Fort Vault questions from a new player. ( warning... long story)

  • The Red King871
    Seafarer

    I have some questions about the Skeleton Forts, vaults and loot. ( my raid took place on Crow's Nest Fort for future reference) But let me set up the scenario first...

    So, I and a friend have been playing for maybe a week now; couple days have been rough with some pretty bad luck with being sunk by aggressive players... most days have been ok! Today though was just absolutely depressing and morale shattering. We 2 and our sloop teamed up with a couple of guys on a brigantine and took on Crow's Nest with no idea what we were actually doing. We didn't know what the goal was, what was going to happen, they just asked for an alliance and we said sure! Well... not that long in to wave 3 maybe 4 of the skeletons once we were inside something happened to their ship and it was sent flying! ( literally, I mean I wish I had grabbed screen shots of this cause it was blasted into the air and cleared the whole island) This meant when they died they were sent somewhere and we don't know where. They never returned.

    My friend and I continued with the waves still with no idea what we were doing. Luckily, around wave 9-ish we had a friend join our discord call and was looking stuff up for us on our behalf. That's when she read to us what we were to expect. OH! Sweet, it's kinda like a raid! Cool, so we did what we could and just the two of use managed to take down the Mutinous Helmsman. We took a moment to gather the few skulls from the bosses into one place so we wouldn't lose them and what do you know we lost the vault key in the process. It took us a moment to find the key, maybe a solid couple of minutes, and then I happened upon it and popped it into the lock to then be greeted by a sight for sore eyes. That was a pretty magnificent haul... well it would have been... had it not been for the following chain of terror that occurred as soon as we set sail with out haul.

    We turned for Ancient Spire Outpost and not even 60 seconds into our voyage back home did a skeleton crew arise to try and shred us to pieces. We'd already fended off 4 of the ships this day ( in the span of 6 hours mind you and 2 more of them managed to kill us earlier in the day cause one spanned WITH a Kraken!) We had no urge to fight anymore we were so tired and just wanted to turn our stuff in and log off for awhile. This is not what happened. So we manage to half sink them, blow up their powder keg, and then lost them among some high rocks. This took us far off course and we decided to hit Plunder's outpost instead only to immediately see another sloop behind up with one of those MASSIVE red long billowing pennant like flags that we've come to fear wholly and completely. The aggressive PvP'rs. So we sped to the outpost as fast as the wind would let us in hopes to be able to turn in at least a couple of our rewards. I had my crew mate grab something and jump off ship while I circled the island with the sloop on my tail. Ultimately we had to turn and fight and while we fended them off mostly ok and managed to turn in a couple more things... the time spent re-spawning gave them ample time to sink our ship forcing us to spawn some where else and we lost our haul. It shattered us and of course turned out moods sour.

    So my questions are...
    Was it just coincidence that the skeletons spawned? Or does the rate of their spawn increase with the more treasure in your hull?

    Did some of the treasure mark us on the map? How did those notorious pirate find us so bloody fast?

    Were we legitimately just unlucky in our run ins today or were there some unknown/unseen numbers or details that I don't know about since i'm new?

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  • Nabberwar
    Lord
    Insider

    So my questions are...
    Was it just coincidence that the skeletons spawned? Or does the rate of their spawn increase with the more treasure in your hull?

    There is no correlation between amount of loot and getting ships spawned on you. I will point out this, Kraken only spawns inbetween Cloud events similar to this. So, hypothetically if you were to complete a Fort, there is a chance a Kraken will appear on your ship.

    Did some of the treasure mark us on the map? How did those notorious pirate find us so bloody fast?

    A normal Fort doesn't have the items that you speak of. Only two items will give your map locations. Those items are Reapers Chests and Reapers Bounty, one is red with Reaper's symbols on it, while the other is yellow with the same markings. These can only be found out on the map with giant streamers flowing upwards. or in the Fort of the Damned. They also have a skull symbol on the map. I doubt you had these items. The other method they could track you was if you became an Emissary. Reapers gain an ability at Grade 5 Emissary, this gives them all the locations of every Emissary on the Map. I don't believe you were an Emissary.

    Were we legitimately just unlucky in our run ins today or were there some unknown/unseen numbers or details that I don't know about since i'm new?

    They probably were just waiting for you to finish on an Island or 2 away. Its no secret when a Skull Fort is completed. The Skull completely disappears when a fort is completed. Plenty of players will wait til someone completes it in order to swoop upon a potential weakened enemy. Its just smart Pirating.

    Word of advice, always be aware of ships within your proximity. Never assume you are safe when they are an island or two away. It is relatively easy to swim or rowboat that distance to attack you. Always assume someone is planning something if they are an island away. Be on the lookout for Mermaids without smoke when all your crew is accounted for. A mermaid is a sign of another player. There is a bit of nuiance, but if its not smoking, its someone else's.

  • ElectricKnights
    Legend
    Insider

    Yeah, everything @Nabberwar said is correct.

    Plus, if you voted to raise an emissary flag at the outpost, that opens you up to more PvP attention (or if you raised the Reaper's Mark flag in your crow's nest). If not, yeah, just happenstance.

    One thing to keep in mind is to include the voyage to an outpost, and dealing with whatever obstacles may occur during that trip, into the amount of time things will take. Of course, you're new, and didn't even know how long the fort would take, so it's all understandable.

    Doing forts, in general, does put you in a more precarious position than doing more subtle things - such as voyages and the like. Forts are a sea-wide focus of attention (or, at least, they CAN be), due to the giant skull cloud in the sky, that can be seen from everywhere.

    One tip for this particular situation:
    Obviously, the skeleton ship gave you problems and threw you much farther off course than you intended... but that's where things really turned badly for you. If no other ships are nearby, the shorter you have to travel, to unload your loot, the better. The farther away you sail, the more chance you will encounter other ships.
    Crow's Nest Fortress is so close to Ancient Spire Outpost, and that probably would have ended well. However, traveling to Plunder Outpost brought you into view of another ship that MAY NOT have seen you farther out to the east.

    Consider it a small victory that you sold SOME items... and understand that you're new and everyone, experienced an inexperienced, loses treasure sometimes.

    The loot in this game can be ephemeral, but the fun of the adventure can last a lifetime. Try and focus on the fun, learn from the experiences, and forget the losses.

    Most importantly, always, always, always, look to the horizons and spot each and every ship near and far. And keep in mind that ships may be around any large rock and tall bit of land. Eventually, you'll get a better feel for all of that.

    And keep fighting. Plenty who attack you will be less skilled and less familiar than you... and they can be unlucky sometimes too. That being said, don't be afraid to run either, hehe, if that's what you think is best in any situation.

    Don't let it keep ya down!

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