Griefer Bait

My little girl seems to attract griefers for some reason. It probably comes down to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can't help but sympathize with her. She doesn't bring this stuff on herself in any way, it just happens.

Last night, after supper, she played SoT for about 30-45 minutes. After logging in and running around the outpost to collect supplies, she noticed another sloop sailing towards the docks. Once in range, the sloop proceeded to shell her boat. Hoping to avoid a confrontation, she scuttled her ship and went up to the tavern to wait for the guy to leave.

Long story short, he didn't leave. In fact, he anchored his sloop next to her mermaid and camped the spot with his eye of reach (ie, sniper rifle). Whenever she'd come out to see if he was gone, or to try and get to her mermaid, he'd shoot at her. Eventually he shot and killed her.

What the hell kind of sociopathic crap is that? It's not enough to sink someone's sloop before they've even left the dock, but you have to make sure you kill them, too?

I don't think my daughter gets too upset over these things. She's come to accept the possibility, but she doesn't enjoy it when it becomes the reality. She eventually respawned at a small island, then (just to see if she could) swam to another island she saw in the distance (killing two sharks on the way). After that, she went back to her ship and sailed to the secret island at N10 to explore.

I played for about an hour, myself. I managed to complete a profitable Merchant Alliance voyage (thank God for gold snakes!). It took me the whole hour, though, because I couldn't find chickens anywhere. I eventually turned in my snakes just to avoid losing them to some random dweeb before canvassing several islands for poultry products. Eventually I found the birds, but it took more time than I would've liked.

Avast!

Weekend Retrospective

I doubt I'll ever go back to my detailed logs, but I do have some anecdotes to share from this past weekend.

I had a couple of fairly positive encounters that didn't end in immediate death for me. In both instances, I'm certain I would've been attacked and killed had I not spoken up prior to the first shots being fired. That said, once the dialogue started in both cases, things were pretty laid back.

In the first instance, I was bringing in a load of chickens and snakes to the Merchant Alliance at one outpost or another. As I was docking, I noticed a couple of mermaids in the water. I'd seen a couple of sloops in the area earlier, so I figured maybe there were some castaways waiting in ambush for anyone foolish enough to drop anchor.

FinessingOnHer, J2D2S2, and Otar311 rocking out.

I'm not sure how correct I was, but after turning in my first snake, three fellows came rushing down the dock towards me with cutlasses at the ready. I told them I was turning in a Merchant Alliance voyage and that I had nothing of value. Though only one of them (Otar311) could talk to me for some weird technical reason, he was laid back and acted as a translator of sorts for the group.

The three had met earlier when one of them had been killed by the other two. While two of them were on the Ferry of the damned, he said, "I guess that means you don't want my help with the raid." Eventually, though, they got together and worked to take out the skeletons and had just returned to turn in their loot before logging out. They marveled at my snakes and we chatted a little bit.

The next encounter had a similar genesis, as I was docking at an outpost to turn in some additional livestock to the Merchant Alliance. I'd seen a galleon near the outpost previously and I waited for it to leave before heading over to complete my voyage. As I was unloading, I heard a child's voice - a boy, probably around 8 years old - saying, "His anchor's down. He's just sitting there. Should I use my sniper on him?" Checking the horizon, I could see the galleon coming back to the outpost.

I could hear other voices, fainter than the boy's, so I immediately began to reply. "Hey, guys. Guys? I'm just trading in chickens and pigs here. I don't have anything worth taking."

DEZiR3 Allstar and TheKoesegPro (obscured).

At this point the boy, DEZiR3 Allstar, leapt from the galleon and swam to my ship. "I'm coming aboard!" he said. "Don't kill me!" As he climbs aboard, he pulls out his blunderbuss and points it at me.

"Don't you kill me," I replied. "I have a Seafarer's Chest in the hold if you guys want it. Everything else is chickens and pigs."

The apparent leader of the crew, TheKoesegPro, told everyone to let me turn in my stuff as DEZiR3 grabbed the aforementioned chest and ran off to sell it. The rest of the crew helped me unload my ship, leaving the animals on the dock near the Merchant Alliance rep.

As they told it, they were prepping to raid a skeleton fort and asked me if I'd like to join them in my sloop. I thanked them for the offer but replied in the negative, letting them know I was focused on Merchant Alliance quests. KoesegPro even sent me a friend request before calling his crew back to their ship.

They started to pull out to sea. I could hear DEZiR3 (still louder on his mic than the rest) asking, "Want me to go back and kill him?"

I spoke up. "You know I can hear you, right?" which was punctuated by laughter from the rest of the crew as if to say, "Oh, that DEZiR3! Such a funny kid!" They went on their merry way and that was that.

My snake collection.

While I was having such positive encounters with other members of the community, my kids were having different experiences. My daughter was ganked for the first time, much to her chagrin. She had nothing of value aboard her sloop, but while she was on the Ferry of the Damned, waiting to respawn, her killer took all of her bananas.

Upon discovering her sudden lack of bananas, she exclaimed, "He stole my bananas! What a douchebag! I mean, what kind of person does that?" She complained long and loud about it, wondering aloud why people have to ruin other peoples' fun. I reminded her that it was just bananas and that she should be grateful.


In other news, I discovered an island at N10 that doesn't appear on the map. It was small and I didn't find anything interesting there. Maybe I should have looked harder, I don't know. I'll go back and check it out again later, just to be sure.

The latest patch dropped yesterday. I'm ambivalent about it, though I like the thought of new cosmetic items. I'm not real keen on having the items distributed between different outposts, but I can understand what Rare is going for. I still think stuff is either far too expensive, or that gold rewards are far too low. That's just the way it is, I guess.

Avast!

Revenge is Sweet

Once again I went sailing, and once again I decided just to do my thing and not worry too much about the minute details of my voyage. I decided to do more Merchant Alliance missions, and my first was to locate and catch four chickens (a white, a gold, and two red-speckled). When I started out, I had no idea how long a process this was going to be.

I went to a number of islands and found no chickens, but I did manage to secure three more chicken coops and a pig crate. Eventually I ended up sailing to Smuggler's Bay, which was crawling with livestock. Only thing is, it was also crawling with skeletons.

As I sailed into the bay, a skeleton on the hillside began shooting a cannon at my ship. I leapt out, ran up the hill, and broke the skeleton up into pieces, but by the time I got back to my ship, it had been sunk. I swam out into the bay and got all my coops and cages back, making a nice little pile on the beach.

In order to save myself the trouble later, I captured the chickens I needed and left them behind while I went to my mermaid in order to get to my replacement ship. It wasn't too far off from Smuggler's Bay, so I set course and figured I'd have it all wrapped up within a few minutes. Wrong.

"Can't we just get along? Hmm?"

I passed near a sloop en route to Smuggler's Bay and its intrepid captain decided to chase me. Not really wanting to deal with a hostile encounter, I proceeded to wave at the guy. Afterwards, I put my sails up and slowed down while he pulled up alongside.

We had a brief conversation (which, in the video, is terribly one-sided, as only his voice was recorded). However, it went something like this:

Me: Hey there. I don't have any loot. I'm just looking for chickens.
island3r 808: Chickens? Fried chickens?
Me: Any kind of chicken, really.
island3r 808: This a merchant quest?
Me: Yep.
island3r 808: Lookin' for some krakens.
Me: Not sure Krakens spawn for sloops. I could be wrong.

At this point he begins to behave erratically, swinging his sword about.

Me: Well, I'm going to go ahead and get my chickens now. See you later.
island3r 808: Alright, have a good night.

I see he's moved down to his cannon, and I figured there was a high chance he was going to shoot me. But I also figured I needed to give him the benefit of the doubt, right? I mean... maybe he's just making sure I'm not going to mess with him.

But no. This fellow ("island3r 808") appeals to his baser childlike instincts and shoots me with a cannon just as I begin to weigh anchor. Needless to say, I die.

After a few seconds aboard the Ferry of the Damned (my home away from home), I return to my ship. He'd shot it a few more times, likely boarded to confirm I didn't have anything worth taking, and was sailing away. I patched the many holes in my ship and bailed out the water before raising my anchor and continuing on my merry way.

This dweeb wasn't done with me, though. I guess continuing to follow me around and shoot at me was more fun than, well, just about anything else he could've been doing with his time. He knew I had nothing of value, so I can only assume he was being a jerk.

I decided to take a pot shot at him with my eye of reach. I know I didn't hit him, but it did incentivize him to shoot his cannon at me a few more times. Not one to sit idly by, I took up my own cannon and returned fire. To my sincere surprise, I received the "I Don't See Your Ship" achievement. And there his sloop was, sinking rather quickly into the sea.

All my aggravation at being griefed turned to amusement. He'd gotten exactly what was coming to him. Suddenly there was a God.

In summation, I returned to Smuggler's Bay and picked up my chickens. I left the extra coops behind, as it was late, and delivered the birds. I'd also found a message in a bottle along the way - a single map with five or six Xs on it - so I located the island and dug those bad boys up before heading off to my hammock for the night.

I count the evening a success, overall. My attempts to interact peacefully with another player came to nothing, though he did lose his virtual life in the process.

Avast!

I'm Getting Tired of This

Last night I went sailing, but I didn't bother to jot anything down. I figured I'd just relax and see how things worked out. The murder rate was rather high again, and I accomplished absolutely nothing as a result. I ended up leaving the game due to being aggravated, but I can't blame my mood solely on Sea of Thieves. After all, I was grumpy in general and that never helps things.

In short, I decided to run a few Merchant Alliance voyages. They're generally pretty straightforward, and if they call for gold animals they can be incredibly profitable. The first voyage called for two black chickens, which is simple enough. I weighed anchor and sailed from island to island, finding no chickens anywhere.

When I finally did find an island with chickens, I dropped anchor, did a quick scan of the horizon, and waded ashore. Some skeletons spawned (and, oddly, kept spawning) which distracted me from the task at hand. As I ran to and fro on the beach hacking skeletons to bits, a galleon with fancy paint, sails, and figurehead pulled up next to my sloop and let fly a deadly broadside.

Not only did these blasts hit my boat, but they also hit me. Between damage sustained fighting skeletons and the cannon blasts, I found myself aboard the Ferry of the Damned pretty quickly. Returning to my ship on respawn, I discovered a pirate steering my sloop. What is it with these people?

I gave him a dose of my blunderbuss, but he survived. He drew his sword and, leaping around like a marine kangaroo, killed me. I found myself aboard the Ferry of the Damned once more. When I respawned, it was on a distant island with a new boat. Obviously, my sloop had been sunk and my chicken cages lost, forcing me to abandon my search for black chickens.

I certainly hope the galleon's crew had fun, because I thought the whole experience sucked. I'd hate to think they might've been disappointed by finding nothing aboard my ship worth stealing.

After abandoning the Merchant Alliance voyage, I figured I'd hunt for treasure with a Gold Hoarder voyage. It ended up with four maps, which I quickly identified and marked on my map. I headed west and dropped anchor near the first location. It was a small island and the treasure (a Seafarer's Chest) was easily located.

After I'd placed the treasure aboard my ship, I noticed another sloop heading my way. I dropped sails, weighed anchor, and was on my way as quick as can be. The other sloop fired a cannon at me, hitting once and knocking a hole in the back of my ship. I adjusted sails and ran away as best I could, but the other sloop decided to follow me.

This lasted quite a while, with me trying to outdistance the sloop. I did put some space between us, but it didn't last. Up ahead a storm was brewing, so I steered in that direction. Maybe I could lose them in the storm. With little else left to do, I grabbed an eye of reach (a sniper rifle, for all intents and purposes) and started taking pot shots at the other boat's crew.

I don't know if I hit anyone (I doubt it), but they must've had a crack shot aboard. The guy handily picked me off despite the rolling waves, rain, and distance.

After an obligatory wait aboard the Ferry of Souls, I returned to my sloop. Someone from the other ship was aboard, and they'd dropped my anchor, grabbed the piddly little Seafarer's Chest I'd found, and were in the process of returning to their own ship which pulled off and left me with a few cannon shots to remember them by. I patched the holes and bailed the water, then gave chase.

I can only assume I followed them because I was irked at losing the only thing of value I'd found in nearly an hour's play time. Maybe I could roll up on them while they docked at a nearby outpost and give a few of their cannonballs back to them, or I could sneak onto the island, find them, and chop them up. Neither plan was realized. I found myself watching them weigh anchor and head back out to sea from the beach of the outpost.

It was at this point I decided I wasn't really in the mood for Sea of Thieves any longer. Playing the game solo is hard enough, but when everyone out there is out for your blood, it makes it even more difficult. I don't think I'll be throwing in the towel just yet, but I'm moving in that direction.

Avast!

Merchant Alliance Quiet Time

Outside of one or two distant sloops (it might have been the same one twice; I never go close enough to find out who these people are), this was a fairly uneventful session. It was also fairly profitable.

I'm beginning to prefer Merchant Alliance voyages, primarily because they tend to pay fairly well at the higher levels. That, and requests for gold animals are incredibly lucrative when I can get them. By voyage's end, I got a bunch of gold and increased my reputation with the Merchant Alliance.

Here's my captain's log with all the boring details.

Sanctuary Outpost spawn-in.

Starting/Ending Rep - GH 23/23, OS 20/20, MA 20/21
Starting/Ending Gold: 35,596/41,609
Gold Earned: 6,013g

Snakes and Pigs: A Merchant Trader Voyage

"An amiable order from the prominent Mr. Abel"

This Abel fellow wants 2 black scaled snakes, 1 pink & black spotted pig, and 2 black coated pigs. Must deliver the critters to the Golden Sands Outpost by 11am on the 29th.Current date is the 23rd, so I see no trouble with this plan.

Travel to Lone Cove and search for animals. Find two black-coated pigs (671g & 542g), a black and pink spotted pig, and two black scaled snakes (894g & 898g). Also found a gunpowder barrel (187g).

In case you didn't know, snakes are a-holes. They spray you (or anything else around them, including pigs and chickens) with venom. This not only does damage, but it makes you nearly blind for a short period of time.

The risks inherent in shirling can be rather painful.

I'm sure everyone knows this, but catching snakes requires a bit of work. When you find the snake you want, you need to get one of your musical instruments and play music for it until it hunkers down. Then you can grab your basket and scoop it up. But wait, there's more! As you carry the occupied snake basket, the little jerk wakes up. If you don't drop the basket and play another ditty, the snake sprays venom into your face. Even if you drop the basket, there's still a chance you'll get the venom treatment.

Incidentally, this reminds me of an old Kids in the Hall sketch about the sport of shirling. Suffice it to say, it involves a pissed off snake atop a barrel and a bunch of idiots chained together around it. Something tells me that with a little work, we could probably shirl in Sea of Thieves.

Sorry for the digression. Shall we continue?

So I get back to my boat with the last pig, and as I'm standing there taking notes for this very blog, two skeletons with pistols spawn on the nearby beach, see me, and gun me down. Thanks to the damage taken from my reptilian pals' venom, the bone twins gun me down in a single volley.
I respawn after a few moments and weigh anchor, but that's not the last time those damn snakes inconvenience me. No, sir.

I notice too late that the snake I've placed in the hold has been magically spraying venom up through the forward deck at the pink and black spotted pig. At least, that's the only way I can reconcile the pig's death since I'd been feeding it regularly. To prevent further poisoned porcine casualties, I move the black pigs back away from the forward deck.

I spot a sloop anchored near Lonely Isle and there appears to be a storm brewing, so I decide to head to Golden Sands Outpost and deliver the animals. While sailing, I see a shipwreck off Cannon Cove. I drop anchor nearby and check the previously mentioned sloop. It's sailing away, so I decide to dive on the wreck of the Bloody Death. In the process, I recover a Hateful Bounty skull (678g), a Marauders Chest (283g), and a Crate of rare tea (367g).

After plundering the wreck, I go to Golden Sands to deliver my remaining animals and sell the loot I found. Afterward, I decide to find another pink and black spotted pig. I head south to the Lagoon of Whispers, but find no pigs.

There is, however, a shipwreck nearby. Turns out to be the wreck of the Hangman's Hate. I'm fairly certain I've encountered this same wreck at some point in the past. I always figured the names were generated in some kind of procedural fashion -- and they may be -- but I expected there to me more variety.

Meet the new pig. Same as the old pig.

So I dive and find a Foul Bounty Skull (168g), a message in a bottle (first time finding one of these in a wreck), a crate of fine sugar (131g), a Castaways Chest (96), and a Disgraced Bounty Skull (311g).

Still need that pink and black spotted pig, so I decided to check Mermaid's Hideaway for bacon. While there, I find a new pink and black pig (448g) and return with it to Golden Sands. While there I sell my loot and buy a new Merchant Alliance voyage from Mavis for 80g.

Incidentally, the message in a bottle contained a map of Crescent Isle with one X marked on it. It's close, so I head over there and find a Seafarers Chest (234g) and a gunpowder barrel (185g). I consider exploring the rest of the island in more detail, but I spot a sloop to the northeast. I don't want to deal with someone else, so I weigh anchor, go back to Golden Sands, and sell the chest.

Avast!

Today's Voyage

Plunder Outpost spawn-in.
Starting/Ending Rep - GH 22/23, OS 20/20, MA 20/20
Starting/Ending Gold: 24,891/27,946
Gold Earned: 3,055g

First Voyage: For the Merchant Alliance
"A persistent demand from the notable Mr. Lucas" who wants two white chickens and two red speckled chickens delivered to Ancient Spire Outpost by 11am on the 8th. Chickens are pretty easy to catch, but going in search of them is a pain in my butt.

Dropped anchor at Lookout Point to check for poultry. Found plenty of bacon, but no chickens. Notice shipwreck WNW of island. Might as well check it out.

No ships in sight. Dive to explore the wreck of The Blessing of Athena. Recovered Disgraced Bounty Skull and a crate of fine sugar.

Galleon far off to the NE. Going to cut and run, look for more chickens.

Land at Shark Bait Cove. Big island like this better have some chickens on it.

Chickens acquired. Notice ship (galleon) off port. Looks to be heading my way. Going to cut and run. Heading to Ancient Spire Outpost to deliver birds and other misc spoils. Galleon out of sight.

Spot glimmer on beach at Paradise Spring. Stopping to check it out. Coast is clear.

Found two messages in bottles (the first a map marked with several Xs, the second a wanted poster for three skellies on Snake Island) and a Disgraced Bounty Skull on Paradise Spring. Continuing on to Ancient Spire Outpost. It's late, will likely let those messages expire when I log out.

Chickens delivered to Mildred around midnight on the 4th. White chickens fetch 223g and 205g, red speckled chickens fetch 459g and 332g. Crate of fine sugar from the Blessing of Athena returns 134g. Spent 80g to buy new voyage from the Merchant Alliance.

Bounty skulls taken to Madame Olwen, fetch 337g and 205g.

So, to sum up, I didn't have much trouble this voyage. No one came close enough to mess with me, and the chickens were fairly easy to find.

cristian1452 and LazzyMe

Second Voyage: Booty Isle Treasure
The map I found points to Booty Isle. Assuming I don't get ganked on the way there, it should be a simple matter to go and dig up some stuff. Off I go...

Stupid skeletons on Thieves' Haven take potshots at me. They're pretty good shots, too. One must've hit me, because I have a hole in my starboard side now.

Arrived at Booty Isle just before dark. Coast is clear. Let's see what kind of booty this place is hiding.

Booty Isle should be renamed "Skeleton Isle." Damn place is crawling with them, and every chest I dig up brings more. And they kill me, too. Twice. Jerks. Certainly makes a case for doing this crap with a friend.

Hard Won, Only Died Twice!

While aboard the Ferry of the Damned, I ran into two gentlemen: cristian1452 and LazzyMe. cristian1452 proclaimed that "A Pirate vanquished me!" before running off with his friend Lazzy.

After all that abuse, what did I get? A Captain's Chest, two Seafarer's Chests, and two Castaway's Chests. Heading to Plunder Outpost to sell this crap and log out.

Harry the Hoarder gives me 604g for the Captain's Chest. Are you kidding? The others fetch 238g, 210g (for the Seafarer's Chests) and 89g and 99g (for the Castaway's Chests). Also earned the Hoarder of the Castaway's Gold commendation, which brought me up to 23 reputation with the Gold Hoarders. I guess I shouldn't complain.

That's all for tonight. Even I need my sleep. Avast!