THIS GUIDE WILL CONTAIN UNDERRAIL EXPEDITION SPOILERS YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Hello there.
After playing through the Expedition DLC a number of times, I feel like I'm somewhat more learned about how it works, how best to get through it and most importantly, how to deal with the factions that inhabit it.
This, of course, means the 2 primary "antagonist" factions you'll find when you first arrive within the Black sea via Chief Briggs at the Core City Docks;
The Grim Jetters, headed by one Captain Grim.
And the Sørmirbæren Native Tribes, headed Primarily by Magnar, although there are a few other "chiefs" that should also be dealt with.
This guide is simply a collection of that information so you, the humble south gater, can quickly learn the best and quickest way to deal with both of these threats as to stop them from attacking the camp and or causing issues for you when you're simply trying to explore around.
Without further ado, lets proceed.

Just as a note, this guide will mostly be text based, so I will do my best to accurately describe what to do and where to go, but should you require any extra help, I recommend the wiki; https://www.stygiansoftware.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

While you can absolutely head straight for Magnar and end his savage ass, it is more likely that you'll end up dealing with these clowns first, as they will always kidnap the professor should you not find the mole before opening up the ruin on the camps island.

In order to prevent this from happening, you must pickpocket one of the boringly named npcs located in this area;
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3292362265
They will be named something boring like "Technician" but rest assured, he will have a radio in his pocket for you to take. Once you do, take it to Briggs in ordered to prevent this from happening.
The effective skill required to do this (according to the wiki) is about 39, but if you actually invest your points into that skill, you should have way more than that by the time you reach Expedition.

But lets say you fail to do that or dont do it on purpose, and the professor is kidnapped, as per usual.
There are now 4 main ways you can deal with the pirate menace;


This is the most "bloodless" way to deal with them, as once the professor is kidnapped and you successfully talk down Briggs from killing you, you will be given the power from him to negotiate in his name, and he will give you the co-ordinates (I forget where I think its like F4 or something) to a pirate group that you can go and talk to, as to negotiate terms for the professors release.
Once you meet the pirates there, headed by one of the pirate lieutenants Razor, he will blindfold you and take you to the heart of Port Ceto, the pirates main base operations to meet with the man himself, Captain Grim.

Once inside, you can indeed negotiate with him, and talk to him in general. Hes a pretty interesting guy with some decent lore and story to tell you, which I wont get into here so feel free to experience it yourself. But in order to get the best possible terms, you need a very high Persuasion score, around 100-120 effective, to walk out of there with everything you could want.

This however, is kinda boring.
What I mean by that is, once you do get the terms, the pirates will effectively remain neutral to you and the Expedition for the remainder of your save game. They will never attack, never expand, never interact with you in any meaningful way again. They just sorta sit there unless you attack them first and enter one of their ports. This is good since you can just ignore them, but bad since you miss out on their loot, oddities and lemuiran ruins theyre sitting on. For a first time player, this is a great boon, but if you're a stone cold pipeworker ready to take on the world might I suggest any of the other options.


Now we get to the fun stuff.
Another dialogue option is tell Briggs that you should instead attack the pirates and break him out, which he will agree too but still gives you the right negotiate should you need to. He will also mention that Yahota (if shes still alive and didnt get killed via camp defence) will have some information about the pirate stronghold that you can use.
Talking/radioing her, she will give you the rundown on port ceto and potential areas that the professor is being held in. I can't remember the exact lines, but they are helpful pointers that you should pay attention to.
The best place to sneak/assault into is located at the southern end of H1;
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3292435611
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3292435845
As shown in these screenshots, you will have to walk a few zones west to actually reach it, which will end up at a gate to Katya's Homestead(she is a merchant if you side with the pirates but if you dont shes just a unique psionic npc who gives lots of exp and good loot). It should also be noted that right before the gate, there is a rift you can use for fast travel, should you have some juice, along with a heaping of various bear traps. https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3292438164
Once inside, you have 2 main objectives, atleast in my view.
1: Rescue the Professor
2: Kill Captain Grim and Cruzer
Rescuing the professor should be the obvious play here, since thats the entire reason you're even here, and he is located at grid coords E3, inside the building shown below;
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3292443157
From Katyas homestead, this location is located 2 screens north, 1 west. Or 1 north, 1 west and 1 north again.

He is located in the basement, and will have a unique named pirate serving as his jailor, who was alot of a throwing knives.
Once dealt with, he has a key to both Oldfields cell and the Manhole in the center of the room. Make sure to open the Prof's cell before going into the Manhole and talking with him.
He will follow you down, where you find misc loot and a unique Hermit Crab, and in the next room to the north you will find 2 Greater Siphoners. Once outside, use the radio to call for an extraction from Briggs.

As for the second objective, Killing Grim and Cruzer, this is more optional due to it being considerably harder to get to them if you go this route. They are located, from Katyas Homestead, 1 North and 1 East. Or, 1 North east 1 North

You'll run into Cruzer first, who has a unique headpiece [www.stygiansoftware.com]. He sits on top of the destroyer surrounded by pirates and duecers. Bringing a high frequency shield and high mechanical resist armour will serve you very well in this rather gruelling fight.

Captain Grim is located in the Captains Cabin, the door on top of the destroyer, and he is no slouch either. He uses the unique sword Captains Cutlass[www.stygiansoftware.com] which is pretty great unique for sword users.
The room itself is rather tiny, so should he get the first turn prepare for some pretty slick melee action.
Assuming Grim meets his end and not you, youll find his room quite unique in that is has lot of inspectable things to look at, as well as a lockbox and a safe, that he has the key to, to open containing some very valuable things. However very shortly after he dies, 2 random pirate goons will enter and being combat, so be wary of a nasty surprise.
In the top left corner of his room, there is a ladder that leads down further into the bowels of the destroyer. Once again, more loot and pirates are here, with the door leading to just outside the ship.
While this assault can be done at any time, it is preferable you do it now, y'know since you're in the neighbourhood and all.

Now, assuming you have done all of the above steps, you still WON'T be done with the pirates just yet.
There is one more lieutenant to deal with, and that is Razor. Assuming you completely bypass him and wipe out the majority of the pirates in Port Ceto, he will be chilling at Port Crag, located east of Port Ceto.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3292450419
Port Crag is located 4-5 sea zones east of the Expedition Camp, and is also quite hard to get into. Due to my current character being and LMG user, I could brute force my way into the front of port, which is guarded by 2 bastard Poppers who can 1 tap you with aimed shot and some duecers. Razor will be around using a shotgun.
Should you want a more quiet way inside, 1 zone south is a disembarkable area that leads around to a side entrance, but is also fairly decently guarded by pirates and random wildlife.
Once Razor is done for, make sure to check the lighthouse in the bottom left area of the port, since it leads down into a lemurian ruin filled with extremely valuable random blueprints, oddities and other such goodies. But is also heavily guarded, but can be made easier should you have a good hacking skill.

And with that, the Grim Jetters should be dealt the deathblow.
To make sure, give Yahota a visit or call and the line you're looking for her to say is;
"Not much activity from the pirate base. Their patrols are becoming rather sparse as well."

The Grim Jetters territory is now your oyster. There will of course be stragglers and holdouts on remaining pirate areas, but they will no longer threaten you or the Expedition seriously again. Dont hurt your back with all the sweet loot you can carry out of there.


You can, of course, join the pirates if you want. Since this is a guide detailing the destruction of the faction you can join, it will be rather short and sweet. Also since im a Black Eel 4 lyfe, Ive never really joined them. From what I've seen, Joining the Pirates will give you some extra feats, some alternate merchants and a more expanded quest line that goes into the south underrail itself. Not to mention Captain Grim has some cool lore and background you can talk to him about. But again, this is a guide about obliterating them, so its up to you.

This is the most optimal thing to do if you intend to kill the pirates. In doing this, it puts in you a prime position to wipe out the pirate leadership and brings your straight into the middle of destroyer in Port Ceto. To put it bluntly;
IF YOU INTEND ON WIPING OUT THE GRIM JETTERS, THIS IS THE BEST AND EASIEST WAY TO DO THAT
This way is essentially a combo of both Negotiating and Sneaking/Breaking in, as you will be brought into the Captains Cabin, but it will be You, Captain Grim, Cruzer and Razor all in the same room. This means that you can wipe them all out here and now without having to track down Razor. Once again, talk as long as you want, but the option you want is located at the bottom of the dialogue tree, "Assess your options for a fight" or something like that.
Pressing that will open a selection based on your characters skills and attributes, if they're high enough.
I dont think it really matters which one you pick, the whole point is that they're there to begin combat, but with the bonus of guaranteeing that you act first, regardless of initiative.
For me, I used my Temporal Powers to slow them down to get the first action, and then it just becomes the same thing as discussed in the sneaking/breaking in section, but instead of starting from the Homestead down south, you start in the Destroyer. You've still gotta get over to the Professor and get him out. So good luck.

And, unless anyone in the comments would like to add anything that I may have missed, that is pretty much all you need to know about dealing with the Pirates. Following any of the above mentioned sections should lead to them being a non threat that you wont have to worry about anymore. While not completely gone, they wont threaten the camp or anything ever again, and you walk away with a boat load of loot, exp and unique stuff. Hows that for a pirates treasure, huh?

Thankfully, this section will hopefully be much much shorter due to there being only 1 way to deal with them.
EXTREME, OVERWHELMING VIOLENCE

There is no negotiation, there is not bartering and there is no mercy. The Serpents will not stop until you are either dead or gone, so I guess its time to lock and load and show them the power of overwhelming firepower.
Well, I suppose that is abit of hyperbole, since they do actually stop. After a set number of attacks on the camp, I cant remember how many, they will eventually stop coming and will never attack again. But this way is more expedient, if considerably harder.
In order to stop them from attacking, you have to kill unique named Serpent chiefs. The priority target is Magnar, the main Serpent chief. Ending him will stop these raids, atleast on normal difficulty. But there are other unique named Serpents that can be killed, but im not sure if these will have an effect on ending the raids.
The major hitlist members of the Sørmirbæren from most important to least important (i think);

1: Magnar [www.stygiansoftware.com]
2: Øyensørm [www.stygiansoftware.com]
3: Eldrän [www.stygiansoftware.com]
4: Bænkräster [www.stygiansoftware.com]
5: Krästnintsppæter [www.stygiansoftware.com]

Oh boy, those names are sure to make people who speak north german/danish/nordic languages upset aint it.
Starting from the top, Magnar.

Magnar is probably the most dangerous, him being the head honcho of Serpents, and is located at the co-ords A12. But to get to him, you have to the village area located on the coast at C11
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3292508101
As shown above, this place will be crawling with natives from crossbows to wizards, it will be a tough fight. The highest priority will be the wizards, since they have some fairly potent thought control crowd control effects that will make your day just that bit harder.
Once dealt with, you need to head east, to B11
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3292510644
Second verse, same as the first. More natives to crunch your way through.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3292510726
Head east once more to A11
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3292511335
Oh boy oh boy, now you're REALLY in the lions den. Once again, more natives, but now add in some real claustrophobia and now we've got a party. The way to head here is north, around the corner at the end of the hall, and then prepare for the real test of your mettle.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3292515690
This is it. A12. Magnars throne room.
Taking a left at the first intersection will bring you right to him, as well as a host of other native goons. Magnar himself is a rather and imposing chap who, when aggro'd, will hop off his throne and run right at you. His melee skills and defences are towering, and he hits like a truck, not to mention his backup. Liberal use of grenades, psi powers and other aoe attack and crowd control will win you the day. I wont go much into the fight itself, since its either him or you and it ain't gonna be him. But I will offer one warning.
If you have some available, before walking into this fight, drink some Juice.
Once defeated, check the room to the right of his throne for some serious loot.
Thats one of 5 major threats taken down.

BUT
This is where you can call mission complete, if you want.
Upon killing Magnar and calling Yahota via the radio, Yahota will say;
"Not much activity lately. Much fewer moving lights and boats as well. Over"
This means that the Serpent threat is neutralised. They should be no more attacks on the camp from this point.

But to give some quick tips on how to deal with the other major leaders

Head north twice from the landing area you go to for Magnar. He is located inside a cave which has become a temple for their serpent god.
This fight can be even harder than Magnar, due to his mechanics. He is surrounded by many Serpent wizards and, when he gets aggro'd, will call forth a bunch of Sea Wyrms (how many is dependant on difficulty) to fight you as well.
He also uses the unique Spear Høddurform [www.stygiansoftware.com] which gives some seriously potent thought control buffs.
Best thing to do is cause a scene at the entrance to the area, luring them over to you so can you stop them from ganking you.
Flashbangs, high tier grenades and aoe psi powers are your friend here.


Is located on the other side of the map from Magnar and Øyensørm, at J12. Will require you to disembark at about H11 and walk your way around.
The area is the Basalt Village, and he will be surrounded by other goons. He is a very potent metathermics user with a unique sword the Black Blade. [www.stygiansoftware.com] His main weapon will be fire based attacks, so make sure to bring a high frequency shield and some fireproof Armour.

This guy is actually very missable, due to his spawn conditions. He can either be found at H11, or will appear before you at G12 after you exit the graveyard areas should you disturb them enough to make the ghosts start appearing.
He carries the unique Sledgehammer Barbaton [www.stygiansoftware.com]
I dont really have any tips for him since there isnt much reason to actually fight him. Exploring the Basalt village area isnt really thing you need to do and disturbing the graves is an easy thing to avoid doing. But he does class a boss character so he wont exactly go down as easy as his non boss brothers.

Finally, this old guy.
Fairly unique amoung the Serpents as he is the only old guy who can actually threaten you.
He is located on the shoreline at G11, watching over the female foragers. He will be in stealth so if you dont know hes coming, he can get the drop on you. He is a very potent Metathermics users, mainly focusing on cryo skills.
He's very much a glass cannon, he will go down quickly if focused but can hit you very hard if unprepared. He is vulnerable to stuns and incapacitations so make sure to lock him down hard before he shatters you into a million pieces.

And with that, that concludes this guide.
Hopefully it is detailed enough that this can help you make better/informed choices and decisions about how exactly to handle the various creeps, murders and killers you'll find within the Black Sea.
Thank you so much for reading, and if you're also an experienced pipeworker, please feel free to add any other details in the comments.
Best of luck in Hells Gut!