sinking without need

I don't do this BUT maybe for practice? Maybe because you're in their territory? Maybe just for fun? Maybe because they are just jerks?

It's a part of the game and they aren't breaking any rules

@othersean

i dont think shooting a 1 man sloop that isnt moving and killing its sole occupant is good practice, i would point to the skeleton ships found everywhere for that.

i dont think its territory, unless they've labeled all but the roaring sands their territory, as i've been sunk by them in every other region. even if that were the case, id hope they'd at least put some entertainment in it.

'This be our territory! hand over yer loot and sail elsewhere' or something, none of this silent murdering.

as for fun, i can say i've had fun trying to scare new looking players with a decked out galleon, but i've never sunk them or anything.

as for the last one, they are jerks, i would agree. this doesnt explain why they do it, they are jerks because they do it, being a jerk isnt a reason to do it.

my question still stands to you who do this, though with the trend being that you remain silent when doing this, i'd imagine none of you would come forth and speak up here, either.

@djtrickym5700 Ohh, that could've been me and my son.. 2 days ago we were in a vanilla sloop doing an Athena run with emissary, and when we were sent to Crook's Hollow there was a Brigantine there. We needed to be there too, and had too much on board to take any chance. We saw a sinking opportunity, and took it. That way we were sure we could be there undisturbed for a few minutes needed to do the riddle.

Noticed a totem on the rocks nearby, and we put it clearly visible on the beach. Unfortunately, the brig returned with cannons ablaze and we had to sink it again.

You see, because of the lack of trust between ships this happens. Crews have no guarantee that people who claim to be friendly, actually are. I am usually very friendly when I have no or little loot on board, because I know that then, getting double crossed doesn't affect me. But when stakes are too high, we let the cannons do the talking.

Last night we returned from a succesful Athena chest heist from a Fort of the Damned stacker, when an unfortunate sloop was about to unload their Flameheart loot on the same outpost we were going to. I almost felt bad when we turned in our Athena chests, plus that sunken sloop's entire Flameheart loot.

Almost.

It’s simple really....

Sink or be Sunk

Random sinking got far worse once the Reapers Emissary came to game. Plus Alliance system is not really working, nobody trusts alliance. I think the easy fix would be to make alliance system so people can not damage each other ships and can not kill each other. That would make betrayal not as easy, and getting out of alliance should have delay.
At this point there are new players in the game and veterans. If everybody keep sinking new ships new players won't stick around. I have no problem setting up Alliance with new players and avoid sinking others, but I am also really tired watching my back. So sinking every ship on the server to mark our territory makes more sense.
Example: recently we did FOTD in alliance, and our ship constantly wondered (in private party) when other ship will betray us. So at the end we decided not to take any chances and simply powder keg them at the end but decided to keep alliance so they get money too. We were not trying to steal from them but had no trust in alliance since they were acting weirdly.

@iceman-d18

1. ok, but then why attack me multiple times if i've shown, multiple times, that im not attacking them, thus not a threat?

2. fair enough, however all times they've sunk me without grabbing any resources.

3. fair enough part 2, electric boogaloo. however given they're doing it multiple times, as ive said earlier, shooting a still target is, at most, cannon accuracy practice.

i dont think ive said they NEED an excuse, this post is asking people that do this to come forth and explain if they want, because i would like to know. its a request, not a demand.

as for 'letting people play the game how they enjoy'

at what point does it go from me not letting them do that by asking a question, to people like them not letting me play the game due to needing to scuttle and sail to the same island repeatedly just to try and do 1 quest? if thats the argument you're making.

@jeroenix

thats fine, it wasnt you guys as this was yesterday night, not 2 days ago. well it may still have been you but either way...

i understand sinking for loot, the grind in the game pushes towards this.

these arent the things im talking about. more power to you, and good luck in your endeavours.

@stundorn

i think youre saying people here have said they do it to get people to ragequit, and feel good cuz they 'teach people a lesson' maybe trying to push out people who dont PVP so its just people like them who like to PVP everyone?

if thats the case, it really goes against what alot of other people in this post have been saying...

'let them play the game how they want to play it'

forcing people out because they dont play how you do isnt right, and isnt what im trying to do either.

@glannigan

i guess but that doesn't answer my question.

besides, even if we just had some communication, human interaction, would make it more enjoyable, at least on my end.

sink the solo sloop that isn't good at solo slooping (yet) but yknow chat a bit or something yknow?

thats my opinion anyway.

@barnabas-seadog

i think youre making a point through a metaphor?

people pretending to be friendly just to backstab you, thats a fair argument as to why.

considering i had nothing, or almost nothing, to lose each time, except for my time, means i could play the long con and take their loot assuming they didnt sell it before attacking every ship.

fair point, i suppose.

@boogyghost101

to some people its fun, sure, but to me doing it randomly, esp repeatedly to a less experienced solo slooper, i dont see the fun/challenge in it. but thats me.

thats why i made this post, wondering why people might find that fun.

and as ive stated in a few replies here, yes, being as inexperienced with solo slooping as i am, i made plenty of mistakes, mostly not being aware of people climbing on my ship due to trying to repair my mast, or something, or not noticing them roll up on me in the first place. but the question wasnt 'how do i get better' (though feedback there is appreciated as well), but as stated above its 'why do people find this fun?'

@jadescissors32

neither of us were in an alliance so that doesnt really pertain to this situation.

interesting idea but i dont think it will be done, nor do i think it necessarily needs to be done.

reapers is fine, they have an actual reason to do it, they get xp/gold for it.

in my case, they had no money/xp to gain, save for a captains chest one time, but im not sure if they even grabbed it, and they certainly didnt grab my supplies.

@djtrickym5700 I understand you were not in alliance. I am saying because there is no fool proof trust system, people will choose to sink you "just in case". I think sinking as rage or just because its <insert day of week> its very rare. I can sail for hours with out anybody attacking me, other ships just pass by and avoid confrontation. Than some random ship will show up to pick a fight. Usually some new players. I think if trust system is fixed it will make easier to maintain peace on the sea.

@ixxolos

as far as safeguarding you from reports or private messages, i can see your gamertag over your head, whether or not you say anything doesnt stop me from doing that anyway, assuming i wanted to do either of those things, which i dont.

to answer your question:

apart from some people simply finding it fun to sink ships, with no regards to how much/if any loot is gained, or not even attempting to take any of said loot, and simply killing new players or players who are simply on their own trying to do a tall tale or what have you...there's nothing gained on their end, and on the end of the guy who now is spending several hours for a short voyage/tall tale, trying to grind to pirate legend, its disheartening, making my game far less enjoyable at the time.

is it against the rules? no.
is it in the spirit of the Sea of Thieves? sure.

yet multiple people here have told me to 'let others play how they want'

and is preventing me from doing even one quest 'letting me play how i want'?

i dont expect everyone to be nice all the time and all that, risk adds to the excitement, the immersion, the theme of the game! but there's a point when its simply overbearing and not fun anymore, in my opinion.

should these people be banned? i dont think so.

im merely asking why it is they do it in this way, not even an attempt at making the encounter entertaining with voice chat or something, just dead (hah) silence. im also offering my point of view, and my thoughts.

@cotu42

fair points all around, i suppose. 'git gud' as the dark souls people say.

though, i certainly tried defending myself, however my defences were certainly lackluster, being a solo slooper against 2 didnt help.

then again i probably should have been more concerned about the pirate climbing my ladder and the blunderbus at my back than repairing my mast, haha!

@jadescissors32

alright.

but how would this trust system be 'fixed'? does it need to be fixed?

similar to games like dayz and rust, the random interaction and freedom of it can yield amazing little stories.

other times its just...die repeatedly with no words exchanged... part of the game many may say, but not a fun part at times, in my opinion.

@illbushido305

fighting is a bit different than sinking a ship while getting no return fire.

but i suppose you could say 'you should fight back then' and that is certainly one course of action that could be taken.

@illbushido305

no, not really. more a case of not being attentive enough, i think.

i dont remember every encounter, but first one was my ship getting blown up while i was looting my starting island.

then another time they got a chain shot off on my mast (They were really spot on with those every time), filled my ship with holes, and shot me in the back as i was trying to fix the mast (another case of inattentiveness)

though the last time i sort of just gave up and let them do it as i figured i wasnt going to win the fight and i wanted to get this tall tale done ASAP so fastest way was to scuttle and sail back to cutlass cay, instead of prolonging the inevitable, at the time.

@illbushido305

scuttling was the theme of the night.

we'll see how things go as i get better at solo slooping.

@illbushido305

ill take you up on that offer! hopefully we can sail together sometime.

im typically up late at night, until 3 or even 5-6 AM EST. so alot of my friends arent on at that time, thus i solo sloop...

@djtrickym5700 I think once alliance is fixed (you can't kill or damage alliance ships) people will be more likely to sail together than attack each other. Game broke because people were team-killing using alliance. If this ability is removed than it will be much more straight forward interaction. Right now choices are: join alliance and watch your back, or sink ship and be in clear. That's why a lot of people will chose to sink some "in-the-way" ship with out saying anything. That "broken" alliance system is also the reason why many new players can't get their quests done. They are "in-the-way" or they are potential nuisance. Some of the best runs I had was in alliance with multiple ships and only after multiple events you can start trusting them. Because of the broken alliance when I play with the friends, especially doing FOTD we simply "clear out" server first which means any ship on the horizon goes down no questions asked and no warning given. Nothing personal just business , I had been back stabbed by alliances so often that I stopped offering them. Proper alliance system would allow those who want to fight to fight and those who don't want to fight to be part of alliance and benefit with out being a threat. There are no reasons to sink another ship, all the commendation can easily be obtained in alliance.

@jadescissors32

i understand taking precautions but in this case it seems they're seeking out ships specifically for this purpose, and they run into the same player that repeatedly either only defends themselves or offers no resistance (i kinda gave up and scuttled at the end cuz it was faster that way) and they just keep doing it when they find me.

i dont think this was a case of precaution.

@djtrickym5700 Possibly they were just mean, but this sounds like they were clearing server out of ships so they can do FOTD in peace, while collecting lights. Sounds like they were trying to force you out of server, because when most people leave, server will still churn and you don't have to watch your back on FOTD. The fact that they did not say anything means they most likely were not doing this out of spite (those people will call you names while attacking) they were just being efficient.