Sea singer's robe top.png]]Robe top (Superior)
 * [[File:Sea singer's robe bottom.png]]Robe bottom (Superior)

Death lotus armour

 * [[File:Death lotus hood.png]]Hood (Superior)
 * [[File:Death lotus chestplate.png]]Chestplate (Superior)
 * [[File:Death lotus chaps.png]]Chaps (Superior)

Scrimshaws

 * [[File:Log-splitting Scrimshaw.png]]Log-splitting Scrimshaw
 * [[File:Rock-crushing Scrimshaw.png]]Rock-crushing Scrimshaw
 * [[File:Tree-shaking Scrimshaw.png]]Tree-shaking Scrimshaw
 * [[File:Gem-finding Scrimshaw.png]]Gem-finding Scrimshaw
 * [[File:Scrimshaw of Vampyrism.png]]Scrimshaw of Vampyrism
 * [[File:Scrimshaw of Strength.png]]Scrimshaw of Strength
 * [[File:Scrimshaw of the Elements.png]]Scrimshaw of the Elements
 * [[File:Scrimshaw of Magic.png]]Scrimshaw of Magic
 * [[File:Scrimshaw of Cruelty.png]]Scrimshaw of Cruelty
 * [[File:Scrimshaw of Ranging.png]]Scrimshaw of Ranging

Recipe Scrolls

 * [[File:Shark soup.png]]Shark soup
 * [[File:Rocktail soup.png]]Rocktail soup

Trade Goods
These trade goods are used as components for completing or assembling the items described in the scrolls above, much as Herblore uses components in potions. The player's current supply of these items is shown under the "Resources" drop down menu at the top of the screen while in port.
 * Ancient bones - used for creation of Scrimshaws
 * Spices - used for creation of Rocktail soup and Shark soup.
 * Chi - used for creation of Sea singer's robes.
 * Plate - used for creation of Tetsu armour.
 * Lacquer - used for creation of Death lotus armour.

Music Unlocked

 * Sea Folk - When you enter the port for the first time.
 * Sea Hear - When you enter the port for the first time.
 * Sea You Late Oar - When you enter the port for the first time.
 * Shanty Instrumental - When you enter the port for the first time.
 * Stick Your Oar In - When you enter the port for the first time.
 * Stick Your Ale In - Walk north from the portal entrace and go near the bar.

Trivia

 * Many places and items are named after an ancient Greek epic poem named The Odyssey.
 * Before the release, players received an in-game message saying "Avast mateys, the next RuneScape game update will be in approximately 30 minutes".
 * The Chinese word in the top left of the Archipelago map is "端口" (duānkǒu) which is the wrong translation of port. Duānkǒu refers to a computer port or interface. The correct translation should be "港口" (gǎngkǒu), this may be one of Jagex's notorious plays on words.
 * The Chinese word in the bottom left of the Archipelago map is "指南針" (zhǐnánzhēn), meaning compass.
 * When attempting to drop an item at the port, players receive an in-game message saying "The Port Sarim Private Docks Authority thanks you for not littering."
 * When attempting to burn logs at the port, players receive an in-game message saying: "Port Sarim safety regulations forbid the dumping, abandoning or burning of flammable materials on the dockside."
 * Many of the ship-naming options are pop-culture references. For example, a player can name their ship "Black Pearl", a reference to Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean.
 * The islands: "Isle of Juniper", "The Islands That Reflect the Moon", "Haranu" and "Tokoko" resemble the country of New Zealand, twice, one sideways and the other upside down.
 * Sailor's flavor text may read "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son." This may be a reference to the folk belief, around since the Middle Ages, that the seventh child of a seventh child is born with tremendous magical and/or healing powers. This belief is reflected in the Septimus Heap book series and the Alvin Maker book series, among others.
 * Several of the island names and descriptions are references to characters from the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
 * The minigame bears some resemblance to the theorized Sailing skill, which was purported to exist at some point but was explicitly stated by moderators to be just a rumor. Additionally, the nonexistent Sailing skill is also referenced in the song lyrics of Jagex's promotional video named "Player-Owned Ports Ahoy!".
 * Currently, in the far south-east corner of the Ports, near the edge of the map, there is a bush with the "search" option. There is no way to access this bush, nor search it. It is unknown if it will remain or will be removed/replaced during updates.
 * In the first week of release, it is possible to receive double rewards from the barmaid's tip. This has been confirmed as a bug by Mod Edam as per his post on the RS-official forums thread 15-16-79-64141218. This double reward is only available for the first week.