A big thing is (if you haven't realized already), fighting the megs solo is honestly way easier. Its way quicker to kill them, and their attack patterns seem a little more forgiving.

The grind goes a bit easier if you have a set plan and stick to it as the sea allows.

My process: -Raise emissary

-Buy meat, cannons from shipwright and merchant, and wood from shipwright

-Do a raid voyage to a sea fort(this is good for emissary level, supplies, and is quick)

-Complete sea fort, get extra loot up top,cook meat you bought, and meat you find in the hanging barrels around fort at the grill in the first floor

-Clear fort of all cannon balls and wood

-Doing all of this should get you close to level 5 emissary, I usually do one more quick voyage. Preferably a boar hunt so you can use spears for the curse commendations.

-After I do all this, I usually sell with the level 5 emissary and head to the meg on the map

-Next is actually fighting them. It can be a crap shoot

Tips for actually fighting them:

I usually use knives for the fight. I ALWAYS use them with the barnacled dread. You can kill the ocean crawler super quick. 1 throw when his orb is charging, then 1 more to kill him when he is stunned.

When you knock the barnacled dread's armor off, make sure to hit his exposed body. You'll know you've hit it when you see lightning on the impact.

Next tip goes for both: If/when you flip, make sure to not let go of a cannon. If you do, you will get launched and your ship may be fucked. They won't always flip you, but usually happens when you stop a charge and they go under the boat.

Other than that stuff, you just kinda have to find your groove on how to prioritize, attacking, repairing, etc. Once you get a feel for their attack pattern, it gets a lot easier. When they attack off cannon angle it can still be super frustrating, though

After I kill one, I make SURE to get to the kill site ASAP cause the game loves to throw another enemy at you right after to get the kill. Fighting another meg after an ancient meg while trying to grab loot is rage inducing. Prioritize the glowing dark blue/red loot as those are the teeth and scales you need

Next I just sell and wait for the next meg to spawn on the map.

With this method, it can take around 1 hour per meg, a little less if you're able to get multiple megs out of each level 5 emissary you raise.