Plunder

In Pixel Piracy, Plunder is a specific action that destroys an enemy vessel after you've killed its crew, somewhat similar to scuttling a vessel in real life. Plunder creates an explosion that destroys the ship, sinking it but transferring some of the contents of the ship to your inventory (usually around half). It also gives you a small gold bonus, around 100 coins. Because plunder sinks the ship, you should sweep up the treasure and get everyone back to your ship before you push that button. After you've captured a ship or five and built them up into something you're satisfied with, you'll probably plunder at the end of every ship fight.

Spoils
The spoils from plunder come in three categories - coins, shipbuilding materials, and food. An evaluation of these rewards follows.


 * Coins: Rewards increase with difficulty / encounter level. See the following (partial) list for approximate rewards. {| class="wikitable" !Level !Coins |- |1 |100 |- |2 |250 |- |3 |750 |}


 * Materials: Wood blocks and deck walls such, in tremendous abundance. Never buy basic shipbuilding materials, you'll find them through plunder.  What you will want to buy is ladders, lanterns, and sailing equipment - you just can't get them this way.  At level 4 and above, enemy ships are outfitted with cannons, meaning you can salvage these (and their ammunition, in smaller amounts).  After plundering a few armed vessels, loading up on bombs, and training a gunner or three, your strategy may change from swift-boarding (from a long, light ship) to sustained-gunning (from a sturdy, tall ship).


 * Food: This includes a variety of placeable food items like meat and fruit, almost in sufficient quantity to survive off of. It's what your opponent was going to have for their victory dinner in celebration of sinking you, only now it's somewhat charred and waterlogged.  Seriously though, train a fisherman.