Is there a flag that says "I am NOT going to PVP with you"

  • I have spent several hours on this game. Love the atmosphere and graphics.

    Great game to relax after stressful day at work.

    Done my share of PvP interactions as well. Won some and lost some. Never initiated by me. I hate the PvP part of this game. So boring.

    So I stopped PvP-ing. Managed to sail for a year without having a single PvP fight. And not loosing a single loot.

    I would love to have a flag that can tell other people that. If they see my flag they can be certain that:

    1. If you start chasing me from the horizon I will stop what I'm doing and run from you.
    2. I will have at maximum 2-3 loots onboard my ship at any time and will have sold it before you can catch me or my ship.
    3. I will sell my emissary flag at the same time.
    4. I will NEVER shoot at you or fight back at you if you catch me by surprise. I will just log off.
    5. If I'm unable to sell of my loot for some strange reason, while you are chasing me, I will go to red sea
    6. And then I will log of and join another server

    I don't PvP.

    Is there any flag that I can put up that everyone who sees it knows that it will probably be complete waste of time for them to pursue me?

    Unless of course... their kick is the chase... which could give them small amount of joy from this interaction before I log off long before they catch me and my empty ship.

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  • @zkuggi9579

    There is not. Just pick a flag you like and go. Definitely not the Reaper's Mark lol.

    No matter how you interpret a flag, some will always try to sink you

  • The reaper emisarry flag is perfect for this.

    This joke can be taken in 2 diffrent ways XD

  • No flag and no reason to obey the flag.

    Players will sink other ships that don’t even put up a fight or empty and call it pvp. Only to complain.

  • The pride flag is always a good bet....

    /s

  • Lol jolly roger

  • Flags generally do not mean anything. Some players (however) use them to signal others what they are up to, and there are some "general rules" what certain flags might mean. But those "rules" are just what some in the community have sort of agreed upon, but that does not really mean anything as all pirates can decide what they think it might mean.

    The only real "flag rule" is that an Emissary Flag means i want PvP, as it makes you a target. If you have a high level emissary flag, you are probably a floating Loot Piñata and even the friendlier pirates might want to get their hand and hook on some of your loot. Also the Reapers are the counter balance to the Emissary system, as they provide the risk of loosing your stuff as a balance to the bonus the emissary system gives you.

    So in short, there are no rules on flags, and if you want to avoid PvP, do not use Emissary flags.

  • The devs have no intent to remove pvp or the option of, your only bet is a white flag at the best, but it doesnt matter if they add a flag that is intended as a "i will literally run and avoid pvp" flag, people will still come after you no matter what.

  • Thanks all.

    There should be a flag.

    Im not suggesting that Rare should remove PvP from the game. They have clearly stated that is not on their roadmap. We PvE'ers are maybe getting our wishes there from another game this autumn. Who knows.

    I urge people to use emissary flags to build their rep faster. If there are no level 5 reapers on the map and always watch the horizon you can always manage to turn the flag in before they catch you.

    But to put myself in the PvP'ers shoes. They find enjoyment in this game by fighting other players. And there are alot of players who are willing to do that. It would make their experience easier if they could see "Leave me alone I will never ever fight you" flag on the target and spare them a long chase for nothing.

  • It's just a flag. It shouldn't be that hard to add in a flag with running rabbit or something. Then mention in a cinematic trailer that it's perfect to show that you are gonna run away from fight and done. It would be cool to get few flags with general message in description for communication purposes.

  • Playing an open world sandbox, that advertises itself as a pirate adventure where you can steal from people, and expecting people to just leave you in peace is just a weird expectation to expect from the game. Not only that but a weird expectation of the developers to cater to.

  • It just wrote everthing backwards but would not suggest the white or the hippie tidie flag

  • @nabberwar

    Nothing weird about it imo. The game gives you all the tools you need to evade all interaction with other players if you want to.

    That is by design from the developers.

  • @zkuggi9579 Even running and being chased by someone is interaction. Both have to react to what the other party does.
    The chase is PvP in essence, just a different part of the experience (granted a part that a lot of players feel less appealing). But it is a valid PvP tactic ! :)

  • @arch-ideall said in Is there a flag that says "I am NOT going to PVP with you":

    It's just a flag. It shouldn't be that hard to add in a flag with running rabbit or something. Then mention in a cinematic trailer that it's perfect to show that you are gonna run away from fight and done. It would be cool to get few flags with general message in description for communication purposes.

    They have flags with a community understanding already. [Mod Edit]

  • @grog-minto said in Is there a flag that says "I am NOT going to PVP with you":

    @zkuggi9579 Even running and being chased by someone is interaction. Both have to react to what the other party does.
    The chase is PvP in essence, just a different part of the experience (granted a part that a lot of players feel less appealing). But it is a valid PvP tactic ! :)

    I agree. PvP in this game is about CATCHING and sinking other players. So many of our PvP only chums out on the sea only know how to fight, but can't sail worth a damn.

    At least 60% of the fight is about positioning, preparation and surprise. If I want to sink you, you're not gonna see me coming, I'll approach from the direction you need to run in and I'll have my guns on you while you haven't got yours on me. That's the game. Sailing, tactics, the ability to win or prevent a chase, those are all part of PvP.

    Some of those PvP pirates then go and complain about people running, when they're the ones rolling up on a ship leaving them the opportunity to flee into the wind, after they've seen the enemy ship approaching from the horizon for the last 3 minutes and had time to prepare...

  • I see white flags often used, but it makes little difference if I want to attack someone a flag won't make a difference.

  • @boxcar-squidy

    True. For those who get the thrill from the catch rather than the fight I can understand a well planned surprise attack after clever positioning can be rewarding.

    But in reality. For those who don't want direct interaction with other players, like myself, it is very easy to prevent that from happening completly.

    Sail on sloop, watch the horizon (specially upwind direction) and stick to the smaller Islands. Never set foot on the larger ones. If you follow that none will catch you by surprise. Having few loots onboard it looks too me like you can always manage to reach Outpost (or red sea) and sell off the loot, lower emissary flag and then log off before it even comes close to catch up on you.

    If someone does catch you and you simply just log off and leave next to nothing for the PvP attacker chances are that he will feel frustrated. They wanted a fight and I wasted their time by not fighting at all and their (often precious) little time to game was wasted for nothing. Would have been better for them just to see from beginning that they were not going to get their much wanted fight.

    I think this game is so frustrating for so many players for different reasons. Developers have even acknolwedged that :)

  • My advice, fly the Reaper Emissary, do seaforts to up the grade, and enjoy how most players keep their distance from you while some gutsy one's rush for you.

  • White flag generally.
    But remember that the distance that your ship will render properly is pretty short, so they won't see your flag until they're very close.

  • @scheneighnay

    Good point. Would be good if flags were visible over longer distance through telescope.

  • You could always use the white flare.

  • @zkuggi9579 yeah, that's playing defensively.

    I don't target ships that play that way. They're never worth it.

    They sell too often, rarely have stacked loot and sneaking up on them requires a significant time investment and some considerable luck. It's doable, but 7/10 times you'll blow it and get spotted, then they run, then you have to wait for an hour or two for them to drop their guard again.

    That's balanced though. An experienced PvEr can nearly always avoid a sink, but that doesn't mean that they can just do whatever they want all the time. There's a lot of self imposed restrictions to that playstyle.

    What isn't balanced is that people who actually want to fight have such a hard time finding other people who want to fight. But hopefully that can be addressed in future updates.

  • @boxcar-squidy

    Fully agree. Don't know though how it is best to implement that. Problem with game now is that usually the hunter has nothing to lose while the hunted has maybe hours of work to lose. The risk is so uneven that it makes sense that people will rather run than risk losing all.

    Some kind of progression system that rewards a succesfull defence could help to address that issue.

    Maybe if the game would keep count on how many times you manage to sink a ship where you did not initiate the attack (who shot first) and evaluate the rough amount of loot that you defended. That could increase your reputation within the "Royal Navy" company that could open up special missions or something else very rewarding.

  • @zkuggi9579 a dit dans Is there a flag that says "I am NOT going to PVP with you" :

    The risk is so uneven that it makes sense that people will rather run than risk losing all.

    That's is indeed an issue that should be addressed at some point.
    At the same time, a lot of the running players will rather sail into the red sea for a 100% chance of loosing their loot instead of playing for slightly better odds (but with the added risk of their attackers taking the loot in the end). For those players it's not so much about loosing hours of hard work (since they will forfeit it without much care), it has more to do with punishing other players. For those runners I don't really see any incentive that would make them change their mind. They don't seem to care about what the others players have on board.

    Running is a legit PvP strategy. You can run and sell bits by bits, or to get to a more advantageous position. It's on the pursuers to catch you before it happens, nothing wrong with that.

  • Only real problem is being solo and taking a dump on a time limit otherwise I am game for non-conensual pvp, I don't mind letting the casual pirates attempt to attack the seemingly low hanging fruit

  • Just learn to defend yourself and you'll get better organically. PvP will always be a part if this game. Hence being a pirate game and not a East India Company trading game.

  • @kozakderg I’ve removed part of your reply as it is disrespecting your fellow pirates, is against the pirate code and our forum rules. You should know better than you listen to hearsay me matey.

  • 1 - The white or alliance flag
    2 - The Reaper's Mark flag

  • Just raise a reaper emissary.
    Best flag for running

  • This isn't a guarantee, but I've found that when you see another ship that some fireworks will often lighten the mood. Obviously, you'll want to be aware still and not just shoot off a firework and call it good. However, I've recently had a lot of positive interactions simply by firing off some fireworks. I've been in more alliances, added more friends to play with a second time, and joined way more parties than I previously had just by making some friendly explosions in the sky.

  • Nobody cares. Pvp players will hunt you down because we don't care about your meaningless loot or flag, only PvP, and if we dont sink you we won't merge into another servet or free slots up in the current one for other crews that do want to PvP.

  • And yes, we do enjoy the chase more that PvE players enjoy running. That'll never change, no matter how much cope we read on reddit.

  • I disagree with both of LPolloDiablo604's above posts.

    These days I am primarily a solo-slooper, which means I avoid pvp almost always, something that is petty easy to do in a sloop. My main tactic is to sail into the wind then drop off the back of my boat to get into hailing distance of the other crew and try to negotiate. I have manage to bribe several pvp-crews into leaving with choice offerings of juicy loot.

    When that doesn't work, I really do enjoy out-sailing the other crew. I don't head for the Red Sea - there's no need. My sloop is fast and manoeuvrable, and my version of pvp is pitting my sailing skills against the other crew's. The satisfaction of watching the other crew give up adds extra flavour to the dopamine hit I get when selling my loot.

    In my experience then, some pvpers do care about loot. Some are also looking for the sort of interaction SoT is famous for. My point is, not all pvpers a mindless, bloodthirsty sweats that just want to sink other players. This game really shines through it's interaction with other humans and I look at pvp - or at least the possibility of pvp - as a way of facilitating that interaction. The trick is to identify which pirates are going to be fun to interact with, and ignoring/avoiding the ones that aren't!

    So to drag this ramble back to the OP's topic, while a Pacifist's Flag could be useful, it will also be just another tool for pirates to use how they wish.

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