How to cross the strait
A strategy guide for the game. Which lane pays, when speed costs you more than it earns, and how to run salvage without losing the hull.
Pick the lane that matches your goal
If you are learning, take the Musandam hug. It is the longest route and the least eventful, and finishing with cargo intact scores better than most people expect from a 0.85x multiplier.
The Northern squeeze pays 1.60x and will punish anything sloppy. It is worth taking only once you can hold a line at speed and read hazards early.
Speed is not free
The score rewards average speed and pays a time bonus under par, so there is a real incentive to push. But top speed also shortens your reaction window, and the hull damage from a single mine costs more than the seconds you saved.
A good rule: run near full throttle in open water, come down to roughly two thirds through the island sections, and only sprint again once the chart is clear ahead.
Working the salvage
Containers restore cargo value and pay a flat score bonus, and more than half of them sit inside shore-battery range. The maths favours going in: three containers around one island are worth several thousand points, against a few hundred points of hull damage from the battery.
What kills salvage runs is not the battery, it is grounding. Approach with the throttle back, take the containers on a curve rather than stopping, and leave before the battery finds its range.
The dodge window
When an incoming shot is flagged you get a key or a face button and just over a second to press it. The window shortens as difficulty climbs. Keep a hand in position during the busy sections rather than reaching when the siren starts.
Common questions
- What is a good score?
- Finishing the crossing at all puts you in decent company. Anything above 50,000 means you kept most of the cargo and most of the hull.
- Does losing all my cargo end the run?
- No. Cargo and hull are separate. An empty ship still finishes; only hull damage ends a run early.