One of the first things you'll probably want to do in Sea of Thieves is customize your appearance, and start making your ship feel unique to you and your crew.
Things don't get off to a great start in this area, with a character generator that offers up eight random characters at a time for you to choose from. There's no way to create your own character from scratch, like you would in a more traditional role-playing game, so you'll have to rely on whatever costume items and hair-and-beard combinations you can pick up.
To do that you'll need some gold, then simply visit the General Clothing store in any Outpost town. Once purchased, cosmetic items are transferred to your Clothing Chest and it's only from here that you'll be able to equip them. So if you're wondering why you can't change your hair color while strolling on the beach, that's why.
There aren't many truly unique or unusual clothing options yet, with everything firmly in the expected "cartoon pirate" style which is so hot this season. Rare plans to add more content as the game matures, obviously, so it may be worth stockpiling some gold and seeing what new costumes are added in the coming months. It's also worth noting that pets, such as monkeys and parrots, are due to be added to the game at some point, and who doesn't want that?
Personalising your ship is a similar process. Look for the Shipwright Store, usually located right next to the dock in an Outpost, and splash your cash on new sails, hull designs or carved figureheads for the bow of your ship. You can expect to pay between 5000 gold and a stonking 70,000 for the most desirable additions - though bear in mind that none of them offer any gameplay advantage.
You can also earn ship items by levelling up your relationship with the game's various factions. Reaching level 50 with the Gold Hoarders will get you the Royal Sovereign sails, hull and figurehead, while level 50 in the Merchant Alliance unlocks the Ceremonial Admiral cosmetic items, and level 50 in the Order of Souls grants the spoooooky skull-shaped Rogue Sea Dog items.
