Well, to increase your inner circle's size, send invites all over the world and post Add me on World Bosses, those are relatively quick ways of getting people. If you have much free time ask friends to ask their friends to add you, but I don't do it coz I'm lazy
Always buy Chieftains with FPs as people stated above.
As for stats, no build is universally good, all has pros and cons and well, it's up to everyone to find a good balance. Here's basically the use each status has:
Attack: Substantially helps winning fights when you attack other pirates and Cagematchs, helps a bit on damaging bosses too. Good attack will help you hunt the hitlist too.
Defense: Substantially helps winning fights when you're getting attacked by other pirates, or they challenge you to a Cagematch. Will not be of much help against bosses. Good defense will help you ride the hitlist if you're sort of a god and are able to lol
Energy: Many people used to ignore it after they reached 500 because leveling up refilled you 500 points, but ever since Daily Rewards and Energy Boosts came out, there's a use to spending more skill points other than just getting a few achievements. While energy isn't the best stat suited for leveling up fast, it's a great way of gearing yourself since there are lots of good drops obtained on Outbreaks that allow you to get tough on battle. Apart from outbreaks, the only use Energy has at the moment is placing Bounty Traps (5 each one)
Stamina: An esential stat indeed, stamina is required to fight people, fight bosses, and do almost anything on this game. A player without stamina can barely do anything, so keep it as high as you see you're needing.
Health: Here's an interesting stat indeed. Many people completely ignore health and are able to play this game without having any kind of trouble. Having low health will help you having the other stats higher and will make you able to fight the same person like a million times before putting that person on the hospital, which can be an advantage. High health will require to invest more skill points, will make it a bit harder for you to get fight wins too, but on the other hand, it will help you fight bosses properly, since health's the main factor when fighting those, deal powerful Pistol Whips for people you don't like, and will make your life a lot easier to hunt the hitlist, which is a great money source.
That's mainly what each stat's for. Keeping a good balance is the hardest thing since all builds have strong points and weaknesses.
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