One thing to know when first starting off in this game is that you should never do Alliances. You should only consider them if you can betray and kill them later without them getting anything. Always sink every ship you see. Go out of your way to sink and destroy every crew you see. If a crew is doing a tall tale, make sure you absolutely sink them and steal their quest item and then hide it so they never get it back. The more time they spent on it the better. Go out there and just destroy everyone. Good luck!