Sea of Thieves

Started by aniki
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Ninchilla

Tonight, we were crashed into by a galleon who announced themselves as "police", and boarded us for an inspection. They didn't attend to the damage, though, and their ship sank; so, without breaking character for an instant, they commandeered our vessel and had us sail them to the nearest outpost, which A) wasn't far, but B) did not have their respawned ship at it.

It was very surreal.

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Ninchilla

I'm the only person here, and I don't even fucking care; I just killed a megalodon.(…spoilers?)

Not before it killed me once or twice, but whatever.

Sarah and I teamed up with a 3-man galleon crew, summoned him up, and spent about 40 minutes wrestling the beast. And by "wrestling", I mean "shooting and being eaten by". Here's our little fleet:

And, once we got back to port, it was fancy new figurehead time!

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Ninchilla

The quest part of The Hungering Deep is essentially a timed event; the mechanics are going to stay, but the specific rewards aren't. You'll be able to get a trumpet and drum, but they won't be the shark-y ones, and completing the quest/summoning the Hungering One won't award the tattoos/scars and figurehead.

Just so you know.

coughgetamoveoncough

EDIT: they're going to start running weekly events after THD "ends", too, though, so there will presumably (hopefully?) be other exclusive rewards for whatever those are.

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Ninchilla

As of yesterday, there's one week left to complete the quest and get the shark-themed reward items for killing the Hungering One. After that, the weekly events begin - whatever they turn out to be.

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aniki

I really like this trailer from the E3 presentation, especially that joke at the game economy's expense at the end.

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Ninchilla

I think she'd be a bit out of the range of Rare's checkbook for an E3 trailer; the character is just an existing NPC, I think, so I suspect it's probably the existing voice actor.

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Ninchilla

The first of the "weekly" events - they're calling them Bilge Rat Adventures, and they appear to last a fortnight - has started.

You have to find and reach Skeleton Thrones, which have been left on certain islands scattered around the Sea of Thieves. Sitting in each Throne gives you a Commendation and 8 Doubloons, which are a Rats-only currency you can spend on ugly gear (20 Doubloons each), gold (10D for 1,000g, 15D for 5,000, 20D for 10,000), or - and this is probably the most important one - Commendation Letters, which, for 30 Doubloons each, will boost your standing with one of the main three factions.

Once again, they're asking for some co-operation - there are 10 Thrones in all, but half of them require you to sit in them with a member of a different ship's crew.

I've found three so far, and activated two (the third needed another ship). There are clues as to where they're located, and I think I know which islands the majority are on, but most seem to involve launching yourself out of a cannon to reach them, so there's a bit of trial and error involved*…

It's unclear yet if Doubloons are going to be wiped at the end of the event, or if it'll be possible to stockpile them for future, less hideous, gear sets.

*(unless you happen to find one where a landward cannon tower has already been set at the correct angle by the last pirate passing through.)

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aniki

Hopped into a sloop over lunch and happened to spawn close to a couple of small thrones (I used a guide) so I had a sit on those. Traded in 15 of my 16 doubloons for 5,000 gold but I'm just shy of the couple of things that looked interesting in the local outpost (as usual).

Are the thrones repeatable in any way? Seems weird that they'd be one-and-done, though since it's only a two-week mini-event I suppose they don't want it to get overly farmed.

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Ninchilla

No, they aren't repeatable, which unfortunately means that trying to find another crew who still has to do the big ones is getting tough.

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Ninchilla

Finished up the single-crew Thrones this evening; bought the stupid coat and stupider hat. It's highly unlikely I'll ever wear them, generally, but I wanted to have them just so I have the thing to show I was there for the event - like the Day 1 Patch, the Launch Crew Eye of Reach, and the Megalodon Figurehead.

I'm sure eventually there'll come an event that I don't feel the need to take part in, but I'm still enjoying the sailing well enough that I'm happy to bimble about, even if I don't make any "progress" beyond my own amusement.

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Mr Party Hat

It's a gorgeous game. The way those clouds are shedding their rain is uncanny.

Also… did you just hold your thumb perfectly steady at a one-degree angle on the stick, for five minutes?

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Ninchilla

I think it was closer to eight minutes, actually…

Spoiler - click to showIt's at 4x, but that's only half the turn; I actually went a full 360, but the landward side was much less interesting. I landed on the stick angle by sheer luck; I was just resting my thumb, and held it when I saw the rotation happening.

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Ninchilla

That was pretty much the first shot I had the idea for. Really pleased with how it worked out.

The one thing that nobody has commented on (anywhere, yet) is the "lip-sync" on the singing; I was astonished I was able to get that looking anything like as good as it does.

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aniki

Details are out for the new Bilge Rat adventure: Gunpowder Skeletons.

  • Gunpowder Skeletons Event – Carrying a gunpowder keg, skeletons can now rush towards you, light their fuse and… BOOM, off to the Ferry you go! The Bilge Rats are challenging all brave pirates to defeat them in various ways, some less conventional than others! Keep an ear perked for a burning fuse, and a finger on the trigger… good luck!
  • Explosive Force - When detonated, gunpowder kegs now have the force to rock and push ships.
  • Fuses - When holding a gunpowder keg, players can now light a five-second fuse by pressing the primary action button (Right Trigger on controller or left click on mouse).
  • Bilge Rat Doubloons – Each Gunpowder Skeleton Commendation on the progress screen details the number of Bilge Rat Doubloons it rewards. Players have until the 10th of July to complete the Commendations and earn up to 150 Bilge Rat Doubloons.
  • Bilge Rat Cosmetics – The Bone Crusher Sword, Pistol, Blunderbuss and Eye of Reach, priced at 15 Doubloons per item, are available until the 10th of July.
  • Letters of Recommendation – Letters of Recommendation now grant a full level in the chosen Trading Company. Opting to spend your hard-earned Doubloons on reputation with the Trading Companies? This just got better!
  • Bilge Rat Titles – Completing the Gunpowder Skeletons Commendations will unlock two new Pirate Titles. These titles will unlock straight into your Vanity Chest for maximum bragging rights.
  • Legendary Commendations - Legendary Commendation to earn an additional 50 Doubloons!
    These Legendary Commendations have been added based on player feedback requesting replayability.
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Ninchilla

Sounds less obviously immediately challenging than the thrones… I expect to be proven wrong very quickly.

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aniki

Either the commendations for this event haven't been unlocking properly, or blowing yourself up along with the gunpowder skeletons doesn't count.

I also scuttled my own ship twice tonight as it was being hijacked; dunno if I was just unlucky or if the fanbase has just gotten significantly more dickish since I last played.

Also, the skeleton thrones are still around, apparently - you just can't get the special gear anymore.

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Ninchilla

Either the commendations for this event haven't been unlocking properly, or blowing yourself up along with the gunpowder skeletons doesn't count.

It does - I just killed myself while attempting these, and still got credit for killing 3 plant skeletons with one gunpowder skeleton.

EDIT: a couple of OoS Captains later, and I've already earned enough Doubloons to buy the cutlass and blunderbuss; the others I can take or leave, as I already have the fancy Launch Crew Eye of Reach, and the Ebony(?) Flintlock. If I get any more, I'd be tempted to just buy gold, though I have no idea what on earth I'll spend it on.

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aniki

Do you have to kill three in addition to the gunpowder skeleton, then? I can't be certain that I ever killed four with one shot.

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aniki

I saw a shadow skeleton with a gunpowder barrel, I'm fairly certain - I think skeletons can just pick up gunpowder barrels now.

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aniki

A small selection of this evening's sunsets.

And here's one of Ninchilla dancing on a chimneypot, for some reason.

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aniki

I thought I'd grabbed some footage of you threading the needle with the other crew's runaway sloop, but it doesn't seem to have saved. :cry:

However I do have this, of a near-miss cannonball, from when they caught up to us later.

Ninchilla decided to go check out an apparently-unattended sloop on an outpost; he raised the anchor and jumped off, leaving the sloop to drift off in the direction it was parked facing. He found the owners - a pair of Northern Irish lads, by sheer coincidence - drinking in the tavern, while I continued on our galleon with Mrs. Ninchilla, to a shipwreck a little bit away.

They eventually left the tavern, stumbling drunk, attempting to race to their ship, which resulted in the hilarious overheard question from one of them, "here, where did we park our ship again?". Ninchilla then attacked and killed one of them before mermaiding back to our galleon.

In the meantime, their wayward ship had passed our galleon - not far from crashing into us - and was headed for an unmarked rock formation in the middle of the sea, which has an archway in the middle. It's easy enough to sail through, even in a galleon, but whatever combination of the way they'd parked, how they'd set their sails and the wind direction once it was set adrift, their sloop managed to make it through the archway with no-one at the helm.

They soon teleported back on board and quickly realised that their tavern assailant was on our crew. Despite their initial insistence that they were friendly, they instigate a lengthy battle which we ultimately won pretty handily - at least, I never felt like we were in any danger. Most of the time was spent manoeuvring; their attempts to board us were ineffective and we managed to run them aground in the end, before killing them long enough for their ship to take on a critical mass of water.

We were pretty paranoid about every other sloop we saw tonight, though - convinced they'd come back for revenge.

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Ninchilla

EEEEEEEE–!

If you've been following Sea of Thieves, you may be aware that we previously teased some figureheads inspired by classic Rare characters at a Comic-Con panel. Well, there's no better time than this to start bringing them into Sea of Thieves' world, so we're happy to say that from next week you'll be able to stop by any Shipwright in the game to secure a majestic Bear & Bird Figurehead for your ship. The price? To you, an extremely reasonable (and highly appropriate) 1998 gold. But only for the duration of July. The Shipwrights stop stocking it after that, so snag it while you can!

EDIT:

Ninchilla then attacked and killed one of them before mermaiding back to our galleon.

I shot one of them, but I killed neither; they both mermaided.

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Ninchilla

It looks fantastic, too; bit of a shame it's almost guaranteed that everyone's going to be using it… :pensive:

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Ninchilla

Sea of Thieves Journal, July 2nd
Largely uneventful evening, for the most part; Order of Souls questing, and a brief chase by galleon. Managed to get the first of two titles associated with the Gunpowder Skeleton event, then lucked into a skull fort by the outpost we sold up at. Sarah was done by that point, but I was one of 3 sloops to turn up, and managed to get the Gunpowder Plot commendation, plus we finished the fort all friendly-like, and I got given the chest.

So nothing too exciting, but progress on a few fronts. Merchant rep starting to suffer a bit, but sitting on ~81k gold and 62 doubloons. Roll on Sunken Curse , which everyone thinks is going to be evil mermaids, but I suspect might just be related to shipwrecks…

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Ninchilla

Patch 1.15 release notes

Ahoy pirates!

We're in the final week of the latest Bilge Rat Adventure – Gunpowder Skeletons! It's your last chance to get all the Doubloons available if you want to ensure you have all the time-limited cosmetics in your inventory before they disappear from the shops. The Commendations and Titles will still be available after the event ends, but the time-limited cosmetics and Doubloons will no longer be up for grabs.

To mark 20 Years of Banjo-Kazooie, players will now be able to purchase a majestic Bear & Bird Figurehead for a very fitting price of 1998 gold! This figurehead is only available during the month of July, so make sure you join in the celebration and purchase it while you can!

This week we've banned a number of players who we've been able to confirm have been cheating. Those players have been contacted via email and we've removed their Sea of Thieves account privileges. We will continue enforcing a zero tolerance policy to this behaviour and taking regular action against any players who are found to be cheating.

Updates

  • Bear & Bird Figurehead - Now stocked by the Shipwright to celebrate Banjo-Kazooie's 20th anniversary.
  • Rock the Boat - Upon impact, cannonballs now apply a rocking effect to ships.
  • PC Exit to Desktop - Players on PC now have the ability to exit to desktop from the front end.
  • Shop Clutter - Player Titles no longer remain in the shop when purchased, reducing the amount of clutter in the clothing shops.

Performance Improvements

  • Multiple server and client crash fixes.
  • Further improvements and optimisations for all platforms are ongoing.

Fixed Issues

  • Multiple Megalodons will no longer spawn in the same zone.
  • Megalodon encounter music will no longer be heard on the Ferry.
  • 'Crew Management' and the 'Allow Friends to Join' text is now localised to all languages.
  • There is no longer an invisible rock in Thieves' Haven.
  • 'Skeleton Exploder' Title now shows the correct icon in the Vanity Chest.
  • There is no longer a wall on Plunder Valley that players can clip through to see outside the map.
  • VFX for lighting a gunpowder barrel now correctly appear connected to the fuse.
  • Players will no longer be teleported back to their ship when they shoot themselves from the cannon on the north side of Devil's Ridge.
  • Header and footer UI in shops is now consistent with the rest of the UI menus.
  • The 'More' button on all radials now properly updates when key bindings are changed and will no longer remain the same button.
  • Resource barrels on ships will not longer periodically restock if they are below the default level.

Slightly surprised to see Gunpowder Skeletons run for a third week; does that mean Sunken Curse is going to be 1 week, that Cursed Sails is going to be pushed back to the 31st (assuming it even remains in July), or that Sunken Curse and Cursed Sails are both going live at the same time? EDIT: Ignore me - apparently Gunpowder Skeletons has only been running for one week so far. I could have sworn it was longer…

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Alastor

Between this and Kingdom Hearts 2 I wanna watch Pirates of the Caribbean again. (PoTC is in KH2, yeah)

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Ninchilla

Bought Banjo, but that's all I managed today. Will have to get some more time in the next few days, though, try and finish up the last two non-Legendary commendations.

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aniki

New teaser trailer for the Cursed Sails event:

Light on details, but I love the Flying Dutchman-style dive that the skeleton ship does at the end.

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Ninchilla

I guess, then, the skeleton ships will surface to attack a la the kraken/meg, rather than sailing around fully visible at all times? Or will they spawn, sail around for anyone to attack/be attacked, then vanish if they're not sunk in a certain time?