I have only one rule

• Keep out of my way or my cannons will have their say

@karmpsych I have, but that is the code. These are Rules of Engagement while on the sea. Not a code, and definitely not expected for anyone to follow them. I just thought that if people are going to play this game for some time to come, that we should establish a sort of etiquette, to make the game that more lively.

@vex-fox Well i try and follow these, but apparently 90% of the people i have met do not and it's really getting tiresome. being that i had just got to the outpost to finish my voyage only to be killed. I'm really finding it hard to find reasons to keep playing as you can't get you levels up if all that keeps happening when you try to turn stuff in is this.

And now I shall await the it's PVP bah blah get good at the game, Sot is not for you b******s.

Happy sailing

As far as guidlines/rules go there is one that was not listed, which every single player should keep close to heart every time the loading screen ends and they see the game: Everybody, EVERYBODY; is an enemy. There is no option for passive nor anything holding others to uphold your morales, be adaptable.

can't say I agree to all of these but as a member of a group of pvp players that doesn't just attack anyone we see, I'd like to remind people that if you aren't prepared to see your ship sinking maybe don't shoot first even if it's meant as a warning shot or just using your gun in our direction.

We'll happily do a stop and watch you sink while playing music, pve player or not.

Also if you only want to do pve don't go skull forts

So people can go on with their business and ship their booty unhindered through the seas just because they got their cannons up and all the lights on? I am a pirate, I would totally abuse that and I will.
I also will sink ships at outposts, on any other encounter and whenever I want. You may follow these rules but I wont. Just a fair warning, I might even signal parley to come in cannonrange. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Better be careful out there, its a treacherous Sea of Thieves.

I see the stresses that other pirates can bring, I’ve experienced them myself, but this is all part of the game! I would love for some of these Codes to be respected by other pirates but I just don’t think it will happen.

One extreme way around all of this would be for Rare to introduce a server where you can just go in and do your quests without having to worry about being fired upon by other pirates. Like a Peace On the Seas server or something? The rewards for doing your quests could be lesser than those given on an ordinary server but at least you’re avoiding any unwanted attention.

I doubt the above would happen but hey, you never know!

@lordloharrtalem Interesting. Did you ever check the pirate rules paper by the door before leaving the tavern? ;)

@lordloharrtalem Yeah...if only.

One can dream though

Obviously few would follow these in this game. But I do like the idea of some of these signals being understood. It would be nice to have a bit more unpredictability with players, verses what seems to generally be "sails! Cannon fire inbound!"

I mean, we docked our Galleon next to a sloop that was unloading last night. Went about packing our plunder in, and he started firing on us.
.... So we sunk him and turned in his chests too.

I feel like we could have somehow communicated from a distance that we had no intention of interfering with his time at dock.

@pouffydoughman said in The Rules of Engagement for the Open Seas:

Perfectly said, I follow these rules. I do have one person in my crew that teeters and is a loss cannon. So always beware, ha haaaa

I have one of those - he's usually the first to die in the PVP...

@lordloharrtalem I have unknowingly been following all these except for the ship lanterns one. I always have them turned off so I can't be spotted so easily while I'm just questing. You should definitely post these in the General Discussion forum since it probably gets more traffic, also this should totally be a pinned topic.

I know only about 5% of people will follow them, but it would be nice to have a set of rules agreed upon by the community to show that I'm just here to sail and have fun, not murder and pillage you into oblivion.

Rule number three is my main issue... If someone takes my skulls and I chase them all the way to the Outpost I give no quarter

@lordloharrtalem The only problem with rules like these are...you are always at a disadvantage to people who follow no rules.

Cutthroat, pirate, scoundrel, anarchist, __________ (insert whatever word you want here).

@ogs-stoker said in The Rules of Engagement for the Open Seas:

The obvious fix to this is spawn-protection: make newly spawned players invulnerable until they move away from that position. Place the spawn points somewhere where they don't have a tactical advantage from being invulnerable but immobile --- Perfect solution.

There are no rules on the sea, the wolves eat the sheep.

"From the very beginning, we've been determined to make Sea of Thieves a truly welcoming world in which players of any creed, culture, age, skill level and circumstance can voyage without fear of friction or frustration. With that in mind, we've laid out a set of guidelines that we hope will help to keep the seas free of strife and grievance (beyond that stirred up in the course of a pirate's everyday activities)."
https://www.seaofthieves.com/pirate-code

"guidelines" drawn up by well meaning but inexperienced devs that are impossible to police outside of the forums, and are continually open to interpretation from all sides.

The code has really only achieved in creating more angst and division then anything else. Game mechanics fixes behavior not aspirational statements.

ye have my word as a pirate that i shall abide by this here contract of official sounding and binding capacity.

@lordloharrtalem I really wish the world was full of decent people that did these rules.

@lordloharrtalem we are pirates not sailors

@elite-assasin87 Obviously. The thing is we can enact our own rules as being a pirate there are only two rules I myself instate and those are, "Do not fire unless fired upon." and my personal favorite, "Owe no one nothing."

I seem to notice a lot of people agreeing with the cannons upwards is a peace symbol.

I also personally don't agree with the never kill someone at outposts.

I like them all, but 6 should be leave us alone if lanterns are off (all the time)

Love the enthusiasm to try and push a community RoE, but trying to push a Roe on a heavily split community, sadly, won't hinder results.

@unknownscientis Ah I see your point except this is not the pirate code so they are more like guidelines than rules ;)