Recently we have been seeing posts requesting help in the promotion of certain main story line companions. Although I really hate telling someone how to play this game and how to manage their crew; I feel I must say something in the hope that if this post is read, it may prevent someone from making the same mistake.
We have been given companions who are concerned with the main quest line; these are:
The MooShu 5 ( starter companions ) Subodai, Egg Shen, Wing Chun, Kobe Yojimbo and Kan Po.
Bonnie Anne
Treasure Hunter 5 Sarah Steele, Emmett, Barnabus, Mormo, and Louis le Bisque
Presidio 5 Lucky Jack Russell, Birgus Latro, Milo Graytail, Dead Mike, and Gaspard de Vole
Old Scratch
Ratbeard
and
El Toro
And maybe Monkey King ( although he hasn't had a promotion yet ) everyone gets him and he's from the main quest line.
It is very, very important to keep these main companions leveled and to do their promotions ASAP ( if possible )
All these companions are in my first tier, and when I got the promotion note, I dropped what I was doing and did their promotion quest!
So I beg you, gentle pirate, to follow this advice, and these companions will be well worth the trouble and expense in Training, Leveling and Promoting.

Hawkules is also a main companion. He is from the storyline AND has speaking roles.
Maybe the Magnificent Seven count as main, too? They have promotions but do not talk.

I stopped developing my pirates when they reach level 65, since doing anything further will not give me experience, and thus I could find myself at a disadvantage later in the game, having foregone the leveling in order to continue playing in Aquilla. As a result, I have yet to pick up an Aquillian companion.

Of the others mentioned, definitely promote your first Mooshu companion, Bonnie Anne, the companion you get when you first meet Ratbeard, your Presidio companion, and Ratbeard, because each of them has more than one promotion quest, and you don't want to get caught, as more than one has, waiting to the end of Marlebone to do Bonnie Anne's second promotion because Catbeard becomes unavailable.

Now you CAN postpone the promotion of any of the others, but why would you, when the completion of the promotion gives the companion a useful power? And besides, El Toro begins to wear your colors after his promotion, and he usually looks great in his new dudes.

Max DeGroot on Apr 20, 2015 wrote:

I stopped developing my pirates when they reach level 65, since doing anything further will not give me experience, and thus I could find myself at a disadvantage later in the game, having foregone the leveling in order to continue playing in Aquilla. As a result, I have yet to pick up an Aquillian companion.

Of the others mentioned, definitely promote your first Mooshu companion, Bonnie Anne, the companion you get when you first meet Ratbeard, your Presidio companion, and Ratbeard, because each of them has more than one promotion quest, and you don't want to get caught, as more than one has, waiting to the end of Marlebone to do Bonnie Anne's second promotion because Catbeard becomes unavailable.

Now you CAN postpone the promotion of any of the others, but why would you, when the completion of the promotion gives the companion a useful power? And besides, El Toro begins to wear your colors after his promotion, and he usually looks great in his new dudes.

Yes, waiting will give you more experience and put you at a higher level entering the worlds beyond Aquila, but, as Ratbeard told me once:

"There's more than enough experience to get you through the game. Just play!"

So I did. And, frankly, I'm glad I made that decision. Doing Aquila at max has given me more of an advantage than waiting since I'm able to understand and participate in discussions about those higher-level enemies and quests, the story itself, and theories of what is to come.

PRIVATEERJACK10 on Apr 19, 2015 wrote:

Hawkules is also a main companion. He is from the storyline AND has speaking roles.
Maybe the Magnificent Seven count as main, too? They have promotions but do not talk.

I think that the reason Hawk is not on here is you cannot at the moment level him up.