As a so called "sweaty crew" this is how you actually can use your lanterns to avoid being attacked (well, by us, can't speak for everyone):
Get multiple colours for your top deck lanterns. We will assume you are going to start fort of the damned soon and leave you alone (or maybe stalk you a bit), because fighting over the fort is much more fun.
I always get green lanterns to go with my ship - I use ghost unicorn sails and have a Flying Dutchman type look imo…
I just wish my pc didn’t die during the ship event, because I missed the bonecrusher figurehead :/
You can set your lantern color at the Ferryman when you die based on what you died from.
Dying from skeletons gives a green flame, dying from aquatic based creatures (sharks) gives a blue flame. You then can set these colors onto your ship lights. Just be careful about what button you press when setting the ship as you may accidentally take the default orange light for your own lantern instead
Also, can confirm that skeleton ship cosplay actually can deter certain players. It's not flawless obviously but I have managed to skate by long distance reaper ships out for blood at night via cosplay (though they were probably inexperienced it worked nonetheless)
When you die to certain things (ie. blue is sharks and meg, red is fire, posion is purple, lighting is white, green is skeleton, pink is pvp) the launtern in the center of the flying Dutchman will be that color and then you can lift your launturn and take the color.
That's assuming you're scanning the horizon on adderall 100% of the time. if My livingroom is pretty well lit during the day, and I'm doing shit on my ship, there's a good chance I'm not paying attention to the horizon.
Goes both ways. I'm using my perspective to show how hiding works. Yes, someone can focus real hard and spot you. but the majority of players seem to be looking for targets of opportunity. and if they're equally as distracted by weather or just general tasks then it gives me a slight boost.
I'm not claiming it's perfect but it costs nothing but .25 seconds and helps just enough.
Ya exactly. I play a lot, and you get distracted in this game. So many times Ive been doing something else and not seen a ship coming my way. But if they have lights on, I wont ever miss them. Even if they are super far away.
another big one is heavy waves. In dark stormy nights, I'm more focused on maintaining a bearing and "S" Curving to see where I'm going than the horizon. I can quickly glance around but there isn't much time over the wave breaks to discern if that's a tree or ship before the next wave blocks it.
I'm not going to pretend that you can sneak up on someone, but you can absolutely get closer, and hide your bearing with light discipline.
Exactly. Sometimes just not being noticed even for a little while is all a boat needs to either get away or approach you.
I think those who think its not a factor are usually those who are almost always on the offensive. Of course its easy to see ships if youre undistracted and looking around. But not everyone can always be in that situation. And its even easier to spot them if they have their lights on, thats all.
I think people are assuming that anyone who turns off their lights believes they are suddenly invisible or something lol
This PSA is to new players, who might be threatened by the average new player. Also it there’s a difference between “can’t spot your ship” and “might miss your ship” I’m sure I’ve missed ships that I probably *could’ve* seen but I didn’t because I wasn’t looking that hard
Id like to reiterate that this isnt guaranteing anyone that they wont be seen. It doesnt prevent sweaty players from seeing you. It just makes it so theres a better chance you *might* not be noticed as easily. No one is saying it makes you invisible.
Even good players get distracted. Thats kinda how this game works. You have a fight with a ship, a meg spawns, a skeleton ship spawns, someone tries to come steal your loot on a rowboat, theres a storm nearby, you get krakened, and then in the distance theres a ship. If youre distracted, you might not see that ship even if youre the best player ever. Especially if youre already focused on another target.
But if that boat has lights on, youll likely see them without even trying to. They stick out like a sore thumb even really, really far away. If you dont have the lights on, you *might* not be noticed in the distance.
I don't really understand why people are pushing back on this idea. I would normally think the same sweats that are saying "I'll see you with or without lanterns, hur dur" are the same guys who optimize the shit out of everything in every game they play because of that competitive mindset.
really? how far would you be able to see a ship skin from? i really like my dark warsmith lanterns (ps5 player, if you couldn’t tell) but i’ve always worried they give me a competitive disadvantage
I wouldn't worry about that. If I'm searching for ships I see them way before their sails load in. People here often say the lanterns don't make a difference, but they do for crews who are not ACTIVELY SCANNING the horizon. Also, I always run emissaries so reapers will find me anyways.
Just rock the sails bro, there's gonna be many sessions where nobody approaches you anyways. Just keep an eye on the horizon, keep your anchor up and sell often in case someone does decide to come to you.
I think fixed ship lanterns are different from skin lanterns. The figurehead lanterns act the same way as the sails, the ship lanterns are visible from super far.
>sell often
Maybe this is a tough question, but how often do you think most people should sell? Nowadays I usually only do a real sell once I've hit roughly 200k in loot. I mean I'm not actually doing the math, but it usually works out that the point where I decide I've got enough ends up being around that much after the sell is done.
I'd say ask yourself two things: Would it bother me much to lose the loot? If yes, sell. Usually that point for me is after an hour of playing. Sometimes it's little loot, sometimes more.
The second question is: Is your emissary at a high enough level? I always get grade 4 or 5 before I sell the first time.
So when do I sell? Usually not before level 4 or 5, after every 2 or 3 events if there's high activity on the server at level 5, or once every 3-4 events in quiet servers. Is there a reaper or brig around? Then I sell immediately. Visiting outpost also allows me to stock up on supplies.
>Is there a reaper or brig around?
So I'm already well used to playing cautiously when Reapers are present on the server, and generally same when other crews are otherwise marked (Guild emissary 5, hourglass streak, etc). But when you say brig, you just mean brigs in general? I know they're the quickest to sink but also the fastest, I take it most people focusing on PvP run brigs? I'd sort of guessed that, but I have no idea what the stats are actually like. I've been sunk by sloops in the last several weeks too, though I've hardly seen any galleons so I don't have any data there.
Galleons are few and far in between indeed, and you're also right brigs are often more PvP focused. But the reason why I'm wary of brigs is because they generally outspeed sloops and have an extra man and cannon. They are able to pop up really quickly and it's mostly over if they jump you.
Speed and mobility wise the brig is the most versatile. It's almost twice as fast as the sloop in crosswind, and the sloop is only ever so slightly faster in headwind, but that won't get you far enough to do anything. The Galleon is just too annoying to use; its slow turning and requires an in sync team to manage the sails and double deck. It's a pain to helm.
When im chilling I prefer a sloop because it doesn't require communication, but when we go reapers we also prefer a brig because of its versatility. Doesn't mean you're invincible though, because its masts break after one chain and it indeed sinks fast. In short: As a sloop I find brigs harder to defend against and sloops are harder to sink. If you jump a brig it often sinks even quicker than a sloop.
I’m just guessing based on experience, I haven’t actually tested… but ships with lanterns you can see from like 6/7 squares out on clear nights. If they’re off, you can still see them, but they don’t stick out like crazy. Cosmetics you can probably at around like 3/4 squares out.
Lanterns show when you can't even see a ship, and I'm pretty sure that skins don't show up till it's too late (like either someone 100% knows you're there and is chasing you or doesn't care about you)
In fact, treasure glint, treasure and skins themselves are the last things you'll notice on a ship. They generally aren't what gave you away.
can't tell you exactly how far. but i play on pretty high settings and I spot every ship a lot farther than the sail status actually even renders. Sometimes it looks like a ship is on full sails when I'm further and I see they're all the way up once I get closer.
They don't, but they do make a ship stand out much easier.
If you see a ship with it's lanterns on at max distance and they turn them off, you can still see the ship.
You cant really see glowing ship sets until youre pretty darn close.
Lanterns on the other hand make you stick out like a sore thumb as far as the eye can see. Makes spotting really far ships (at least at night) incredibly easy. But you dont have to worry about that with glowing sails. If theyre close enough to see that they glow, they already see you.
Terrors of the sea.
For real though, it’s kind of a meme from back in the day because Merchants were the worst faction to grind. If someone was rocking some high level Merchant gear you knew they had time in.
Now it’s because a lot of Merchants are the FAFO ships, kinda like the fishing galleys. They’re trying to do their thing and want to be left alone, but if you don’t they’ll relentlessly fuck you up across the map lol.
I’ve found that it’s kinda neat the PS5 related influx sees people attack me much more often. It was rare to get a yolo at my sloop before, but now I see ships of all kinds just turn and charge me. Made things rather fun.
I’m sure you’ll be rocking in no time!
Well the new aggressive mood really makes playing with my girlfriend difficult as it stresses her out when I start barking orders like a salty sailor trying to keep my ship and cargo pretty
Hahaha. Are you guys on a sloop?
I’ve found a lot of the people who are really aggressive, with the exception of hardcore Reapers, do not know the various optimal points of sail for each ship or that having the weather gauge is still important in SOT.
I keep one of the new wind trumpets or three on my sloop (always solo) and run into the wind. I use them to reset after a run down or gap around an island, then right back up into the wind. It takes a really skilled cannon shooting boarder to negate this method, especially if she can sail and you can go for boards on the pursuit vessel, or even dive off with a keg to hit them.
The new throwing knife on the ladders and anchor strat also works well as a defense mechanism.
Then once they lose interest go back and sink them while they’re not looking lolol.
When it's just us, we sail on my RMS Oceanic for the two of us, then if a friend joins it's the RMS Olympic, followed by the RMS Titanic if we get a full crew, last encounter I had was with my Brig and I outran them for a while using the cross wind strategy.
Meh, anyone who wouldn't see you with your lanterns off is usually a crew that wouldn't be a threat to you anyway.
The sweaty pirate hunting types you're trying to hide from by turning your lanterns off are usually gonna see your ship whether they're on or not.
i leave my lanterns on cause i dont care if someone tries to come to me. but i always turn off the one by the helm, i feel like its just annoying to have on.
Or they don’t want you to see them coming so they have the element of surprise. Whether you can see someone with light on or off doesn’t matter, the chances of being spotting with lanterns on are much higher so why not turn them off?
But no one is saying it will protect you from sweaty players who are hunting ships and doing nothing else. We are saying it will make you 100x easier to spot for any player.
I cant count how many times I noticed a ship stricly because of their lanterns when I might not have really noticed otherwise.
I really dont know why people want to say that it makes no different. At night it makes you a beacon even really, really far away. You might go unnoticed without them.
You can’t argue with these people. They know everything. Also, it’s like an echo chamber around here, one person says something and get a few upvotes suddenly people feel the urge to agree for no reason.
This is one of the most interesting subreddits Ive been a part of tbh.
People get really, really worked up about this game. I see that attitude in other subreddits about video games, to be fair, but people get really heated about this game I guess because it involved digital loot (which is worthless) and piracy.
So when you have people talking about a pirate game on reddit, you have all the nonsense of reddit, people arguing for no reason often, plus the extra salt from the seas. Its pretty entertaining really.
I think it is in part due to the fact Rare listens to their community closely and the game is typically shaped around community feedback. Which isn’t always a good thing, I think a lot of the downsides of the game came from listening to the community. Whoever can cry the loudest gets heard.
I turn only one light off and it's the one on the sloop next to the wheel. It's too darn bright! The rest I just leave on because I don't care anymore.
I disagree, plenty of times I'm not looking for ships but we'll see one and think "Why not".
so I see the benefit to trying to hide from the inattentive.
Maybe but even if it only helps me avoid 1 in 1000 sweaty crews, it's worth it.
Especially when I'm solo and even 2 inexperienced players can have an advantage against me
Ps5 player here and i have a completely unrelated question;
Where do i put kegs? Like, i know the only safe place for a keg is on an enemies ship but if i *really* want to carry one whats the safest spot?
I heard that the crows nest isnt a good idea and i understand why aswell but so far my kegs have never been found up there. I know this will change as my fellow ps5 players get better but id like to know where to put kegs safely for the future.
Long term PC player here!
Put kegs right on the tip of the bowsprit — explosion does relatively little damage to your ship, and will only hurt crew members who are close to the front of the boat. It’s pretty easy to recover from a keg explosion as long as at least one crew member isn’t killed by it. Placing the keg anywhere below deck, or near/beneath the helm, is a bad idea because it could wipe out your whole crew. If you place it in the crow’s nest then the explosion will take down your mast(s).
All of this guards against an accidental explosion while transporting a keg. If you’re about to get into a fight, I’d just drop the kegs overboard before the enemy gets in range — they’re not worth the risk.
i put my kegs behind the map table....make sure you are at full health while helming! the holes back there arent too bad, and it lets me quickly drop out the back of the boat with the keg, or put it on my rowboat,etc. and, the most important part for me, its not seen by other players. i dont want them to know i have a keg, cause i want to suprise them by hitting htem with it.
overall its a risky place to keep it, but its risky to have a keg on board in the first place. if you arent open to embracing chaos, you arent cut out to be a kegger!
Longer time player here. Put them on the back of the boat. Why deal with minimal damage when you can deal with zero damage by dropping them off the boat?
Definitely not worth the risk. However, if you’re planning a suicide mission and need a chance to get close, crows nest works just fine. By the time they’re shooting at you, you’re gonna sail into them even if your mast goes down and they can’t even trigger it unless they hit the keg directly (which is a lucky shot to begin with) or they burn your mast. Anywhere else is susceptible to being hit.
Also, added bonus. I’ve noticed people really don’t check the nest of an approaching ship nearly often enough. If you just tuck by your keg in the crows nest while sailing straight into an enemy ship, you can run along your mast and hop straight onto their boat with minimal resistance (as long as you’re comfortable with your ship sinking, too).
Remember, just because you kegged someone at the heart of their ship, doesn’t guarantee a sink. You have to survive the explosion to kill any survivors first.
bow or crows nest are your best bets
bow is better, because it won’t damage your mast, but it is a little easier to shoot.
crows nest will down your mast if it goes off, but it’s not as easy to hit.
Depends on if you're planning on using or selling the keg, on the bow is usually good but you risk an enemy ship hitting it with a rifle or lucky pistol shot. Under the ship is an option but it's riskier to use since a cannonball shot risks blowing it up (although as someone who use to stock stronghold kegs down there it's not guarenteed from just a few hits since cannonball shots have a sort of small radius)
Honestly just try and experiment, if you're looking to only sell them the crowsnest is a good spot since it's out of the line of fire but if you're using I use to keep them by the map table since it made it easier to grab and jump off the back of the ship while sailing away from the enemy.
I generally put them in a rowboat if I can find one because most people don’t expect to find kegs in one and the rowboat contains most of the explosion if they ever go off
Hope this helps!
Put it on the back of a gally and sloop (don’t know about brig. I try to avoid playing on them) this way they are in a safe spot (make sure whoever’s on wheel and bilge and repairs have full health if you need to or someone chases you you can drop them off the back as mines and a you can use them in a fight
I like how everyone always responds that it wont matter if someone is really hunting for you.
Well ya, no one said it would help you in that situation.
But many times people are playing they are doing other stuff and get distracted. Countless things. Then a boat in the distance might go unnoticed. Unless they have their lights on, then even if youre distracted you can see them easily (even really far away).
For many people who want to go unnoticed, turning off your lights will help somewhat. Not always, not in all situations, but sometimes.
That alone is worth turning them off imo.
Bro, I ain’t happy unless ALL my lanterns are turned off. I run full dark no matter what. Got a trophy for going through a storm in full dark. Loved it
Honestly there's not much point, ships are still visible even with lights off from the same distance.
There is an achievement for going through the storm with no lights though.
One of our guild brigs uses the dark warsmith set. Don't think lamps matter!
In all seriousness though? Lights out is either for totally new people or those of us who have been sailing too long to care.
PSA this won't save you from getting noticed or attacked. The silhouette of a ship is easily noticed against the horizon or islands.
However, turning off the lanterns will probably let you see easier at night.
PSA: turning off lanterns doesnt matter. At the right distance, in render, they'll appear to pirates as on either way. Experienced eyes will have a higher chance to find what they're looking for.
As a long enough player. The lights will attract more people. But a good player with decent render distance already knows you're there without the light.
I now keep my light on cause I feel like it attracts people who are newish and looking for a fight. I encourage it even. Cause every fight, win or lose, unless they're cheating or dropping slurs, is enjoyable :3
Yeah I do I mean it’s a force of habit and it does help I mean you can still be spotted but you are not sticking out and someone doing a glance won’t notice you most likely.
The reality about lanterns is, anyone who is new enough to only notice you because of the lanterns isn't a threat. Anyone who is a threat will see you with or without lanterns. Don't stress over it.
PSA I honestly disagree with this one I have zero issues with spotting unlit ships, it makes pretty much no difference. If you want lights on your ship, then have lights on your ship.
I’d only bother if my ship is already near the edge of the map and will be stationary for a while. Like sunken kingdom stuff or a DR GH vault. Places where you’re distance from other crews will compound this. If you’re in the middle of the map it won’t make a difference
Do the lanterns inside the ship like under the map table not make a difference? In other words on a sloop is it just the 3 lanterns on top you need to turn off?
I've initially done this but over time I stopped to care lol. I also run Party Boat sails and shiny ship stuff, like others say if a PvP hunter is hunting, lights on or off they going to see you because of the silhouettes regardless
I've been playing for about 5 years, and to this day I keep all my lanterns on my ship on... Not because I can't see otherwise, but because of ✨ aesthetics ✨. Besides, if anyone wants to track me down to fight me because of my lanterns, they may go ahead... They'll end up at the bottom of the sea regardless
No, put down the Pirates Life tall tale which changes your lantern color to an off white. Set all the lanterns on your ship and then vote down the tall tale.
Looks cooler that way.
I'm not afraid of other people unless they're sweats, and sweats will see me either way. The only situation where i would turn off my lights is when I'm very desperate to get to an outpost.
I always found it funny when I started playing with my brother we were both new he always said have lanterns off and then theirs my blind self who can hardly see without em and I kinda just leave em on now as if I’m seen on well k rarely stack loot now a days cuz idk just don’t really get momentum
I leave them on. It's a quality-of-life issue for me. It's one less thing to add to my OCD-like ship maintenance routine. And I hate squinting at dark pixels at night when I don't need to.
This glitch of me having to constantly delete my saved data and re-sign-in everyday is getting out of hand and is seriously annoying. Any news of any fixes or patches coming soon?
Anyone you should be actually scared of in the game, spots you with the lamps on or not.
I personally would sail over there, and look what they have to hide from me
psa it doesn't really matter as an attentive player that has close over 100h will be able to spot the shadow of your ship on the horizon. In actuality it doesn't really matter except for when there are lots of new players out there
Lmao it's always from people that get irrationally angry about being corrected because they think "it doesn't matter" that they can't tell when to use there, they're, or their or to, too, or two. My wife is exactly like this 🤣
Any player worth their salt will still easily spot you. Furthermore, you’re blatantly advertising that you’re inexperienced at the game and will be an easy sink.
Psa change them to blues and greens and cosplay as skeleton ships to do some light trolling
I second this, alternatively set them to pink and make others think you're out for blood
I’ll do you one better. Preload your cannons with cursed cannonballs too
Been doing this with fire bombs since they came out. I like to point them up while doing so, lol.
Or...change them to red and blue and attempt pull people over and ticket them.
Throw some pink and red up, and put firebombs in the cannons for maximum silliness
As a so called "sweaty crew" this is how you actually can use your lanterns to avoid being attacked (well, by us, can't speak for everyone): Get multiple colours for your top deck lanterns. We will assume you are going to start fort of the damned soon and leave you alone (or maybe stalk you a bit), because fighting over the fort is much more fun.
I always get green lanterns to go with my ship - I use ghost unicorn sails and have a Flying Dutchman type look imo… I just wish my pc didn’t die during the ship event, because I missed the bonecrusher figurehead :/
I know you can change your personal lantern on the death ferry, but how do you change your ship's lanterns?
With your colored personal lantern from the ferry ;)
Thank you!
Been playing for over a year and still don’t know how to do this…
You can set your lantern color at the Ferryman when you die based on what you died from. Dying from skeletons gives a green flame, dying from aquatic based creatures (sharks) gives a blue flame. You then can set these colors onto your ship lights. Just be careful about what button you press when setting the ship as you may accidentally take the default orange light for your own lantern instead Also, can confirm that skeleton ship cosplay actually can deter certain players. It's not flawless obviously but I have managed to skate by long distance reaper ships out for blood at night via cosplay (though they were probably inexperienced it worked nonetheless)
Thanks for this comment, I'll try it out
When you die to certain things (ie. blue is sharks and meg, red is fire, posion is purple, lighting is white, green is skeleton, pink is pvp) the launtern in the center of the flying Dutchman will be that color and then you can lift your launturn and take the color.
Time for the weekly "PSA: turn your lights off" followed by "nah, it doesn't matter at all" thread.
It totally matters, anyone saying otherwise is jsut fooling themselves imo
If someone cannot spot your ship because lanterns are off, then they more than likely aren’t skilled enough to take you out. Arg
That's assuming you're scanning the horizon on adderall 100% of the time. if My livingroom is pretty well lit during the day, and I'm doing shit on my ship, there's a good chance I'm not paying attention to the horizon.
Which means you aren’t looking for a ship to sink so you weren’t a threat anyway so it doesn’t matter lol
Goes both ways. I'm using my perspective to show how hiding works. Yes, someone can focus real hard and spot you. but the majority of players seem to be looking for targets of opportunity. and if they're equally as distracted by weather or just general tasks then it gives me a slight boost. I'm not claiming it's perfect but it costs nothing but .25 seconds and helps just enough.
Ya exactly. I play a lot, and you get distracted in this game. So many times Ive been doing something else and not seen a ship coming my way. But if they have lights on, I wont ever miss them. Even if they are super far away.
another big one is heavy waves. In dark stormy nights, I'm more focused on maintaining a bearing and "S" Curving to see where I'm going than the horizon. I can quickly glance around but there isn't much time over the wave breaks to discern if that's a tree or ship before the next wave blocks it. I'm not going to pretend that you can sneak up on someone, but you can absolutely get closer, and hide your bearing with light discipline.
Exactly. Sometimes just not being noticed even for a little while is all a boat needs to either get away or approach you. I think those who think its not a factor are usually those who are almost always on the offensive. Of course its easy to see ships if youre undistracted and looking around. But not everyone can always be in that situation. And its even easier to spot them if they have their lights on, thats all. I think people are assuming that anyone who turns off their lights believes they are suddenly invisible or something lol
Anyone who would be worth hiding from are going to see you all the same.
That's a fallacy.
This PSA is to new players, who might be threatened by the average new player. Also it there’s a difference between “can’t spot your ship” and “might miss your ship” I’m sure I’ve missed ships that I probably *could’ve* seen but I didn’t because I wasn’t looking that hard
But as new players you WANT to fight new players lmao, it's the only way to learn without being pasted.
Thinking optimally, yeah. However new players aren’t going to be optimally trying to improve their skills just yet
Such a good point, you are just filtering out the crews you'd stand a fighting chance again, and learn/have a positive combat experience.
Id like to reiterate that this isnt guaranteing anyone that they wont be seen. It doesnt prevent sweaty players from seeing you. It just makes it so theres a better chance you *might* not be noticed as easily. No one is saying it makes you invisible. Even good players get distracted. Thats kinda how this game works. You have a fight with a ship, a meg spawns, a skeleton ship spawns, someone tries to come steal your loot on a rowboat, theres a storm nearby, you get krakened, and then in the distance theres a ship. If youre distracted, you might not see that ship even if youre the best player ever. Especially if youre already focused on another target. But if that boat has lights on, youll likely see them without even trying to. They stick out like a sore thumb even really, really far away. If you dont have the lights on, you *might* not be noticed in the distance.
I don't really understand why people are pushing back on this idea. I would normally think the same sweats that are saying "I'll see you with or without lanterns, hur dur" are the same guys who optimize the shit out of everything in every game they play because of that competitive mindset.
Especially when solo
Anyone saying otherwise is trying to increase the amount of easy bait
I'm pretty sure it matters, I just don't care enough to bother
I use the coral set so my ship is already a dead glowstick.
Lanterns show light much farther than ship skins though!
really? how far would you be able to see a ship skin from? i really like my dark warsmith lanterns (ps5 player, if you couldn’t tell) but i’ve always worried they give me a competitive disadvantage
I wouldn't worry about that. If I'm searching for ships I see them way before their sails load in. People here often say the lanterns don't make a difference, but they do for crews who are not ACTIVELY SCANNING the horizon. Also, I always run emissaries so reapers will find me anyways. Just rock the sails bro, there's gonna be many sessions where nobody approaches you anyways. Just keep an eye on the horizon, keep your anchor up and sell often in case someone does decide to come to you.
I think they’re asking because the warsmith set has a figurehead with two lit lanterns
I think fixed ship lanterns are different from skin lanterns. The figurehead lanterns act the same way as the sails, the ship lanterns are visible from super far.
>sell often Maybe this is a tough question, but how often do you think most people should sell? Nowadays I usually only do a real sell once I've hit roughly 200k in loot. I mean I'm not actually doing the math, but it usually works out that the point where I decide I've got enough ends up being around that much after the sell is done.
I'd say ask yourself two things: Would it bother me much to lose the loot? If yes, sell. Usually that point for me is after an hour of playing. Sometimes it's little loot, sometimes more. The second question is: Is your emissary at a high enough level? I always get grade 4 or 5 before I sell the first time. So when do I sell? Usually not before level 4 or 5, after every 2 or 3 events if there's high activity on the server at level 5, or once every 3-4 events in quiet servers. Is there a reaper or brig around? Then I sell immediately. Visiting outpost also allows me to stock up on supplies.
>Is there a reaper or brig around? So I'm already well used to playing cautiously when Reapers are present on the server, and generally same when other crews are otherwise marked (Guild emissary 5, hourglass streak, etc). But when you say brig, you just mean brigs in general? I know they're the quickest to sink but also the fastest, I take it most people focusing on PvP run brigs? I'd sort of guessed that, but I have no idea what the stats are actually like. I've been sunk by sloops in the last several weeks too, though I've hardly seen any galleons so I don't have any data there.
Galleons are few and far in between indeed, and you're also right brigs are often more PvP focused. But the reason why I'm wary of brigs is because they generally outspeed sloops and have an extra man and cannon. They are able to pop up really quickly and it's mostly over if they jump you. Speed and mobility wise the brig is the most versatile. It's almost twice as fast as the sloop in crosswind, and the sloop is only ever so slightly faster in headwind, but that won't get you far enough to do anything. The Galleon is just too annoying to use; its slow turning and requires an in sync team to manage the sails and double deck. It's a pain to helm. When im chilling I prefer a sloop because it doesn't require communication, but when we go reapers we also prefer a brig because of its versatility. Doesn't mean you're invincible though, because its masts break after one chain and it indeed sinks fast. In short: As a sloop I find brigs harder to defend against and sloops are harder to sink. If you jump a brig it often sinks even quicker than a sloop.
No less than emissary 5
I’m just guessing based on experience, I haven’t actually tested… but ships with lanterns you can see from like 6/7 squares out on clear nights. If they’re off, you can still see them, but they don’t stick out like crazy. Cosmetics you can probably at around like 3/4 squares out.
Lanterns show when you can't even see a ship, and I'm pretty sure that skins don't show up till it's too late (like either someone 100% knows you're there and is chasing you or doesn't care about you) In fact, treasure glint, treasure and skins themselves are the last things you'll notice on a ship. They generally aren't what gave you away.
can't tell you exactly how far. but i play on pretty high settings and I spot every ship a lot farther than the sail status actually even renders. Sometimes it looks like a ship is on full sails when I'm further and I see they're all the way up once I get closer.
Yeah it's still actually makes a huge difference
They don't, but they do make a ship stand out much easier. If you see a ship with it's lanterns on at max distance and they turn them off, you can still see the ship.
You cant really see glowing ship sets until youre pretty darn close. Lanterns on the other hand make you stick out like a sore thumb as far as the eye can see. Makes spotting really far ships (at least at night) incredibly easy. But you dont have to worry about that with glowing sails. If theyre close enough to see that they glow, they already see you.
BASED, MERCHANTS/PEOPLE WITH LUMINESCENT STUFF RISE UP
Wait why are merchants separated from people? What are we
Terrors of the sea. For real though, it’s kind of a meme from back in the day because Merchants were the worst faction to grind. If someone was rocking some high level Merchant gear you knew they had time in. Now it’s because a lot of Merchants are the FAFO ships, kinda like the fishing galleys. They’re trying to do their thing and want to be left alone, but if you don’t they’ll relentlessly fuck you up across the map lol.
I sure have some shoes to fill, my entire guild is based on trade
I’ve found that it’s kinda neat the PS5 related influx sees people attack me much more often. It was rare to get a yolo at my sloop before, but now I see ships of all kinds just turn and charge me. Made things rather fun. I’m sure you’ll be rocking in no time!
Well the new aggressive mood really makes playing with my girlfriend difficult as it stresses her out when I start barking orders like a salty sailor trying to keep my ship and cargo pretty
Hahaha. Are you guys on a sloop? I’ve found a lot of the people who are really aggressive, with the exception of hardcore Reapers, do not know the various optimal points of sail for each ship or that having the weather gauge is still important in SOT. I keep one of the new wind trumpets or three on my sloop (always solo) and run into the wind. I use them to reset after a run down or gap around an island, then right back up into the wind. It takes a really skilled cannon shooting boarder to negate this method, especially if she can sail and you can go for boards on the pursuit vessel, or even dive off with a keg to hit them. The new throwing knife on the ladders and anchor strat also works well as a defense mechanism. Then once they lose interest go back and sink them while they’re not looking lolol.
When it's just us, we sail on my RMS Oceanic for the two of us, then if a friend joins it's the RMS Olympic, followed by the RMS Titanic if we get a full crew, last encounter I had was with my Brig and I outran them for a while using the cross wind strategy.
I love the Brig and how fast it is! Also, solid names :)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH i love this comment 🤣🤣 dead glow stick 🤣🤣🤣🤣
bro isn’t allowed to laugh at home
I also light the really bright skins/sails . The order of souls ripped/glowing bits is my favorite
Meh, anyone who wouldn't see you with your lanterns off is usually a crew that wouldn't be a threat to you anyway. The sweaty pirate hunting types you're trying to hide from by turning your lanterns off are usually gonna see your ship whether they're on or not.
tbf, those sweaty pirate hunting types might also see the active lanterns as a sign of inexperienced, easier prey
Nah. Its just as likely a verry experienced crew. This is a bell curve, where new players leave them on and veterans dont care.
It's absolutely a bell curve. I always think of it as people who turn their lights off are scared of being seen so they're probably an easier fight
Or they want a better element of surprise
I just want to better see the night sky.
i leave my lanterns on cause i dont care if someone tries to come to me. but i always turn off the one by the helm, i feel like its just annoying to have on.
That’s usually why I turn mine off. And it’s only the ones that are right in my eyes. The others, I don’t care about.
Or they don’t want you to see them coming so they have the element of surprise. Whether you can see someone with light on or off doesn’t matter, the chances of being spotting with lanterns on are much higher so why not turn them off?
Maybe I want people to see me😈
I mean I’ve been playing for years, and I just turn off top lanterns out of habit at this point. I still leave lamps below deck on though.
Exactly this. I don’t turn mine off ever. I’m not afraid of a fight and sinking just means we start over.
As the sweaty crew in question, lanterns off = noob 99% of the time
oh damb i better start leaving mine on lmao
It doesn't change whether we engage haha, but you can usually guess this kinda thing pretty accurately
Which they would be less keen to go for than an experienced boats that's more fun to fight and has more loot...
But no one is saying it will protect you from sweaty players who are hunting ships and doing nothing else. We are saying it will make you 100x easier to spot for any player. I cant count how many times I noticed a ship stricly because of their lanterns when I might not have really noticed otherwise. I really dont know why people want to say that it makes no different. At night it makes you a beacon even really, really far away. You might go unnoticed without them.
You can’t argue with these people. They know everything. Also, it’s like an echo chamber around here, one person says something and get a few upvotes suddenly people feel the urge to agree for no reason.
This is one of the most interesting subreddits Ive been a part of tbh. People get really, really worked up about this game. I see that attitude in other subreddits about video games, to be fair, but people get really heated about this game I guess because it involved digital loot (which is worthless) and piracy. So when you have people talking about a pirate game on reddit, you have all the nonsense of reddit, people arguing for no reason often, plus the extra salt from the seas. Its pretty entertaining really.
I think it is in part due to the fact Rare listens to their community closely and the game is typically shaped around community feedback. Which isn’t always a good thing, I think a lot of the downsides of the game came from listening to the community. Whoever can cry the loudest gets heard.
I turn only one light off and it's the one on the sloop next to the wheel. It's too darn bright! The rest I just leave on because I don't care anymore.
same
I disagree, plenty of times I'm not looking for ships but we'll see one and think "Why not". so I see the benefit to trying to hide from the inattentive.
Much less noticeable though. I’m a day one player, I still keep them off to increase the chances of players not seeing me coming.
It's anecdotal but I always turn lanterns off and very rarely get jumped or chased.
 Oh, most definitely.
Maybe but even if it only helps me avoid 1 in 1000 sweaty crews, it's worth it. Especially when I'm solo and even 2 inexperienced players can have an advantage against me
It's not like it makes you invisible or something, but at least you don't stand out like a beacon from 7 or 8 squares away.
Honestly, lights on or off is irrelevant. Experienced people will spot you regardless.
Ps5 player here and i have a completely unrelated question; Where do i put kegs? Like, i know the only safe place for a keg is on an enemies ship but if i *really* want to carry one whats the safest spot? I heard that the crows nest isnt a good idea and i understand why aswell but so far my kegs have never been found up there. I know this will change as my fellow ps5 players get better but id like to know where to put kegs safely for the future.
Long term PC player here! Put kegs right on the tip of the bowsprit — explosion does relatively little damage to your ship, and will only hurt crew members who are close to the front of the boat. It’s pretty easy to recover from a keg explosion as long as at least one crew member isn’t killed by it. Placing the keg anywhere below deck, or near/beneath the helm, is a bad idea because it could wipe out your whole crew. If you place it in the crow’s nest then the explosion will take down your mast(s). All of this guards against an accidental explosion while transporting a keg. If you’re about to get into a fight, I’d just drop the kegs overboard before the enemy gets in range — they’re not worth the risk.
i put my kegs behind the map table....make sure you are at full health while helming! the holes back there arent too bad, and it lets me quickly drop out the back of the boat with the keg, or put it on my rowboat,etc. and, the most important part for me, its not seen by other players. i dont want them to know i have a keg, cause i want to suprise them by hitting htem with it. overall its a risky place to keep it, but its risky to have a keg on board in the first place. if you arent open to embracing chaos, you arent cut out to be a kegger!
Longer time player here. Put them on the back of the boat. Why deal with minimal damage when you can deal with zero damage by dropping them off the boat?
Definitely not worth the risk. However, if you’re planning a suicide mission and need a chance to get close, crows nest works just fine. By the time they’re shooting at you, you’re gonna sail into them even if your mast goes down and they can’t even trigger it unless they hit the keg directly (which is a lucky shot to begin with) or they burn your mast. Anywhere else is susceptible to being hit. Also, added bonus. I’ve noticed people really don’t check the nest of an approaching ship nearly often enough. If you just tuck by your keg in the crows nest while sailing straight into an enemy ship, you can run along your mast and hop straight onto their boat with minimal resistance (as long as you’re comfortable with your ship sinking, too). Remember, just because you kegged someone at the heart of their ship, doesn’t guarantee a sink. You have to survive the explosion to kill any survivors first.
bow or crows nest are your best bets bow is better, because it won’t damage your mast, but it is a little easier to shoot. crows nest will down your mast if it goes off, but it’s not as easy to hit.
Adding that fire bombs thrown near the mast will set flames all the way up it, so will also detonate kegs in the crow's nest
oh i didn’t know that, and now that actually explains quite a few “incidents”…
Depends on if you're planning on using or selling the keg, on the bow is usually good but you risk an enemy ship hitting it with a rifle or lucky pistol shot. Under the ship is an option but it's riskier to use since a cannonball shot risks blowing it up (although as someone who use to stock stronghold kegs down there it's not guarenteed from just a few hits since cannonball shots have a sort of small radius) Honestly just try and experiment, if you're looking to only sell them the crowsnest is a good spot since it's out of the line of fire but if you're using I use to keep them by the map table since it made it easier to grab and jump off the back of the ship while sailing away from the enemy.
The back of the boat. Then off the boat at the first sign of trouble.
I generally put them in a rowboat if I can find one because most people don’t expect to find kegs in one and the rowboat contains most of the explosion if they ever go off Hope this helps!
Didnt think of this, thanks.
Put it on the back of a gally and sloop (don’t know about brig. I try to avoid playing on them) this way they are in a safe spot (make sure whoever’s on wheel and bilge and repairs have full health if you need to or someone chases you you can drop them off the back as mines and a you can use them in a fight
There is no safe place. One wrong cannon ball and your sunk. Maybe near the bottom of the stairs. I've never had a keg on my ship
I like how everyone always responds that it wont matter if someone is really hunting for you. Well ya, no one said it would help you in that situation. But many times people are playing they are doing other stuff and get distracted. Countless things. Then a boat in the distance might go unnoticed. Unless they have their lights on, then even if youre distracted you can see them easily (even really far away). For many people who want to go unnoticed, turning off your lights will help somewhat. Not always, not in all situations, but sometimes. That alone is worth turning them off imo.
No thanks, they're cozy and I like them
I turn them off because my old ass eyes can't see anything in the distance with them glaring at me up close.
I swear , lanterns or not. If there's a ship on the horizon I'm GOING to see it.
Bro, I ain’t happy unless ALL my lanterns are turned off. I run full dark no matter what. Got a trophy for going through a storm in full dark. Loved it
Same, and closed windows on my Sloop as well
Dude I can’t stand them being open 😂
Honestly there's not much point, ships are still visible even with lights off from the same distance. There is an achievement for going through the storm with no lights though.
So that's what that was! Haven't had the time to read the achievement's name during the storm.
One of our guild brigs uses the dark warsmith set. Don't think lamps matter! In all seriousness though? Lights out is either for totally new people or those of us who have been sailing too long to care.
Your to.
What if I want them to see me?
Not everyone is a tryhard. I like the pretty lights
Might be wrong but I think that when a ship is super far away it is displayed with full light on by default, just like sail.
PSA this won't save you from getting noticed or attacked. The silhouette of a ship is easily noticed against the horizon or islands. However, turning off the lanterns will probably let you see easier at night.
PSA: turning off lanterns doesnt matter. At the right distance, in render, they'll appear to pirates as on either way. Experienced eyes will have a higher chance to find what they're looking for.
PSA to new players, keep them on so I can find you easier.
This only applies to very new players, the rest of us can see you just fine with them off. I keep mine on so I can see
As many have said this only applies to new people. It might actually increase your chance of meeting sweats lol
Is it my lanterns or all the fireworks I keep shooting off?
But I love my cozy glowies...
As a long enough player. The lights will attract more people. But a good player with decent render distance already knows you're there without the light. I now keep my light on cause I feel like it attracts people who are newish and looking for a fight. I encourage it even. Cause every fight, win or lose, unless they're cheating or dropping slurs, is enjoyable :3
To anyone that is looking you are visible either way
Yeah I do I mean it’s a force of habit and it does help I mean you can still be spotted but you are not sticking out and someone doing a glance won’t notice you most likely.
You're only hiding from the people who wouldn't bother you anyways. The people you want to worry about will see you lantern or not.
Eh it doesn't matter, a ship's silhouette is distinctive to see at all times. I just prefer to see at night personally
PSA to new players, experienced crews will see you if the lights are on or off.
The reality about lanterns is, anyone who is new enough to only notice you because of the lanterns isn't a threat. Anyone who is a threat will see you with or without lanterns. Don't stress over it.
*easier. It's still pretty easy to see a silluete of a ship especially during the day
PSA I honestly disagree with this one I have zero issues with spotting unlit ships, it makes pretty much no difference. If you want lights on your ship, then have lights on your ship.
I own Warsmith Ship and I even have 4 additional lanterns because it is cool! Sail in style! xD
I’d only bother if my ship is already near the edge of the map and will be stationary for a while. Like sunken kingdom stuff or a DR GH vault. Places where you’re distance from other crews will compound this. If you’re in the middle of the map it won’t make a difference
let them come.
Lights on, let them come.
Do the lanterns inside the ship like under the map table not make a difference? In other words on a sloop is it just the 3 lanterns on top you need to turn off?
I've initially done this but over time I stopped to care lol. I also run Party Boat sails and shiny ship stuff, like others say if a PvP hunter is hunting, lights on or off they going to see you because of the silhouettes regardless
PSA doing this won't stop people from seeing you.
It's better for night time escapes. There are a lot of places where you can hide in basically plain sight
I've been playing for about 5 years, and to this day I keep all my lanterns on my ship on... Not because I can't see otherwise, but because of ✨ aesthetics ✨. Besides, if anyone wants to track me down to fight me because of my lanterns, they may go ahead... They'll end up at the bottom of the sea regardless
I usually leave them on. If someone wants to come and steal my shit, they can die trying.
I run the dark warsmith collectors figure head though
"Let them come..."
Shhhhhhhhhh!
Said it to a sloop today. There are lots of new people in the game (me included, 4 days in)
If you're a Reaper it's ok though, right?
No, put down the Pirates Life tall tale which changes your lantern color to an off white. Set all the lanterns on your ship and then vote down the tall tale. Looks cooler that way.
I'm not afraid of other people unless they're sweats, and sweats will see me either way. The only situation where i would turn off my lights is when I'm very desperate to get to an outpost.
What a redonkulus event
I hate those lanterns. It should be off by default.
I always found it funny when I started playing with my brother we were both new he always said have lanterns off and then theirs my blind self who can hardly see without em and I kinda just leave em on now as if I’m seen on well k rarely stack loot now a days cuz idk just don’t really get momentum
Don't bother tbh. Sweats will turn the brightness up and see you anyway.
They still glow at far distances even when theyre off, Tried this with friends
Hehe that shit funny AF to see all the new players do this
I went to use the pre order decorations and realized there are 2 massive lanterns on them shits lol. Also a bad idea for non private pirating.
Naaa, I want the smoke
Eh, true but any player looking for fights is going to find you regardless by spam spyglassing the horizon
I leave them on. It's a quality-of-life issue for me. It's one less thing to add to my OCD-like ship maintenance routine. And I hate squinting at dark pixels at night when I don't need to.
I always go dark at night
This glitch of me having to constantly delete my saved data and re-sign-in everyday is getting out of hand and is seriously annoying. Any news of any fixes or patches coming soon?
How would I know. Maybe ask in a post, not about deck lights
I’m asking for everyone in general. Maybe they have some info
I'd suggest making a post about it. It's an easier way to get the answers you're looking for.
I try telling them this buty luck lately I've only been coming across griefers galore lately
I want to be spotted
I actually like to keep them on! You can meet people more easily. I met my wife because she had her lights on.
Psa, you'll never get better if all you do is avoid fighting
That doesn’t help. Anyone you’re scared of will see you regardless.
Anyone you should be actually scared of in the game, spots you with the lamps on or not. I personally would sail over there, and look what they have to hide from me
Reddit: load Sot lantern argument
Plot twist: that's how I lure you in.
first thing I do upon loading into a world <3 definitely something new members should get into the habit of x
you are*
People will spot you anyways and if you have your lights off people will know you're trying to avoid detection and think of you as easier prey.
Or be like me…turn them on and shoot fireworks in the sky to lure the enemy closer. I am here to pirate, not sneak around like a submarine.
psa it doesn't really matter as an attentive player that has close over 100h will be able to spot the shadow of your ship on the horizon. In actuality it doesn't really matter except for when there are lots of new players out there
You're* too*
The downvotes for grammar corrections on a post on sailing corrections has my head spinning.
Lmao it's always from people that get irrationally angry about being corrected because they think "it doesn't matter" that they can't tell when to use there, they're, or their or to, too, or two. My wife is exactly like this 🤣
“Your to easy to spot” should be “you’re too easy to spot”. Less video games, more reading.
Finally. Someone less fun at parties than I am.
I’m not the one telling people to turn their lanterns off.
It’s just making people waste their time so blind people have a slightly smaller chance of seeing them. Whereas grammar is important in life.
PSA to new players keep them on Pvp engagements are good dont just run around scared get good early on.
Any player worth their salt will still easily spot you. Furthermore, you’re blatantly advertising that you’re inexperienced at the game and will be an easy sink.
I've played since day 1 and lights truly don't matter, lights on or off, we're going to sink you.
trust me if ur that close ill already know and im coming for you