An official explanation from Rare of what aids the rebuilding or destruction of golden sands and what does not.

Yeah, information would be nice so we know what we should be doing.

@lackbarwastaken said in An official explanation from Rare of what aids the rebuilding or destruction of golden sands and what does not.:

So there has been so much info flying around about what does and doesn't contribute to the outcome of golden sands. It was my understanding that relics turned into merrick or reapers help out either side. I put a support ticket in to find out if tina's rum and sharon's sailcloth turned into reapers helped the destruction effort (I figured it must since relics help merrick) . I was told that it did not help. So I'm frankly at a loss and have no idea what helps. I get so tired of rowing so I did a bunch of Merrick's quest to turn in to reapers. (I turned in 350 total rum and sailcloth so the idea of it not counting sucks).

I knew from the start the safest bet is to do the adventure. You can loop it by just parking at Reapers, rowing through the adventure, and mermaid back to complete it and start another. It only takes 10 minutes of guaranteed results vs these other things people try.

@unfadingshimmy said in An official explanation from Rare of what aids the rebuilding or destruction of golden sands and what does not.:

@kommodoreyenser Now I'm glad that I have been sinking those idle ships at Reapers.

Must be lucky. Everyone that has bothered to do that to me has then been sunk shortly after and quit the server.

There is SO MUCH conflicting information on what does and doesn't score points. In-game cues (such as Merrick's dialogue) tells you that simply blowing up rowboats scores points for Merrick, but other places don't list that, and there's no way to actually confirm it. It's heavily implied that selling the Sailcloth and Rum to the Reapers would help that path, but Rare says it won't.

On top of that, there's no easy way to know if what you're doing is actually contributing toward moving the needle in any direction.

The only concrete methods right now are:

Merrick

• Do the Adventure - Merrick path (turn in sail cloth and rum bottles)
• Give Fruit/Wood crates to Merrick*
• Give Relic Caches to Merrick

*the game forces this, by the way - you can't sell Fruit or Wood Crates to other outposts. You can only hand them to Merrick or sell them to the Reapers.

Reapers

• Do the Adventure - Reaper path (row your boat to islands, get a cache, turn it in, blow up rowboat at Golden Sands)
• Sell Relic Caches to the Servant of Flames
• Blow up rowboat at Golden Sands (and I wouldn't even be able to confirm if this counts outside the adventure)

I really wish Rare would just give us the actual list of what actually counts toward either side. I also want the ability to see my own "score" for either side.

I've said in other posts that Rare could easily have their finger on the scale here (I want to believe they don't, but I'm getting more and more cynical about it), and the complete lack of transparency about what does and doesn't count really isn't helping their case.

@d3adst1ck why do relics count for golden sands but rum and sailcloth dont count for reapers?

@galactic-geek when I think about this adventure the word "clarity" is first on my mind.

@galactic-geek "Sticky-fingered Reapers can also swipe special supplies before they reach Merrick and deliver them to the Servant of the Flame to cause further chaos"

Its so ambiguous whether turning in sailcloth and rum helps or doesn't help reapers from that. I just wish this was all better communicated.

@pithyrumble

Am gay. Will commence crimes on the weekend. I'm too tired after work throughout the week.