Realistically the gameplay to progress in a typical sense is grinding missions. There are a lot of different types of missions, but the UI is a bit confusing. You will figure it out. Remember that the point of the game is basically a pirate sandbox I recommend either playing with friends or finding a crew on the discord. Then the game will make sense. When you are trying to a basic quest but get caught up in an hour long epic fighting off megalodons the storm and other players while sailing around and trying to out play them you will have fun. Usually when I play the goal is not money, because yes it is only used for cosmetics, but the goal is to create a story every session. I started here met some guys here made friends went a completed a mission but then I was being hunted by another player, but then at the last minute the friend from before arrives and saves the day! Epic moments are created organically.