A Private Kingdom (Ambition)

Introduction[ | ]

The Private Kingdom is a secret ambition that can be pursued at any point during game play that focuses on colonizing an island in the Unterzee. This particular ambition can be quite grindy as it requires substantial resource input to achieve the goal of a self-sufficiency. Starting this ambition is recommended for Mid to Late game because the parts required to start down this road involve the traversing and exploring the map for Searing Enigmas and being able sink the infamous Eater of Names. However, if your desire a more civilized unterzee where people can escape the endless schemes of the Masters and bureaucracy of London officials, this ambition is for you!

Part 1: Locating Aestival[ | ]

There is only one location, at present, where you can pursue this ambition and that one place is named Aestival, for now. The island that will always be located along the Eastern border of the map. Its position vertically on the map is subject to change from game to game. Trips to the far east require a bit more planning and resources, so if you're planning on doing this ambition, make sure you have sufficient resources to travel the width of the map and back before trying to locate the isle.

In reality, there is a lot of work to be done before you can start building on the island, so locating Aestival doesn't need to be a priority.

Part 2: Acquiring Sunblock[ | ]

Now that we know where we want to build our kingdom, we have to ensure that we can survive on the isle. Sunlight and inhabitants of the Neath are not always compatible. In order to establish a colony on Aestival, which is exposed to the Sun, we need to make sure that we have the proper shielding for our inhabitants, something in the range of SPF 5000. There are two options for Sunblock, but one of them is virtually unobtainable and the cost to gain it is outrageous. I will describe this ludicrous option, but the rest of the guide will focus on the more practical option.

(Option 1) The (Ludicrous) Parabox[ | ]

The Parabox option for sunblock can be acquired at Irem. In order to purchase this option, all your stats have to be over 100 and has the added side-effect of halving all of your stats after purchase. Getting Pages alone to over 100 can be a challenge.

(Option 2) Dawn's Law[ | ]

Obtained at Grand Geode after having visited Aestival. This is a much better alternative to the Parabox, but is going to require a bit of work to obtain.

Here is our shopping list - I recommended that you acquire the goods in this order.

Note: Due to the large number of supplies needed, you will have to eventually upgrade to either the frigate or the merchant cruiser.

The Crew and Vital Intelligence are straightforward. The supplies portion is also fairly straightforward, but I will list a few options that will reduce the Echo cost.

The Dread Surmise[ | ]

We're going to need between 7-9 Searing Enigmas to obtain this item. The game offers quite a few options to obtain these (sorry, I haven't played enough Zubmariner yet to know if I need to add some new locations to this list. I will update when I can.).

Abbey Rock - 1 is available by completing the Presbyterate Adventuress's storyline and choosing to witness the end.
Avid Horizon - 1 is available by completing the Merchant Venturer's quests and choosing not to pass through the High Gate with him.
Chapel of Lights - 2 are available by completing the Attend a service at the Chapel actions.
Chelonate - (Repeatable) Sell Mt Nomad's Heart for 1 at the shop.
Grand Geode - 1 is available by delivering the last of the Sphinxstone from the Salt Lions
Irem - (Repeatable) purchasable for 5 x Extraordinary Implications. Each implication is 333E so the total bill is 1665E
Iron Republic - 1 is available after creating the Awakened Seal of the Red Science for the Memento Mori, but you need the enigma to finish the Mori so this is a wash.
Mangrove College - (Repeatable) Randomly obtained in The Wisp-Ways
Nuncio - 1 is obtainable here by traveling to the basement
Saviour's Rocks - 1 is obtainable here by completing the storyline.
Varchas - 2 are obtainable here by means of the the Jewel-Turbaned Youth and completing the The Pilgrimage to Amaradri event.
Visage - 1 is obtainable here if you go through the once per game event with a flair
Wisdom - (Repeatable?) 1 is available by either rescuing or ransoming a prisoner and speaking with that prisoner. Not recommended as this is extremely expensive or extremely risky. Seriously, don't.

In my experience, The Wisp-Ways is a particularly lucrative means of obtaining Searing Enigmas. The candles can be cheaply obtained at nearby Adam's Way and you can often turn a profit by gaining A Lump of Blue Scintillack or Captivating Treasures. The only thing to be wary of is that it can be easy to lose Crew and gain Menaces: Wounds while in there, so make sure you have plenty of the former and few of the latter before entering.

The Figurehead of the Eater of Names[ | ]

The Eater of Names is challenging enemy ship (700 HP) that is zailing around The Chelonate. We need to destroy this ship and steal its masthead before it sinks. I'm going to put forward some recommendations on what you should have as far as arsenal and ship class is concerned before engaging the Eater of Names and you can decide how crazy you want to be.

Recommended Minimum Ship Class:

Phorcyd-class Corvette - (200 HP) - Risky - Forward and Deck Guns
Caligo-class Merchant Cruiser (300 HP) - Risky - Less optimal than the corvette due to half the fire power.
Maenad-class Frigate (450 HP) - Optimal - Forward and Deck guns, strong hull and a bonus to iron. This is the best, most affordable option.
Eschatologue-class dreadnaught (600 HP) - Overkill - If you can't kill the Eater of Names with this ship, I don't know what to tell you.

If you engage with any of the other ships than the ones mentioned above (kudos if you engage with the Stymphalos-class Steam Launch), you're going to have a bad time. If you are an experienced Zailor who knows how to fight most ships and zee-beasts with minimal damage, you will probably be fine with the Corvette or Merchant cruiser. I always recommend the Blue Scintillack regardless of ship.

Arsenal Recommendations:

List of Ship's Equipment - General rule of thumb here - more damage = better. You don't need the Memento Mori to take down the Eater, but it doesn't hurt. Something with around 18 or more HULL damage will greatly increase the odds of success.

Item Recommendations:

A Lump of Blue Scintillack - having this scintillack will allow you to instantly recharge your weapon readiness. I can't stress how good this. The easiest way to obtain it is in the Wisp Ways at the Mangrove College, which you should be looking into for collection of your Searing Enigmas.

Tactics:

Capitalize on the range of your forward weapons if you have them. Engage with lights off then back up and continue firing.
The Eater of Names is incredibly slow in both turn radius and movement speed. That means disengaging and reengaging is very easy. If you start taking a pounding from their quickly recharging weapons, I recommend disengaging.
If you want to engage at close range, you can abuse the Eater's terrible turn radius by staying on its tail and repeatedly firing. I would not expect to avoid all damage while doing this, but you can mitigate a good portion of it.

Victory!

Choose to seize the figurehead. Alternatively, you can choose to grab some supplies and then feel stupid for having chosen the path of pain.

50 Supplies[ | ]

Make sure to have more than 50 supplies when you go to collect your Dawn's Law, or your crew might start appearing extra tasty.

20 x echo each in London (shoot for ~70 supplies when you leave)
18 x echo each in Port Carnelian (shoot for ~60 supplies when you leave)
5 x echo each in Avernus via the Cumaean Canal (shoot for ~70 supplies when you leave)

Part 3: Building the Kingdom[ | ]

Before we head to Aestival with the Dawn's Law (or the Parabox, I guess), we need lots of supplies, again. In fact, we need 60 x Supplies in total to establish the kingdom. Only after we have stocked the island that is already a verdant, unending isle of treats with food will people be able to survive. Also, we need to leave some crew behind... to oversee the abundant supplies. I recommend heading to Avernus to get the supplies.

Requirements to install Dawn's Law:

x 1 Dawn's Law or x 1 A Parabox
x 10 Supplies

Requirements to establish the colony:

x 50 Supplies
x10 Crew

Building up the Kingdom[ | ]

Increasing Population[ | ]

Population Goal: 77-100 colonists

Unless Zubmariner has added new options, there are really only two ways to do this:

Purchase zailors in London and ferry them to Aestival.
Purchase zailors in Khan's Heart and ferry them to Aestival.

You can only convert zailors to colonists in batches of 5, so plan accordingly if you don't want your ship to end up running at 50% speed because you unloaded too many crewmen.

Increasing Estate[ | ]

Estate Goal: 100 estate points

We have a bunch of different options here to increase estate:

+1 x Estate - 10 x Supplies (unlimited)
+2 x Estate - 10 x Sack of Darkdrop Coffee Beans (can be performed 5 times in total)
+3 x Estate - 1 x Vital Intelligence (can be performed 5 times in total)
+5 x Estate - 1 x Captivating Treasure (can be performed 5 times in total)
+5-15 x Estate - Install a Viceroy. See below

As you can see, we're mostly going to be running supply runs with full boats of crew back and forth between London, the Cumaean Canal and Aestival.

Installing a Viceroy[ | ]

In order to install a Viceroy for your colony, you need to complete the associated officer's quest line. Installing a Viceroy is a mandatory step to win with this ambition.

Disillusioned Doctor - +5 x Estate
The Satisfied Magician - +8 x Estate
Indomitable Campaigner - +15 x Estate

The I recommend the Campaigner, but her story line is the longest of the three and potentially the most costly in terms of echo. Once installed as a Viceroy, the crewman of your choosing will leave your vessel and you will have no further interactions with them.

The Reward of State[ | ]

So... having your own kingdom is fancy and offers you and your crew some respite on the furthest reaches of the known Sea.

Here are your benefits:

+30 x Fuel at the cost of -1 x Estate
-10 x Terror at the cost of 1 x Supply
100% hull repair at the cost of 7 x Supplies

Unless you really need fuel, I'd try and avoid slowing down your victory progress.

Part 4: Choosing your Destiny[ | ]

After your population hits at least 77 and your estate reaches 100, you can choose which faction you'd like your colony to align with. Depending upon the faction that you choose, however, you may need more people or more resources.

Pick a legacy, any legacy, except the one with pages[ | ]

The game is going to end after you successfully pick one of these legacies, you may as well know what benefits each alignment will grant you.

Legacy	Benefits	Faction Whom Provides	Requirements
The Boke of Sharpes	+ 25 x Iron	Khan's Shadow	Supremacy: The Anarchists ≥ 3
The Boke of Sharpes	+ 25 x Iron	London	Iron ≥ 100 and Supremacy: The Khanate ≤ 9
A Manual of Miracles	+ 25 x Veils	Align with nobody.	Iron challenge (very hard) and Kingdom: Population ≥ 100
A Travelling Light	+ 25 x Mirrors	Presbyterate	Mirrors challenge (very hard), 1 x Searing Enigma and Kingdom: Knowledge is Power ≥ 5 (gained from using vital intelligence to increase estate)
A Dream of Red	+ 25 x Hearts	The Khans	Pages challenge (very hard), 1 x Captivating Treasure, Favours: Leopard's Condescension ≥ 3, and Supremacy: London ≤ 9

Resolution[ | ]

Upon a successful envoy to the above nations (or to yourself if you choose that route), you will gain a Trophy: A Folded Flag. Your next Captain will find Aestival untouched.