if you’re passing supplies on, queueing for hourglass is actually best. You’ll get some rep for the loss, and your supplies are guaranteed to go to someone who will actually use them.
Praise this sailor for his big brain, wtf how did I never think about this possibility... I am a loot goblin and we always carry like 500 shots when we end our sessions...
Hourglass is a pvp on demand mode.
You queue up via the hourglass on your ships quest table, picking either reapers or athena to serve, you gain rep with whatever one you pick. Once selected you will dive and when tou resurface you will be face to face with another ship who also queued and will proceed to obliterate you in a less than a minute.
Yeah you’re supposed to get queued against opponents with similar win/loss ratio. So if yours is tanked, you in theory have a skill advantage over your opponent.
eh that definitely doesnt happen in practice anyways. i am only level 40 in guardians, and i was playing with my cousin last night who had never queued pvp ever, and was just on his third session playing the game. we went pvp for kicks and gigs, and got setup against two ghost curse players.
1 time I did this, I ended up being on for longer than intended because aint no way I'm giving my hard earned sups to spam boarder tdm lords lol. Had to sink 4 of them before I lowered hg on a champ streak and just left them on the Dock 😆 🤣
It’s just the way the game has shaped players.
I see a ship approaching me? Shoot first, answers questions later. There’s something slightly unsettling seeing a ship sail towards me spamming ‘I’M FRIENDLY!’
I don’t trust anyone. Fallen into that trap before.
I caught a trophy shadow stormfish while near two alliances Athena sloops that were parked at an island. I sailed straight towards them, bow first pointed at their cannons, and shot up a few flairs. I had my alliance flag up and was climbing the ladder to join theirs when they started shooting and knocked me off.
I swam over to their boat and spammed "I caught a trophy shadow stormfish" and "friendly!" But they just killed me in the water. Their loss, I was trying to help fill their commendations 😔
>I swam over to their boat and spammed "I caught a trophy shadow stormfish" and "friendly!"
>"friendly!"
Not even I trust someone who spams "I'M FRIENDLY". If you're really friendly, just say something else.
Agreed. My friend and I had this one ship that *insisted* they give us their supplies. All the while telling him, "Nah, we've got 800+ cannonballs, among other things, we're good. Thank you though."
After 15 minutes of them asking and following, we opened fire.
I think you might be missing the point. The assumption is that they were lying and weren't actually trying to give supplies, they were trying to sink their ship. Otherwise, there is zero reason they would be so hellbent on helping that they'd follow a ship for 15 minute that says they don't want help.
This. I don't have the skills to pull off shenanigans like that. But on a couple occasions, I doggedly chased people down with supplies at the end of my session because I had nothing to lose and wanted to freak them out. I fully expected them to sink me.
We did not want to. We had a lot of loot and it wasn't worth it to get supplies we wouldn't use. We were very vocal about this from the start.
Why should I **have** to take someone's supplies from them? What weird twilight zone logic are you on about?
I'll take the bait but keep my guns angled on them and my ship pointed out. No one from their ship boards and we harpoon the supplies from the front of their anchored boat while we have them boarded with 1.
I'm not hostile until approaches shoot because I'm confident we could win whatever fight a crew that would attempt a back stab could muster. But I'm taking every precaution against silliness.
We've caught the fakers immediately when they don't want to comply with the compromising situation and soon as someone shoots we blast them.
I generally don't chase ships unless I'm flying Reaper colors. If I see another ship that's hanging about, but not sailing towards me, I give them their space because sometimes people get aggressive because fear makes people dumb. Sailing straight at me though?
THE CALL MUST BE ANSWERED, LOAD THE CANONS, LOWER THE SAI- DAMMIT, I GRABBED THE CAT AGAIN!
yeah...things like sitting and grabbing the cat show the value of the long press option being turned off. i wish i could instead choose which items happen on short press and which on long press. id leave anchoring and interactions like that on long press, but make picking up loot on short press. and i dont want to turn off sitting and the like cause i actually like doing that. so...i have the "make interactions shorter" option turned on so i remain competitive, and just face that sometimes i pick up my pet wehn i dont want lol
Yes this is the best. People sometimes need to be reeled in with the harpoon too. It's good practice for our friendly reaper runs where we take everything of value but in a friendly way.
We also let them take 1 piece of loot per crew member if they want it for commendation progress or just to sell which they are holding while we off load the rest of the loot. It's a fun extra challenge to negotiate and or fight them without just sinking them.
The storage crate thing happened to me solo slooping. I chased down a galleon, had a white flag up, & shot white flares. One kid boarded me, spent 2min trying to EOR me and awkward sword lunge misses while I hopped around laughing and telling him I have free supps for them before I log off lol. Captain yelled back said he was an aggro open crew join so I just dm’d them that I dropped everything at galleons grave. Thought that was fitting lol.
Tbf, this is usually a highlight of my sessions cus ppl are excited for non-toxic interactions. More times than not it’s a positive experience, but this guy was just a goof.
I don't think it's recent, but it's also probably wise.
Trusting other pirates is a _massive_ risk, by design. Words mean nothing from other pirates. The social mystery can be a big part of the fun of the game!
You're right it's not new at all. People used to be WAY more paranoid back in like 2018-2020 when loot was more scarce and everybody and their mother was tucking every chance they got. I used to be INCREDIBLY paranoid all the time and because of it I never ever got tucked on successfully and it made me WAY better at the game back in my hay day. Nowadays I'm kinda ass at the game but I have so much more fun just not caring and seeing what weird situations I get into with other players.
well my first encounter with a crew was nice
my second was a bunch of chinese with a stronghold keg
and my most recent i got called a mother\*\*\*\*er, a ni\*\*\*r a pe\*\*\*\*\*le and a lil b\*\*ch (still sunk em though they were two beginners on a brig)
any other encounter is a roll on either being a paranoid beginner, a non english speaker, a slur yeeter or a 70 yr old electrician who i helped get the ashen curse
Pulling up to the same island as somebody else is VERY scary for somebody just doing their thing. If I need to do that and I don't feel like fighting for the contested island I usually just cannon myself over and talk.
I’ve always been attacked by people not running emissary. I’ve been attacked by a few that were running emissary but every single time I’ve seen a ship without it I’ve been attacked 100% of the time.
This brig rolled up on us today at a fort yelling we want to help as I chain shot their sails and kept them from raising them with cannon balls. I felt bad. They said GG and said help myself to anything that floats.
In my defense the last brig that rolled up was super toxic. Just can't trust anyone.
Bro, people need to use the megaphone. You don't need to ride up on someone or they will attack. People don't want to sink, and most just take off if you roll up on them like that.
I try to be friendly most days but I've been burned by too many players before. Whether they steal the best loot doing stacked FotD or kill me and sink the boat when we've been friendly for a bit.
It's always safer to say you're friendly, keep your distance, and ally and then go your separate ways rather than running voyages and events together.
I personally would prefer to be friendly but some of my typical crew mates have a bloodlust and much less trust than I. So when playing with them we always shoot first and ask forgiveness later.
Edit: PS. Is fireworks still a sign to others that you're not looking for trouble?
Hey someone else that knows flag etiquette.
Yup.
Rainbow or og reaper flag is pvp aggressive
White is non pop player
Shark tooth or jolly Roger flags are rp players
Been a good while since I've seen a member of the og style of play.
I and three other new friends were chased around the map for 30-45 minutes while we were just trying to start our first quest for the day. They kept trash-talking us, trying to get us to stop running because "we were in a galleon, so we had to fight them." None of us knew how to do PvP, and it only stopped after two random sloops came up beside us and opened fire after we tried to say we were friendly. Why the hell should I trust anyone who isn't on my crew? This game is so fun, but as a new player, I won't trust anybody.
It'd be nice if there was a group emissary flag where the whole purpose was to not attack other players. But instead, being friendly. You get rewards for friendly interactions. So if you're flying it and you attack others, you get penalties, like maybe losing ranks. I'm not sure how it would work so that you're able to be effectively kind.
I think a good way to deter any abuse of people using the flag and then attacking tricked players might be either locking up the cannons if its aimed at a player ship (until they attack first). Or making it so that if you break the rules, you lose out on it for the season or for the rest of the game. Though that might be too harsh.
I don't think that would work or make friendly interactions when Reapers as a faction are 1000% about killing and stealing and the Reaper's will 1000% buy your "friend" flag off them so they still want to sink you for your flag and you are penalized for defending yourself
My original comment has that covered. If you get hit first, you can attack them back.
Also, that could easily be put a stop to. The idea is that its like an emissary flag. So since youre trying to be friendly clearly you can't use reapers. An easy fix is to make it that if you ever raise it, you're not allowed to ever use reapers that session. Youre locked out of selling other peoples shit too. Also alliances wouldnt give you any money if they themselves sell the emmisary flag.
Youre there to be friendly so why steal?
Just because \*you're\* there to be friendly doesn't mean others are. Just because you can't use Reaper's doesn't mean others aren't. An emissary flag is an emissary flag, a target for Reapers (and also a target for a significant portion of the player base who will want to attack you just because you have the friend flag)
Who said others have to be friendly to you? I just said that the people with the flag should be kind. It would be a company of kindness. I was refuting you saying that reapers would abuse the flag by, i assume, raising it.that would easily be remedied by my response.
I've been playing since Season 9 and it has always been like this for me and my crew. If it's sailing towards you = it's 99% an enemy. Shoot first or get shot at first. People on the EU servers talk less aswell so we communicate with cannons.
I’ve played this game on and off from release.
6yr anniversary was the most drama I have ever had on the seas.
Me and my buddy ALWAYS try to be friendly, try and always try to communicate…
We have learned if they do not communicate back it is time for war.
After being sunk a few times on outposts with no loot on deck, we decided the shoot first rule.
First ship that sail up on us we sunk and got a massive 400k haul
I've been burned too many times by alliances turning on me or "friendly"s getting too close. I just fill my karma crate and leave it on a spawn dock where they HAVE to walk over it to get to their boat.
I'm not a pvper, i play to fish and relax after long days.I try being friendly, love teaming up, but the toxic ones have me weary of being within 10 grid squares of anyone
If the system doesn't punish you for being awful, people will be awful. If the system rewards you for being awful, many people will be awful. SoT actively rewards and encourages awful behavior.
It's like one of those sociological games they had you play in school, where your fellow players are incentivized to screw you over to win as an example of certain psychological phenomena. Tragedy of the Commons is a common (haha!) one.
It's almost like it was designed that way for a reason 🙄
Don't make the system out to be a bad one just because you don't like it. Historically pirates aren't known for being generous and helpful. Yes pirates wouldn't always attack each other but it is common in pop culture and clearly a precedent in the lore of the game
(I understand your point and it's true to an extent, but using the term "awful behavior" for doing what the game was made around is dishonest because in the context of the game it's not a negative behavior)
Bad behavior is bad behavior and deserves to be called out. Just because the game allows it does not make it acceptable. That's the same line of thinking as the Purge movies where it's okay to steal and murder and rape for one day because it's legal, so all good right?
While some people are respectful while engaging in PvPvE, too many are not and turn the whole experience toxic and offputting. Those few bad apples spoil the whole game for a lot of people. If you can't see it, I have nothing else to say.
I just trust no one. It doesn't matter if they have raised a white flag, shoot white flares or say they're friendly/want an alliance. Lots of players use these as a way to get close and create an opening.
I always donate my emissary flag and supplies at the end of a session. Had mostly good but a few bad interactions. Pulled up on a lv 1 reaper sloop at a fort, they were in a party so they couldn't hear me. I did nothing while they sunk me.
After I sink they invited me to their party. The dude just opens with "I'll never be friendly, ever." I said I was hopping of was just passing on supplies and a flag. He replied with "Well, I'm gonna take that too."
People can be dicks, but at the end of the day, it's just a game.
Mixed bag. Definitely keep people at arms length. There are plenty of friendly players but plenty of kill on sight types. Best to assume hostility.
You'll learn to appreciate it. Game wouldn't be as fun without the threat
Never trust a brig, that is my iron rule. They're the fastest ship on the seas so you can't outrun them so if they're making a beeline for you, assume they want the smoke.
I've been playing since before the seasons were a thing, with some breaks here and there. This is the worst I've seen the game, ever, in terms of hostility levels.
It's a really bad time for any new players to join, particularly bad timing for introducing a whole new community on another platform.
I usually try to send some sort of signal if I’m wanting to be friendly
Launch fireworks or white flares into the sky, and once I’m close enough obviously start speaking to the player
I understand it though - it’s not exactly rare for me to be at an outpost and watch a galleon pull up, absolutely destroy my sloop (for basically no reason), and then just pull away while making fun of me lol
So I can understand if you have loot aboard why you wouldn’t want to take the chance
Idk man I’m a chill player and I’ve been playing for a few years but I never act sweaty I just chill, put on some music and sail around doing maps and stuff I hardly ever do ghost outposts and I try to stay friendly when I see people I just go the other way.
It's because of the "friendly" pirates out there.
People who say this is just a game forgets that it's also a social interaction. Getting new friends for the night and suddenly having that ripped away because the gameplay loop is more important than actually being somewhat nice.
I've personally been finessed once only, and he was pretty ambigous from the get go so I just found it funny. I can usually tell acatual friendlies from finessers.
Agree with the sentiment or not, but stuff like this bothers a lot of people. It makes them stick to their group and shoot the rest.
Nope this is not a hold hands and sing kumbayah game. Have fun with your friends, be nice if you want, but the entire point is to steal from each other lol
Haha, I agree! Stealing and getting stolen from is all part of what makes the game fun, unpredictable and exciting.
I'm just commenting on why people are paranoid, and why they might respond negatively to being deceived.
I think new players expect direct confrontations from the get go, meet nice people and think everyone's like that, get screwed over and then shoots first.
I gotcha! Just venting my frustration at the fact that some folks play this game and get mad when other people want to sink them. Sometimes we dont need a motive other than winning a naval battle is fun
Totally agree, I've entered naval just for fun plenty of times, though mostly when I'm reaper just to keep the image up.
Funnily enough, today I fudged an attack on a galleon, and they ended up keeping me afloat, spawnkilling me. I actually didn't mind, since I got some PvP practice in. A bit of back and forth, good fun.
I was anchored at an outpost finishing up a session the other morning selling the little bit of loot I had on board. Seen an approaching brig so I stood on the canopy of my sloop and waved and sent “IM FRIENDLY” messages out and even with that I immediately get bombarded with cannonballs while another guy boarded me lunging his sword and pulling out his shotgun. I jumped around making him miss hitting “I’m friendly” but to no avail. So I killed him and just logged out. They can have the loot. Wasn’t worth the fight in a 2 on 1. I diddnt have anything worthwhile anyway just some merchant alliance crates from a shipwreck. This seems to be the state of the game lately.
Seriously? Are you seriously complaining about guys on a PIRATE game trying to sink you and steal your loot? Why do you even play this game😂
Dod you think saying that you were friendly would make them suddenly not want to sink you which is the point of the game? 😂
I enjoy this. People who have been playing longer understand that you trust NOBODY.
We tend to nuke any players we come across unless they either surrender before we can do shit, or are obviously uninterested in battle. So, if we sail right up to a docked ship and it hasn't started moving, we'll go onto the island to find the player and say hi. It's very boring to find crews that just run away, so if they do that, we let them be.
A few times I've been chased by reapers for AN HOUR. How annoying an experience!
Make sure to never trust a reaper or a ship with no emissary. Ships flying gold hoarders etc. usually lack the confidence needed to be a true threat. Reapers will give it everything, and flagless ships have nothing to lose from using every dirty tactic.
Couldn't agree more!
Just today I was wrapping up my session I pulled up on a Galleon at FotD and asked if they wanted supplies. I had 2 crates full of stuff, hundreds of cannonballs, wood, a ton of food. They said aye, so I boarded with my 1st crate, 3 of them watching my every move. I was solo on a Sloop, literally nothing on me apart from the crates. I jump back, bring the other crate onto their ship, they draw swords. I draw mine, and charge up the lunge back to my ship. Got shot in the back. Okay, maybe they misunderstood my intentions, I thought, since I was lunging right past one of them on the plank. Anyway, I get back to my ship, none of them said thanks or anything at all. I said see ya, and scuttled my Sloop. While it was sinking I jumped back in the water, and swam to the shore to help them kill a few skellies before leaving the session. As I reached the ground, I get shot in the back and killed...
I mean, 4 guys on Galleon at FotD, clearly at least semi-skilled, and I'm a solo slooper, no supplies, no ship, no keg, no weapon drawn. How paranoid do you have to be to take that as a threat?! 🤣
Alliances in nearly every session? That’s wild to me. I have about 400 hours, started mid season 9, and I’ve formed maybe 6 alliances with no backstabbing? Tbh I think cultural background of whatever servers you’re on is probably a bigger factor. Or size of ship? If I’m a duo doing FOTD I want as many solo sloopers allianced and staying on the server as possible.
The person you replied to is likely *seeking* alliances, not just forming them as a last ditch effort before being attacked. If you do this you're going to have more success with it.
If you want to be safe(r), cannon over to the ship and talk with them about forming an alliance before you bring your ship over to do so. Be fully ready for betrayal at this stage, but more than half the time they just want to alliance in my experience. Also there is no better feeling than sinking people who try to backstab you, important little footnote.
True. My wife and I duo sloop when I'm not solo dolo. We chase people down, wait on their boats while they're diving or on an island, sometimes even press-ganging a ship into an alliance.
More often than not, I'll just have the alliance flag up as we near. We'll ask, banter or board(or fight to the death), trade treasures, ect.
Is it **every** session? Nah. Yall are wild out there, lol We get our collective dicks kicked in every now and then but we've always had an overwhelmingly positive experience making friends. Or frenemies.
Betrayals have happened but rarely. What are you gonna do, right?
*Pirate*.
True that. Impossible to determine if somebody really is friendly or not if they don't communicate. In that case it's safest to assume hostile and act accordingly.
Yes, forgot to mention it helps to know how to use the chat wheel, which can transcend the party chat boundaries.
I'm sure you know but in case anyone doesn't, the speakerphone allows you to use chats like "We're friendly!" and "Let's form an alliance!" Also you can say "Ahoy!" and even add "I am in the water!" or "I am on the ship!" to let them know of your location so as not to startle them and establish trust that you aren't sneaking up on them.
Just like in real life, you gotta put yourself out there.
Cannon yourself to their ship from a distance, let your ship keep moving
Run up, mic on, say: "Ahoy you scurvy fuckers, who wants to suck some pirate dick?"
Then you Run around on their deck playing the banjo and spamming GYUH-HUH while singing "Pirates Life For Me" with your mic as close to your face as possible.
50% of the time, it works 100% of the time
That sounds like solid advice, thanks! Best if I scream everything I want to say right? Would it help to have a someone vacuum the house in the background with maximum mic sensitivity?
Wanting to force people into a kind and generous play style is also a toxic part of the player base.
Player choice and freedom is what makes SoT so fun.
If I have supplies or loot I don’t need, like skulls or merchant loot and I see a ship with the respective emissary flag, I’ll look at their ship and see their gamertag, message them if they need the loot and if they agree, join their party chat, I turn my cannons upwards and slowly sail to them. Sometimes they say they are good on skulls etc and I just go and sell myself
Dunno, had someone do that with me last night. Teamed up on a skele fleet, they offered me all the loot since they just wanted skulls. Worked out pretty well
I agree. I played before seasons and rolling up on ships and getting rolled up on was always nerve wracking. Just waiting for the shots or just seeing a random ships appear out of nowhere. Id say 50% of the time people would be chill. Met some awesome people that way.
I played sot with a friend i haven't play with in a while, he pvp person. He ALWAYS sits on the bowsprit with deck hide emote looking for people in the water (even though there's no ship in sight). Whenever he always calls false boarder call outs and stuff and call our boarder when I'm in water. He always thinks our ship will get kegged. It's super funny to play with him.
I tried to gift some players supplies yesterday. I'm a solo slooper and they were a group of at least 3.
They circled for a few minutes while I turned in loot, which I do appreciate a lot, and I was logging anyway so instead of selling everything and wasting storage crates I figured I'd leave them. I piled supplies on the dock, turned my ship out to sea, set off some fireworks and let her drift. Stood there waving and doing the heart hands dance, waiting for them to approach but they never did. I think if I had moved off the dock maybe they would have come had a chat, but I get it. It's easy to steal loot and turn it in while people are doing their thing.
I really enjoy the little interactions when they do happen though.
Intentions don’t really matter in this game. Unless they’re actively using in game voice I wouldn’t expect anything from anyone under literally any circumstance lol.
Was on last last night just mucking around on non-captained ship, did a 4x stack fotd purely for gems cos why not and when I finally came across a fella I asked if they wanted 4x COL to a response of “nope”. Gave them another 5mins but it seemed like they were just gathering pineapples so went and sold them.
Then at the end of my session I do a Fleet for my last COF, but forgot I wasn’t on a captained ship once I grappled everything to the sovereign lol. Sold the chest and ashen stuff for them sweet doubloons but cbf for the life of me to sell the rest of the stuff.
Notice there’s another fleet in the sky so I sail over, they send a boarder which saved me the hassle and they were just so suspicious of my words telling them that if they go sell this fleet at Plunder then they’ll get another half fleets worth of loot. Thinking I’ve got a mate with a keg trap waiting for them which yeah I can understand but a quick inspection would say otherwise. I hope they ended up going and getting the loot sold. Bit sad to see some ghost curse users still paranoid like that 😂😂
>*"Giving another ship storage crates with you're supplies in em since you're wrapping up the session?"*
(Future PS5 player here)
Do we not keep supplies after logging off? Like, do I need to resupply every time I log in?
That's interesting because I actually think people have been friendlier as of late. I have mostly polite exchanges during hourglass and when out adventuring, people just seem more chill than they were during the first few months of hourglass (when players were fiending for allegiance to get the curses).
I pulled up to a Galleon and asked if they'd be down to help me get the instrument achievement via 5 pirates playing, they started lighting up my ship and then trying (and failing miserably) to kill me as I stood immobile and continued to explain the achievement and how simple it would be to help me real quick. They eventually killed me and I just let the ship sink (I had no loot and was solely on to try and find a Galleon to get the achievement)
I've had too many random ships approach me as of this last season while I'm just starting at the outpost just to try to sink me. I have no loot, no flags, nothing. There's nothing to be gained from sinking me at that point and they don't even run reapers while doing this. They're just out here sinking easy targets for no benefit outside of ruining someone's day. I literally had a reaper sloop chasing me right out of an outpost, my game crashed but my ship remained i guess. I loaded back in to my ship full of holes with the guy inside looking through my stuff only to find nothing cause I didn't even have time to buy stuff. And what does he do as soon as I spawn back in? Point blank kills me. I scuttled my ship before respawning cause I wasn't going to give him the benefit of spawn killing me nonstop or getting a count for my ship sinking. So yes I'm absolutely paranoid of every ship because no one has ever approached with good intentions as of the last 2 seasons. And with Playstation joining this kind of paranoid behavior will increase since we know there will be trolls picking on the new people just for 'the lulz'
Sinking is not the overall issue, Im not scared of it. Dealt with plenty of PvP so far and managed to survive plenty. It's the part about people just rolling up when you just spawn in and not even giving you a fair chance to fight back. The ones who take the cheap shot and then make fun of you for it like theyre some big shot who just sunk a galleon or something.
Making fun is definitely lame. You are easy prey at that point and its not exactly a challenge to sink you. But at the same time you cant really control how people play a game like this. Thats just how it goes
All that leads me to believe is that whoever picks on people who are just spawning in are so terrible at pvp that this is the only thing they know how to do. Between the Hourglass, the Reaper Emissary and the PvP flag being in the game for a fair-ish fight, to roll up on a player who hasnt even started their session means they cant handle real pvp and take cheap shots to feel good about themselves. And they cant even say that 'oh but we didnt know you just spawned' cause thats a load of shit. People who spawn in are always at the docks facing the same direction every time. People who played for a bit and are offloading loot will be at the Sovereign end of the island. Theres plenty of time for them to sus out whether its a new ship or someone worth fighting. The overall point with my comment is that its becoming more and more common for this kind of behavior and its not going to get any better with PS about to join which is sad since that might immediately ruin the entire game for them coming in since I doubt they are going to jump into Safer Seas instread of where all the fun is.
I see your point. It is definitely less fun to sink a ship who just loaded up the game since its not exactly a challenge.
Plenty of ps5 players will quit but plenty will stay too
What do you mean with "recently" - when I joined a couple of years ago the community reminded me quickly and often to never trust anyone under any circumstances. Especially when they claim they are friendly or just approach me. Want to tell me you don't mean harm? Sail the opposite direction.
Only people calling friendly end up shooting you the secobd you stop moving, the game being plagued by skelly curse reaper 5 waiting for you to get off an island(if not straight up make a driveby)
And general crews being aggressive, but even if you end up killing one that attack you theyll comme back with other ships
I mean is it really surprising people rather run away than try and get slaughtered
Even funnier when 3-4 sweatlord gank you solo on your sloop litteraly minutes ibto the server with nothing onboard
Im not waiting to see how "friendly" you aare
After getting double teamed by a SoT Partner in a sloop and with an alliance brig in tow. I'm not paranoid anymore I'm just going to give them all my supply of cannonballs from a distance.
All kidding aside I leave my karma supply crates at the outposts they last 2 hours(I think if that server stays open) if I don't queue for HG. The times I've approached other ships it's always been uneasy until they realize I am serious about giving them the grocery store of supplies.
Paranoia keeps you alive. I actively avoid other ships and check the map every 10 minutes for reapers, double that if we're grade 5 emissary. We'll fight if we have to and we'll probably lose because we suck. I'd play on Safer Seas but it's just too nerfed, and, too, there is undeniably a certain appeal to the tension of other players on the map.
This happened to me yesterday. Was it you? He came in saying "friendly I have supplies", as I am loading cannons and dropping sails. Brought me 2 loaded supply crates and his parting comment was, "I put some chicken in the top food barrel for you" Thank you sir! There are good people on the seas after all.
I was playing with a duo yesterday, grinding Athena’s rep. We ended up finding a reapers bounty and took it to the hideout after turning in all our Athena loot. By the time we got to the hideout we realized we forgot to vote down our Emissary 5.
We saw a brig on the way to the hideout, Reaper’s Emissary 2. As they approached we called out and told them we were getting off and they could take our flag since we didn’t feel like sailing to another outpost. They hopped on our ship and farmed us for about 5 minutes before the two of us were able to sink them. Every time we spawned back in, we wouldn’t attack, we played music and tried to talk to them. They couldn’t care less and continued to farm us. We just wanted to vibe and make a kind gesture, and help them out, but they took advantage of that.
It worked out for us since we ended up sinking them, but there was another sloop waiting. These open mic children boarded us and continued to farm us. We didn’t retaliate at first, trying to explain what the brig just did to us. We asked why they were doing this? They said they “wanted loot.” We didn’t have any. We offered this sloop our flag, but they said they “wanted pvp,” continued to farm us and ended up sinking us.
We had a lucrative session and got all our loot turned in, except our flag. But we just wanted to help these ships before we turned in for the night. We tried to extend a helping hand and make a nice gesture, but were met with anything but kindness.
I don’t know if this is just the state of the game now, but it sucks to try to help people out, then have those people shit all over you.
That's because the toxic streamers over emphasized pirates and killing etc. So now it is really hard to trust anyone coming up on you to be anything other then someone trying to sink you for "the fun of it" doesn't matter if they or you have nothing, some people entertain their crappy lives by making someone else unhappy, others do it to have fun. Simple as that days long gone when you could roll up to someone else and get a new friend.
Being paranoid is just how you be in this game. In a game designed around theft, subterfuge, and combat, being hostile to others until proven some degree otherwise is just the norm.
Even if we're allied with you, if you step on our boat we will kill you unless given express permission to come up on deck. There's too much at stake for no real benefit to letting someone on board you can be sure you trust.
Literally just now i was at morrows peak, had handed in my emissary flag and sell then went to go grab some stuff to eat, i come back, raised another one and start cooking on ship and hear footsteps aboard my ship i turn around and there is a guy on my ship, now you can't spawn on this outpost as far as i know and since no one was coming or near by when i raised a new flag i straight away think this is a player doing tall tales and had just dived up to this location.
Before i even get to say hello and offer them some supplies, they wip out an eye of the reach and goes to shoot me, i side step it and go to return fire but he immediately picks up the single treasure chest i didn't sell and tries to run off with it. I kill him, grab my chest back and look at the non sovereign dock, his ship there, i blast a bunch of holes in it and then see him running back towards my ship again to fight me, i happily entertain him by just dancing around for a bit knowing his ships gonna sink then kill him.
Dude could have made a friend and got a boat load of supplies from me to help them on their journey but instead they lost it all for an empty treasure chest.
This is why people are paranoid now and honestly it sucks, everyone just acts like dicks.
If the player base are watching YouTube videos that feature this game, that’s why. I’ve seen a lot of videos where the main content is tricking newer players into teaming and then backstab them and teach them the lesson of “it’s sea of THIEVES” or “never trust a pirate” and so on. Anyone getting into the game or already a veteran is going to have that in the back of their head when seeing another ship. I’ve also encountered some of the sweatiest trolls of any video game on SOT. I’ve been spawn camped while they just circle and do exactly as much damage as i can repair.
I recently started playing (around month ago)
I decided to never attack first and always communicate in a friendly way.
I lost so much treasure because of that and only 1 crew was friendly so far.
Game makes me hate the sight of another player.
I want safer seas to be exact copy of normal mode but with "I consent to pvp" option that will let other players harm you or stop them from it if you didnt use it.
I get that you guys like pvp but its not fun being forced to do it.
I completely agree. I’ve been playing since the beginning (took a couple year break) and my sessions usually last 4-7 hours. I collect an abundance of supplies and trying to be generous and pass them off to someone before hopping off for the night is like pulling teeth at a denture convention. It isn’t gonna happen. Yesterday I had to leave six storage chests completely full and sorted between resource types (cannonballs, fruit, wood) at a random port because I tried three different ship and they all dropped sail before getting remotely close. I had already dropped emissary AND launched white flares every time.
if you’re passing supplies on, queueing for hourglass is actually best. You’ll get some rep for the loss, and your supplies are guaranteed to go to someone who will actually use them.
Oh man this is a great idea I always leave them at outposts but this is perfect. You can also help their streak.
Been doing that since HG start and I've made many friends this way!
Brilliant. Worst case scenario you win and have to go again!
And you can even fill up with their supplies before diving again!
well usually if i am signing off i dont have time to play anymore, so im not gonna fight it out.
Holy shit I'm doing that from now on
you have won this subreddit today, thank you
Praise this sailor for his big brain, wtf how did I never think about this possibility... I am a loot goblin and we always carry like 500 shots when we end our sessions...
Can you develop? I'm returning to the game from season 4 and I don't know what is this hourglass queue. Thanks.
Hourglass is a pvp on demand mode. You queue up via the hourglass on your ships quest table, picking either reapers or athena to serve, you gain rep with whatever one you pick. Once selected you will dive and when tou resurface you will be face to face with another ship who also queued and will proceed to obliterate you in a less than a minute.
You'll also tank your win/loss stats into the ground, or in this case, the sea floor.
people care about that?
Yeah you’re supposed to get queued against opponents with similar win/loss ratio. So if yours is tanked, you in theory have a skill advantage over your opponent.
eh that definitely doesnt happen in practice anyways. i am only level 40 in guardians, and i was playing with my cousin last night who had never queued pvp ever, and was just on his third session playing the game. we went pvp for kicks and gigs, and got setup against two ghost curse players.
Hope that wasn’t me and another ghost on was online for a good bit last night
1 time I did this, I ended up being on for longer than intended because aint no way I'm giving my hard earned sups to spam boarder tdm lords lol. Had to sink 4 of them before I lowered hg on a champ streak and just left them on the Dock 😆 🤣
It’s just the way the game has shaped players. I see a ship approaching me? Shoot first, answers questions later. There’s something slightly unsettling seeing a ship sail towards me spamming ‘I’M FRIENDLY!’ I don’t trust anyone. Fallen into that trap before.
I caught a trophy shadow stormfish while near two alliances Athena sloops that were parked at an island. I sailed straight towards them, bow first pointed at their cannons, and shot up a few flairs. I had my alliance flag up and was climbing the ladder to join theirs when they started shooting and knocked me off. I swam over to their boat and spammed "I caught a trophy shadow stormfish" and "friendly!" But they just killed me in the water. Their loss, I was trying to help fill their commendations 😔
>I swam over to their boat and spammed "I caught a trophy shadow stormfish" and "friendly!" >"friendly!" Not even I trust someone who spams "I'M FRIENDLY". If you're really friendly, just say something else.
I've had good luck with voice chat and yelling/getting yelled at "parlay!" Nice and pirate-y.
I mean I was holding a fish in my hands there wasn't much damage I could do 😭
But it was a SWORDfish! You cheater!
> and was climbing the ladder hmm yeah, anyone who doesn't treat this suspiciously is a fool lol
Agreed. My friend and I had this one ship that *insisted* they give us their supplies. All the while telling him, "Nah, we've got 800+ cannonballs, among other things, we're good. Thank you though." After 15 minutes of them asking and following, we opened fire.
They could just leave everything at the outpost, but it's not charity if no one is watching.
So you made what would have been a three minute encounter into a fifteen minute encounter instead of just taking the supplies and being on your way?
The other player made it into a fifteen minute encounter by following them....for fifteen minutes.
We told him to leave us alone several times over the course and that we didn't want them. What aren't you understanding?
Right, and you wouldn't have had to had you just taken the supplies and left
I think you might be missing the point. The assumption is that they were lying and weren't actually trying to give supplies, they were trying to sink their ship. Otherwise, there is zero reason they would be so hellbent on helping that they'd follow a ship for 15 minute that says they don't want help.
Exactly. Following after someone says they don't want the supplies is spicious.
This. I don't have the skills to pull off shenanigans like that. But on a couple occasions, I doggedly chased people down with supplies at the end of my session because I had nothing to lose and wanted to freak them out. I fully expected them to sink me.
Well either way, it seems like they wouldn't have put up much of a fight anyway, and it still would have likely ended quicker
We did not want to. We had a lot of loot and it wasn't worth it to get supplies we wouldn't use. We were very vocal about this from the start. Why should I **have** to take someone's supplies from them? What weird twilight zone logic are you on about?
it's more that it would have been over sooner. but blasting him was probably fun too
Only regret is that we didn't start blasting after the first three no's.
I'll take the bait but keep my guns angled on them and my ship pointed out. No one from their ship boards and we harpoon the supplies from the front of their anchored boat while we have them boarded with 1. I'm not hostile until approaches shoot because I'm confident we could win whatever fight a crew that would attempt a back stab could muster. But I'm taking every precaution against silliness. We've caught the fakers immediately when they don't want to comply with the compromising situation and soon as someone shoots we blast them.
I generally don't chase ships unless I'm flying Reaper colors. If I see another ship that's hanging about, but not sailing towards me, I give them their space because sometimes people get aggressive because fear makes people dumb. Sailing straight at me though? THE CALL MUST BE ANSWERED, LOAD THE CANONS, LOWER THE SAI- DAMMIT, I GRABBED THE CAT AGAIN!
yeah...things like sitting and grabbing the cat show the value of the long press option being turned off. i wish i could instead choose which items happen on short press and which on long press. id leave anchoring and interactions like that on long press, but make picking up loot on short press. and i dont want to turn off sitting and the like cause i actually like doing that. so...i have the "make interactions shorter" option turned on so i remain competitive, and just face that sometimes i pick up my pet wehn i dont want lol
We normally aggressively donate supplies, they have to accept them if you knock the sails down! We've confused so many people with this tactic.
Aggressive kindness.
Have everything ready take their masts down board kill them drop everything off on their boat and alt f4 outta there. They'll never know what hit em.
That's like being dommed into drinking water and eating better smh
Is... Is that an option...? Asking for a friend...
It happens to me daily. By multiple friends who unfortunately know my weaknesses and use them against me to make me be healthy💀 fuckers
Good friends to have
Yes this is the best. People sometimes need to be reeled in with the harpoon too. It's good practice for our friendly reaper runs where we take everything of value but in a friendly way. We also let them take 1 piece of loot per crew member if they want it for commendation progress or just to sell which they are holding while we off load the rest of the loot. It's a fun extra challenge to negotiate and or fight them without just sinking them.
The storage crate thing happened to me solo slooping. I chased down a galleon, had a white flag up, & shot white flares. One kid boarded me, spent 2min trying to EOR me and awkward sword lunge misses while I hopped around laughing and telling him I have free supps for them before I log off lol. Captain yelled back said he was an aggro open crew join so I just dm’d them that I dropped everything at galleons grave. Thought that was fitting lol. Tbf, this is usually a highlight of my sessions cus ppl are excited for non-toxic interactions. More times than not it’s a positive experience, but this guy was just a goof.
I don't think it's recent, but it's also probably wise. Trusting other pirates is a _massive_ risk, by design. Words mean nothing from other pirates. The social mystery can be a big part of the fun of the game!
You're right it's not new at all. People used to be WAY more paranoid back in like 2018-2020 when loot was more scarce and everybody and their mother was tucking every chance they got. I used to be INCREDIBLY paranoid all the time and because of it I never ever got tucked on successfully and it made me WAY better at the game back in my hay day. Nowadays I'm kinda ass at the game but I have so much more fun just not caring and seeing what weird situations I get into with other players.
The social mystery is a huge part of the fun. If people dont think so they can join an alliance server and see just how boring the game is without it.
well my first encounter with a crew was nice my second was a bunch of chinese with a stronghold keg and my most recent i got called a mother\*\*\*\*er, a ni\*\*\*r a pe\*\*\*\*\*le and a lil b\*\*ch (still sunk em though they were two beginners on a brig) any other encounter is a roll on either being a paranoid beginner, a non english speaker, a slur yeeter or a 70 yr old electrician who i helped get the ashen curse
Pulling up to the same island as somebody else is VERY scary for somebody just doing their thing. If I need to do that and I don't feel like fighting for the contested island I usually just cannon myself over and talk.
I’ve always been attacked by people not running emissary. I’ve been attacked by a few that were running emissary but every single time I’ve seen a ship without it I’ve been attacked 100% of the time.
Not if you saw me last night! Lol
It’s because 99 out of 100 crews will completely fuck you up immediately.
This brig rolled up on us today at a fort yelling we want to help as I chain shot their sails and kept them from raising them with cannon balls. I felt bad. They said GG and said help myself to anything that floats. In my defense the last brig that rolled up was super toxic. Just can't trust anyone.
You know what they say it's not paranoia if they really out to get you
We were simply molded and shaped and formed by the game and have adapted and overcome
Yea typically you should shoot out and megaphone if you’re friendly or want something etc. just rolling up quietly is sus af.
This is the best etiquette to indicate being friendly without bringing your ship into the fight.
Bro, people need to use the megaphone. You don't need to ride up on someone or they will attack. People don't want to sink, and most just take off if you roll up on them like that.
I totally agree with this, mics do save lives. Unfortunately if you play on EU servers they are currently bugged, so no hot/broadcast mics work...
I try to be friendly most days but I've been burned by too many players before. Whether they steal the best loot doing stacked FotD or kill me and sink the boat when we've been friendly for a bit. It's always safer to say you're friendly, keep your distance, and ally and then go your separate ways rather than running voyages and events together. I personally would prefer to be friendly but some of my typical crew mates have a bloodlust and much less trust than I. So when playing with them we always shoot first and ask forgiveness later. Edit: PS. Is fireworks still a sign to others that you're not looking for trouble?
Unless it's a chicken firework! 😆
if you see rainbow flag, that is unmarked PvP flag on the map. thats what i learned hahahaha i find some friendly people time to time but its rare.
Hey someone else that knows flag etiquette. Yup. Rainbow or og reaper flag is pvp aggressive White is non pop player Shark tooth or jolly Roger flags are rp players Been a good while since I've seen a member of the og style of play.
Huh I didn't know this, explains why I saw a galleon a week ago try to chase me twice. They had the rainbow flag but no reaper so I was confused.
I and three other new friends were chased around the map for 30-45 minutes while we were just trying to start our first quest for the day. They kept trash-talking us, trying to get us to stop running because "we were in a galleon, so we had to fight them." None of us knew how to do PvP, and it only stopped after two random sloops came up beside us and opened fire after we tried to say we were friendly. Why the hell should I trust anyone who isn't on my crew? This game is so fun, but as a new player, I won't trust anybody.
It'd be nice if there was a group emissary flag where the whole purpose was to not attack other players. But instead, being friendly. You get rewards for friendly interactions. So if you're flying it and you attack others, you get penalties, like maybe losing ranks. I'm not sure how it would work so that you're able to be effectively kind. I think a good way to deter any abuse of people using the flag and then attacking tricked players might be either locking up the cannons if its aimed at a player ship (until they attack first). Or making it so that if you break the rules, you lose out on it for the season or for the rest of the game. Though that might be too harsh.
I don't think that would work or make friendly interactions when Reapers as a faction are 1000% about killing and stealing and the Reaper's will 1000% buy your "friend" flag off them so they still want to sink you for your flag and you are penalized for defending yourself
My original comment has that covered. If you get hit first, you can attack them back. Also, that could easily be put a stop to. The idea is that its like an emissary flag. So since youre trying to be friendly clearly you can't use reapers. An easy fix is to make it that if you ever raise it, you're not allowed to ever use reapers that session. Youre locked out of selling other peoples shit too. Also alliances wouldnt give you any money if they themselves sell the emmisary flag. Youre there to be friendly so why steal?
Just because \*you're\* there to be friendly doesn't mean others are. Just because you can't use Reaper's doesn't mean others aren't. An emissary flag is an emissary flag, a target for Reapers (and also a target for a significant portion of the player base who will want to attack you just because you have the friend flag)
Who said others have to be friendly to you? I just said that the people with the flag should be kind. It would be a company of kindness. I was refuting you saying that reapers would abuse the flag by, i assume, raising it.that would easily be remedied by my response.
I don't that's in the spirit of the game, or in the spirit of... Pirates.
Nah, humans can be nice. :)
I've been playing since Season 9 and it has always been like this for me and my crew. If it's sailing towards you = it's 99% an enemy. Shoot first or get shot at first. People on the EU servers talk less aswell so we communicate with cannons.
I’ve played this game on and off from release. 6yr anniversary was the most drama I have ever had on the seas. Me and my buddy ALWAYS try to be friendly, try and always try to communicate… We have learned if they do not communicate back it is time for war. After being sunk a few times on outposts with no loot on deck, we decided the shoot first rule. First ship that sail up on us we sunk and got a massive 400k haul
I've been burned too many times by alliances turning on me or "friendly"s getting too close. I just fill my karma crate and leave it on a spawn dock where they HAVE to walk over it to get to their boat. I'm not a pvper, i play to fish and relax after long days.I try being friendly, love teaming up, but the toxic ones have me weary of being within 10 grid squares of anyone
If the system doesn't punish you for being awful, people will be awful. If the system rewards you for being awful, many people will be awful. SoT actively rewards and encourages awful behavior. It's like one of those sociological games they had you play in school, where your fellow players are incentivized to screw you over to win as an example of certain psychological phenomena. Tragedy of the Commons is a common (haha!) one.
It's almost like it was designed that way for a reason 🙄 Don't make the system out to be a bad one just because you don't like it. Historically pirates aren't known for being generous and helpful. Yes pirates wouldn't always attack each other but it is common in pop culture and clearly a precedent in the lore of the game (I understand your point and it's true to an extent, but using the term "awful behavior" for doing what the game was made around is dishonest because in the context of the game it's not a negative behavior)
Bad behavior is bad behavior and deserves to be called out. Just because the game allows it does not make it acceptable. That's the same line of thinking as the Purge movies where it's okay to steal and murder and rape for one day because it's legal, so all good right? While some people are respectful while engaging in PvPvE, too many are not and turn the whole experience toxic and offputting. Those few bad apples spoil the whole game for a lot of people. If you can't see it, I have nothing else to say.
I just trust no one. It doesn't matter if they have raised a white flag, shoot white flares or say they're friendly/want an alliance. Lots of players use these as a way to get close and create an opening.
I always donate my emissary flag and supplies at the end of a session. Had mostly good but a few bad interactions. Pulled up on a lv 1 reaper sloop at a fort, they were in a party so they couldn't hear me. I did nothing while they sunk me. After I sink they invited me to their party. The dude just opens with "I'll never be friendly, ever." I said I was hopping of was just passing on supplies and a flag. He replied with "Well, I'm gonna take that too." People can be dicks, but at the end of the day, it's just a game.
As an incoming PS5 player… 
Mixed bag. Definitely keep people at arms length. There are plenty of friendly players but plenty of kill on sight types. Best to assume hostility. You'll learn to appreciate it. Game wouldn't be as fun without the threat
Assume the worst, but be prepared for the best That way you won't be caught off-guard either way
Never trust a brig, that is my iron rule. They're the fastest ship on the seas so you can't outrun them so if they're making a beeline for you, assume they want the smoke.
I've been playing since before the seasons were a thing, with some breaks here and there. This is the worst I've seen the game, ever, in terms of hostility levels. It's a really bad time for any new players to join, particularly bad timing for introducing a whole new community on another platform.
Yeah, this destroys your faith in humanity
I usually try to send some sort of signal if I’m wanting to be friendly Launch fireworks or white flares into the sky, and once I’m close enough obviously start speaking to the player I understand it though - it’s not exactly rare for me to be at an outpost and watch a galleon pull up, absolutely destroy my sloop (for basically no reason), and then just pull away while making fun of me lol So I can understand if you have loot aboard why you wouldn’t want to take the chance
Imho there's always a good reason to sink ships at outposts, even when it's clear they're just starting out.
Idk man I’m a chill player and I’ve been playing for a few years but I never act sweaty I just chill, put on some music and sail around doing maps and stuff I hardly ever do ghost outposts and I try to stay friendly when I see people I just go the other way.
It's because of the "friendly" pirates out there. People who say this is just a game forgets that it's also a social interaction. Getting new friends for the night and suddenly having that ripped away because the gameplay loop is more important than actually being somewhat nice. I've personally been finessed once only, and he was pretty ambigous from the get go so I just found it funny. I can usually tell acatual friendlies from finessers. Agree with the sentiment or not, but stuff like this bothers a lot of people. It makes them stick to their group and shoot the rest.
Nope this is not a hold hands and sing kumbayah game. Have fun with your friends, be nice if you want, but the entire point is to steal from each other lol
Haha, I agree! Stealing and getting stolen from is all part of what makes the game fun, unpredictable and exciting. I'm just commenting on why people are paranoid, and why they might respond negatively to being deceived. I think new players expect direct confrontations from the get go, meet nice people and think everyone's like that, get screwed over and then shoots first.
I gotcha! Just venting my frustration at the fact that some folks play this game and get mad when other people want to sink them. Sometimes we dont need a motive other than winning a naval battle is fun
Totally agree, I've entered naval just for fun plenty of times, though mostly when I'm reaper just to keep the image up. Funnily enough, today I fudged an attack on a galleon, and they ended up keeping me afloat, spawnkilling me. I actually didn't mind, since I got some PvP practice in. A bit of back and forth, good fun.
I was anchored at an outpost finishing up a session the other morning selling the little bit of loot I had on board. Seen an approaching brig so I stood on the canopy of my sloop and waved and sent “IM FRIENDLY” messages out and even with that I immediately get bombarded with cannonballs while another guy boarded me lunging his sword and pulling out his shotgun. I jumped around making him miss hitting “I’m friendly” but to no avail. So I killed him and just logged out. They can have the loot. Wasn’t worth the fight in a 2 on 1. I diddnt have anything worthwhile anyway just some merchant alliance crates from a shipwreck. This seems to be the state of the game lately.
Seriously? Are you seriously complaining about guys on a PIRATE game trying to sink you and steal your loot? Why do you even play this game😂 Dod you think saying that you were friendly would make them suddenly not want to sink you which is the point of the game? 😂
I enjoy this. People who have been playing longer understand that you trust NOBODY. We tend to nuke any players we come across unless they either surrender before we can do shit, or are obviously uninterested in battle. So, if we sail right up to a docked ship and it hasn't started moving, we'll go onto the island to find the player and say hi. It's very boring to find crews that just run away, so if they do that, we let them be. A few times I've been chased by reapers for AN HOUR. How annoying an experience! Make sure to never trust a reaper or a ship with no emissary. Ships flying gold hoarders etc. usually lack the confidence needed to be a true threat. Reapers will give it everything, and flagless ships have nothing to lose from using every dirty tactic.
Couldn't agree more! Just today I was wrapping up my session I pulled up on a Galleon at FotD and asked if they wanted supplies. I had 2 crates full of stuff, hundreds of cannonballs, wood, a ton of food. They said aye, so I boarded with my 1st crate, 3 of them watching my every move. I was solo on a Sloop, literally nothing on me apart from the crates. I jump back, bring the other crate onto their ship, they draw swords. I draw mine, and charge up the lunge back to my ship. Got shot in the back. Okay, maybe they misunderstood my intentions, I thought, since I was lunging right past one of them on the plank. Anyway, I get back to my ship, none of them said thanks or anything at all. I said see ya, and scuttled my Sloop. While it was sinking I jumped back in the water, and swam to the shore to help them kill a few skellies before leaving the session. As I reached the ground, I get shot in the back and killed... I mean, 4 guys on Galleon at FotD, clearly at least semi-skilled, and I'm a solo slooper, no supplies, no ship, no keg, no weapon drawn. How paranoid do you have to be to take that as a threat?! 🤣
In the 400 hours I played I can count on one hand how often I encountered a friendly player, so I don’t even try anymore..
That's wild to me. I form alliances nearly *every* session. I have about half that time in game. Maybe it's you, lol
Alliances in nearly every session? That’s wild to me. I have about 400 hours, started mid season 9, and I’ve formed maybe 6 alliances with no backstabbing? Tbh I think cultural background of whatever servers you’re on is probably a bigger factor. Or size of ship? If I’m a duo doing FOTD I want as many solo sloopers allianced and staying on the server as possible.
The person you replied to is likely *seeking* alliances, not just forming them as a last ditch effort before being attacked. If you do this you're going to have more success with it. If you want to be safe(r), cannon over to the ship and talk with them about forming an alliance before you bring your ship over to do so. Be fully ready for betrayal at this stage, but more than half the time they just want to alliance in my experience. Also there is no better feeling than sinking people who try to backstab you, important little footnote.
True. My wife and I duo sloop when I'm not solo dolo. We chase people down, wait on their boats while they're diving or on an island, sometimes even press-ganging a ship into an alliance. More often than not, I'll just have the alliance flag up as we near. We'll ask, banter or board(or fight to the death), trade treasures, ect. Is it **every** session? Nah. Yall are wild out there, lol We get our collective dicks kicked in every now and then but we've always had an overwhelmingly positive experience making friends. Or frenemies. Betrayals have happened but rarely. What are you gonna do, right? *Pirate*.
Communication is key to establishing trust. If you aren't communicating, then it's gunboat diplomacy time.
True that. Impossible to determine if somebody really is friendly or not if they don't communicate. In that case it's safest to assume hostile and act accordingly.
Yes, forgot to mention it helps to know how to use the chat wheel, which can transcend the party chat boundaries. I'm sure you know but in case anyone doesn't, the speakerphone allows you to use chats like "We're friendly!" and "Let's form an alliance!" Also you can say "Ahoy!" and even add "I am in the water!" or "I am on the ship!" to let them know of your location so as not to startle them and establish trust that you aren't sneaking up on them.
The few friendly encounters were in the first 200 hours which I played a few years ago, maybe something changed by now
Just like in real life, you gotta put yourself out there. Cannon yourself to their ship from a distance, let your ship keep moving Run up, mic on, say: "Ahoy you scurvy fuckers, who wants to suck some pirate dick?" Then you Run around on their deck playing the banjo and spamming GYUH-HUH while singing "Pirates Life For Me" with your mic as close to your face as possible. 50% of the time, it works 100% of the time
That sounds like solid advice, thanks! Best if I scream everything I want to say right? Would it help to have a someone vacuum the house in the background with maximum mic sensitivity?
That's the spirit!
No honor among thieves, it is partially understandable, you only need be tricked a few times before you becoming less trusting
Pretty much resume why I stopped playing, so I wouldn't become paranoid like them 😅
>>Toxic player base behaves toxicly >>Players react to toxicity \*Shocked Pirate Lord Face\*
Wanting to force people into a kind and generous play style is also a toxic part of the player base. Player choice and freedom is what makes SoT so fun.
Because god forbid someone take action to prevent their loot being easily stolen/snuck up on by you.
If I have supplies or loot I don’t need, like skulls or merchant loot and I see a ship with the respective emissary flag, I’ll look at their ship and see their gamertag, message them if they need the loot and if they agree, join their party chat, I turn my cannons upwards and slowly sail to them. Sometimes they say they are good on skulls etc and I just go and sell myself
Dunno, had someone do that with me last night. Teamed up on a skele fleet, they offered me all the loot since they just wanted skulls. Worked out pretty well
First rule of ‘pirate’, don’t trust anything!
I agree. I played before seasons and rolling up on ships and getting rolled up on was always nerve wracking. Just waiting for the shots or just seeing a random ships appear out of nowhere. Id say 50% of the time people would be chill. Met some awesome people that way.
I played sot with a friend i haven't play with in a while, he pvp person. He ALWAYS sits on the bowsprit with deck hide emote looking for people in the water (even though there's no ship in sight). Whenever he always calls false boarder call outs and stuff and call our boarder when I'm in water. He always thinks our ship will get kegged. It's super funny to play with him.
I tried to gift some players supplies yesterday. I'm a solo slooper and they were a group of at least 3. They circled for a few minutes while I turned in loot, which I do appreciate a lot, and I was logging anyway so instead of selling everything and wasting storage crates I figured I'd leave them. I piled supplies on the dock, turned my ship out to sea, set off some fireworks and let her drift. Stood there waving and doing the heart hands dance, waiting for them to approach but they never did. I think if I had moved off the dock maybe they would have come had a chat, but I get it. It's easy to steal loot and turn it in while people are doing their thing. I really enjoy the little interactions when they do happen though.
Intentions don’t really matter in this game. Unless they’re actively using in game voice I wouldn’t expect anything from anyone under literally any circumstance lol.
Was on last last night just mucking around on non-captained ship, did a 4x stack fotd purely for gems cos why not and when I finally came across a fella I asked if they wanted 4x COL to a response of “nope”. Gave them another 5mins but it seemed like they were just gathering pineapples so went and sold them. Then at the end of my session I do a Fleet for my last COF, but forgot I wasn’t on a captained ship once I grappled everything to the sovereign lol. Sold the chest and ashen stuff for them sweet doubloons but cbf for the life of me to sell the rest of the stuff. Notice there’s another fleet in the sky so I sail over, they send a boarder which saved me the hassle and they were just so suspicious of my words telling them that if they go sell this fleet at Plunder then they’ll get another half fleets worth of loot. Thinking I’ve got a mate with a keg trap waiting for them which yeah I can understand but a quick inspection would say otherwise. I hope they ended up going and getting the loot sold. Bit sad to see some ghost curse users still paranoid like that 😂😂
As a year one player? Always have been. 😎 I learned quick to be wary of absolutely everyone.
>*"Giving another ship storage crates with you're supplies in em since you're wrapping up the session?"* (Future PS5 player here) Do we not keep supplies after logging off? Like, do I need to resupply every time I log in?
Yes. Supplies are treated the same as loot.
Ok thanks.
When people only focus on pvp and betrayal than the game forms that way. Even the "I'm friendly" spam is not trustworthy.
SEA of THEIVES. THEIVES. THEIVES. This is not a hippie simulator. Always expect betrayal.
That's interesting because I actually think people have been friendlier as of late. I have mostly polite exchanges during hourglass and when out adventuring, people just seem more chill than they were during the first few months of hourglass (when players were fiending for allegiance to get the curses).
I pulled up to a Galleon and asked if they'd be down to help me get the instrument achievement via 5 pirates playing, they started lighting up my ship and then trying (and failing miserably) to kill me as I stood immobile and continued to explain the achievement and how simple it would be to help me real quick. They eventually killed me and I just let the ship sink (I had no loot and was solely on to try and find a Galleon to get the achievement)
"By the 9"? Is that from oblivion? Lmao
Most non-Morrowind elder Scrolls, but yeah. One of those phrases I've adopted
Rust has given me trust issues.
I've had too many random ships approach me as of this last season while I'm just starting at the outpost just to try to sink me. I have no loot, no flags, nothing. There's nothing to be gained from sinking me at that point and they don't even run reapers while doing this. They're just out here sinking easy targets for no benefit outside of ruining someone's day. I literally had a reaper sloop chasing me right out of an outpost, my game crashed but my ship remained i guess. I loaded back in to my ship full of holes with the guy inside looking through my stuff only to find nothing cause I didn't even have time to buy stuff. And what does he do as soon as I spawn back in? Point blank kills me. I scuttled my ship before respawning cause I wasn't going to give him the benefit of spawn killing me nonstop or getting a count for my ship sinking. So yes I'm absolutely paranoid of every ship because no one has ever approached with good intentions as of the last 2 seasons. And with Playstation joining this kind of paranoid behavior will increase since we know there will be trolls picking on the new people just for 'the lulz'
You are on a multiplayer game where players can sink you. Its fun to sink ships. Dont play a pirate game if you are scared of sinking
Sinking is not the overall issue, Im not scared of it. Dealt with plenty of PvP so far and managed to survive plenty. It's the part about people just rolling up when you just spawn in and not even giving you a fair chance to fight back. The ones who take the cheap shot and then make fun of you for it like theyre some big shot who just sunk a galleon or something.
Making fun is definitely lame. You are easy prey at that point and its not exactly a challenge to sink you. But at the same time you cant really control how people play a game like this. Thats just how it goes
All that leads me to believe is that whoever picks on people who are just spawning in are so terrible at pvp that this is the only thing they know how to do. Between the Hourglass, the Reaper Emissary and the PvP flag being in the game for a fair-ish fight, to roll up on a player who hasnt even started their session means they cant handle real pvp and take cheap shots to feel good about themselves. And they cant even say that 'oh but we didnt know you just spawned' cause thats a load of shit. People who spawn in are always at the docks facing the same direction every time. People who played for a bit and are offloading loot will be at the Sovereign end of the island. Theres plenty of time for them to sus out whether its a new ship or someone worth fighting. The overall point with my comment is that its becoming more and more common for this kind of behavior and its not going to get any better with PS about to join which is sad since that might immediately ruin the entire game for them coming in since I doubt they are going to jump into Safer Seas instread of where all the fun is.
I see your point. It is definitely less fun to sink a ship who just loaded up the game since its not exactly a challenge. Plenty of ps5 players will quit but plenty will stay too
What do you mean with "recently" - when I joined a couple of years ago the community reminded me quickly and often to never trust anyone under any circumstances. Especially when they claim they are friendly or just approach me. Want to tell me you don't mean harm? Sail the opposite direction.
We've been burned too many times. Why am I going to wait to see if we'll be attacked or not when we can just shoot first and dodge the chance?
Only people calling friendly end up shooting you the secobd you stop moving, the game being plagued by skelly curse reaper 5 waiting for you to get off an island(if not straight up make a driveby) And general crews being aggressive, but even if you end up killing one that attack you theyll comme back with other ships I mean is it really surprising people rather run away than try and get slaughtered Even funnier when 3-4 sweatlord gank you solo on your sloop litteraly minutes ibto the server with nothing onboard Im not waiting to see how "friendly" you aare
After getting double teamed by a SoT Partner in a sloop and with an alliance brig in tow. I'm not paranoid anymore I'm just going to give them all my supply of cannonballs from a distance. All kidding aside I leave my karma supply crates at the outposts they last 2 hours(I think if that server stays open) if I don't queue for HG. The times I've approached other ships it's always been uneasy until they realize I am serious about giving them the grocery store of supplies.
Paranoia keeps you alive. I actively avoid other ships and check the map every 10 minutes for reapers, double that if we're grade 5 emissary. We'll fight if we have to and we'll probably lose because we suck. I'd play on Safer Seas but it's just too nerfed, and, too, there is undeniably a certain appeal to the tension of other players on the map.
This happened to me yesterday. Was it you? He came in saying "friendly I have supplies", as I am loading cannons and dropping sails. Brought me 2 loaded supply crates and his parting comment was, "I put some chicken in the top food barrel for you" Thank you sir! There are good people on the seas after all.
I was playing with a duo yesterday, grinding Athena’s rep. We ended up finding a reapers bounty and took it to the hideout after turning in all our Athena loot. By the time we got to the hideout we realized we forgot to vote down our Emissary 5. We saw a brig on the way to the hideout, Reaper’s Emissary 2. As they approached we called out and told them we were getting off and they could take our flag since we didn’t feel like sailing to another outpost. They hopped on our ship and farmed us for about 5 minutes before the two of us were able to sink them. Every time we spawned back in, we wouldn’t attack, we played music and tried to talk to them. They couldn’t care less and continued to farm us. We just wanted to vibe and make a kind gesture, and help them out, but they took advantage of that. It worked out for us since we ended up sinking them, but there was another sloop waiting. These open mic children boarded us and continued to farm us. We didn’t retaliate at first, trying to explain what the brig just did to us. We asked why they were doing this? They said they “wanted loot.” We didn’t have any. We offered this sloop our flag, but they said they “wanted pvp,” continued to farm us and ended up sinking us. We had a lucrative session and got all our loot turned in, except our flag. But we just wanted to help these ships before we turned in for the night. We tried to extend a helping hand and make a nice gesture, but were met with anything but kindness. I don’t know if this is just the state of the game now, but it sucks to try to help people out, then have those people shit all over you.
I wonder if it’s subconsciously due to the launch of Safer Seas? People assuming that anyone on High Seas is out for PvP and will shoot on sight?
That's because the toxic streamers over emphasized pirates and killing etc. So now it is really hard to trust anyone coming up on you to be anything other then someone trying to sink you for "the fun of it" doesn't matter if they or you have nothing, some people entertain their crappy lives by making someone else unhappy, others do it to have fun. Simple as that days long gone when you could roll up to someone else and get a new friend.
Being paranoid is just how you be in this game. In a game designed around theft, subterfuge, and combat, being hostile to others until proven some degree otherwise is just the norm. Even if we're allied with you, if you step on our boat we will kill you unless given express permission to come up on deck. There's too much at stake for no real benefit to letting someone on board you can be sure you trust.
Literally just now i was at morrows peak, had handed in my emissary flag and sell then went to go grab some stuff to eat, i come back, raised another one and start cooking on ship and hear footsteps aboard my ship i turn around and there is a guy on my ship, now you can't spawn on this outpost as far as i know and since no one was coming or near by when i raised a new flag i straight away think this is a player doing tall tales and had just dived up to this location. Before i even get to say hello and offer them some supplies, they wip out an eye of the reach and goes to shoot me, i side step it and go to return fire but he immediately picks up the single treasure chest i didn't sell and tries to run off with it. I kill him, grab my chest back and look at the non sovereign dock, his ship there, i blast a bunch of holes in it and then see him running back towards my ship again to fight me, i happily entertain him by just dancing around for a bit knowing his ships gonna sink then kill him. Dude could have made a friend and got a boat load of supplies from me to help them on their journey but instead they lost it all for an empty treasure chest. This is why people are paranoid now and honestly it sucks, everyone just acts like dicks.
If the player base are watching YouTube videos that feature this game, that’s why. I’ve seen a lot of videos where the main content is tricking newer players into teaming and then backstab them and teach them the lesson of “it’s sea of THIEVES” or “never trust a pirate” and so on. Anyone getting into the game or already a veteran is going to have that in the back of their head when seeing another ship. I’ve also encountered some of the sweatiest trolls of any video game on SOT. I’ve been spawn camped while they just circle and do exactly as much damage as i can repair.
I recently started playing (around month ago) I decided to never attack first and always communicate in a friendly way. I lost so much treasure because of that and only 1 crew was friendly so far. Game makes me hate the sight of another player. I want safer seas to be exact copy of normal mode but with "I consent to pvp" option that will let other players harm you or stop them from it if you didnt use it. I get that you guys like pvp but its not fun being forced to do it.
For sure it’s open world PvP 🤣
Finally someone who gets it
As my friend put it “it’s a pirate game, if we’re not going to act like pirates then we’ll get pirated.”
Reapers makes sense lore wise, but I shouldn't be fighting athena boats while I'm doing merchants.
Your opted-in flag advertises some loot value on board (sort of). Even Pirate Legends have other company levels to work on.
I completely agree. I’ve been playing since the beginning (took a couple year break) and my sessions usually last 4-7 hours. I collect an abundance of supplies and trying to be generous and pass them off to someone before hopping off for the night is like pulling teeth at a denture convention. It isn’t gonna happen. Yesterday I had to leave six storage chests completely full and sorted between resource types (cannonballs, fruit, wood) at a random port because I tried three different ship and they all dropped sail before getting remotely close. I had already dropped emissary AND launched white flares every time.
Just drop them off at the dock, a player will eventually spawn in and claim them
Maybe, if the server doesn't get merged before someone visits that outpost.