How to tell a ship from friend or foe

Or...you simply welcome every single ship with a good volley of canons and make sure everyone knows you mean buisiness...

...exept sloops, sloops are only engaged if they happen to be around a raid or if they engage first.

How's that?

And what stops hunters from raising the guns and turning the lights, getting close and then starting fire?

I dim my lights because I'm afraid pvpers will spot and attack me. Similarly, I man the guns because if they attack me first I need to be able to respond in kind swiftly.

On the flipside, I've seen a galleon wave and keep its guns away from me...because they had the 4th member of their crew backstabbing me and taking my loot. Beyond actually activating a 'non-fightable' command, any attempt to signal peacefulness will just be abused to ambush.

Everyone is a foe in my eyes.

Good idea in premise. But if I was actually trying to get the drop on my foes, I would flag as friendly and get them close before springing my trap.

Good Day.

@hrenli a dit dans How to tell a ship from friend or foe :

And what stops hunters from raising the guns and turning the lights, getting close and then starting fire?

Nothing, and that's the point of pirates... If they're actually rising guns high, just mean: We're friendly.
That doesn't mean he can come close enough to fire the canons.

(Tbh I do engage social action only if we show the other ship our military superiority. People are more inclined to talk if they know you could crush them and that you're offering them another/costless way to end the encounter)

Its simple:

After you played 2 hours, made treasures and have the cargo filled with planks, bananas and canonballs...you simply shoot at everything in hopes you get some action.