Crew morale will go don as time passes, regardless of how much money you have.
It helps while you keep it coming, but it won't last.
Also, it is very dependent on the level you're playing
EDIT : Also, it's not the total gold that matters, but the share per crew member. The more crew you have, the more money you'll need. 100k comes to mind for a crew of 300.
bump
around
1000 gold per crew member (total crew, not just crew on your flagship) is enough to prevent mutiny and even have new crew sign on in taverns (and not immediately desert). at around
2000 gold per crew turns them from being unhappy (though not mutinous) to being content, and you can once again get new crew from capturing ships. at around
3000 gold per crew they once again are not merely content, but happy. at around
4000 gold per crew they once again are not merely happy, but very happy. these cap levels are NOT dependent on playing difficulty level. the crew unhappiness cap levels come into affect after about five and a half years of sailing in an expedition, a number slightly adjusted by playing difficulty level. (the captain's share of the plunder has nothing to do with the happiness cap levels despite what some outdated online guides say.)
a 90 man crew for a frigate is not the supposedly ideal crew of at least 167, but is more than good enough to always win naval battles on the Apprentice playing level and to capture Montalban's hideout town (by fighting the Indian guards). to permanently support that large a crew (after the max crew unhappiness cap levels kick in about five and one half years into an expedition) 90k in gold is necessary. earlier in an expedition the crew unhappiness cap levels are less, so a sensible strategy is to capture Montalban's hideout town (and defeat him in a duel for the third time) asap and use the 100k gold to permanently support a non-mutinous crew of 100 (in addition to the crew support from the loot you had when Montalban was defeated). it takes roughly ten years to capture Montalban, find the four Lost Cities, defeat the named pirates and find their buried treasure, and to get married (and acquire all the fame points except those accruing from wealth and rank promotions). at no time during this first ten years is a total crew of more 90 needed, and the smaller the crew is the less food you have to haul around to feed them. (during the remaining 20 years of your expedition/life as a pirate captain you can finally justify having a large total crew since this is necessary in order to capture town garrisons and more easily achieve your remaining fame points in wealth=land grants and in rank promotions.)
of course I am assuming you
never divide the plunder so it continues to grow. I am not sure how realistic this strategy is beyond Apprentice level, but the happiness cap levels are not dependent upon playing difficulty level, only the exact time the caps come into affect
btw to get a frigate you attack non Spanish shipping repeatedly and hope they send one out to protect a merchantman ship or to carry military payroll. to get a somewhat upgraded large frigate defeat Henry Morgan, the number one most notorious pirate (and take his ship), a feat almost as easy as capturing any other ship on Apprentice level. to get a Ship of the Line, the largest frigate, is much more difficult since they are ordinarily generated at a much slower rate as a random New Warship sent as a merchant ship from a wealthy town
joelwest
