Ahoy pirates,
I’d like to suggest a new high-risk, player-driven activity for Sea of Thieves that transforms abandoned forts into full PvP siege events.
This would not be another wave-based PvE event.
This would be commitment.
⚓ The Core Concept
Across the seas are Abandoned Fort Islands with only:
- A few cannons
- A small ruined building
- A Cursed Contract inside
When a crew accepts the contract:
💀 Their ship is automatically scuttled.
🏴☠️ They are bound to the island.
🔥 The fort becomes visible server-wide.
From that moment, they are defenders.
No escape ship.
No easy reset.
Only survival.
🗺️ Immediate Visibility (To Prevent Snowballing)
The moment the contract is activated:
- The fort appears on the map.
- A sky beacon rises above the island.
- It is clearly a live PvP objective.
This attracts:
- Solo sloops early before the island develops.
- Opportunistic crews looking for a quick contract steal.
- Reapers hunting escalation.
Early Tier = weak defenses = raid opportunity.
🧱 Fort Progression System
Defenders can upgrade the island by:
- Spending gold (meaningful gold sink)
- Completing inland missions
- Performing rituals that temporarily weaken defenses
Upgrades increase:
🏰 Walls
- None
- Wooden walls (many openings)
- Stone walls
- Stone choke-point fortress
🔥 Cannons
- More placements
- Better angles
- Elevated firing positions
👻 AI Crew
- None
- Small ghost crew
- Burning Blade–style defenders
- Full garrison support
🌊 Offshore Support
- No ghost ship
- Ghost Sloop
- Ghost Brig
- Ghost Galleon
🌫️ Tactical Abilities
- Ocean fog with cooldown
- Defensive rituals
But every upgrade:
⚠️ Increases visibility
⚠️ Increases reward value
⚠️ Increases risk
The stronger the fort becomes… the bigger the target it is.
💰 Threat-Based Reward Scaling
To prevent AFK farming:
Rewards scale based on:
- Fort Tier
- Time survived
- Damage taken
- Enemy ships entering the area
- Missions completed
Low activity = low payout.
High escalation = high payout.
Defenders are rewarded for actual conflict, not hiding.
⚔️ The Siege & Capture
Attackers must:
- Break defenses
- Reach the contract building
- Capture the Cursed Contract
- Return it to their ship’s mission table
If successful:
💥 The fort collapses
💀 AI and defenders are wiped
💰 The vault opens
🏆 Loot payout scales based on how strong the fort had become
The higher the defenders climbed… the greater the reward.
🏴☠️ Why This Would Be Fun
- Solo sloops can rush weak Tier 1 forts.
- Large crews can coordinate full land-and-sea sieges.
- Alliances can form to assault max-tier fortresses.
- Betrayals become meaningful.
- Gold finally has strategic value.
Most importantly:
The players become the world event.
Not permanent territory.
Not safe zones.
Just pirates building something valuable… and daring the server to take it.
If Rare ever wanted a true land-based siege experience inside the sandbox of Sea of Thieves, this could be it.
Curious what other pirates think — what would you add or adjust?
